Nice Games Club - a gamedev podcast‪!‬ Ellen, Stephen, and Mark

In this Episode Seth Fulkerson joins us in the clubhouse to talk the game engine, GameMaker. Seth is a long time user of GameMaker who's latest project is "Arzette: the Jewel of Faramore." The clubhouse discusses the history of GameMaker, the scripting language GML, and the advantages and disadvantages of the system.
And Stephen learns a bunch of the stuff he wished he knew when he actively using GameMaker.
GameMaker
Programming
Tools


Seth's body of work:



CDi Zelda Titles Remastered
 - 
Retro RGB


Arzette: The Jewel of Faramore
 - 
Wikipedia


GameMaker



GameMaker Licensing Costs


YoYoGames GameMaker Github
 - 
GitHub


GameMaker history on Wikepdia
 - 
Wikipedia


GameMaker Language (GML)



GML Manual


GameMaker Tools



GameMaker Marketplace


Add Ons for Game Maker:
-Scatterbox
-Yellow Afterlife
-Juju Adams


Shaun Spalding GameMaker Tutorials
 - 
Shaun Spalding
, 
YouTube



Seth Fulkerson
Guest

Seth Fulkerson is a longtime GameMaker user, and enthusiast of CD-ROM Full Motion Video games. He championed the Zelda CD-i remakes.
External link
The Dopster aka Dopply LinkTree

We’re joined this week by Laura Onderwater, friend of the show! Laura is an experienced concept artist currently working with Greensky Games. In this interview, she shares a bit about her workflow and how she thinks about worldbuilding from an artistic perspective. Plus, your hosts learn when to cry into a pillow, and Stephen repeatedly asks for THE limit.
Greensky Games

SWARM - "The Epic Arcade Shooter Built for VR"
 - 
Greensky Games

Visual Worldbuilding
Art


Meow Wolf - Immersive Experiences


Wrist and forearm stretches for the workplace
 - 
Mayo Clinic


The Art of Psychonauts 2
 - 
Ashley Esqueda
, 
Double Fine Productions



Laura Onderwater
Guest

Laura is a passionate concept artist with years of experience in creating art for games. Laura is always excited to work on new projects, and to bring ideas and worlds to life.
External link
Laura on LinkedIn
Laura on Artstation

Your nice hosts conclude their GDC 2024 coverage with a pair of interviews they conducted at the show. Mark catches a post-show cold, Stephen gets over his, and Ellen thought everything sounded great.
Midwest Games / Carbon Engine

Midwest Games



Midwest Games


Chris Klimecky
 - 
LinkedIn


Midwest Games - Work with us


Carbon Engine



Carbon Engine
 - 
Limited Run


Shantae Advance
 - 
Shantae Wiki


Arzette: The Jewel of Faramore



Alyssa Walles
Guest

Alyssa Walles is Midwest Games' Chief Operating Officer, as well as the Executive Director of the IGDA Foundation.
External link
LinkedIn
Midwest Games Leadership Announcement




Audi Sorlie
Guest

Producer at Limited Run Games and Member of Digital Foundry.
External link
LinkedIn

And now, the conclusion (sorta!), as tour nice hosts recount the back half of the week at this year's GDC. It's a long one, but there's somehow even more on our Patreon.
GDC 2024 Special (Part 2)

ReSpec: Accountability Support



How Nintendo made Super Mario Bros. Wonder so weird
Andrew Webster
The Verge



Jack Foley (sound effects artist)
Wikipedia



The return of 1ReasonToBe and why we still need it
Marie Dealessandri
GamesIndustry.biz



Panic says two pallets of Playdates worth $400,000 have vanished in Vegas
Chris Kerr
Game Developer



A frequently-cited "good first episode" of Nice Games Club is one where we interview August Brown:
Developer/Publisher Relations


We had Monica on the show to help create a Nice Game Jam game in:
Blame the Cat! (with Monica Fan)

Some of your nice hosts, plus some nice guest hosts, traveled to San Fransisco last week for the 2024 Game Developers Conference. There was so much to see and do and it ended up being too much for just one episode... actually, it was too much for just two episodes!
So, how much GDC 2024 content is there exactly? Well, plans changed and it's too complex to summarize here, so be nice and have a listen to find out!
(SPOILER: There's 2+ hours of extra GDC content on our Patreon page!)
Musée Mécanique

GDC 2024 (Part 1)




Unity 6 and beyond: A roadmap of Unity Engine and services


We discussed the first "Flash Games Postmortem" in:
GDC 2017 Special (Part 2)

It's our first roundtable of the year! And did you know that Minneapolis is "partnered up" with Saint Paul? Stephen's not sure what either of these topics have to do with game development, but don't worry—we get there. Ellen kicks off a conversation about how the people we work with have a huge influence on what we create, and the experience of creating it. Mark tries to explain "control flow" in programming, and pretty much everyone gets it. You probably will, too.
Cover image by RF Studio
 - 
Pexels

Partnering Up

Click: The Magic of Instant Connection
by Ori Brafman, Ron Brafman
Goodreads






0:41:08
Control Flow

Control flow
Wikipedia