It's that time again! Time for another episode, that is. Mark tries to convince his fellow hosts that games should include more bonus content—developer commentary, concept art, and so forth. Stephen talks about giving talks, even though he doesn't like to give talks. And Ellen finished a game!

• What should Ellen play next? A poll for you! - Twitter
• My Boy! Emulator (Android app) - Google Play Store
• Is this the episode in which Martha and Stephen tried to teach Mark about Pokémon?"How would I know that?"
• Too Many Choices: A Problem That Can Paralyze - Alina Tugend, The New York Times

• Header image: The fictional black hole, "Gargantua," from the film Interstellar (2014). Credit: Double Negative @ https://www.dneg.com/

• The "postroll funny" is a line from the poem "What Did?" by Shel Silverstein as published in the collection A Light in the Attic.

0:12:16Bonus Content

Games mentioned in this segment included:

• Paper Mario: The Origami King
• Closed Hands
• 30 Flights of Loving
• Super Smash Bros. Ultimate
• Batman: Arkham series

A previous NGC episode discussed the topic of "unlockables."

"Please cheat, I don't care."‘Ask Iwata’ Book Review: A Much Needed Chronicle Of A Gaming LegendOllie BarderForbesWrinkles in Spacetime: The Warped Astrophysics of InterstellarAdam RogersWiredFirst Images of a Black Hole from the Event Horizon Telescope*Susanna KohlerAAS NOVAGame Changers (2019 exhibit)Science Museum of Minnesota

* CORRECTION: The black hole in question is Messier 87, not "TON 68" as Ellen mentioned on the podcast. The designation of the black hole that Ellen thought she was referring to is TON 618. The black hole that's part of the TON 618 quasar is one of the most massive black holes ever discovered.

0:45:29Giving TalksView recently-broadcasted talks from IGDA-TCTwitchResonate: Present Visual Stories that Transform Audiences (a book)Nancy Duarte

This week, we try something new in the clubhouse with the very first Nice Thinking! In Nice Thinking, your nice hosts have a concept or idea that hasn't been fully fleshed out and we workshop it on air. This episode has Ellen bringing in the goal of encouraging parkgoers to throw away more garbage to take care of her neighborhood park. There's a lot of trash talk in this episode, listen to find out what your nice hosts come up with!

Giblet the Trash CanGoogly-Eyed Trash Eaters May Clean a Harbor Near YouJackie SnowNational Geographic

Your nice hosts do their best to "attend" GDC 2021, and end up having a really good time. Mark imagines his business card, Ellen asks questions, and Stephen proves he's human.

• Game Developers Conference webpage

GDC 2021 SessionsIndie SoapBoxGDCGlitch City LADemystifying Indie Publishing OffersAugust BrownGDCAugust joined us in a previous episode:Developer/Publisher RelationsAvoid an Identity Crisis as a Technical DesignerGDCA slide from "Avoid an Identity Crisis as a Technical Designer"Experimental Gameplay WorkshopGDCSchimHyperRogueKromaKristallijnL'Oeuf-SphinxAI DungeonDespeloteSpreadsheet Smarter Not Harder

In this episode, Mark gets defensive about his fair city, Ellen declares her love of Big Buttons, and Stephen almost forgets Fingeance, the game he worked on for seven years.

0:14:00GamepadsThe Evolution of the Xbox ControllerAlessandro FillariGameSpotThe Evolution of the PlayStation ControllerAdam BankhurstIGN List of Nintendo controllersWikipedia0:54:54Nature in GamesMinneapolis Named Best City Park System in U.S. on Trust for Public Land’s Annu…Minneapolis Park & Recreation BoardMinneapolis slides to third in urban park rankings; St. Paul rises to second (2…Susan DuStar TribuneSpend Time Outside in Twin Cities Parks and LakesCinnamon JanzerExplore MinnesotaEndling: Extinction is ForeverHandy GamesFirewatchCampo Santo

Your nice hosts come together for their first Nice Games Jam in person in a very long time! Did seeing each other together result in even wilder game jam shenanigans than you'd expect? Listen to the episode to find out!

• PlayThinker Deck - The Game Crafter

PromptWe used Ellen's PlayThinker Deck to make this game! Goal card was "Efficiency", interaction cards were "Combination", "Approach", and "Exploration".Game typeCard gamePlayer count2-4Materials

Basic 52 card deck (no jokers)

4 Meeples

12 Powerup tokens (3 different colors)

Setup

Shuffle deck and place cards in a 4 by 4 grid.

Give each player one meeple to represent them.

Rules

• Player can move onto any card on their side of the grid as their first turn.
• On their turn each player moves one card and reveals it, potentially giving you an ability
• Revealing a face card gives you an item, which gives you one of the following abilities:
  • One gives the ability to move one more space.
  • One gives the ability to peek at one more card.
  • One gives the ability to move diagonally.
• Getting three items allows you to take one turn to bank three items, losing those three abilities but giving you one point. 
• Revealing an Ace removes all items that player’s have not banked. Bank your items to prevent losing a point!
• Revealing the four corners refresh all unrevealed cards except cards that a player is on.
• When the deck runs out, the game ends when all the board is revealed (no more refreshes, fill out the rest of the board with a shuffled discarded deck).
• Whoever has the most points after that last round wins the game!

Holly Harrison, aka "Best Friend of the Show," is back in the clubhouse! And we recorded this episode in person again! Can you tell? It probably comes through in the goofs...

There's plenty of silliness in this week's episode, even though your Nice Hosts explore some serious topics. Holly asks us what we can do to become more ethical consumers (and developers) of games. Ellen examines the dynamics of grind. Stephen finally admits to something BIG, and Mark takes a break.

• Join Lobby - Video Game Culture Feed - Holly Harrison, Instagram
• Holly joined us for episode 40...Community Managment
• ...and for episode 88...The Gaming Press
• ...and for episode 89..."A mean secret that stays in this room."
• ...and for episode 201..."Not like Beauty and the Beast."
• ...and for episode 202!Business Speak
• Ellen's new laptop: Alienware M15R4
• Gris (a game, not a musical) - Steam
• Noble Engine - Mark LaCroix
• Here's episode 217, in which we discussed open source.Open Source Software

• Photo by Helmi Lutvyandi from Pexels

0:13:06Ethical ConsumptionConflict minerals: Which gaming companies may have funded human rights abuses i…Rebekah ValentineGamesIndustry.bizIs There Really Such a Thing as “Ethical Consumerism”?Maya SingerVogueSummary of sexual and non-sexual allegations (megathread)Reddit0:47:59Grindr/truegaming: For those who like talking about games as much as playing them.Reddit

Ellen’s take on grind: “Going through the same content multiple times as a means to progress towards an in-game goal that doesn’t pertain to the player’s skill.”

Back in March, Mark created a game engine in an unfamiliar programming language for an unreleased console... and in June he explained himself in a presentation at IGDATC's Gamedev Meeting.

• The full video presentation of Mark's talk

"So, you made a game engine?"Noble Engine, a li'l game engine for PlaydateNoble RobotGitHubNoble Engine Project TemplateNoble RobotGitHubPlaydate consolePlaydate developer portal

Starting an indie studio is hard, starting a worker-owned cooperative is harder. This week your nice hosts interview longtime friend of the show Reese Valentine and their fellow co-founder Mackenzie Denker, both of Amelore. It's co-ops 101, which happens to be exactly the info Stephen needs right now!

• Amelore Coop website
• Amelore on Twitter
• Reese previously visited the clubhouse for one of our earliest episodes, in early 2017:Games Education

Co-op StudiosIRLProductionThe 7 Cooperative Principles - The National Cooperative Business Association CLUSA InternationalMission Statements - Adam Schwartz, The Cooperative WayCo-ops in Spain’s Basque Region Soften Capitalism’s Rough Edges - Peter S. Goodman, The New York TimesEmbracing the Co-Op Studio Model in Indie Games - Scott Benson, Ted Anderson, Steve Filby, Ian Thomas, Bethany Hockenberry, GDCReese ValentineGuest

Co-founder of Amelore co-op, a worker-owned game studio. Former President of the Game Design Club at the Minneapolis College of Art and Design.

External linkhttps://twitter.com/AReeseOfCakeMackenzie DenkerGuestCo-founder of Amelore co-op, a worker-owned game studio.External linkhttps://twitter.com/denker_m

This week, Mark talks about Star Trek, Stephen wants to talk more about Star Trek, and Ellen hypes the website.

• We made the papers!
• Dreams: Awake - Charity EP Jam, Bandcamp
• Itch.io Palestinian Aid bundle raises over $900,000 - Danielle Partis, GamesIndustry.biz
• Serious Play Conference

0:10:00StorytellingThe Game Debate: Video Games as Innovative StorytellingMelissa SomerdinThe Oswald ReviewThe Importance Of Video Game NarrativeAdeyemi ThompsonSliced Bread AnimationThe Unique Storytelling Power of Video GamesAnthony JondreauMedium3 approaches to storytelling in gamesSimon K JonesMedium0:36:36ExploitsWavedashing in Super Smash Bros MeleepahlzInstructables8 of the Most Notorious Video Game Exploits of All TimeBrandin TyrrelIGN What's the biggest game exploit you'll admit to using?PC Gamer

Your vaccinated hosts return to the clubhouse to record their first in-person episode in over a year. This one's for us, but you might like it, too.

• There was a lot of hugs before the recording.
• Charity EP Jam (the new album drops June 11th!) - Chel Wong
• Indie bundle for Palestinian Aid - Alanna Linayre, itch.io
• Mark's "Widget Satchel II" was featured in Panic's E3-style announcement video.

Special In-Person SpecialSouth Korea’s COVID Success Stems From an Earlier Infectious Disease Failure Jiyeon Kim and Neil RichardsSlate