Nice Games Club - a gamedev podcast!

In this episode, Mark plays one of Martha's favorites, the classic PC point and click adventure Pajama Sam 2, and learns why she loves and is inspired by this game's development studio so much.Game: Pajama Sam 2: Thunder and Lightning Aren’t So FrighteningDeveloper/Publisher: Humongous EntertainmentPlatform: PC (Windows, Mac, Linux)Year: 1998Genre: Point & Click AdventureWe mentioned, but didn't show, the game's intro cut scene.As it happens, Pajama Sam was voiced by one of Mark's favorite comic actors, Pamela Adlon, although she's more famous for voicing Bobby on King of the Hill. She is currently starring in the show Better Things, which she created and produces, and for which she was nominated for an Outstanding Lead Actress Emmy in 2017.This game includes references to other Humongous titles, including Backyard Sports.Boris Karloff played Frankenstein's monster.Video

In this episode, Stephen fights his demons, Martha likes sports now, and Mark learns a lot about both.0:02:41Scope CreepMartha took a blacksmithing class! Also, her instructor told her this was a perfect forge weld.Martha brought up fighting scope creep on our GDC 2017 Special.GDC 2017 Special (Part 1)Project management is a way to combat scope creep that we’ve covered before, in the episode"We joke here."A core concept for your game can help focus ideas as well. We go over this in our Game Design Primer topic in our episode"That makes me retroactively nervous." Facilitator's Guide to Participatory Decision-MakingSam KanerOur post on the r/gamedev. Special thanks to SaxPanther, ledat, GravityGamesInt, Bwob, and DustyPixel for their stories.SaxPanther created a battle royale game out of the Unity Roll-A-Ball tutorial.ledat shared a story on how one person accidentally created banking software after attempting to streamline coffee orders.0:30:53eSportsLeague of LegendsLeague of Legends World Championship is happening RIGHT THE DANG NOW!Martha will be rooting for her favorite team, C9.Player Signings, Salaries, and More in the Overwatch League™Blizzard EntertainmentLeague of Legends' ratings top NBA Finals, World Series clinchersPatrick DorseyESPNAn example of Counter-Strike: Global Offensive tournament casting.TwitchThe Story of DOTAPaul DeanEurogamerThe biggest Call of Duty tournament shines light on growth of esportsJordan CrookTechCrunchThe Rise and Fall of StarCraft II as an eSportKevin HovdestadIGN How Intellectual Property Rights Are Hurting Esports TeamsLeonard LangenscheidtThe Esports ObserverThere is, in fact, a Civilization VI eSports scene.Leif JohnsonMotherboard

This week, Stephen finally gets a theme song, Mark plays devil's advocate, and Martha gets dangerously close to a topic your nice hosts swore to never talk about on the show.0:02:40DLC and ExpansionsWhen Mark was young, he bought unofficial Quake mods on CD-ROM.Turns out, Electronics Boutique and EB Games are the same thing.Day-One DLC Isn’t Always Evil, Says Borderlands 2 GuyTina AminiKotakuPatch The ProcessRami IshmailStreet Fighter V is a Barebones Game That’s a Sign of the TimesPaul TamburroCraveCode analysis of No Man's Sky praises engine, criticises "unfinished" game Andy ChalkPC GamerIt turns out Sony won’t be charging PS4 Pro players for 4K upgrade patchesDanny CowanDigital TrendsMario Party 2: Luigi wins by doing absolutely nothingKlydeStromYouTubeTurns out, Dungeons & Dragons does use software-style versioning for their “patch notes.”After recording this episode, Mark had an idea for how to price DLC in Metro Nexus.Nier Automata Lets Players Buy PSN Trophies With In-Game MoneyHeather AlexandraKotakuPayday 2 rolls back microtransactions after fan outrageKyle OrlandArs Technica5G - Press START to PlayMake Hack RepeatYouTubeI Am Rich: The Story of the World's Strangest Mobile AppAntoni Zolciak In’saneLab0:38:34Genre in GamesWikipedia says “Genres are not usually defined by the actual content of the game.”“List of accolades received by Grand Theft Auto V”  - WikipediaWikipediaTurns out, Call of Duty games have been nominated for a lot of BAFTAs over the years.What makes an RPG an RPG: a universal definition Craig SternSinister DesignMass Effect - Don’t Touch ThatsvaalbardYouTubeMass Effect - Blasto! (hilarious)Generic GamingYouTubeLudonarrative Dissonance in BioshockClint HawkingClick NothingNaughy Dog Doesn’t Get Ludonarrative DissonanceAlessio PalumbowccftechA good critical review of Jason Schreier’s book “Blood, Sweat, And Pixels,” which Mark read recently and really liked.

Uh oh… they're back… it's EVIL GAMES CLUB!Snide laugh! Malicious gafaw! In this, our second evil episode, your evil hosts revisit some of the dumb topics Nice Games Club covered in previous episodes, and correct the record where required. We're at it again, being evil, that is!Dale posts bugs on Instagram now. - InstagramThis is the spider Dale was talking about in the intro. - Instagram0:02:46Crafting SystemsThis topic is a followup to the episode "It's against the law to stop."5 Approaches to Crafting Systems in Games (and Where to Use Them)Alexander KingEnvato Tuts+The absolute best video game crafting systemsTy ArthurGame SkinnyHow The Witcher 3 succeeds where Mass Effect: Andromeda falls shortJody MacgregorPC GamerMass Effect: Andromeda's Menus Are A MessAlex WalkerKotaku AustraliaGames like Fallout 4 take crafting too far for the average playerBlackTideTVGameSkinnyFallout 4 Has A Ton Of Junk, And It's Stressing Me Out”Patricia HernandezKotaku0:26:23Game JamsThis is a followup to the episodes"Bananas, from here to eternity."and this episode which talks about Dylan on the Train JamGDC 2017 Special (Part 1)Global Game Jam 2018 starts Jan 26th.“Echoes of Kai Anders” (Adia and Stephen’s GGJ 2017 game).Adia Alderson and Stephen McGregor et al.GGJ“Listen Up, Four Eyes” (Dylan, Martha, and Mark’s GGJ 2017 game).Dylan Skerbitz, Martha Megarry, Mark LaCroix et al.GGJA list of upcoming Game JamsGame jams on itch.ioindiegamejams.comGameJolt JamsLudum Dare 40 takes place Dec 1st-4th, 2017Your evil hosts praised the organizer of Train Jam 2017, Adriel Wallick.@MsMinotaurTwitter(off topic!)A Musical Character Customization Trick For Everyone To CopyKirk HamiltonKotaku0:52:39Bad Gamedev HabitsThis topic is a followup to the episode"Can I tweet about this?"While this topic was mostly evil talk directed at Nice Game Club, it also included some uncharacteristically sage advice from your evil hosts. Take heed, or suffer!

Well, it finally happened. Dale LaCroix, (aka: "#1 Playtester," one-third of Evil Games Club, and Mark's wife) joins your nice hosts in the clubhouse to talk about playtesting!Stephen writes down everything Dale says about what it takes to be a good playtester, Martha laughs at all of Dale's jokes, and Mark deals with the fact that his wife doesn't really like his game.We also talked about the recent solar eclipse. Check out Martha's photo, taken at the moment of totalityPlaytestingProductionThis isn't the first time we've talked about playtesting on the show. We talked about it on the Interview with Nic VanMeertenGames User Research and AnalyticsThis is what Martha looks like when she is demoing Claw BreakerStephen's playtesting notebook

This week, Martha has so much to talk about that she runs out of time, Stephen espouses the virtues of building your own gamedev tools, and Mark names the episode after a Star Trek thing because it's his birthday today so he gets to.Discuss this episode on Reddit using this thread in r/gamedev.0:03:31Intro to Linguistics for Game DevelopersThe Legend of Zelda’s Hylian LanguageFandomThe Language Creation SocietyA list of constructed languages in video games.WikipediaMyst’s created language, D’ni.FandomUK Professors Go Primal With 'Far Cry'Gail HairstonUniversity of KentuckySIL’s Glossary of Linguistics article on sonority scaleSILSkyrim’s Dragon ShoutsMatt MillerGame InformerOmniglot is an encyclopedia of writing systems and languagesOmniglotThe Conlangers Library game listConlangers LibraryNo Man’s Sky guide: alien races, languages and Monolith puzzlesJeffrey ParkinPolygonThe Rosetta Stone in Fez (Pretty obvious clue in hindsight.)mykwudYouTubeTwitter Blowup Leads to Sudden Cancellation of Fez II Owen GoodKotakuPlaying the Birth and Death of Language in 'Dialect'Alex RobertsWaypointScientology’s enturbulating lingo Britt PetersonThe Boston GlobeKathryn Hymes on Twitter@chiclashawTwitterThe Language Construction Kit, a book Martha recommended, is available for free…bookDescribing Morphosyntax: A Guide For Field Linguists is the other book Martha r…bookSpeaking ‘Star Trek’: Meet the Man Who Made Up the Klingon LanguageMatt BlitzPopular MechanicsThe Klingon Language Institute is a thing that exists.International Phonetic AlphabetWikipediaMass Effect: Meeting the Elcor AmbassadorThieving HIppoYouTubeGaming’s favorite VR mouse uses sign language in the cutest wayAllegra FrankPolygonCantonese vs. MandarinOff the Great WallYouTubeFeast Your Eyes on This Beautiful Linguistic Family TreeArika OkrentMental FlossThe Conlangery Podcast is a neat podcast about linguistics and conlang.Podcast0:44:57Making Your Own ToolsWe referenced a few of our episodes during the show: "75% sure.""The Stevechievement."GDC 2017 Special (Part 1)GDC 2017 Special (Part 2)Stephen’s tool he recently made for Fingeance.Stephen McGregorTwitterTech Toolbox microtalks at GDC 2017GDCOur friends at Howling Moon made Super Fast Soft Shadow.Unity

"Nice Plays" are video episodes where your nice hosts play and talk about a game, and after 17 minutes, our egg timer goes off and we give our final thoughts. In this episode, Mark plays the recent indie game Boor, and your nice hosts all find a lot to like about it!Game: Boor (http://www.dazlog.com/boor/)Developer: DazlogStudioPublisher: Badland GamesPlatform: Windows, Mac, LinuxRelease date: February 14th, 2017Genre: 2D Puzzle-PlatformerSummary: "Eden is a human colony far from Earth. To develop a better society, settlers made an artificial intelligence, BOOR, to help them, but this machine turned against them. When a little girl accidentally lands on the planet of Eden, she discovers BOOR has taken over and there are only a few survivors left. With her special ability to multiply herself, she'll help them destroy BOOR and reclaim the world."Martha and Mark worked on a game for the 2017 Global Game Jam about eyeballs!Boor was made by a single developer, a topic we discuss in a previous episode.Solo DevelopmentVideo

"Nice Plays" are video episodes where your nice hosts play and talk about a game, and after 17 minutes, our egg timer goes off and we give our final thoughts. In this episode, Stephen plays the NES port of the classic arcade game Solomon's Key!Game: Solomon's KeyDeveloper: TecmoPublisher: TecmoPlatform: NESRelease date: July 1987 (US)Genre: 2D Puzzle-PlatformerSummary: "You and Dana, the wizard of Lyrac, must unlock Solomon’s scroll of secrets to restore peace in the constellations. With Dana’s magic, fire, and mystical powers, you will help release the imprisoned Princess of the Fairies and harness the evil forces within the constellations. But first, you need the key!"30 years on, people are still arguing over how to pronounce NES - Hugh Langley, TechRadarSolomon’s Key was indeed part of the very first batch of games for the Wii Virt… - WikipediaSolomon’s Key cheat codesVideo

It's a slightly experimental show this week, as we try to see what a two-topic episode looks like. Also, Martha defends her love of coleslaw, Stephen still doesn't really like VR, and Mark has almost completely lost his voice.Discuss this week's episode on Reddit in r/gamedev here.0:05:54Video Game ImmersionOur pal and VR innovator Andrew Fladeboe.Representation and Embodiment in Virtual RealityJorge AlborPopMattersWould You Kindly Read This Article on Gaming’s Greatest Plot Twist?Mike DiverViceOur recent episode of Nice Plays: OneShotNice Games ClubYouTubeEnhancing VR Immersion with the CPU in Star Trek: Bridge CrewCristiano FIntel DevelopersCognitive Flow: The Psychology of Great Game DesignSean BaronGame DeveloperWhy Sonic the Hedgehog is awful, and always has beenRyan BrownMIrrorRequiem, a “roleplaying” mod for The Elder Scrolls: SkyrimMark is up to 118 shrines in Breath of the Wild. Stephen is not happy.0:39:27Main Menus and First ImpressionsWhy do console games require a button press before showing the main menu?StackExchangeGame Design: Splash ScreenJesse FreemanMediumThe Ten Commandments Of Video Game MenusKirk HamiltonKotakuWe didn’t get a chance to talk about it in the episode, but here is a cool brea…Mike FaheyKotaku

This week, your nice hosts are still relaxing in Mark's dining room for an episode that has it all: a disagreement about Bluetooth, some good ClawTalk™, and the shortest conversation ever had on the subject of tabs vs. spaces. All this, plus a slightly higher than usual number of wild digressions.Discuss this episode on Reddit in this thread on r/gamedev!0:01:29Input Methods and ControlsStephen’s controller of choice, Power A FUSION.New Windows 10 Xbox wireless controller adapter delayed into 2018Gabe GurwinDigital TrendsMetro Nexus’ tutorial in actionMark LaCroixTwitterBehold, the unintuitive enjoyment of Claw Breaker.Martha MegarryYouTube“How to Claw Effectively”Ture VangaurdYouTubehttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aY-o0zYxjyEGame Maker's ToolkitYouTube“You say jump, I say how high?” Martin FasterholdtMartha’s favorite Fingeance fighter, Sparky.This goofy game turns your entire keyboard into the controllerAndrew WebsterThe VergeAlternative controls game Butt Sniffin Pugs, shown at Ctrl.Alt.GDC.Rocksmith Vs. Rock Band 3 – The Pro Guitar ShowdownJeff AtwoodFake Plastic RockGuy beats Dark Souls with DK BongosJordan DevoreDestructoidGameplay of racing game Kirby Air RideMutch GamesYouTubeWe mentioned this previous episode"We joke here."we also mentioned this one"Will you be the best with me?"0:36:49Coding SylesWhat is your preferred Indent Style?Whatever you do, don’t code like this.@HisCursednessTwitterDon’t be a Stephen: Comment your code!Martha uses a cool HTML template engine called Pug.Getting started with Pug template engineAntónio RegadasMediumRussian nesting dolls are called matryoshka.WikipediaCamelCase or snake_case?DarkBASIC, which Stephen used when he was young, went open-source in 2016!the Game CreatorsHistory around Pascal Casing and Camel CasingBrad AbramsMIcrosoft“Namespacing” in Objective-CMattname spacing hipsterJetBrains IDE’s: Webstorm for JavaScript and Rider for C#.Visual Studio Code is a lightweight Visual Studio that Mark really likes.1:13:45Splatoon 2, ur, I mean ShootersApparently, Splatoon devs didn’t realize the comparison to Super Mario Sunshine…Sean AyresNintendo EnthusiastDesigning FPS Multiplayer MapsDodgerOn Game DesignDesign Patterns in FPS LevelsKenneth Hullett & Jim WhiteheadUniversity of California - Santa CruzLost PlanetSomeCallMeVidalYouTubeLost Planet's only sequelWoophoroYouTubeWe also referenced our episode on Violence in Games