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 Discord

Good luck anyone who isn’t a McGregor!

• Stephen is playing Spirit Island - Board Game Geek
• Ra Ra Boom Trailer (from Max who schedules our interviews
• Twin Cities Playtest is the 3rd Wednesday of the Month - Eventbrite
• Twin Cities Playtest is also on YouTube - IGDA Twin Cities, YouTube

In this discussion Ellen mentioned accessibility standards for web content

Mark asked if there is an ISO Standard for this, and there is! ISO 40500:2012

There is also one for UI: ISO 30071-1

Mark mentions that you should look up the 'Blink' tag, but Dale already did it for you, here.

And Stephen mentions the Div-Div Crow, based on this webcomic.

Ellen and Stephen get spooked discussing small and/or novel horror games and experiences with Online Simulator developer Rosalie Vile. Ellen works backwards from the punchline, Stephen doesn't know about 80%, and Mark is still in California (thanks, calendar math).

We hear from "California Business Mark" who spent the week on-location at GDC 2023. Mark summarizes some of the best talks and events he attended at the conference, featuring Kirby, the Playdate console, secrets in Tunic, Max, and more! 

• Support Final Strike  - Lane Davis, Gamefound
• Current COVID guidelines from the CDC - Centers for Disease Control
• Super Nintendo World - Universal Studios

Here are the time codes for individual topics:

• 10:23 Publishing agreements talk
• 19:32 Porting talk
• 20:58 Playdate developer lunch
• 28:24 Dinner with Max!
• 29:27 Games Industry Gathering (GiG)
• 30:50 The Many Dimensions of Kirby
• 47:40 Immortality talk
• 48:25 IGDA general meeting
• 51:50 Secrets in Tunic
• 58:45 Experimental Gameplay Games Workshop

Your nice hosts welcome Andrew Kenady, also know as Nintendrew on YouTube, to the show this week! He brings a postmortem about his recently released action platformer C.A.R.L.

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

Ellen's nephews have charged her with the task of making a board game about pizza. Making a clone of Hasbro's Candy Land is more difficult than it sounds, especially since these young stakeholders have requested some "creative deviations" from the design of the original board game. Stephen and Mark step in to help out. Can your nice hosts realize the wild, cheesy dream that is Pizza Land?

• Candy Land, a classic board game for kids - Hasbro
• That meme from The Office - Giphy
• Gharial, a weird-looking endangered crocodilian - Animalogic, YouTube

The art is here on Google Drive for you all to enjoy. 

• Whale, may or may not be pizza-related
• T-rex sort of on fire, facing us
• Brontosaurus amoeba
• Cat and soulless dog 
• [Pizza] donut
• Pizza Knight with an axe, maybe
• Ice cream leaking out of the cone
• Pizza t-rex
• Pizza crocodile
• Pizza shark
• Pizza rock, since upgraded to pizza geode
• Pizza pyramid
• Man made of pizzas x 2

• Ellen's drawings
• Sea of Sauce
• Garlic Bread Grove
• Pizza Dough Desert
• Calzone Quarry (not pictured)
• and here's a link to the spreadsheet mentioned in the episode

• Players start out with a random collection of ingredients
• They collect ingredients as they go through the game
• Everyone’s delivering a pizza and they start with a crust
• The Pizza Knight has specific interests & tastes in each game, so different ingredients are more important in each playthrough
• If a monster catches you it eats a certain number of ingredients (0, 1, 2, or 3)
• A grading scale for the team; the pizza knight filling out stars on the app

Movement with d6s. When players move, they can roll 2 dice and choose the result, moving forwards or backwards.

Unspoken, but maybe good ideas?

• Monsters all move on the same die roll, and they only move forward.
• Players have to be on the same tile to give an object to another person.
  

This week, your nice hosts talk about last week and next week. Mark wants you to frame things, Stephen wants a definition, and Ellen wants you to start a fight with her on Discord.

• Ellen's team made a gross game for Global Game Jam 2023!

• Star Trek: Picard, Final Season Premiere (full free episode) - Paramount+, YouTube

Your nice hosts invite Zachtronics founder Zach Barth to discuss the closing of the studio and the logistics of moving on from that. In this episode, you'll also hear about ruminations on what success means as a game dev, a theory about how great walking is and exclusive news about Zach's future plans.

The year 2022 in review! Yes, it's now halfway through February, but being a few weeks late is part of the annual "Nicest Of" tradition. Your hosts (plus guest Holly Harrison) revisit their notable games and goals from 2022, and make some plans for 2023.

• • Holly is here in the clubhouse for this recording!
  • Things that happened in 2022:

• We sold GLOM! It's coming out in 2023.
• Mark announced a game (Dreamsettler) and released Noble Engine for the Playdate
• Stephen became a co-owner of Future Club
• Ellen got a new job as a game designer with The Game Agency
• Holly moved into a new place—one without unwanted insects and thieving neighbors

Ellen's Nicest:

• Metroid: Dread
• Flappy Dragon
• Banner Saga 1
• Endling: Extinction is Forever

Mark's Nicest:

• Mario + Rabbids: Sparks of Hope
• Stray
• Last Call BBS

Stephen's Nicest:

• Kirby and the Forgotten Land
• Splatoon 3
• Rumbleverse
• Spirit Island

Holly's Nicest:

• Ooblets
• Splatoon 3
• Bear and Breakfast
• Cult of the Lamb
• Slime Rancher II

Ellen's picks:

• Mars First Logistics
• Banner Saga II and III
• Ori and the Will of the Wisps
• Slime Rancher II
• Cyberpunk 2077

Mark's picks:

• Horizon: Call of the Mountain on Playstation VR 2
• Assassin's Creed: Mirage
• Season: A Letter to the Future
• Dreamsettler

Stephen's picks:

• Dragon's Dogma II
• Street Fighter 6

Holly's picks:

• Mineko's Night Market
• Thirsty Suitors
• Hades II
• Sea of Stars

Picked by everyone:

• The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom

Your hosts recall what they did over their winter break this year (aka hiatus). Ellen played video games and games with her dogs, Stephen watched and reviewed some movies (please tell him what to watch next!), and Mark mostly watched Doctor Who.

Big news for the show: We now have ad-free episodes on Patreon!

Ellen played video games

Stephen watched movies

(Scoring is out of four stars.)

• Dual (⭐⭐⭐)
• Sharp Stick (⭐⭐⭐)
• All My Friends Hate Me (⭐⭐⭐)
• 7 Days (⭐⭐)
• The Drop (⭐⭐)
• Darby and the Dead (⭐⭐⭐)
• Sex Appeal (⭐⭐⭐)
• We Broke Up (⭐⭐⭐⭐)
• Mark, Mary and Some Other People (⭐⭐)
• Single all the Way (⭐⭐⭐)
• Sex Guaranteed (⭐) - “Did not like it”

Mark re-watched Doctor Who