In this episode, we discuss GameMaker, social manipulation, and pre-production. Planning is a powerhouse for shaping an ideal outcome, but sticking to a plan? That’s a trap. The real magic happens when you adapt on the fly, tweaking and pivoting as reality throws its curveballs.

Support Crashlands 2!

Official Website: https://www.bscotch.net/games/crashlands-2/

Trailer: https://youtu.be/yR_Opccn1n4

Steam Wishlist: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1401730/Crashlands2/

00:23 Intro

00:43 Thanks to our supporters! (https://moneygrab.bscotch.net)

01:06 GameMaker Anniversary

13:28 Economy of Hatred

47:56 Cpt. Jazz:how beneficial 'Pre-Production' was to cultivate a general path forward?

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 podcast@bscotch.net, 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 the game dev grind, curating social media, and health wake-up calls. Instead of extreme overhauls, small consistent habits are the name of the game. To make changes stick, they need to be reasonable and gradual. This applies to health and pretty much everything else too! It’s all part of staying ahead of those creeping issues before they start kicking down the door.

Support Crashlands 2!

Official Website: https://www.bscotch.net/games/crashlands-2/

Trailer: https://youtu.be/yR_Opccn1n4

Steam Wishlist: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1401730/Crashlands2/

00:34 Intro

00:57 Thanks to our supporters! (https://moneygrab.bscotch.net)

06:45 Health and maintenance

15:52 Ads

26:56 Social Media

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 podcast@bscotch.net, 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 Concord, live service games, and marketing. A promotional effort might briefly spike sales, but rarely changes a game’s overall trajectory. Game marketing is about cumulative effects. There’s no silver bullet!

Support Crashlands 2!

Official Website: https://www.bscotch.net/games/crashlands-2/

Trailer: https://youtu.be/yR_Opccn1n4

Steam Wishlist: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1401730/Crashlands2/

00:34 Intro

01:13 Thanks to our supporters! (https://moneygrab.bscotch.net)

01:40 Concord

48:42 Retro Banana Man NL: Did the appearance of levelhead at SGDQ have an effect on the levelhead sales and/or visibility?

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 podcast@bscotch.net, 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 a scavenging cat, a punchy octopus, and a critical bug. Repeating the same process over and over doesn't change the outcome. And just pointing out bugs won’t solve the problem.  You need a feedback loop that allows you to address the root cause of an issue - that’s where a quality pipeline comes in.

00:29 Intro

01:09 Thanks to our supporters! (https://moneygrab.bscotch.net)

04:19 Sequin Explosion

Questions answered (abbreviated):

• 19:57 Fraser: Once Crashlands 2 is finished, is there any genre you'd want to try next?
• 42:59 Mimmabip Gourkee: What advice would you give to a developer who wants to start doing QA?

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 podcast@bscotch.net, 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 time perception, time estimation, and time reality. During game development, there are deliverables set on a timeline. People’s perceptions of time are notoriously inaccurate, which means that estimations of how long something will take are usually wrong. Instead of focusing on estimating time, ask yourself how long your timeline is and what can realistically be accomplished.

00:20 Intro

00:37 Thanks to our supporters! (https://moneygrab.bscotch.net)

04:19 Groundhog day

Questions answered (abbreviated):

-39:48 Fraser: How do you estimate timelines in game-development?

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 podcast@bscotch.net, 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 the meaning of exploration, the need for a third place, and making the work visible. You can’t solve a problem that you can’t see. If you don’t have a clear mental model of ALL THE THINGS and how they interact with each other, you can’t make decisions about the next steps. That’s where great tooling comes in!

00:20 Intro

02:13 Thanks to our supporters! (https://moneygrab.bscotch.net)

02:34 Nail/Whiff

36:41 Crashlands 2

Things Mentioned: 

• Book: The Visual Display of Quantitative Information by Edward Tufte (https://bit.ly/3BgTqh3)

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 podcast@bscotch.net, 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 technical gains, inventory management, and game loops. No game is perfect. You need to identify the things that players can’t forgive versus the things they can forget. With thousands of other choices out there, keeping players hooked into your game requires a good loop.

00:20 Intro

01:04 Thanks to our supporters! (https://moneygrab.bscotch.net)

04:24 CL2 Technical Gains

Questions answered (abbreviated):

• 24:04 JohnFlavin: What's the worst video game experience you've had with a game you finished?

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 podcast@bscotch.net, 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 management no-nos, government restrictions, and developer limitations. A responsive, immersive world is a game developer’s dream, but when you build tons of AI and add large numbers of things to the game, optimization becomes a nightmare. You have to ask yourself, are we looking at the right problem? The most powerful lever to pull is a good design.

00:21 Intro

00:43 Thanks to our supporters! (https://moneygrab.bscotch.net)

06:56 Musk Watch

10:21 Video games in China

Questions answered (abbreviated):

• 25:29 Fraser: CL2 sounds really ambitious. Have you run into any performance limitations working in GameMaker you can't optimize your way out of? 

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 podcast@bscotch.net, 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 air travel, corporate greed, and the Twitterverse. A CEO is like the wind, either guiding a company in the right direction or smashing it on the rocks. Visionary leadership that lacks context, nuance, or an actual vision isn't really visionary. Or leadership for that matter. Even if you're officially bluecheck mark verified.

00:26 Intro

02:00 Thanks to our supporters! (https://moneygrab.bscotch.net)

02:55 India Trip

06:35 Twitterverse

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 podcast@bscotch.net, 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 conflicts of interest, typing speed, and a living hell. Doing new things is good and cool! But it’s important to understand that the context you’re coming from and the one you’re going into are different. Assuming expertise in one field just because you’re an expert in another can be costly. That cost is mostly paid in failure. The question is, who’s paying for it?

00:00 Intro

01:30 Thanks to our supporters! (https://moneygrab.bscotch.net)

Questions answered (abbreviated):

• 02:24 LankbonkaPandang: As fairly experienced indie devs, do you guys feel like a publisher with a strong sense of individuality could be a way forward for indie games that may get left in the dust? Is there anything particular that y'all would like to see?
• 24:25 challosis: Have y'all ever tried alternative keyboard layouts such as Dvorak? Or used the Charachorder again?

Other things mentioned:

• Game Maker’s Toolkit (https://www.youtube.com/c/MarkBrownGMT)

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 podcast@bscotch.net, 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 hitting stuff with other stuff, gameplay archetypes, and decoupling. The hard part of everything is integration. With the right tools, making the thing becomes easy, but figuring out where it fits into the world and how it works with everything else is tricky. But at least that means that it’s the difficult thing that’s actually difficult now!

00:00 Intro

01:30 Buffs and debuffs

17:11 Synergistic systems

Questions answered (abbreviated):

• 24:23 RarZip7z: How do you bros deal with the possibility of getting carpal/cubital tunnel syndrome or RSI in general while working all day with computers?

Other things mentioned:

• Talon Voice (https://talonvoice.com/)
• Uplift Desk (https://www.upliftdesk.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 podcast@bscotch.net, 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 being your own Petri dish, the explore/exploit model, and lunch debt. Institutions ossify over time and end up more interested in preserving their own existence than fulfilling their original purpose. Similarly, if you don’t design for human interaction right from the beginning, it’ll be much harder to change that community culture later on. The result is a lot of wasted human potential, and NOBODY’S GOT TIME FOR THAT.

00:00 Intro

01:58 Thanks to our supporters! (https://moneygrab.bscotch.net)

03:15 Seth’s India game plan

07:40 Immortality

15:35 The explore/exploit model

Questions answered (abbreviated):

• 23:40 QuantumAnomaly: You've talked in the past about wanting to support player-driven content in the original Crashlands and how player-driven content can help grow a community. Are you thinking of supporting modding while making Crashlands 2?

Other things mentioned:

• Chaoshead by Tyoeer and AradArbel (https://github.com/tyoeer/chaoshead)
• Slay the Spire Levelhead mod by noob_jr (https://bit.ly/StS-Levelhead-mod)

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 podcast@bscotch.net, 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 metaverse, deep fakes, and the displacement problem. What it means to make and consume art has always changed as technology advances. With the arrival of AI art generators, that change might be more aggressive than anyone can anticipate. Change isn’t inherently bad, except we live in capitalism. So…universal basic income?

## Summary:

00:35 Intro

02:54 Thanks to our supporters! (https://moneygrab.bscotch.net)

03:19 Metaverse

Other things mentioned:

• Book: How the World Really Works by Vaclav Smil (https://bit.ly/3VBUrsF)

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 podcast@bscotch.net, 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 red flags, risk management, and design patterns. Design isn’t just about making things work; that’s a baseline requirement. It’s also about how every interaction hits you in the feels. Let design pillars be your north star, aligning each decision towards the core experience you’re aiming for. 

Support Crashlands 2!

Official Website: https://www.bscotch.net/games/crashlands-2/

Trailer: https://youtu.be/yR_Opccn1n4

Steam Wishlist: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1401730/Crashlands2/

00:24 Intro

00:42 Thanks to our supporters! (https://moneygrab.bscotch.net)

08:49 Wuzzle: Hey 🐝 Brothers, I was wondering, if you had to deal with utter stupidity and/or pure narcissistic behavior that threatened to ruin your whole business/project/life situations?

31:09 Gibbs: Do you guys have a favorite method of planning and developing software solutions to problems?

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 podcast@bscotch.net, 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 working on legacy games, the power of success, and the business of education. There's no single right path for getting into the games industry. Everyone’s needs are different! The one thing that is guaranteed to help you make games is making games. Approximate knowledge of A WHOLE LOT of things doesn’t hurt either.

00:22 Intro

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

Questions answered (abbreviated):

• 04:10 FlyhoppieAxerompa: Do any of you bros ever feel the urge to just make more LevelHead content?
• 21:51 Beekie Boppaboop: What your opinions are on computer science degrees and game design degrees?

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 podcast@bscotch.net, 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 perceived problems, invisible hand-holding, and playtesting hijinks. The most sensitive part of the game experience is onboarding, so testing that onboarding is important! To get the most out of it, you need to understand the context your testers bring along with them. Otherwise, it’ll be impossible to analyze the results. Even if the rest of your game is spectacular, a bad onboarding experience can be a dealbreaker.

00:24 Intro

00:56 Thanks to our supporters! (https://moneygrab.bscotch.net)

09:40 Crashlands 2 playtest

40:02 Google Stadia

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 podcast@bscotch.net, 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 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 podcast@bscotch.net, 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 podcast@bscotch.net, 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 podcast@bscotch.net, 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 podcast@bscotch.net, 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 podcast@bscotch.net, 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 podcast@bscotch.net, 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 podcast@bscotch.net, 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 podcast@bscotch.net, 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 programming, hyperrealism, and story writing. In novels, the author controls the narrative and mostly guides the reader through a plot as a passenger. In contrast, video games often make you the protagonist and writers can’t always predict what you’ll do, so flexibly adapting to player choices and interactions is a challenge. It’s the essence of — we’re gonna say it, brace yourself — ludonarrative!

Support Crashlands 2!

Official Website: https://www.bscotch.net/games/crashlands-2/

Trailer: https://youtu.be/yR_Opccn1n4

Steam Wishlist: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1401730/Crashlands2/

00:48 Intro

01:06 Thanks to our supporters! (https://moneygrab.bscotch.net)

01:48 CooCooCachoo: Can Sam please, for the love of gosh, introduce himself as "and I'm Sam, the artist with pro grammar"?

08:03 Challosis: How do you write a big story? Is it easy to forget things or contradict yourself?

51:00 NargatruckeeDippatub: Is sports simulation (FIFA, NHL, etc.) kind of cursed as a game genre? 

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 podcast@bscotch.net, 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 podcast@bscotch.net, 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 podcast@bscotch.net, 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 ankles, Newton’s third law, and high leverage experiential time spend. Everything we look at is through the lens of survivorship bias. After all, what we see is what’s already happened; you don’t see the things that don’t happen. But something not happening can be as impactful as the thing that happened. To get the whole picture, you have to look at what you’re leaving out.

00:00 Intro

04:35 Thanks to our supporters!

06:04 ND aside

14:09 Sam’s slapstick panic story

17:19 Chaos redirection

23:56 Superpower limits

Questions answered (abbreviated):

• 34:08 Wookaloop: SHENANIJAM!!! Will it return? ... Or is it gone forever?
• 44:16 Retro Banana Man NL: Are you planning to add options to turn specific visual effects off to make your future games more accessible for people with simulation sickness?

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 podcast@bscotch.net, 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 what we did during our Bscotch summer break! Mostly, V Rising, Hench, and Crashlands 2. (That last one might sound like a work thing, but hey, you aren’t our supervisor.) What nails it? What whiffs it? After all, your disliking something doesn’t make that thing bad. Sometimes things aren’t to your taste, and that’s okay! The real question is, does The Thing do The Thing it’s trying To Do?

00:00 Intro

03:41 Thanks to our supporters!

05:20 Nail/whiff spectrum

07:20 V Rising (https://playvrising.com/)

26:21 Hench by Natalie Zina Walschots (https://bit.ly/cwb-hench)

27:35 Seth’s Crashlands 2 playthrough

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 podcast@bscotch.net, 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 the secret to cooking, overcoming tedium, and frustration thresholds. During the course of your work, you’ll run into small things that are annoying. You might even run into some of them repeatedly. But those things aren’t IN the way; they ARE the way. So why not work on making the way better? When everyone around you is in the same pot of hot water, you need a new frog to provide an accurate temperature.

00:00 Intro

00:43 Thanks to our supporters!

01:58 Iron Chef

08:16 Adam’s workflow analysis

37:11 Game Changer build pipeline impacts

42:20 The nuance of small batch delivery

48:35 Your job vs your job title

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 podcast@bscotch.net, 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 meeting your adventure quota, experienced goods, and cinematic feels. When you’re making a sequel, there are a lot of expectations to manage. While you need the excitement, concern can absolutely kill, so there’s a delicate balance to strike. How do you make something that’s the same but completely different at the same time? 

00:00 Intro

00:45 Thanks to our supporters!

02:46 Seth’s dermatology adventure

Questions answered (abbreviated):

• 13:03 Billy Dreamshake: How might a studio cope with the expectations that come along with incessant hype? Why might a studio announce a game and go silent for a long time?
• 26:36 Kevin: Will any of your titles reach trilogy status, or do you guys follow the Valve house rules of sequels?
• 44:42 ICBusch: What is your favorite programming term that is quite offside?

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 podcast@bscotch.net, 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 optimal temperature ranges, the Diablo to QWOP scale, and bizarrely wholesome reading experiences. You don’t want too many cooks in the kitchen, but what about not enough cooks? Or enough strawbs? Or any sugar? How are you supposed to have your cake and eat it too if you can only make cookies?

00:00 Intro

03:20 Thanks to our supporters!

03:28 For Honor, Ubisoft Montreal (available on Game Pass)

09:28 The Murderbot Diaries series by Martha Wells (first book All Systems Red https://bit.ly/cwb-murderbot)

Questions answered (abbreviated):

• 14:19 Fraser_: On an implementation level, what does the gamechanger pipeline look like? 
• 33:16 Mimmabip Gourkee: How much direction do you give your freelancers for creating music and sound effects? 
• 43:19 RoninGameDev: I have this constant urge to just make a better/different version of the game I am currently playing. Do you guys have this, and if so how do you fight it and keep working on CL2?

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 podcast@bscotch.net, 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 context shifts, the homework model, and vague help. It’s easy to feel like small incremental progress is worthless, but that’s an issue with perception rather than with reality. If you’re flailing around and generally overwhelmed and stuck, it’s time to take a step back and reexamine your context and your priorities. Those things can change without your noticing, and when they do, it cascades into everything else.

00:00 Intro

01:12 Thanks to our supporters!

01:26 Siloed vs collaborative development

11:13 Context shifts

21:32 The deadline problem

26:24 The shape of a collaboration

35:53 Problem ownership

We got into some weeds with this one, so no questions this week!

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 podcast@bscotch.net, 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 no scope game dev, independent levers, and readability. You’ve gotta think in the short term to survive, but the long term to succeed. Making that mental shift is hard when the world doesn’t want you to do it. But if something that used to take you a minute now only takes a second, you’ve stolen some time back from the void.

00:00 Intro
00:53 Thanks to our supporters!
01:04 Congrats to Druid Dad!

Questions answered (abbreviated):

• 09:22 TimConceivable: Now that you're nearing the completion of the Game Changer, does that mean that Scuffle Buddies or a game like it might be a possibility in the future?
• 23:29 Retro Banana Man NL: What is your favorite hotkey?
• 34:51 cprice: Knowing what you do now, would you go back and tell 2014-2016 Bscotch to stop making Crashlands and make the Game Changer instead?
• 42:06 IcykragDoopot: How do you understand your old code?

Things mentioned:

• Clean Code by Robert C. Martin (https://bit.ly/3N7Myq1)

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 podcast@bscotch.net, 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 social feedback loops, scalability, and having better problems. Change creates change, and you wanna be thinking about those changes at least two layers deep. Otherwise you might wake up one day to copious amounts of minor splash damage or be left wondering how a tunnel has stymied your spaceship.

00:52 Thanks to our supporters!
03:45 Podcast behind-the-scenes update
06:03 WoW factions and the network effect
27:40 Scale and scalability

Questions answered (abbreviated):

• 41:41 challosis: How many engine bugs have you sent to Game Maker HQ?

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 podcast@bscotch.net, 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 high school reunions, health tracking, and measurement fallacies. Tracking every metric can give the illusion of control, but data is often noisy, misleading, or just plain irrelevant. The challenge lies in finding meaningful, accurate interpretation without getting lost in the numbers.

Support Crashlands 2!

Official Website: https://www.bscotch.net/games/crashlands-2/

Trailer: https://youtu.be/yR_Opccn1n4

Steam Wishlist: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1401730/Crashlands2/

00:32 Intro

01:05 Thanks to our supporters! (https://moneygrab.bscotch.net)

03:22 High School Reunion 

33:29 Health Tracking

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 podcast@bscotch.net, 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 difficulty tuning, balance, and noises. When you’re designing an experience, it’s important to keep in mind that it’s not just about your design – it’s about where your design meets each individual person. There’s no point in punishing the whole class because you’re afraid one person might cheat.

Questions answered (abbreviated):

• Beekie Boppaboop: Do y’all have any musical experience?

Things mentioned:

• Back 4 Blood

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 podcast@bscotch.net, and send letters, gifts, and tasty treats to http://bit.ly/bscotchmailbox. Finally, if you’d like to support the show and buy some coffee FOR Butterscotch, head over to http://moneygrab.bscotch.net.

This week, we talk about charlatans, circular definitions, and bunnywool. We revisit the idea of “You just gotta get in there.” If all you have are questions, getting in there is about figuring out some answers. HOW you do that looks different for different people for different goals. As it turns out, bunnywool isn’t one size fits all.

Questions answered (abbreviated):

• TimConceivable: In the US, there seems to heavy social stigma against sharing your pay rate with coworkers. What are your thoughts on this?
• Fraser_: A recent episode detailed how you now think "bias towards action" is a disastrous philosophy that leads to bad code, wasted time, and tech debt. Does this mark the end of "you've just gotta get in there" as a studio work principle?

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 podcast@bscotch.net, 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 layers on layers on layers. It’s more useful to think of most things in terms of levels – of accessibility, of interaction, of knowledge. When you’re designing, design with those things in mind so that you can engage different people in different ways. That’s how you move beyond one note sweets to more satisfying desserts. (Though we still wouldn’t necessarily say no to the former.)

Questions answered (abbreviated):

• TimConceivable: When you developed Crashlands, did you tailor the gameplay experience to favor a specific platform? Have you considered this with Crashlands 2?
• Beekie Boppaboop: Do you have plans for how you’ll build a community around a game that doesn’t feature community content?

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 podcast@bscotch.net, 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 DVD choices, inkblot movies, and shutting out the world. When you’re exploring a paradigm shift, a big part of that upfront investment is learning and creating new processes. Skills and concepts might be transferable, and the mechanical parts can be reproduced, but the thing that’s going to take time is developing context fluency. Remember though, if you don’t disrupt yourself, someone else is going to.

Questions answered (abbreviated):

• RoninGameDev: Given infinite resources, do you still feel like you would switch to 3D, and how will all the time spent on the Game Changer affect this decision?

Things mentioned:

• Everything Everywhere All at Once
• Bose QuietComfort Earbuds

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 podcast@bscotch.net, 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 secrets, knowledge mastery, and buffing pawns. Gameplay loops keep players engaged, but it’s all too easy to only think about mechanical loops. Providing various levels of engagement allows players to meet the game at different breadths and depths. And when things change, make sure they can cascade.

Questions answered (abbreviated):

• Mimmabip Gourkee: How do you balance your games?

Things mentioned:

• Tunic
• Adam Millard, Why Tunic Hides Its Tutorial (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jzqv0bKLz2o)

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 podcast@bscotch.net, 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 hidden information, player choice, and doing less. Things are often different than what you think they’re going to be, and that’s okay! But if you mistake activity for progress, you’ve fallen into a guaranteed trap. The discovery of the things you shouldn’t do might just be the most valuable discovery of all.

Questions answered (abbreviated):

• RoninGameDev: Is LevelHead's full screen fake?
• RoninGameDev: Does Adam being CEO change the pressure at all? In those moments of panic or doubt, does the fact that Adam is driving the direction of the studio help you not worry?

Things mentioned:

• Elden Ring
• Four Thousand Weeks: Time Management for Mortals by Oliver Burkeman

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 podcast@bscotch.net, 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 more fan poking, feeding the beast, and reframing productivity. We had our quarterly review, and it was, as usual, illuminating! Productivity isn’t just about making stuff, and having more stuff isn’t always better. Sure, you could walk from NY to LA and feel like you’re making progress the entire time, but is that the best way to get to LA?

No questions this week, but we'll hit some up next time!

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 podcast@bscotch.net, 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 the nightmare of incentives, design arms race, and price. Despite what economists tell you, you can’t assume a can opener. Or a spherical cow for that matter. And certainly not a can opener that can open a spherical cow. Pricing signals much more than just the price to the consumer, and supply/demand curves are more shapes than you think.

Questions answered (abbreviated):

• Suavignon: How do you set the price of a 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 podcast@bscotch.net, 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 opinion bludgeons, resource allocation, and quality time. By now, you know that we like to answer questions with questions. Context is important and you should always know why! In the long term, reducing cognitive load is the name of the game – everything else is a trap.

Questions answered (abbreviated):

• JohnFlavin: Do you track your time? If so, how do you do it (tools, workflow, etc.)? If you don't, have you tried it and how did it go?

Things mentioned:

• Register to watch our live interview on the Favro Learn From Leaders podcast on March 31! Check the registration page for the time! https://tinyurl.com/bscotch-favro
• https://toggl.com/track/
• https://www.rescuetime.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 podcast@bscotch.net, 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 beach funerals, clock shenanigans, and evaluating feedback. If you don’t understand why you’re doing something, you’re not engaging in best practices. In relationships, in the perception of time, and in understanding details. We’ve said it before and we’ll say it again: Context is EVERYTHING.

Questions answered (abbreviated):

• Jumpylumpa Leapylow: On average how many takes do you have for the podcast? Have you ever talked about something that had to be removed? How much time goes into editing?
• Mimmabip Gourkee: When receiving feedback on a change players want to your game, how do you determine whether it's a change that a vocal minority want or something that the majority of players would enjoy?

Things mentioned:

• Register to watch our live interview on the Favro Learn From Leaders podcast on March 31! https://tinyurl.com/bscotch-favro
• That podcast episode from NPR: https://tinyurl.com/daylight-savings

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 podcast@bscotch.net, 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 dumb phones, road maps, and learning code. Acquiring a new skill is about unleashing your curiosity rather than fixating on specific frameworks. Whether you’re learning from classes, Youtube videos, or bootcamps, the key is chasing down those “what if” moments!

Support Crashlands 2!

Official Website: https://www.bscotch.net/games/crashlands-2/

Trailer: https://youtu.be/yR_Opccn1n4

Steam Wishlist: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1401730/Crashlands2/

00:23 Intro

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

01:13 Dumb Phones 

35:24 UppasitFlitwip: as curious on your guys thoughts on learning to code?

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 podcast@bscotch.net, 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 That One Game, invisible walls, and 30-dimensional space. When you’re trying to navigate unfamiliar territory, it’s useful to have a map. But you have to remember that the map is not the world; it’s a representation of multiple dimensions collapsed down to only two. Not only should you try to understand the thing you’re looking at, but you also need to understand HOW you’re looking at the thing.

Questions answered (abbreviated):

• QuantumAnomaly: Do you believe you still follow your core values, are they brought up often, or have any of them changed recently?

Things mentioned:

• Team Topologies by Matthew Skelton and Manuel Pais

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 podcast@bscotch.net, 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 portable gaming, snow melt, and the low hanging fruit of web hacking. When the only problems you’re trying to solve are the ones that you created, it’s difficult to innovate. Your framework is stuck in what already exists, not what could be. There’s a difference between positioning yourself to win and positioning yourself to not lose.

Questions answered (abbreviated):

• challosis: Has your web infrastructure ever been attacked?

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 podcast@bscotch.net, 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 time travel messaging, UX problems, and a lifestyle lens. Whatever you measure is what you optimize for, and like all decisions, that choice has consequences. If you don’t design for something, you might find yourself fighting against it instead. Whether you pay it now or later, the cost comes due. The goal is to be able to look at your future self and say “You’re welcome.”

Questions answered (abbreviated):

• ExakrowDapiff: What message do you want to give your future self?
• hossimo: What is your favorite mobile or desktop app tool that you open without thinking and enriches your life?
• Fraser_: Any CharaChorder updates?
• challosis: Please tell us about how CharaChorder is whenever it shows up!

Things mentioned:

• https://bearable.app/
• CharaChorder (https://www.charachorder.com/)
• ErgoDox EZ (https://ergodox-ez.com/) and the ZSA Moonlander (https://www.zsa.io/moonlander/)

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 podcast@bscotch.net, 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.