Nice Games Club - a gamedev podcast!

#10"Try it once."Roundtable2017.01.30Our 10th(!!!) episode has your nice hosts teetering on the edge of not-so-niceness as they each describe something they just don't get (or don't quite like) in gaming, and hope the other two can bring them around.Watching Games0:01:28Mark LaCroixGamingIRLEVO Fighting Game TournamentThe Controversial Dichotomy Between Sports and eSports - Jesse Aaron, Huffington PostAchievement Hunter - Rooster TeethThe Best of Modern Warfare Mythbusters - Defend teh House, YouTubeContradiction: Spot the Liar! - Giant BombHer Story"On Let's Plays" - That Dragon, CancerNarrative in Games0:13:00Stephen McGregorNarrativeLudonarrative Dissonance in Bioshock - Click NothingHow many times can you enter the cell? - Batman: Arkham Knight - YouTubePortal 2 - funniest quotes - ultrasoftcore, YouTubeThe Stanley ParableBrothers: A Tale of Two Sons - Ending - Epilogue - YouTubeBoard Games0:29:27Martha MegarryTabletopDungeon! (created by Martha's dad, David Megarry)Animal Town Games: Save the Whales, Dam Builders, Nectar CollectorEvolutionStar Trek: AscendancyPuerto RicoPandemicFlashpoint

#8"Will you be the best with me?"Roundtable2017.01.23Some firsts in this episode: Our first iTunes review (thanks, Abdiwak!), our first episode of interconnected topics, and our first big ideological disagreement (ooo, drama!).Gaming Mastery0:01:33Gamer Motivation Profile quiz - Quantic FoundryStrategy Guides and Wikis0:20:45Martha MegarryGamingTools(Martha) Pokemon Crystal guide - Nintendo Power(Stephen) Donkey Kong Country 2 guideNintendo Power's Dragon Warrior giveaway - Press the ButtonsDesigning Party Games0:38:30Mark LaCroixGame DesignUltimate Chicken HorseWe Didn’t Playtest This At All!SpaceteamJackbox Party PackSave the WhalesSushi Go!Overcooked

In this week's episode, Mark tackles optimization and Martha attempts to Catch 'em all.Widget Satchel is coming to PC and consoles!TASCAM stands for "TeacAudioSystemsCorporationAmerica."0:04:53OptimizationAvoiding Unity Update LoopsBrad KeysMark put his Timer class on GitHubGitHubUnity editor Extensions -The power of OnValidateCJF incStatic Constructors (C# Programming Guide)We talked about the Widget Satchel in a Code Comment EpisodeCode Comment: "Widget Satchel"McDonalds! McDonalds! McDonalds!@mcclure111TwitterVerdent Skies Code CommentCode Comment: "Verdant Skies"ExecuteInEditMode will run your script in edit modeThe Knights of UnityMark was able to quickly find this animated GIF in his archives. He made this 3D model of a lizard creature in the Summer of 1998 (it pre-dates Pokémon's arrival in the US!) using a Windows 95 program called Micrografx Simply 3D.Renaming Serialized FieldsLeonardo CarneiroUnityTexturePacker - Code + Web SoftwareCode and Web0:54:18PokémonPokémon dual-type charts.Pokémon Y Nuzlocke Challenge PolygonYouTubePokémon Snap was ahead of its timeJenna StoeberPolygonDr. Robotnik’s Mean Bean MachineWikipedia23 Of The Weirdest Pokémon Kyle HilliardGame Informer

This week on Nice Games Club we talk all about the labor of love that is making games for a living: how it can be great, how it can be not-so-great and how it could get better. Mark reports back from a conference, Martha gets on her soap box and Stephen realizes this podcast has been about documenting his career journey this entire time.Joggernauts by local developer Space Mace is on Steam and Switch!Joggernauts soundtrack by Robert Frost IIIAdobe MAX0:11:44Game Dev as a Day JobStephen works at Gamesmart!Glitch Jobs BoardGamasutra Jobs BoardGame Developer0:38:53UnionsTwin Cities Labor ChorusTelltale hit with class-action lawsuit for breaking labor lawsSamit SarkarPolygonInside Rockstar Games' Culture Of CrunchJason SchreierKotakuVox UnionGame Workers UniteIt's Time For Game Developers To UnionizeJason SchreierKotakuOpinion: Now is the time to unionize the game industryKatherine CrossGame DeveloperMyles Horton - 20th Century Union OrganizerWikipediaUnions Must Address RacismIan Haney LopezAFL-CIO Blog

Freya Holmér, co-founder of Neat Corporation (makers of VR stealth game Budget Cuts) and creator of Shader Forge, joins the clubhouse remotely from Sweden, while your nice hosts join Freya on her regular gamedev Twitch stream.Freya outlines her theory of gamedev self-education, touching on themes from her Glitchcon 2018 keynote presentation, but wait, there's more! It's an episode that ends half-way though its running time but keeps going anyway, as we branch off into a wide range of topics,  including (but not limited to): the social habits of American vs. Swedish game developers, the difference between "duck" and "crouch," accidentally building a LGBT community, and the evolutionary advantage of believing in ghosts.Self-education, et al.IRLMisc.You can also find the livestream of the podcast on Freya’s Twitch here!

On this week’s episode, your nice hosts talk with local artist/developer and VR Creative at Pixel Farm, Krista McCullough, about VR workflows and a lot more!VR WorkflowsProductionVR / AR / XRPixel Farm VRJoyce Minions on Twitter - @minionsart, TwitterSculptris (free 3D sculpting software)Mike Blackney's exploration of spline-based modelling - Twitter

This week your Nice Hosts turn the Club House into a time machine to discuss 90s consoles and listen to some wicked video game soundtracks. Mark teaches us about LaserDisc, Martha is an 8-bit jukebox and Stephen ignores sick burns on jazz. Radical!90s Slang - Bustle0:06:3590s ConsolesSolving the Zelda Timeline in 15 MinutesPolygonYouTubeBBC Domesday projectWikipedia0:38:30Video Game SoundtracksKingdom Hearts InsiderPortal (jump pad song) VideoYouTubeLouie Zhong’s BandcampPolygon Sims jazz piano videoClayton AshleyPolygon

This week’s episode is another edition of Code Comment, where your nice hosts look at the project, code, assets, and design of an indie game to see how it’s made.This week we are joined by Farzan Fatemi of Sleepy Macaw to show us behind the scenes of his abstract puzzle game Adjacency, which is available now on Steam and Itch! Martha steals Mark's line, Stephen and Mark discuss the idiosyncrasies of Unity and at the end of the episode Farzan reveals some surprising opinions about puzzle games.Buy Adjacency now on Steam and Itch!Video

This week, Stephen promises he can stop whenever he wants, Martha gets there eventually, and Mark earns 100%.If you like The Good Place, check out The Good Place: The Podcast! - Podcast0:06:18Space Exploration games"Elite: the game that changed the world" Adam LusherThe Telegraph"BBC releases computer history archive" BBChttps://www.polygon.com/2017/12/25/16817700/elite-dangerous-fuel-rats-rescue-cm…Owen S. GoodPolygon"New Book Chronicles The Continuing History Of EVE Online" Lee YancyKotaku"Warring EVE Online Factions Declare Peace, For Money" Lee YancyKotaku"Star Citizen’s $27,000 bundle raises eyebrows" Charlie HallPolygon0:46:05Gaming HabitsThe Surrounding Game, a recent documentary about American players of Go."Develop 2015 Highlights Rami Ismail, Indie Keynote"Develop Conference and Rami IsmailYouTube

This week on Nice Games Club we are trying out a new type of episode: Nice Games Jam! We get a topic from Martha’s boyfriend Dylan and then attempt to create a playable game by the end of the episode. We then include the rules here in the show notes for you to play at home!Let us know what you think of this episode format on the feedback from!Prompta realtime card game [for PC]Game typeCard gameMaterials52 Card deck + two jokersSix sided die (One per Player)A stuffed trophy - we used a plush Toad! but a jesther hat would be the most appropriateSetupEach player starts with seven cards.RulesThis game happens in real time. No turns!Roll for six with the dice, if so draw a card then pass it or another card in your hand to someoneIf you’re passed a card, you have to discard a card that was not passed to you.Having a joker allows you to pick up the TROPHY (Toad) on a roll of six.If you pick up the TROPHY (Toad), the game stops, you announce you have a joker and are looking for another, if someone has it they have to give it to you, the person losing a joker draws a card, the person gaining the joker discards a card.If you have two jokers, you can end the game early by saying “haha!” at any point.If you gain a joker you cannot discard it.The game ends if someone says “haha!” or as soon as the deck runs out (and all card passes are resolved.)If you have the highest poker hand, you win!