"Numbers go up." Scoring 101; Turning off the Gamedev Brain

Nice Games Club - a gamedev podcast!

Player FM - Internet Radio Done Right

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اضافه شده در five سال پیش

محتوای ارائه شده توسط Ellen, Stephen, and Mark. تمام محتوای پادکست شامل قسمت‌ها، گرافیک‌ها و توضیحات پادکست مستقیماً توسط Ellen, Stephen, and Mark یا شریک پلتفرم پادکست آن‌ها آپلود و ارائه می‌شوند. اگر فکر می‌کنید شخصی بدون اجازه شما از اثر دارای حق نسخه‌برداری شما استفاده می‌کند، می‌توانید روندی که در اینجا شرح داده شده است را دنبال کنید.https://fa.player.fm/legal

Insights Unlocked

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How Anthropologie gets omnichannel right (and what to learn) 27:29

۸ روز پیش27:29

پخش در آینده

لیست ها

پسندیدن

دوست داشته شد

27:29

Episode web page: https://tinyurl.com/2b3dz2z8 ----------------------- Rate Insights Unlocked and write a review If you appreciate Insights Unlocked , please give it a rating and a review. Visit Apple Podcasts, pull up the Insights Unlocked show page and scroll to the bottom of the screen. Below the trailers, you'll find Ratings and Reviews. Click on a star rating. Scroll down past the highlighted review and click on "Write a Review." You'll make my day. ----------------------- In this episode of Insights Unlocked , we explore the evolving landscape of omnichannel strategies with Kate MacCabe, founder of Flywheel Strategy. With nearly two decades of experience in digital strategy and product management, Kate shares her insights on bridging internal silos, leveraging customer insights, and designing omnichannel experiences that truly resonate. From the early days of DTC growth to today’s complex, multi-touchpoint customer journeys, Kate explains why omnichannel is no longer optional—it’s essential. She highlights a standout example from Anthropologie, demonstrating how brands can create a unified customer experience across digital and physical spaces. Whether you’re a marketing leader, UX strategist, or product manager, this episode is packed with actionable advice on aligning teams, integrating user feedback, and building a future-proof omnichannel strategy. Key Takeaways: ✅ Omnichannel vs. Multichannel: Many brands think they’re omnichannel, but they’re really just multichannel. Kate breaks down the difference and how to shift toward true integration. ✅ Anthropologie’s Success Story: Learn how this brand seamlessly blended physical and digital experiences to create a memorable, data-driven customer journey. ✅ User Feedback is the Secret Weapon: Discover how continuous user testing—before, during, and after a launch—helps brands fine-tune their strategies and avoid costly mistakes. ✅ Aligning Teams for Success: Cross-functional collaboration is critical. Kate shares tips on breaking down silos between marketing, product, and development teams. ✅ Emerging Tech & Omnichannel: Instead of chasing the latest tech trends, Kate advises businesses to define their strategic goals first—then leverage AI, AR, and other innovations to enhance the customer experience. Quotes from the Episode: 💬 "Omnichannel isn’t just about being everywhere; it’s about creating seamless bridges between every touchpoint a customer interacts with." – Kate MacCabe 💬 "Companies that truly listen to their users—through qualitative and quantitative insights—are the ones that thrive in today’s competitive landscape." – Kate MacCabe Resources & Links: 🔗 Learn more about Flywheel Strategy 🔗 Connect with Kate MacCabe on LinkedIn 🔗 Explore UserTesting for customer insights for marketers…

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This week, learn about what Ellen was like as a student. Stephen wonders if he’s made a huge mistake, Ellen does some work research, and Mark insists that there is no such thing as magic.

Stephen started a new class: Film making
Ellen forced her parents to play another game!
Parks Board Game
Mark saw the Badger Badger Mushroom song for the first time and was underwhelmed. Consequently, Dale was editing and then also got to see it for the first time, and found that this was the correct response. This video is over 20 years old (2003).
Badger Badger Mushroom
-
Weeb's Stuff
,
YouTube
Mark is (still) working on some User Interface Tools in Unity, called NobleTools

0:11:26

Scoring 101

The four types of scoring discussed: 1. Victory Points 2. Experience Points 3. Stats based scoring 4. Hit Points

Perplexity conversation

Noodle

The Training Arcade

Kurt Vonnigut The Shape of Stories

Stephen Johnson

Big Think

Summing Salt - Mario Kart DS

Summing Salt

YouTube

0:42:39

Turning off the Gamedev Brain

Moonwalking with Einstein

Wikipedia

Ellen has been watching the behind the scenes special feature for ' The House that Dragons Built'

447 قسمت

#Video Games #Lifestyle #Arts #Graphic Design #Ellen, Stephen, and Mark #Fine Arts #Games and Gambling #Game Jam

"Numbers go up." Scoring 101; Turning off the Gamedev Brain

Nice Games Club - a gamedev podcast!

23 subscribers

published حدود یک سال پیش

اشتراک گذاری

MP3•خانه قسمت

Fetch error

Hmmm there seems to be a problem fetching this series right now. Last successful fetch was on April 03, 2025 12:10 (4d ago)

This week, learn about what Ellen was like as a student. Stephen wonders if he’s made a huge mistake, Ellen does some work research, and Mark insists that there is no such thing as magic.

Stephen started a new class: Film making
Ellen forced her parents to play another game!
Parks Board Game
Mark saw the Badger Badger Mushroom song for the first time and was underwhelmed. Consequently, Dale was editing and then also got to see it for the first time, and found that this was the correct response. This video is over 20 years old (2003).
Badger Badger Mushroom
-
Weeb's Stuff
,
YouTube
Mark is (still) working on some User Interface Tools in Unity, called NobleTools

0:11:26

Scoring 101

The four types of scoring discussed: 1. Victory Points 2. Experience Points 3. Stats based scoring 4. Hit Points

Perplexity conversation

Noodle

The Training Arcade

Kurt Vonnigut The Shape of Stories

Stephen Johnson

Big Think

Summing Salt - Mario Kart DS

Summing Salt

YouTube

0:42:39

Turning off the Gamedev Brain

Moonwalking with Einstein

Wikipedia

Ellen has been watching the behind the scenes special feature for ' The House that Dragons Built'

447 قسمت

#Video Games #Lifestyle #Arts #Graphic Design #Ellen, Stephen, and Mark #Fine Arts #Games and Gambling #Game Jam

همه قسمت ها

1
"Nice Games Club cannot solve all of your problems." Begging for Money; Quality of Life

۴ روز پیش

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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 , Kickstarter Dreamsettler - Tendershoot , Patreon 0:06:40 Begging for Money 0:52:09 Quality of Life Quality of Life Michael “Kayin” O’Reilly Kayin Works Verdant Skies Howling Moon Software Steam…

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Nice Thinking: "Nice Games Alliance Workshops"

11 روز پیش

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Beth Korth, board member of Nice Games Alliance, enters the clubhouse to talk about the purpose of the NGA and how to best fulfill that mission. They discuss how workshops, talks, and conferences fit into their plans. And how they can provide unique experiences and services that the gamedev community can't get elsewhere. They also emphasize the importance of lunch. Nice Games Alliance Workshops…

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"A Paragraph Signing" Incremental Learning ; Making Science Fiction Worlds

18 روز پیش

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Lydia joins the clubhouse for her first regular episode as a host (it's calendar math)! The clubhouse discusses the release of Civilization VII and how it is taking up all of Stephen's time. Lydia brings to the table the question of how she can learn more games, and how tutorials don't work for her. Stephen regrets not being able to fully develop the world which is the setting for his five-minute student film. Civ VII Civilization VII Switch 2 Switch 2 mouse control - Kyle Orland , Ars Technica 0:15:01 Incremental Learning Lydia talks about her success learning knitting, and her rectangle projections The club talks about differences between recipes and game development tutorials Tasks xkcd 0:54:10 Making Science Fiction Worlds This topic was inspired by Stephen's science fiction student film. You can watch that here: "All Good Things" Stephen McGregor YouTube "For All Mankind" Wikipedia Widget Satchel Widget Satchel is a game that Mark, Stephen, and Ellen worked on. Mark developed a lot of background story, including this: "I do not wish that the troubles of the past be carried into the stars. I imagined better for us and expected better also. But we do not realise our whole future in sequence, small futures each after the other. We must go anyway, blind and smiling, emissaries of wonder, explorers. On this day, at this place, together, we launch an expedition for which we are unprepared. Yet we are now even, a collected peoples concerned of justice looking in order to see our whole future, ahead of us. Widget Satchel is on Itch and other platforms Also check out this episode from when we released Widget Satchel "Space ferrets lift off!" Widget Satchel Special…

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Nice Games Jam: "Dinosaurs of North Dakota"

25 روز پیش

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The clubhouse gets Cretaceous this week; your nice hosts have been challenged to create a game about dinosaurs and their feeding habits. Prompt Make a game about the feeding habits of dinosaurs or of paleontologists, bonus points if all the dinosaurs are from the same era. Game type Design document Player count 1 Rules Cretaceous period Flowering plants evolved here Early mammals here too Velociraptors too! Different sized dinosaurs Name: Dinosaurs of North Dakota Play as big (T-rex), small (dog-sized) and medium (triceratops) Survive a day as each of these creatures Order of play Medium first (herbivore) Big next (T-rex) Small last (scavenger) Then Paleontologist discovers (eats chicken with a PLASTIC fork) Where you die determines how preserved the bones are during the paleontology phase If you want more preserved bones you have to choose to not live as long (due to how the preservation works) Gameplay Play as the different creatures, the player chooses when that phase of the game ends Can also end after a certain time played Then you swap to a new creature and play as them, choosing when to end When you get back to a creature, time has passed and things are different in the world (partly due to player influence from other creatures) Player knocking down trees might be knocked down in future scenes, eating a lot of plants may make the area sparse in the future Keep playing as the different creature until enough time has passed Afterwards, play as a paleontologist and rediscover what you’ve done Record what you’ve done with the knowledge the paleontologist has (and not the player), so it won’t actually be accurate to the player’s playthrough Based on what the player’s done, it can affect what things the paleontologist will be able to say about the state of things after…

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"More Ellen in the future." What We Did On Our Winter Break (2024-25)

۵ weeks پیش

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NEWS! New episodes now come out a week early on Patreon!! Sign up to listen to next week's episode now! We talk about why, and the silly reason why now , in this episode, along with another, much bigger piece of NEWS . And of course, your nice hosts continue the show's annual tradition of recounting what they did during hiatus. SO. MUCH. NEWS. Nice Games Club on Patreon What We Did On Our Winter Break (2024-25) Twin Cities Gamedev community Join the IGDATC server Discord Donate to Nice Games Alliance ("no" relation) IGDATC 2025 games Global Game Jam Stephen UFO 50 Civilization VII Lydia Play Lydia's team's GGJ game, Meowlogue Mittens Meowlogue Mittens - Main Theme Edison Boerke SoundCloud Lydia's team invited everyone at the event to vote on the name of thier game's main character. Mark Play Mark's team's GGJ game, Gachamari Ellen Mars First Logistics Steam Martian Chess Loony Labs RoboCo Steam…

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Puzzle Systems (with Arvi "Hempuli" Teikari) [Nice Replay]

۶ weeks پیش

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#373 Puzzle Systems Interview 2024.11.15 Releasing 2019's "Baba is You" after more than a decade of making puzzle games was a milestone for this week's guest, but it was also just the beginning of his design journey. Arvi "Hempuli" Teikari talks to your nice hosts about the balance between giving players freedom and constraining their expression, the pacing and sequencing of individual puzzles, what happens when a "cool" design annoys players, and more. Arvi's cats make a spirited apperance in the back half of the episode. Here they are basking in the Finnish sun. Puzzle Systems Game Design Tools Multimedia Fusion 2 - Clickteam Clickteam Fusion 2.5 - Clickteam Construct - Scirra Ltd MP2 MP2 Chowdren Engine Bring the ice cube to the goal without exposing it to heat. - Increpare PuzzleScript - Increpare Covechrome - Hempuli , itch.io You nice hosts previously discussed what happens to players who become developers in: "Numbers go up." Arvi "Hempuli" Teikari Guest External link Hempuli - social media links Hempuli on Itch.io…

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“That’s way too many pawns.” Communicating Difficulty; Remixed Play Modes [Nice Replay]

۷ weeks پیش

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#368 “That’s way too many pawns.” Roundtable 2024.10.11 This week, Ellen kicks things off with a chat about how games tell players, “This might be tough!” and how to make that fun and fair. Stephen and Mark jump in with their takes on what makes difficulty settings shine. Then, Mark thinks about the practice taking familiar game mechanics and twisting them into something fresh. Think pacifist runs or limited equipment modes. Why limit yourself to one way to play when you can remix the whole game? As always, there are some goofs in here, too. Unity 6 Preview is now available - Nancy Larue , Unity Unity is canceling the Runtime Fee - Matt Bromberg , Unity Unite Conference - Unity Hasbro Game Night (for Switch) We Were Here Series - Total Mayhem Games , Steam Loopy: a tool for thinking in systems - Nicky Case Machinations: Create digital twins for your systems, processes or economies Communicating Difficulty 0:21:44 Ellen Burns-Johnson Game Design Really Bad Chess Puzzmo - Orta Therox & Zach Gage Aggro Crab Studio "Why Quitting Is Usually Worth It" - David Duchovny & Stephen Dubner , Freakonomics Radio Network Remixed Play Modes 0:40:35 Mark LaCroix Game Design Metro Nexus - Noble Robot 10 Most Unique Multiplayer Modes In Video Games - James Kennedy , The Gamer Extra game modes - Universal Videogame List PARKS Board Game - 59 Parks…

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Optimization (with Jarryd Huntley) [Nice Replay]

۸ weeks پیش

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#366 Optimization Interview 2024.09.26 Entering the clubhouse this week is our the third Owl (employee of Owlchemy Labs) and first Peabody Award winner (as lead developer for We Are OFK ), to talk about the "dos," "don'ts," and "good enoughs" of optimization. Cleveland video game designer Jarryd Huntley wins Peabody Award for ‘We Are OFK’ - Joey Morona , cleveland.com We are OFK - Peabody Awards Cleveland Game Developers - Linktree Optimization Hardware Production Programming Is Using LINQ in C# Bad for Performance? - James Vickers , The Startup For Vs Foreach In C# - Sagar Gavand , C# Corner Jarryd Huntley Guest…

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Nice Thinking: "Dialogue Through Goals" [Nice Replay]

۹ weeks پیش

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#349 Dialogue Through Goals Nice Thinking 2024.05.29 Stephen brings a half-baked thought into the clubhouse for this Nice Thinking episode: how can we improve dialogue systems? He's got some opinions, which Mark and Ellen immediately debunk, but it leads to some engaging conversation. Dialogue Through Goals Stephen McGregor Game Design Narrative…

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"The lensing effect of the window." Theming vs. Aesthetics; Parries [Nice Replay]

10 weeks پیش

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#361 "The lensing effect of the window." Roundtable 2024.08.22 It’s hot in the clubhouse and hot in Ellen’s greenhouse this week, so your hosts are eager to crunch through some discussion. Ellen introduces the concept of the MDA framework, and the differences between Theming and Aesthetics, and Stephen comes to a major conclusion about parrying. Theming vs. Aesthetics 0:06:40 Ellen Burns-Johnson Game Design The MDA Framework - Wikipedia Ellen promised Dictionary.com definitions, so here you go: Aesthetics - Dictionary.com Theme - Dictionary.com We talked about theming and aesthetics for a GameJam Game from a previous episode The Bike Boom Alien Isolation Themes explored n : Demystifying the Terror of Alien Isolation - Andy Robertson , Wired Parries 0:28:56 Stephen McGregor Game Design Stephen's list of why parries are so popular: 1) A way to reward mastery or paying attention 2) Rewards participation 3) An appreciable way to consider mastering the game The different variations of Parrying 1) Just Dodges 2) Traditional Parrying (miss = block) 3) Dynamic Parrying release parrying 4) Alternate button (paper mario parrying) EVO Moment 37 - Wikipedia…

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Tutorialization with Puzzles (with Luke Spierewka) [Nice Replay]

11 weeks پیش

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#371 Tutorialization with Puzzles Interview 2024.11.01 "Tutorials shouldn’t feel like tutorials!" Like most aspects of game design, it's an easy concept to summarize but a difficult one to pull off. Luke Spierewka and the team at Afterburn Games have mastered it, using their charming approach in successful titles like Golf Peaks and Railbound. Come learn the arcane secrets of the puzzle game tutorial! Also featuring some great room sound . Afterburn Games (studio) Tutorialization with Puzzles Game Design On crafting Railbound, a cozy track-bending puzzle game - Evgeny Obedkov , Game World Observer Dynablaster (game) - Wikipedia Luke Spierewka Guest Luke is a game designer, programmer, and jack of all trades. He makes games, organizes events, gives talks (and interviews) and does "lots of other stuff." He's worked on many titles, including Railbound, Golf Peaks, Gwent, and SUPERHOT . Learn more about Luke at http://spierek.net/…

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"A slow meat computer" King Making; Thinky Bits (Off-Screen Gameplay) [Nice Replay]

12 weeks پیش

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#347 "A slow meat computer" Roundtable 2024.05.16 In the episode, Mark, Ellen, and Stephen talk local events, including (don’t worry everyone’s fine) a fire in the clubhouse’s building, construction, and the games they are playing, so if you are just here for the topics, go ahead and skip to minute 23. Ellen learns about King Making, Stephen humble brags about being good at Smash Brothers, and Dale plays kingmaker in naming the second topic! News Masu Fire - Paul Walsh , Star Tribune Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) - Jared Brey , Governing What We are Playing Dragon's Dogma 2 - Wikipedia Princess Peach Showtime NPR Review - Rakiesha Chase-Jackson , NPR King Making 0:23:00 Stephen McGregor Game Design Stephen has been QA testing Harvest Kingdom - Ben Hunder , Discord The YouTube video that Stephen references - Distraction Makers , YouTube Kingmaking in Root (Leder Games) video - Cole Wehrle , GDC Smallworld - Board Game Geek Thinky Bits (Off-Screen Gameplay) 0:49:17 Ellen Burns-Johnson Game Design Games discussed Return of the Obra Din Spirit Island - Board Game Geek Death Drives a Bus - itch.io…

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Nice Games Jam: "Eddies" [Nice Replay]

13 weeks پیش

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#338 Eddies Nice Games Jam 2024.03.11 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 turn Point: Each black item is worth +1 point, all other items are worth -1 point Zone: The windy end of your blowing mechanism may not be placed within zones 1+2 of the playing field Shuffle 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 cards Place 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.…

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The Intersection of Puzzle and Story (with Ron Gilbert) [Nice Replay]

14 weeks پیش

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#354 The Intersection of Puzzle and Story Interview 2024.07.05 Narrative designer and pal of the program Beth Korth fills in for Ellen as guest host this week and next! Your nice hosts welcome famed designer Ron Gilbert (Monkey Island, Thimbleweed Park) into the clubhouse to discuss the virtues of inexperience, friction for its own sake, how it's all about story, and it's puzzles all the way down. The Intersection of Puzzle and Story Game Design Narrative Production Return to Monkey Island will have a hint system because the internet exists now - Joshua Rivera , Polygon Verdant Skies - Steam Classic Game Postmortem: Maniac Mansion - GDC , YouTube The phrase "confederacy of dunces" derives from a Jonathan Swift quote . Examples of movies that feature a poorly-received genre twist include Serenity (2019) , Remember Me (2010) , and Safe Haven (2013) . Ron Gilbert Guest Owner of Terrible Toybox, the designer/creator of Monkey Island, The Cave, Pajama Sam and the designer/co-creator of Maniac Mansion, DeathSpank and Thimbleweed Park. Co-designer of Return to Monkey Island. External link Mastodon - @grumpygamer@mastodon.gamedev.place Blog - Grumpy Gamer Studio - Terrible Toybox…

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"The super-powerful beam or whatever." Code Libraries; Game Overs [Nice Replay]

14 weeks پیش

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#353 "The super-powerful beam or whatever." Roundtable 2024.06.27 This week, your nice hosts talk about code that isn't yours and ask about the natural conclusion of the narrative. Mark is handy, Ellen kinda wants to add a note, and Stephen is grounded. It looked so easy in the brochure, but the brochure lied - Antony Ingram , Hagerty Code Libraries 0:07:41 Mark LaCroix Production Programming Tools Best practices for writing code comments - Ellen Spertus , Stack Overflow Blog Declare namespaces to organize types - Microsoft Learn Your nice hosts discussed licensing in a previous episode: "What's a little grand larceny?" Game Overs Stephen McGregor Game Design Narrative Alternatives to the Game Over screen - Game Developer We didn't mention it in the episode for some reason, but our "Metroidvania-lite" game Widget Satchel had no deaths, game overs, or failure states.…

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Nicest of 2024

16 weeks پیش

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It's a cheery and bright episode to get you through the dark cold days of winter! ☃️ Your hosts (plus guest Joanna May) wrap up 2024 with a readout of their nicest things from the year—nicest games, nicest accomplishments, and nicest procrastinations. Plus, plans and projects for 2025, some soft resolutions, and a review of some exciting upcoming titles you're likely to see hit various storefronts in the next calendar year. A happy year's end to all! Cover image credit goes to Animal Crossing World . This year's selection of Nice Replays start next week. See you in 2025! 2024 Accomplishments Mark Founded a 501(c)(3) organization, Nice Games Alliance. Got a new job, on a still unannounced game. Renewed the lease on the Noble Robot office Stephen I made two movies! (Or at least I will have by the end of the year) Immense progress on Future Club game Ellen My RSV game won multiple industry awards <3 Hired Lydia Running out of plant room Joanna Solved generalized serialization Palette generation too Lots of iterative things that were worked on last year 2024 "Nicest" Games This is not a “best of 2024” or even a definitive list of our favorites. It’s just a few games we want to be nice to. Ellen We Were Here series Bonza Mark Astro Bot Stephen Dragon's Dogma II UFO 50 Puzzmo Joanna Helldivers II Breath of the Wild 2025 Most Anticipated Games Ellen Metroid Prime 4: Beyond Winter Burrow FragPunk Borderlands 4 Rift of the Necrodancer ...??? Lunar: Remastered Collection (for Eric) Mark Civilization VII Star Trek Ascendancy: The Final Frontier (the Gorn!) The Switch 2 Stephen Dragon Dogma II DLC (I’m cheating I know) Civilization VII Honestly probably Switch 2 stuff, too Joanna Paralives 2025 Resolutions Ellen: Finally put together a portfolio site! Mark: Dreamsettler , again! Unannounced project Release Operators ! Get Nice Games Alliance some sponsors/donations! Stephen: Play more games! Do more stuff outside of my apartment. Joanna: Put out a bigger better game demo!…

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Serialization (with Joanna May)

17 weeks پیش

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We invite Joanna May into the clubhouse to discuss serialization. We get ever so slightly closer to discovering what serialization even is with Joanna's help! We also have a little time to throw a little shade at Stephen's commenting style and brackets on their own line. Chickensoft Tibo, artist of the Chickensoft mascot. Eating your own dog food (Dogfooding) - Wikipedia Logic Blocks - Wikipedia Serialization Programming Tools Serialization - Wikipedia BinaryFormatter migration guide - gewarren, jeffhandley, terrajobst, adamsitnik , Microsoft Learn @JsonSubTypes vs. Reflections for Polymorphic Deserialization in Jackson - Ovidiu Mihai Tacu , Baeldung What are the advantages of just-in-time compilation versus ahead-of-time compil… - Stack Overflow Introspection - jolexxa [Joanna] , GitHub IL2CPP Overview - Unity Martha had mentioned unit tests (which Mark and Stephen still don't do) in a previous episode. “That wasn’t the angle I was going for.” Chickensoft Development Philosophy - Chickensoft Joanna May Guest Joanna May is the creator of Chickensoft, open source tools for Godot and C# as well as a grassroots community. External link Chickensoft…

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Nice Games Jam: "Space Mall Mystery VHS Game"

18 weeks پیش

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In this episode Lydia is back in the clubhouse to discuss her first job, and to help make a game about said job. But, because your nice hosts couldn't choose just one, it is also about Ellen's job at her parents' pet store, and Stephen's first job. Mark's also. When introducing Lydia to the concept of a nice games jam, the stages of the nice game jam are referenced. Here are the stages: 1) Panic 2) Prompt 3) More Panic 4) Scramble 5) Oh, we can do this 6) We did this - let’s do more We have throw pillows now While designing this game Stephen mentions the phrase "experience bij." This comes from the 'Star Trek the Next Generation Interactive VCR Board Game." Star Trek the Next Generation Interactive VCR Board Game - Board Game Geek Compilation of "Experience bij." - YouTube Prompt "Create a game based on one of your team’s first job (either gig-based, such as babysitting or lawn mowing or paycheck based), but set in a world with either evil robots, monsters, or aliens." Game type Tabletop game Materials VHS tape Mall map Rules Takes place in a mall, in a starbase Theater, retail, pet store, cafeteria Pen and paper RPG, players need to figure out what’s going on outside without leaving the mall/their jobs Communication is limited somehow Nosy kids? Point where we’re in too deep? It’s now a VHS tape/DVD game. Each character has unique roles and abilities based on their job Cafeteria unboxer person, sees recycling bins, can make things out of trash Retail, interacts with customers regularly Pet store, young kid who does mischief things Theater, technical expertise, interacts with other staff of theater Mall wide announcements (security, mall, etc.) Different locations have a stack of cards containing information, they have unique ability to access these different decks. Info from cards cannot be talked about, you need to move to another player to give them that information. NPCs move on a track separately, they move during the “computer” turn, the mall is a separate turn/entity NPCs control how much players can move (they may have customers they need to deal with) Each round the players have certain actions, different actions if there are customers in the store Some cards are gossip (from customers), some cards are evidence (physical things you find) Some of the gossip is false, good/juicy information is rare Narrative Three acts Act 1: Something’s going on! Busier than normal, more security, longer shifts than normal because everyone needs to be in the mall, the management wants to keep everyone there A lot of the rumors are about not being able to do their regular jobs outside of the mall Act 2: It’s one of three things Act 3: Did we figure out what’s going on? You have to figure out what the threat is, afterwards pick some number of ways to deal with it, depending on the response you have a list of tasks to complete to fulfill. If the tasks you did relate to the actual threat, you get points.…

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Digital Escape Rooms (with Lydia Symchych)

19 weeks پیش

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All of your hosts are together in the Clubhouse for a special interview! Lydia Symchych is an impact game designer who has been working with Ellen over the last year. Today, she shares her experience of making an escape room that needed to be rendered in both "physical" and and digital environments. Also, sound effects and pillows. In the USA, November 28th is Thanksgiving Day, and November 29th is National Native American Heritage Day. Happy holidays, if you're in the USA—and if you're not, we hope you have something to be thankful for. 💖 Digital Escape Rooms Game Design Articulate Storyline 360 HyperCard - Wikipedia Exhibit Design - Wikipedia Escape Room Races with the Lads - Northernlion , YouTube Escaping a Room of Terrors - GameGrumps , YouTube Lydia Symchych Guest Lydia is a collaborative game designer and cross-disciplinary translator, who approaches design with compassion and ✨ sparkles ✨. She creates interactive and interpretive learning experiences, including museum exhibits and positive impact + educational games. Ellen thinks she is great. External link You can find Lydia on LinkedIn…

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Nice Thinking: "Iterative Game Jam"

20 weeks پیش

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Your nice hosts chew over a concept Stephen brings into the clubhouse: a series of "game jams" where participants iterate on one specific idea in each session. Playdate Update - Fall 2024 - Panic , YouTube Noble Engine - Noble Robot IGDATC Events - igdatc 0:04:30 Iterative Game Jam Meditations

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Puzzle Systems (with Arvi "Hempuli" Teikari)

21 weeks پیش

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Releasing 2019's "Baba is You" after more than a decade of making puzzle games was a milestone for this week's guest, but it was also just the beginning of his design journey. Arvi "Hempuli" Teikari talks to your nice hosts about the balance between giving players freedom and constraining their expression, the pacing and sequencing of individual puzzles, what happens when a "cool" design annoys players, and more. Arvi's cats make a spirited apperance in the back half of the episode. Here they are basking in the Finnish sun. Puzzle Systems Game Design Tools Multimedia Fusion 2 - Clickteam Clickteam Fusion 2.5 - Clickteam Construct - Scirra Ltd MP2 MP2 Chowdren Engine Bring the ice cube to the goal without exposing it to heat. - Increpare PuzzleScript - Increpare Covechrome - Hempuli , itch.io You nice hosts previously discussed what happens to players who become developers in: "Numbers go up." Arvi "Hempuli" Teikari Guest External link Hempuli - social media links Hempuli on Itch.io…

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Nice Games Jam: "Soapbox Derby OF TIME"

22 weeks پیش

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In this episode Ellen usurps the normal process for a nice game jam prompt to explore her own idea on tabletop mechanics. Who would have thought the scoring system for this game would be 'Points for the Future War'? Stephen's One-Minute Movie - Stephen McGregor's Group , YouTube Discussion during development Subbuteo Soapboxderby.org Bullet Bill Soapbox Derby Car - Lou Whitmire , Mansfield News Joural Prompt Make a tabletop game where the core mechanic is modulating the friction on the board. Game type Tabletop game Player count 3-5 Materials Board - 5x5 grid where tiles can be placed 5 racer sleds Racer weights Tiles with different friction coefficients (terrain tiles) Mission from HQ Cards Special Objective Cards Setup 1) Racer sleds and racer weights are randomly distributed to the racetrack row. 2) Each racer sled gets the name of a racer. Each racer name should be silly, like Jenny Too-fast or Billy Tumble. 3) Each player draws two Mission from HQ cards and picks one to be their secret objective. Rules Players are given each a set amount of time-travel credits. On their turn, each player uses a time-travel credit to either replace or swap terrain tiles. When each all players have spent their time travel credits, the race is on! All racer sleds are released from their starting box, and the results of the race are observed. Each completed mission results in the number of 'Points for the Future' on the mission from HQ card awarded to that player. The number of points is based on the difficulty of the mission. After the weekend derby is complete (15 rounds), the player with the most point for the future war is declared the winner, but not for 20-30 years.…

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Tutorialization with Puzzles (with Luke Spierewka)

23 weeks پیش

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"Tutorials shouldn’t feel like tutorials!" Like most aspects of game design, it's an easy concept to summarize but a difficult one to pull off. Luke Spierewka and the team at Afterburn Games have mastered it, using their charming approach in successful titles like Golf Peaks and Railbound. Come learn the arcane secrets of the puzzle game tutorial! Also featuring some great room sound . Afterburn Games (studio) Tutorialization with Puzzles Game Design On crafting Railbound, a cozy track-bending puzzle game - Evgeny Obedkov , Game World Observer Dynablaster (game) - Wikipedia Luke Spierewka Guest Luke is a game designer, programmer, and jack of all trades. He makes games, organizes events, gives talks (and interviews) and does "lots of other stuff." He's worked on many titles, including Railbound, Golf Peaks, Gwent, and SUPERHOT . Learn more about Luke at http://spierek.net/…

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"Please go vote." Runtime Asset Management; Double Jump vs. Dash

24 weeks پیش

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This week, your nice hosts talk a little bit about our civic duty before getting into two very on-brand topics. Make a plan to vote on (or before!) November 5th. Information at https://vote.org/ Everything You Need to Vote - Vote.org What States Allow Same Day Voter Registration and When? - Rock the Vote The Only Patriotic Choice for President - The New York Times These are the Republicans endorsing Harris over Trump - Niha Masih , The Washington Post Donald Trump Is Unfit to Lead - The New York Times Donald Trump’s First Term Is a Warning - New York Times Opinion , The New York Times Runtime Asset Management Phaser Simplify your content management with Addressables Unity WAD Doom Wiki Double Jump vs. Dash Games Are Better With Double Jumps Heather Alexandra Kotaku Why Celeste's dash feels great Alex Wiltshire Rock Paper Shotgun Kaizo Wikipedia…

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Combat Design (with Timothy Staton-Davis)

25 weeks پیش

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We welcome Timothy Staton-Davis into the clubhouse to talk both the broad strokes and the nitty-gritty of combat design. Melanated Game Kitchen - itch.io Combat Design Art Game Design We talked about "juice" in game design way back! You can find links related to the topic here as well. "I am a Juice Journeyman!" Pacing - Robert Yang, Andrew Yoder , The Level Design Book Timothy Staton-Davis Guest Lead Encounter Designer for Brass Lion Entertainment, and Creative Director of Melenated Game Kitchen. External link https://melanatedgamekitchen.itch.io/…

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“That’s way too many pawns.” Communicating Difficulty; Remixed Play Modes

25 weeks پیش

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This week, Ellen kicks things off with a chat about how games tell players, “This might be tough!” and how to make that fun and fair. Stephen and Mark jump in with their takes on what makes difficulty settings shine. Then, Mark thinks about the practice taking familiar game mechanics and twisting them into something fresh. Think pacifist runs or limited equipment modes. Why limit yourself to one way to play when you can remix the whole game? As always, there are some goofs in here, too. Unity 6 Preview is now available - Nancy Larue , Unity Unity is canceling the Runtime Fee - Matt Bromberg , Unity Unite Conference - Unity Hasbro Game Night (for Switch) We Were Here Series - Total Mayhem Games , Steam Loopy: a tool for thinking in systems - Nicky Case Machinations: Create digital twins for your systems, processes or economies 0:21:44 Communicating Difficulty Really Bad Chess Puzzmo Orta Therox & Zach Gage Aggro Crab Studio "Why Quitting Is Usually Worth It" David Duchovny & Stephen Dubner Freakonomics Radio Network 0:40:35 Remixed Play Modes Metro Nexus Noble Robot 10 Most Unique Multiplayer Modes In Video Games James Kennedy The Gamer Extra game modes Universal Videogame List PARKS Board Game 59 Parks…

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"Numbers go up." Scoring 101; Turning off the Gamedev Brain

27 weeks پیش

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This week, learn about what Ellen was like as a student. Stephen wonders if he’s made a huge mistake, Ellen does some work research, and Mark insists that there is no such thing as magic. Stephen started a new class: Film making Ellen forced her parents to play another game! Parks Board Game Mark saw the Badger Badger Mushroom song for the first time and was underwhelmed. Consequently, Dale was editing and then also got to see it for the first time, and found that this was the correct response. This video is over 20 years old (2003). Badger Badger Mushroom - Weeb's Stuff , YouTube Mark is (still) working on some User Interface Tools in Unity, called NobleTools 0:11:26 Scoring 101 The four types of scoring discussed: 1. Victory Points 2. Experience Points 3. Stats based scoring 4. Hit Points Perplexity conversation Noodle The Training Arcade Kurt Vonnigut The Shape of Stories Stephen Johnson Big Think Summing Salt - Mario Kart DS Summing Salt YouTube 0:42:39 Turning off the Gamedev Brain Moonwalking with Einstein Wikipedia Ellen has been watching the behind the scenes special feature for ' The House that Dragons Built'…

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Optimization (with Jarryd Huntley)

28 weeks پیش

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Entering the clubhouse this week is our the third Owl (employee of Owlchemy Labs) and first Peabody Award winner (as lead developer for We Are OFK ), to talk about the "dos," "don'ts," and "good enoughs" of optimization. Cleveland video game designer Jarryd Huntley wins Peabody Award for ‘We Are OFK’ - Joey Morona , cleveland.com We are OFK - Peabody Awards Cleveland Game Developers - Linktree Optimization Hardware Production Programming Is Using LINQ in C# Bad for Performance? - James Vickers , The Startup For Vs Foreach In C# - Sagar Gavand , C# Corner Jarryd Huntley Guest…

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"It's hard how my mind works." Audio Middleware; Psychic Distance

29 weeks پیش

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There are now episodes of Nice Games Club for each new day of the year! When you get to the last day of that year, you'll hear about Audio Middleware and Psychic Distance from us in the clubhouse. About the Fair - Minnesota State Fair 0:17:06 Audio Middleware An example of audio tech conversations we've had in the past. Game Audio Tools and Workflows Wwise Audiokinetic FMOD FMOD 0:51:32 Psychic Distance Psychic Distance: what it is and how to use it Emma Darwin This Itch of Writing…

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Nice Thinking: "Player Personas"

30 weeks پیش

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In this episode the boys are back in Minneapolis, but they are still thinking about their time with Ellen in Duluth, or Roboluth ;) s So they are using this episode to talk about instructions, again, but this time though the lens of the different types of "user personas" who will be reading it. Instructions What is Roboston? Roboston is a tabletop game that the the Nice Games Club came up with during an podcast Game Jam Episode. For anyone new to the podcast, we recommend starting two episodes back (at 362), for some background on the game. For those of you who wish for a full memory restoration, here is the full episode list: The original Nice Game Jam where Roboston was concieved Roboston! (Live at 2D Con 2020) A follow up episode 197 continues the devlopment because they were so excited about Roboston Roboston! (part 2) The club worked on the game over winter break in 2020-21, episode 207 summarizes what they worked on. "It’s March tomorrow." What We Did On Our Winter Break (2020-21) We again visited Roboston over our 2023-24 winter break, and talk about in in episode 337 "Hundreds of questions like that." What We Did On Our Winter Break (2023-24) Mark and Steven visit Ellen in Duluth where they play a bunch of Roboston "Apply your context, thusly." Rulebook is More than a script for “the teach” Verbal and visual (and, increasingly, multimedia) Define your Players Steve Bromley Game User Research Define your Players User persona is the UX term, Player persona is used in games Things to add to the FAQs Does the value affected by the repeater also get multiplied if you’re adding a part? Does the value for a new part always have to come from the torso? Can you send the robot without having arms/legs/heads? How many dice should I try to go for in this check? Player Personas 1. Roboston new players Box inventory list Anatomical diagram of a robot Game setup diagram (game as a whole, what’s in your hand) Reference cards (player actions, game phases, etc.) 2. Roboston experienced players Table of contents Stats for nerds Index (?) FAQ section 3. Inexperienced tabletop game players Invitation to play, sense of fun Build trust with the player as the rulebook progresses 4. Experienced tabletop game players Resource, reference Allow them to get right to the core, fast…

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