Game Dev Podcast | Coffee with Butterscotch

This week, we talk about flying spoons, spooky season, and handy checklists. Before adding an ingredient to a recipe, you need to know what you’re making and what that ingredient does. Similarly, adding a new enemy to a game requires understanding what kind of game you’re making and how the addition will change the player experience. As we always say, context is everything! (But having some checklists doesn’t hurt.)

00:23 Intro

00:53 Thanks to our supporters! (https://moneygrab.bscotch.net)

04:08 Kitchen Story

11:45 GTA

27:39 Favro (favro.com/bscotch)

Questions answered (abbreviated):

• 31:42 Doopaplie Pana: Pumpkin spice everything is back on the shelves Any upcoming plans (that may or may not include 12-foot tall skeletons)?
• 49:06 Mimmabip Gourkee: What's the checklist that you go through in your mind when you want to add a new enemy?

To stay up to date with all of our buttery goodness subscribe to the podcast on Apple podcasts (apple.co/1LxNEnk) or wherever you get your audio goodness. If you want to get more involved in the Butterscotch community, hop into our DISCORD server at discord.gg/bscotch and say hello! Submit questions at https://www.bscotch.net/podcast, disclose all of your secrets to [email protected], and send letters, gifts, and tasty treats to https://bit.ly/bscotchmailbox. Finally, if you’d like to support the show and buy some coffee FOR Butterscotch, head over to https://moneygrab.bscotch.net.

In this episode, we discuss memoizing, robomancing, and masterminding. The emotional roller coaster of excitement, frustration, annoyance, relief, and joy is part and parcel of running a game studio. From a game’s concept to its release, you have to manage So. Many. Logistics. Mastering that art is how the battle is won… or lost. 

00:34 Intro

01:16 Thanks to our supporters! (https://moneygrab.bscotch.net)

Questions answered (abbreviated):

• 03:15 challosis: Some parts of making a game are really fun. Some parts are really annoying. Which part of making a game feels exactly in the middle?
• 22:32 Rayboblio: What tech or programming language are you using for your robomancing needs?
• 30:34 Gibbs: What surprised you the most about running your own video game company? Was anything easier than you expected? What was harder?

Other things mentioned:

• Make.com (https://www.make.com)

To stay up to date with all of our buttery goodness subscribe to the podcast on Apple podcasts (apple.co/1LxNEnk) or wherever you get your audio goodness. If you want to get more involved in the Butterscotch community, hop into our DISCORD server at discord.gg/bscotch and say hello! Submit questions at https://www.bscotch.net/podcast, disclose all of your secrets to [email protected], and send letters, gifts, and tasty treats to https://bit.ly/bscotchmailbox. Finally, if you’d like to support the show and buy some coffee FOR Butterscotch, head over to https://moneygrab.bscotch.net.

This week, we talk about sleep science, meaningful death, and cultivating self-compassion. 

It’s common to doubt your abilities and feel like a fraud in your work life. But thinking “It’s only a matter of time before people realize I’m not that good at what I do” will only make you doubt every action you take. Being honest about what you know and don’t know is crucial for clarity, but should come along with heaps of self-compassion to keep you going. After all, it’s doing the work that’s important, not the perception of what you’re doing!

00:00 Intro

00:45 Thanks to our supporters! (https://moneygrab.bscotch.net)

14:10 Fitbit

29:11 Crashlands 2

Questions answered (abbreviated):

• 44:54 CooCooCachoo: Hey BScotch Brudda's! Curious if any of you have faced imposter syndrome during your formative years in game dev

To stay up to date with all of our buttery goodness subscribe to the podcast on Apple podcasts (apple.co/1LxNEnk) or wherever you get your audio goodness. If you want to get more involved in the Butterscotch community, hop into our DISCORD server at discord.gg/bscotch and say hello! Submit questions at https://www.bscotch.net/podcast, disclose all of your secrets to [email protected], and send letters, gifts, and tasty treats to https://bit.ly/bscotchmailbox. Finally, if you’d like to support the show and buy some coffee FOR Butterscotch, head over to https://moneygrab.bscotch.net.

In this episode, we discuss Thor’s Bifrost, gravity indifferent walls, and designed experiences. How do you construct a unique player experience and actually deliver that intended experience using the tools you have? Do you create a procedurally generated world or intervene and do it yourself? Well, that depends on the scale of the game and what kinds of story moments you want the player to have!

00:00 Intro

08:56 Thanks to our supporters! (https://moneygrab.bscotch.net)

Questions answered (abbreviated):

• 18:52 Zivix: Can you hoard ceilings? If you remove a ceiling from a home, is it still a ceiling?
• 26:06 TimConceivable: do you like cheese? what is your favorite kind?
• 34:56 Beekie Boppaboop: how did you come to the conclusion that handcrafting the world is the way to go?

To stay up to date with all of our buttery goodness subscribe to the podcast on Apple podcasts (apple.co/1LxNEnk) or wherever you get your audio goodness. If you want to get more involved in the Butterscotch community, hop into our DISCORD server at discord.gg/bscotch and say hello! Submit questions at https://www.bscotch.net/podcast, disclose all of your secrets to [email protected], and send letters, gifts, and tasty treats to https://bit.ly/bscotchmailbox. Finally, if you’d like to support the show and buy some coffee FOR Butterscotch, head over to https://moneygrab.bscotch.net.

This week, we talk about captive audiences, synchronized teams, and the no code revolution. 

As tools get better and require less expertise to use, a whole new world is opening up to people who didn't have access before. The problem is when you run into the limitations of the tool you're using -- anything the tool can't do, you can't do. You want the shortest learning curve with the most design expressivity. There's always a trade-off, so you gotta know where it is!

00:00 Intro

01:55 Thanks to our supporters! (https://moneygrab.bscotch.net)

02:19 Game Devs of Color Expo (https://www.gamedevsofcolorexpo.com/)

11:15 Favro (www.favro.com/bscotch)

Questions answered (abbreviated):

• 15:57 blondeviking91: OK, bros, just admit it - you are skirting around developing or retooling a programming language as part of the Game Changer. Have you addressed this head-on?

To stay up to date with all of our buttery goodness subscribe to the podcast on Apple podcasts (apple.co/1LxNEnk) or wherever you get your audio goodness. If you want to get more involved in the Butterscotch community, hop into our DISCORD server at discord.gg/bscotch and say hello! Submit questions at https://www.bscotch.net/podcast, disclose all of your secrets to [email protected], and send letters, gifts, and tasty treats to https://bit.ly/bscotchmailbox. Finally, if you’d like to support the show and buy some coffee FOR Butterscotch, head over to https://moneygrab.bscotch.net.

In this episode, we discuss sacrificial lambs, interface crash testing, and bumper savings. Building tools to automate repetitive tasks not only saves time in the long run but also helps with frustration management. Creating an enjoyable work environment and prioritizing the work experience are ridiculously important if you want to deliver your goods real good. 😉

00:00 Intro

00:53 Thanks to our supporters! (https://moneygrab.bscotch.net)

01:24 Cult of the lamb (https://www.cultofthelamb.com/)

17:56 Crashlands 2 Quest Manager

Questions answered (abbreviated):

• 41:25 Mimmabip Gourkee: What's the most difficult part about designing UI & what is your strategy to overcome it?

To stay up to date with all of our buttery goodness subscribe to the podcast on Apple podcasts (apple.co/1LxNEnk) or wherever you get your audio goodness. If you want to get more involved in the Butterscotch community, hop into our DISCORD server at discord.gg/bscotch and say hello! Submit questions at https://www.bscotch.net/podcast, disclose all of your secrets to [email protected], and send letters, gifts, and tasty treats to https://bit.ly/bscotchmailbox. Finally, if you’d like to support the show and buy some coffee FOR Butterscotch, head over to https://moneygrab.bscotch.net.

This week, we talk about optimal stickiness, quest concepts, and brain sharing. Pair programming is like piloting a Jaeger. Drifting off each other’s brain powers makes the process of extra-dimensional creature conjuring easier and quicker. Warning! So much brain power in one place may result in brain pain. Proceed with caution!

00:00 Intro

01:22 Thanks to our supporters! (https://moneygrab.bscotch.net)

01:34 Tape Off

13:50 Pairing and Collaboration

Other things mentioned:

• Book: Joy Incorporated by Richard Sheridan (https://bit.ly/3w67K9u)

To stay up to date with all of our buttery goodness subscribe to the podcast on Apple podcasts (apple.co/1LxNEnk) or wherever you get your audio goodness. If you want to get more involved in the Butterscotch community, hop into our DISCORD server at discord.gg/bscotch and say hello! Submit questions at https://www.bscotch.net/podcast, disclose all of your secrets to [email protected], and send letters, gifts, and tasty treats to https://bit.ly/bscotchmailbox. Finally, if you’d like to support the show and buy some coffee FOR Butterscotch, head over to https://moneygrab.bscotch.net.

This week, we talk about voice software, creating a shared experience, and game sequels. Context is everything: yelling at computer screens in an open office setting is rude whereas yelling in your home studio with voice software is sorcery! Do what you must to make work fun and easier, or DON'T. We aren't your supervisors!

00:00 Intro

00:51 Thanks to our supporters! (https://moneygrab.bscotch.net)

02:14 Talon Voice (https://talonvoice.com/)

29:52 Crashlands 2 WORLD PACKING

Questions answered (abbreviated):

• 43:31 RoninGameDev: How do you feel about numbers in sequel titles? Some would say that putting a number in your title will ostracize people who didn't participate in the original. If you follow through with Crashlands 2: Sub Tidal it would be legendary.

To stay up to date with all of our buttery goodness subscribe to the podcast on Apple podcasts (apple.co/1LxNEnk) or wherever you get your audio goodness. If you want to get more involved in the Butterscotch community, hop into our DISCORD server at discord.gg/bscotch and say hello! Submit questions at https://www.bscotch.net/podcast, disclose all of your secrets to [email protected], and send letters, gifts, and tasty treats to https://bit.ly/bscotchmailbox. Finally, if you’d like to support the show and buy some coffee FOR Butterscotch, head over to https://moneygrab.bscotch.net.

In this episode, we discuss breakfast, intent vs balance, and survivorship bias. Game design is about finding the balance between the emotion you want to deliver and the experience the player feels. The important thing is not to focus on what the experience should be, but to tune into what the actual experience is.

00:00 Intro

03:17 Thanks to our supporters! (https://moneygrab.bscotch.net)

Questions answered (abbreviated):

• 10:05 JohnFlavin: What's your ideal breakfast? Is it different on a workday vs a weekend?
• 29:26 FGKeiji: What is your approach to game balance and delivering a specific gaming experience versus allowing for emergent gameplay? How would you approach a situation where something unintended is loved by the community, but it goes against how you designed the game?

To stay up to date with all of our buttery goodness subscribe to the podcast on Apple podcasts (apple.co/1LxNEnk) or wherever you get your audio goodness. If you want to get more involved in the Butterscotch community, hop into our DISCORD server at discord.gg/bscotch and say hello! Submit questions at https://www.bscotch.net/podcast, disclose all of your secrets to [email protected], and send letters, gifts, and tasty treats to https://bit.ly/bscotchmailbox. Finally, if you’d like to support the show and buy some coffee FOR Butterscotch, head over to https://moneygrab.bscotch.net.

This week, we talk about doing cat stuff, microdefects, and context specificity. Workflow is about smoothing the path between Knowing and Done, so the Doing needs to be as easy as possible. Solving one problem can create other problems, but hey, you can’t find opportunities without a little chaos.

This week’s podcast is sponsored by Favro! It’s our workflow management tool of choice because we do highly collaborative project based work. Favro lets you design workflows that make sense for the work, not for the tool. If you want to spend less time managing your workflow management, check out Favro with this link: https://www.favro.com/bscotch

00:00 Intro

01:40 Thanks to our supporters! (https://moneygrab.bscotch.net)

02:17 Stray (https://stray.game/)

09:05 Aesthetic vs mechanical experience

16:42 Talon Voice (https://talonvoice.com/)

35:35 Sponsored by Favro! (https://www.favro.com/bscotch)

Questions answered (abbreviated):

• 40:36 OopkooPadwinna: This could be too niche for the podcast so would you consider doing a devlog on the architecture of the Game Changer? What are your future plans for it?

Other things mentioned:

• Sam’s Talon Voice repo: https://bit.ly/sam-talon
• Jen’s Talon Voice repo: https://bit.ly/jen-talon
• Josh W. Comeau on Hands-free Coding: https://bit.ly/comeau-handsfree

To stay up to date with all of our buttery goodness subscribe to the podcast on Apple podcasts (apple.co/1LxNEnk) or wherever you get your audio goodness. If you want to get more involved in the Butterscotch community, hop into our DISCORD server at discord.gg/bscotch and say hello! Submit questions at https://www.bscotch.net/podcast, disclose all of your secrets to [email protected], and send letters, gifts, and tasty treats to https://bit.ly/bscotchmailbox. Finally, if you’d like to support the show and buy some coffee FOR Butterscotch, head over to https://moneygrab.bscotch.net.