Nice Games Club - a gamedev podcast! Ellen, Stephen, and Mark
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The podcast where nice gamedevs talk gaming and game development. Nice!
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GDC 2024 Special (Part 1)
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) -
"Things just happen, somewhere." Partnering Up; Control Flow
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
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Pexels
Partnering Up
Click: The Magic of Instant Connection
by Ori Brafman, Ron Brafman
Goodreads
0:41:08
Control Flow
Control flow
Wikipedia -
Nice Games Jam: "Eddies"
The clubhouse is caffeinated and ready to jam, game jam that is.
The clubhouse is giving a prompt where air movement is the main mechanism of action and they create a physical game for a tabletop (in the style of 'Hungry Hungry Hippos'). The notoriously unpredictable 'Eddies' of air movement gives this game it's name. The main challenge for the team - a more sanitary air blower mechanism than drinking straws: a tiny bellows, small whoopie cushions, slide whistles, or party noisemakers?
Prompt
"Create a game where the main mechanics are fans and or leaf blowers."
Game type
Tabletop game
Player count
2 - 8
Materials
Blowing mechanisms - one per player (drinking straw in playtest)
A bunch of small peices of junk
A container for the small peices of junk
Playing feild (box, 8 sided)
Rule Card Deck
Setup
This is a game about some young teenagers who find some leaf blowers in their (octagonal) cul-du-sac and make a game with them.
Each player will select a side of the playing field (the box) as their home territory. The goal of the game is to have the least amount of junk (points-wise) fall off of your side of the field.
Rule Cards:
Separate the Rule cards into the three categories: Puff Variants, Point Variants, and Zone Variants. Shuffle the cards from each category, and pull three of each category to start each of the three rounds.Cards rule examples
Puff: Each player has 3 puffs per turnPoint: Each black item is worth +1 point, all other items are worth -1 pointZone: The windy end of your blowing mechanism may not be placed within zones 1+2 of the playing fieldShuffle the remaining rules cards from three categories together.From the combined deck, deal 4 cards to each player.The player may look at their hand of cardsPlace Junk (perform at the start of each round):
Gather some junk and place it in a container. Typically dice and pieces from other games will make up the majority of the junk, but this may also be dodads from your junk drawer like golf pencils, nails and screws, magnets etc.At the beginning of each round a different player will grab a handful of junk from the container and place it in the center of the 8-sided playing area.The junk placer may not arrange the junk when placing it down. Any junk that falls off of the playing field will be returned to the container of junk.
Rules
After the junk is placed the rule for each category is revealed, by flipping over the top rule card from each of the three piles: Puff, Point, and Zone. The displayed rules are now in effect.
The player who placed the junk will go first.
Each player turn has three phases:
1. The play may put a rule card from their hand into play by stacking it on top of the exsisting rule for the category which it belongs to (puff, point, or zone). That rule is now in effect and the rule that was covered up is no longer in effect.
2. The player uses their "leaf blower" to puff the objects in on the playing field the number of times indicated by the Puff rule. They must follow any Zone rules in effect.
3. The player's turn is scored according to the rule cards in effect. The player draws back up to 4 cards in their hand.
The round ends when each player has had 5 turns.
New junk is placed in the center of the playing field, new rule cards are revealed and the next round starts.
The object of the game is to have the least scoring junk blown off your edge of the playing field. Highest scoring player (usually player closest to 0 wins), as most junk is worth negative points. -
"The Roboston Sessions"
We're all back in the clubhouse for the first episode of 2024! There's some news about the show up top, but in terms of your nice hosts: Ellen has important job happenings, Mark establishes important business for IGDATC and Stephen remembers he's good at game design, but not much else.
What We Did On Our Winter Break (2023)
2024 GDC Public Events
Grace Zhou
South By Southwest
Charles Mingus - Moanin'
mohammertime
YouTube
Project L
Boardcubator
Board Game Geek
Apocalypduck
Global Game Jam
IGDATC Merch
igdatc
Have a video game concept? Twin Cities group will help you make it a reality
Louis Krauss
Star Tribune
Shift Happens
Marcin Wichary
Aresluna
Meet the robot guitarist with 78 fingers and coolest cable hair you’ve ever seen
Sheena McKenzie
CNN Business -
Getting Things Going (with Rick Stemm) [Nice Replay]
#319
Getting Things Going
Interview
2023.08.24
In this episode your nice hosts welcome Rick Stemm of PikPok to the clubhouse to talk about what happens after a game gets greenlit.
Turns out the answer involves building your team and trust.
Rick touts the idea of a sh*tty first draft - faster and worse. Coaching feedback givers for what you are looking for, and the importance of building a trust in a team. Rick spouts useful idioms and your host claim points for each time Rick says ‘cohesive’ or ‘holistic.’
Who scored the most points? Turns out Stephen declared that the points don’t matter, good thing I never bothered tabulating them.
Getting Things Going
IRL
Rick Stemm
Guest
Rick Stemm is the Design Manager and Narrative Director at PikPok! RIck is originally from Wisconsin but now lives and works in New Zealand.
Rick Stemm can be reached by email at Rick@PikPok.com
External link
Rick Stemm is on LinkedIn -
"Metroid is very serious." Secrets & Easter Eggs; Player Trust [Nice Replay]
#296
"Metroid is very serious."
Roundtable
2023.03.16
In this episode, Mark makes up a reason to take a road trip, Ellen outwits everyone, and Stephen was also there.
Zachtronics Solitaire Collection
LACMA
A Better Route Planner
Secrets & Easter Eggs
0:24:43
Ellen Burns-Johnson
Game Design
The Super Mario 64 Coin that Took 18 Years To Collect
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Patricia Hernandez
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Kotaku
PC Cheat Codes
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IGN
Reddit on video game Secrets
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Reddit
Secrets That Weren't Discovered in Games For Years
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Jordan Baranowski
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SVG
Player Trust
0:48:39
Stephen McGregor
Game Design
We touched on this idea back in our roundtable on 'The Ethics of Engagement'
"Shiny rocks get me every time."
Customer Reviews
positive, inclusive, helpful
and a joy to have on the car speakers
A podcast for everyone
Great insight into game development on a deeper level than most developers podcasts. Lots of real and action advice for all skill levels
10/10 recommend!
I made it through the first half of one episode before I realized I was hooked. Halfway through the catalogue and I gotta say, this is one of the best. If you like game development, you should most definitely check this out!