Nice Games Club - a gamedev podcast!

This week your nice hosts discuss making game demos and physical games! Martha is nostalgic, Mark eats some marshmallows and Stephen can't remember his childhood. Oh, and Mortho likes sports. But you probably already knew that.Photo credit- Neat Corporation press photo of their game Budget Cuts. Have you played the demo?GLITCH BdayOrgan Temple VR, Sara's VR gameOneirogen, Andrew’s VR gameHere is the cool print out of Mark's play-through of Oneirogen!The marshmallows Mark bought with his tax return0:12:40Making a DemoBudget Cuts demoStanley Parable demoNetstorm0:41:21Physical GamesShips across the oceanCalvinballCup stackingJohann Sebastian Joust

This week, your nice hosts have put together a new video format for the show, called Code Comment, where we take apart a game from our gamedev community, looking at the project, code, assets, and design to see how it's made.For this first edition, we chose Claw Breaker, a game jam game turned upcoming commercial release made by a team that included Martha and Stephen. It's how they met!Video

This week, Mark returns from San Fransisco, your nice hosts get the math wrong, and everyone agrees that Claw Breaker is worth real money.We’re launching our new video format (now called “Code Comment”) next week! In the first edition, we dig into Claw Breaker! Look forward to it!And if you haven’t already, check our our Nice Plays videos.0:06:43NostalgiaThe old PlayStation Spyro games are being re-released as a trilogy, to some mixed reception.Firmament is a VR game being made by the developers of Myst.Speaking of Myst nostalgia, Cyan just announced a 25th Anniversary re-release.Mark recently read a few of the Boss Fight Books: books about past games with i…We talked about our game influences in a previous episode: “Schrödinger’s Anima…0:34:23PC Games MarketSteam Spy announces it’s shutting down, blames Valve’s new privacy settingsSam MachkovechArs TechnicaLet's Be Realistic: A Deep Dive into How Games Are Selling on SteamMike RoseGDCJane Ng, lead artist at Campo Santo, started a great thread on Twitter about lo…Mark mentioned the user testing he commissioned for Metro Nexus, which we talked about with Hannah Murphy in the episode “Games User Research, Redux! (with Hannah Murphy).”

Mark is still in San Fransisco, so his lovely wife Dale (she of Evil Games Club) fills in and talks with Martha and Stephen about bad game design and good character design.0:02:48"Bad" Game DesignWe put Martha though the worst Mario game ever in an episode of Nice Plays.Nice Plays: Super Mario Bros. 2 [Japan] (1986)Want some rye?The Tetris EffectWikipediaUbisoft Aware of Tetris Ultimate IssuesJason DunningPlayStationLifeStyleE.T.: Walkthrough and Easter EggsTrillingWonderYouTubeA videogame for #blacklivesmatterZach BudgorKill Screen0:32:52Character DesignChoosing Your Pirate In Sea Of Thieves Is HardMike FaheyKotakuHow to Convey Character’s Personality Through Shape, Variance and SizeBilyanaGraphic MamaMaking ComicsScott McCloudWikipediaCrumpets and Badonkadonks: Creating Tiny TinaAshly and Anthony BurchYouTube

This week Dale from Evil Games Club joins us as we call in to Mark on location in San Francisco for the Game Developers Conference!Minneapolis is the Most BikingestMOST Bikingest!Most parklandest!Gayest city? Magazine says it's Minneapolis0:02:17GDC 2018 HighlightsSony VR with Joshua BellBudget CutsGorogoa postmortemClassic postmortem on Sonic the HedgehogGame Dev Union / Games Workers UniteThe Other PartyGameJolt’s Bring Your Own Indie Party, where Mark showed his game for three hou…Participants in Glitch’s Power Leveling program got to tour Double Fine’s studio, among other adventures!Katie’s twitter thread of all the awesome Minnesotans at GDC!

This week on Nice Plays, the show where the Nice Games Club gamedevs play nice games, we continue a conversation from last week’s roundtable, and preview a topic from an upcoming episode.Your nice hosts talk about gamedev philosophy while Martha plays the zen-inspired game Everything, and talk about character design as Stephen wanders into Martha's ranch and makes a big ‘ol mess in the super-adorable farming game Slime Rancher.Video

This week on Nice Plays, the show where the Nice Games Club gamedevs play nice games, we continue a conversation from last week’s roundtable, and preview a topic from an upcoming episode.Your nice hosts talk about gamedev philosophy while Martha plays the zen-inspired game Everything, and talk about character design as Stephen wanders into Martha's ranch and makes a big ‘ol mess in the super-adorable farming game Slime Rancher.Video

This week, your nice hosts get a bit personal as they talk about the research that has gone into their games and the philosophies behind them, as well what exactly a Nice Game is. Also in the episode: Stephen has confusing feelings about MAR10 Day, Mark finds more reasons to reference Star Trek and Martha discusses her previously undisclosed acting talents.Perhaps it is time for the… Millenium of the Peach.We’re all excited about the upcoming games described in this Nintendo Direct.0:10:35Research for GamesHere are the 30 maps Mark spent a few weeks researching for.How ‘Never Alone’ turns cultural heritage into video game historyMatt KamenWiredHow Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice deals with psychosisJames LloydScience FocusUniverse SandboxElite DangerousMark mentions this game 30 for 30 episode titled Madden’s Game.30 for 30ESPN0:45:26Gamedev PhilosophiesThe Manifesto Jam has many fascinating statements about approaching game development. Here are the ones we mention on the show:I was trying to make a game but my dog got in the way…Secret languagesMoney-festoRules for not losing myselfManifesto for gentle gamesGames are weird tiny things that teach usNotecard minifestos

This week Stephen made it to the clubhouse despite the Minnesota snow, Mark shares his knowledge of object oriented programming and Martha yells at the Unity docs.Photo is of Glitch HQ and is from Glitch.mnThere’s a #nicegamesclub channel on the MSPGameDev Slack now!Stephen’s interview on Tech.MNMark’s 30 Metro Nexus maps, in gif form!0:09:13Game ProgrammingGodot is a game engine similar to Unity, but with object-oriented programming a…We’ve talked about coding styles in our episode titled "Proper ones and twos."Martha went to the coding boot camp Prime Digital Academy.Learning FluencySara SimonMediumMark mentioned the book Game Programming Pattern, a resource also available for…Robert Nystrom0:52:06Work SpacesIf you use part of your home for business, you may be able to get a tax reducti…

Your nice hosts welcome instructional designer Ellen Burns-Johnson to the clubhouse, as we discuss the many ways to approach teaching using interactive games. Along the way, we talk about bugs (of the many leg variety), snow falling from buildings, and traumatizing but educational game experiences.Learning Through GamesGame DesignUI / UXEllen references THOTH, a twin-stick shooter made by Carlsen Games.Much of Ellen’s work is based off of the CCAF framework.Learn about how to make fake news from the educator backed Bad News.Custom eLearning Vs. Off-The-Shelf eLearning: Which Is Right For You? - Ayesha Habeeb Omer, Ph.D, eLearning IndustryCathy Moore talks about training design ideas on her blogKentucky Fried Chicken’s Virtual Reality game The Hard Way - YouTubeAssassin’s Creed Origins’ new educational mode is a violence-free tour through … - Andrew Webster, The VergeEllen played SimAnt as a kid!