Nice Games Club - a gamedev podcast!

This week we're joined by Alina Matson, developer of Fitment —a microworkout app designed with cozy gamers in mind. Alina talks about how she has used the popular Unity plugin Playmaker to kick-start her transition from a career in mechanical engineering to gamedev. Positive vibes abound. Plus, surprise singing! Visual Coding Programming Tools Playmaker  -  Hutong Games ,  Unity Asset Store Bolt  ...

It's a day of celebration in the clubhouse as Ellen finally starts Metroid Dread. Meanwhile, Mark delivers, and Stephen looks it up (but isn't happy about it). André 3000 on the 10th anniversary of his ‘Class of 3000’ soundtrack  -  David Dennis Jr. ,  Andscape Hint, hint...  -  Mike Rose ,  Twitter 0:13:18 Milestone Builds Milestone Wikipedia 0:46:47 Wikis and Guides How to pause Elden Ring Jeffr...

For our 250th episode, your nice hosts play a few rounds of a pair of games made by the folks from Game Dev London as part of their very own Nice Games Jam! Ellen makes fun sounds, Mark counts all his Jefferies Tubes, and Stephen is reliable as the morning sun. We talked about big episode numbers in: "A Spark Plug." 200th Episode Special Stephen's grumpy tweet. Game Dev London 0:18:36 Safecracker!...

This week, your Nice Hosts talk about "games you get for free" on various gaming platforms. Also, the trio explores the relationship between "fun" and "joy"—and where does "engaging" fit in? Ellen won't tell us the grade, and Stephen is told he has to yell at Mark. Amber Waves of Games "America the Beautiful" sung by Ray Charles  -  YouTube You made it! Thanks for another unforgettable year of Glo...

Hiatus flew by this year for your nice hosts, but they're back in the newly-renovated clubhouse with their annual recounting of what they got up to while away. Ellen keeps a promise, Stephen returns a gift, and Mark sees thru' these architects eyes. Our renovated clubhouse table. These foam acoustic panels came vacuum-sealed, so they needed to be soaked in water to inflate them. Of course, once-in...

#240 Sledgehammer Bride Nice Thinking 2021.10.28 It's Stephen's turn at Nice Thinking, our new episode format where we brainstorm around a single concept someone brings into the clubhouse. Get ready for your first contact with the Sledgehammer Bride ! Glom will be part of Wordplay 2021, November 13-14  -  Hand Eye Society Sledgehammer Bride Stephen McGregor Game Design Narrative A Brief History of...

#211 Building Blocks of Design Interview 2021.04.08 It's back to basics this week as we welcome Osama Dorias, lead game designer on the upcoming Gotham Knights at WB Games Montréal, to talk about his multi-year journey of making games with his kids, and what it taught him about his craft. It might be our cutest episode yet! Osama, along with  Fawzi Mesmar , and Rami Ismail , recently launched thei...

#235 The New Clubhouse Nice Thinking 2021.09.16 After many months of recording over Discord (or together in Mark's and Dale's apartment), Nice Games Club is finding a new place to meet. Well, "finding" isn't really the right word. Mark and Dale are making it happen. The new clubhouse is being customized as a workspace and community hub, and this week on the show, Your Nice Hosts talk about how to...

#224 "To whom it may concern." Roundtable 2021.07.09 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 (...

#210 Glom Nice Games Jam 2021.03.31 This week your nice hosts have a rowdy game jam. Dale gave us a prompt: Create a matching game with a puzzle element. The puzzle must be "what matches first" and bonus points if there's cats. The goal of every Nice Games Jam is for the team to come up with a playable game by the end of the episode. Did Stephen, Mark, and Ellen make it happen, or did they end up...

#220 “My face is over here.” Special In-Person Special Special 2021.06.10 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...

#219 Therapeutic Games Interview 2021.06.03 🎉 🎂 🎉 It's Ellen's birthday! 🎉 🎂 🎉 Wish her a happy one via the show's feedback form (seriously, that's what she asked for): nicegames.club/feedback . Can games be used for therapeutic purposes? Absolutely! In this episode we talk with Adam Davis, therapeutic Game Master, and a co-founder and executive director of Game to Grow, a 501(c)(3) nonprofi...

#216 "They wouldn't fully respawn." Fingeance Postmortem Special 2021.05.06 Oh dang, Fingeance is out! In this episode, Stephen talks about finally releasing his long-in-development game that's been a big part of Nice Games Club history, too! Hear about the game's unique development history, why now was the right time to put it out into the world, and learn a bit about how you might want to to app...

It's that season—there's snow on the ground, and it's time for the annual "year in review" episode. Your nice hosts are getting ready to take a break from recording for a few weeks while serving up some of our favorite episodes from the past year. But before we start hibernating, there's a lot to discuss! What did we accomplish this year, and how do we feel about it? What are our goals for next ye...

Your nice hosts (Ellen, mainly) conduct a double-interview, with a consummate professional and a committed amateur, on the subject of game design though the lens of tabletop game mastering. Subjects include the dynamic between system design and session design, the balance between planning and improvisation, and how players can be encouraged to participate in the process. Designing like a Dungeon M...

Three nice hosts, plus two topics, plus three meta topics equals a good time! Listen to Stephen's secret to popcorn success, Mark bringing up the Observer effect multiple times and Ellen's branding plans for her latest game. Forever - Endless Runner Engine  -  Dreamteck Flavacol  -  Popcorn Supply The definition of Chrimbo  -  Lexicon 0:08:33 Player Count Developers explain why 4 is the magic mult...

As the podcast approaches its fifth anniversary, your hosts get a little (more) frivolous. Mark shares some industry news about hardware releases. Ellen prompts everyone to share their experiences of learning development tools and examine their process of learning through the lens of Maximum Whooo. Stephen explores the difference between cooperative and collaborative gameplay, and invents somethin...

This week, your nice hosts discuss Star Trek, Star Trek, and Ghostbusters. Plus, Mark talks something out of existence, and Ellen is not even gonna not disagree with Stephen. NOTE: Early in the episode we promise a picture of Dale's Halloween costume for the show notes, but we did not have one as this episode went to press. Check this episode's page on our website, and/or our Twitter in the next f...

This week the clubhouse is joined by our second favorite pair of game development brothers - Sami Sati and Erick Sati, developers of Astral Gunners. The Sati brothers talk about staying motivated, when to release early access, and saving some of your heart and soul for future projects. Early Access Marketing Production Cave Games  -  Cave Interactive Co., Ltd ,  Wikipedia Astral Gunners The Sati B...

Mark goes over the theory and practice of debugging (in Unity, at least). Ellen gets the gist of it. Stephen considers when a game can benefit from having a silent protagonist, or at least a main character that doesn't say anything. Stay tuned after the outro music for bonus sound effects! Wordplay 2021: Celebrating Writing in Contemporary Games  -  Hand Eye Society 0:02:06 Debugging Working in th...

It's Stephen's turn at Nice Thinking, our new episode format where we brainstorm around a single concept someone brings into the clubhouse. Get ready for your first contact with the Sledgehammer Bride ! Glom will be part of Wordplay 2021, November 13-14  -  Hand Eye Society Sledgehammer Bride A Brief History of Beat ’em Up Video Games Hero Concept Prospective Teachers Misperceive Black Children as...

This week's episode has things getting a little crepuscular in the clubhouse! Mark possibly flubs the intro (jury is still out on this!), Stephen has prepared two rants and Ellen requests all of our best silly noises. Editors note: I (Stephen) did in fact edit this episode, but it's really early in the morning so I didn't find fun sounds to put in there. There is a fun sound in the episode though!...

Your nice hosts recorded this episode on an especially-timely Tuesday evening. It turns out that recording on an "off" day does goofy things to a podcaster's brain. Can you improve upon the game of "rock, paper, scissors"? How common are red stop signs across the globe? What noises does a wind serpent make? Do video games really give us choices? How many Kirby plushies does Stephen have? We're ask...

In this episode Ellen points out the wisdom of Stephen and Mark makes up excuses to talk about his new favourite T.V. programme (and it's not even a Star Trek show!). 5:15 Prototypes Here's a previous episode where we've talked about prototyping! "A way to farm notions." 0:33:38 Game Shows Ellen talked about Jeopardy in a previous episode! Gameful UX

This week, it's the inaugural episode recorded from the brand new clubhouse inside the office of Noble Robot , the gamedev co-working space that Mark just opened up in northeast Minneapolis! Ellen lays out everyone's frustrations, Stephen sets the agenda, and Mark has words for Whirlpool. This way to the new clubhouse! Here's the office fridge, moments before it got really frustrating. The new clu...