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 Foundati ..read more

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 ..read more

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 t ..read more

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 B ..read more

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 P ..read more

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 ..read more

#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  -  Patricia Hernandez ,  Kotaku PC Cheat Codes  -  IGN Reddit on video game Secrets  -  Reddit Secrets That Weren't Discovered in Games For Years  -  Jordan Baranowski ,  SVG ..read more

#301 Pothole Run Nice Games Jam 2023.04.21 According to Minnesota Public Radio, it's hot girl sinkhole spring. In other words, we have an insane number of potholes right now in the Twin Cities, and since we can't do anything other than wait for the hardworking folks of road repair to fix them, we made a game about the whole situation. Andy and Beth Korth join for this special Nice Games Jam! GLOM preorder through Miniature Market GLOM preorder through GameNerdz ✨hot girl sinkhole spring✨  -  Minnesota Public Radio Uptown washout leaves 8-foot-deep sinkhole in Minneapo ..read more

#298 "One size bigger and red." Roundtable 2023.04.13 Dale learned a lot while editing this episode. She learned the board game ‘Spirit Island’ is about spirits that protect an island, and she is pretty sure that this is the same premise as hit TV show ‘LOST’. She learns that CSS is not a programming language or a mark-up language And she learns that CSS stands for Cascading Style Sheets She learns that AAA games are easy (not sure why she struggles with them) That there are either wrong choices in skill trees OR it never really mattered And that Stephen wants to fight everyone on Discor ..read more

#284 "Shiny rocks get me every time." Roundtable 2022.10.28 It's spooky season! Stephen is SO over it, but he can't escape all the scary stuff happening in this week's episode. We start with a lesson on the necromantic arts of branding and iconography, guided by Mark, a master of these dark magics. After the break, Ellen raises a past topic from the dead in order to explore the ethics of manipulating players' brainnnsssss. Also mentioned: candy corn, houseplants, and—you guessed it—Star Trek. Star Trek: Ascendancy Branding & Iconography 0:10:10 Mark LaCroix Marketing Smash ..read more