Nice Games Club - a gamedev podcast!

"Our sense of epoch." Let's Plays; Responsive Game Design

A new Nintendo is on the way, and your nice hosts talk about both it and the world it's being born into. It kicks off a longer than usual episode where Lydia just wants a way to experience horror games, Mark has an unpopular opinion, and Stephen thinks players have too much agency already.0:31:57Let's PlaysEndoparasiticmizizizizitch.ioLet’s Plays: A Copyright ConundrumAlexandra ChampagneSlaw Why I am Hesitant to Declare Let's Plays as Fair UseAquasonReddit1:17:44Responsive Game DesignWhat Capcom Didn't Tell You About Resident Evil 4Game Maker's ToolkitYouTubeWe should talk.Carol Mertz

Nice Games Jam: "The Intergalactic Dining Consortium"

Your nice hosts settle their differences in opinions when it comes to food to serve up a fresh game design document in a new Nice Games Jam episode.PromptCreate a game with one of my favorite things, food! It cannot be about/or have mechanics that are cooking. Think: growing food, pairing foods, making an international food court, menu design, using foods in season, etc.Game typeDesign documentPlayer count1Rules(Stephen note: This is more of a set of notes taken during the episode outlining a game design document.)Human in an alien culture, giving recommendations for pairings for foodYou should need to learn the rules before you can break themGain credibilityPeople order categories of food and you put it on the plate (no cooking)Gamer JourneyYou’re a plater at an alien restaurantYou first do it like a human (based on taste)You get feedback that opposes basing plates on tastePlayer starts to get curious about how to make better plates to meet needsSense criteriaTouchSightTemperatureSpicinessTaste the “wine” to know what it “tastes” likeThe threat is if you do poorly you get shipped to another planet, they have different foods and different desires for foodsOptions to changeTwo ingredients (tomato and other tomato? Looks similar)Position of foodsContainer of foodsOrientation of foodsAesthetic of the restaurant?You design the specialCreate one dish for the special, you get an amount of feedback based on the size of the restaurantYou can tweak your dish based on the feedback you getThings change as you go through the game and impact what you have available and what patrons likeThe goal is for players to experiment with the different foods (positions, containers, etc.) so they begin to understand the rules of the gameThere can be clues with the background/worldbuilding so players can learn why the foods these aliens like are why they like themWhen do you get to influence cultures? Do you get to at all?Yes, you need to figure out a way to get aliens to love the food and not just like it

"You shouldn't pet the wolf." The art of Saying No; Tiny Interactions

Mark is still out sick, so Dale takes his place in the clubhouse and brings a topic! The club makes a prediction that by the time that this episode comes out, Mark will still be sick, and if you are listening on Patreon, that is absolutely true. If you aren't listening on Patreon, you probably should be.The group talks about how often and when to say no. Stephen admits that he is the bottleneck, Lydia talks about things that she finds delightful in video games, and Dale makes a bold admission.1:33The art of Saying NoGatchamari - Dale (and Mark)'s Global Game Jam GameGlobal Game JamMini Post-Mortems on Global Game Jam GamesIGDA TCYouTubeFTL PostmortemJustin Ma and Matthew DavisGDCCeleste team Cancels a project (Earthblade)ExokEarthblade OST SoundtrackLena Raine0:31:30Tiny InteractionsSkyrim's myth of the treasure fox finally explainedWesley Yin-PooleEurogamer

Nice Games Jam: "Time Traveler Estate Sale"

Roles reverse as Dale joins Stephen and Lydia for a Nice Game Jam prompted by Mark. The results are an antiques-fueled jaunt through time, and an unexpected win for Stephen.Costcodle - Zak Kermitz, CostcodleTimeline Inventions - Zygomatic, ZygomaticHypodermic Needles - Sawbones: A Marital Tour of Misguided Medicine, Maximum FunPrompt"Come up with a game where the winner is the player who gets (or gets closest to) a certain amount of points, but that amount changes from round to round. Hard mode variant: the players don’t always know what the amount is."Game typeTabletop gamePlayer count2-8MaterialsSet of item cards from various years10 chips for each playerSet of years/eventsTimerSetupPlace 8 item cards on the table easily accessible for all players. Pick a random year/event. Set timer for 1 minute.RulesStart the timer to start the roundWhile the timer runs, players place chips on items to bid on themWhen the timer runs out, the player with the most chips on an item gets that item. In a tie, no one gets an item and it gets added to the pool during the next roundItems that are earned get their times revealed, player closest to the chosen year/event winsPlay repeats for three rounds, player with the most round wins wins the game

"Nice Games Club cannot solve all of your problems." Begging for Money; Quality of Life

Beth leads Mark and Stephen through a therapy session. Stephen talks Kickstarter, Mark talks Patreon, and everyone agrees Beth's game Verdant Skies is great. Part-Time Hero: I'm Broke But I Have To Save The World! - Future Club, KickstarterDreamsettler - Tendershoot, Patreon0:06:40Begging for Money0:52:09Quality of LifeQuality of LifeMichael “Kayin” O’ReillyKayin WorksVerdant SkiesHowling Moon SoftwareSteam