Nice Games Club - a gamedev podcast!

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 with a pile of nonsense? Well, maybe...

This week, your nice hosts look within themselves. Mark is afraid of falling off the tree, Stephen does the teeter-tottering he has to do, and Ellen doesn't struggle with this. Markey, Colleagues Reintroduce Bipartisan Bill to Make Daylight Saving Time Per… Tiny Room Stories: Town Mystery Animal Restaurant Learn Lua in 15 Minutes  -  Tyler Neylon Hungarian Notation 0:24:56 Your Internal Battery Ga...

A regular nice roundtable! In the first part this week's episode, Mark leads an examination of how fonts can support gameplay, worldbuilding, and immersion. In the second half, Stephen makes us think— really  think—about the benefits of "janky" gameplay. Mark shares some font history facts, Stephen starts his manifesto, and Ellen takes on the case. Mark's new keyboard Chel Wong's charity album Pre...

After a slightly longer than usual hiatus, your nice hosts (along with your nice guest host Dale LaCroix) return to the virtual clubhouse for the first new episode of 2021 to talk about what we did on our winter break! PLUS: Mark is a tax robot, Stephen hopes he’s not fired, and Ellen loves being right. Closed Hands , the interactive fiction game (directed by Dan Hett ) that Mark worked on over th...

This Nice Replay is a two-parter! Part one: Roboston! (Live at 2D Con 2020) Part two: Roboston! (part 2) #192 Roboston! (Live at 2D Con 2020) Nice Games Jam Live Video 2020.09.17 Your nice hosts recorded a live Nice Games Jam episode at 2D Con 2020! You can listen to the edited audio of the recording here! You can find the video of the live recording right here! Prompt Create a game where you are...

#185 "Empty the bucket." Roundtable 2020.07.28 Your nice hosts are tired, then get energized. Stephen is thinking about it, Mark brought a few unlikely examples, and Ellen is also thinking about it. Here's a fun new thing: We've recently started a Discord channel for listeners to discuss the show with each other. It's part of the Twin Cities Gamedev Discord server, but you don't need to be a Twin...

#170 "Stephen, his arms wide!" Roundtable 2020.04.14 Ellen Burns-Johnson joins us once again in the virtual club house to discuss Redundancy and Arcades! Ellen teaches us about how we learn, Mark balances the game, Martha only plays the best character, and Stephen has a revelation. Photo Credit: Michelle Bruch, from this Southwest Journal Article about the Donutron Redundancy 0:13:01 Mark LaCroix...

#176 Gamedev in the Philippines Interview 2020.05.26 Your nice hosts interview Ryan Sumo, Art Director and CEO of Squeaky Wheel Studio, an independent developer and publisher based in the Philippines. Topics include community building, conferences, becoming a publisher through serendipity, and the benefits of being transparent with your development practices. Plus jokes! Gamedev in the Philippines...

#180 Dark Star Nice Games Jam 2020.06.30 No, your nice hosts aren't pitching an adaptation of the 1974 film of the same name, but returning guest host Sarah Seember Huisken counts it as an inspiration for the solo-play tabletop RPG we workshopped in this episode. Immerse yourself a galaxy of corporate factions, fluid allegiances, and space pirates! Scum and Villainy The 5 best solo board games  - ...

#186 Mental Health Interview 2020.08.06 Your nice hosts are joined by nice guest Alanna Linayre, founder of the indie studio Team Toadhouse. Alanna (rhymes with "banana") guides the gaming world towards healthier work practices and personal habits. We asked her a lot of questions about best practices in mental health, and about Team Toadhouse's upcoming game Call Me Cera . Also, Mark has a mission...

#179 Anarchitects! Nice Games Jam 2020.06.16 Two architects of wildly different philosophies share an office space and compete to influence the design of their client's latest project. It's an excellent sitcom premise, but it's also the subject of our latest Nice Games Jam! Photo Credit: Ian Samkov on Pexels News Itch.io Bundle for Racial Justice and Equality ends with a stunning $8.1m raise…  - ...

#182 "I will not threaten you with a noogie." Roundtable 2020.07.10 Guest host Charles McGregor starts the episode by getting REVENGE. The group talks a bit about the state of the growing "serious games" industry and what it's like to work alongside family members. Also, Stephen does a good transition, and... no one mentions Star Trek ?! In his intro speech, Charles references episode #37: "Ugly a...

#155 Agile Development Interview 2019.11.05 This week's episode was edited by our social media manager (and Mark's wife) Dale LaCroix. Big thanks to her for stepping in while Mark was busy being crushed under the weight of prepping Widget Satchel for release later this month! With Mark still away, Ellen returns to in the clubhouse for another episode! This week, she invited her husband, strategy c...

#175 "Kapow?" Roundtable 2020.05.19 Your nice hosts talk big picture and get deep into the weeds this week. Mark runs Flash at 60fps on the Switch, Ellen makes a Star Trek reference, and Stephen wants more games that aren't fun. Hey you! If you're porting a project, whether it's just to a new Unity build target, or to a whole new codebase, we want to hear about it! contact@noblerobot.com or @NiceG...

This wasn't a normal year, so in addition to your nice hosts' annual tradition of celebrating the year's "Nicest," and looking forward to the games and the gamedev in the coming year, we do another pandemic check-in, and reflect on the how the show has been one of the stabilizing forces in our lives. PLUS: We reveal this year's hiatus project! 0:20:56 Local Releases (2020) HyperDot Elemetals Widge...

Everybody's favorite nice host emeritus , Martha Megarry, returns once again to the program to talk with Stephen about 4X games, Ellen delivers a book report, and Mark is disadvantaged as a player. 0:05:08 4X Games What Makes a 4X Game "Micah ""Marlowe"" Dutro" Explorminate Welcome to CivAnon 2K YouTube The Best Scenarios in Civilization 6 Sam Woodrick GameRant 'Civilization' and Strategy Games' P...

We have some familiar guests this week! The Korth family (Andy, Beth, and Gabe) join us in the clubhouse to talk about the ways they play games together. Are there games that adults and four-year-olds alike can play together and enjoy? Sure! We talk about flexibility, rules, consent, "PBP," and what gamedevs should think about if they want to "toot around in the kid zone." Also, have you heard of...

Ellen recently gave an engaging and informative presentation at igdatc's monthly Gamedev Meeting ! Plus: audience participation, bad passwords, and (if you stick around) a second dog! Also, please enjoy Mark transposing the letters "G" and "D" in "IGDA" each time he says it. He will never learn. International Game Developers Association, Twin Cities Watch other past igdatc meetings on YouTube Tips...

Holly extends her stay for another week to help your nice hosts interview Tiffany Otto, freshly sprung from government-mandated quarantine to bring her "slimy" wisdom and experience into the clubhouse. Tiffany, the Director of Partnerships for IndieCade, is over-indexed in business, but she wants to raise the index for everyone. If preparing pitch decks, scheduling business meetings, and networkin...

Holly Harrison is back in the clubhouse as Guest Host for a wide-ranging discussion on new consoles, fail states, and worldbuilding. Stephen gives a weird example, Mark makes a funny noise, and Holly invites us to Join Lobby. Plus, we only mention  Star Trek  once! Join Lobby - Video Game Culture Feed  -  Holly Harrison ,  Twitter Bugsnax is Dale's current game of choice Ubisoft’s toxic culture pr...

After recording our extra-long 200th episode , we kept the tape rolling for nearly an hour's worth of additional content. Unbeknownst to your nice hosts, Dale also selected clips from the show's 4-year history, and we discussed how things have changed and how they've stayed the same! Tune in for "more fun," "more casual," and "more Ellen sound effects." Plus, Stephen fixes some very old bugs, and...

Your nice host emeritus Martha Megarry returns to the (virtual) clubhouse, along with Dale LaCroix (of Evil Games Club) to celebrate 200 episodes! Each of your nice hosts have picked an episode from the past 4 years and pulled clips to listen to and discuss, expanding on the original topics. We also talk about the past, present, and future of the show, and and and... well, it's a double-length epi...

This week: Stephen starts out British, Mark gets all the references, and Ellen makes octopus noises. We talk high-level about what it takes to make (and market) games for young children, and Mark shares some insights about comedy in games—can it be more than silly memes? Maybe! COMING SOON! - PATREON?!! - EPISODE 200??!!! WOOOHOOOO!!!!!! 0:10:42 Games for Young Children Designing for Youth - Makin...

The clubhouse is packed in this episode, as your nice hosts discuss the Kenyan game dev scene with developers Alila Omondi Wekoto, Denis Odero and Shyam Shah! We talk about the importance of community, the value of higher education and also argue about Xbox vs Playstation (vs Switch, slightly)! Alila brings up the episode where we interviewed Chel Wong, award winning composer who recently worked o...

Your nice hosts return to Roboston in a first for the program, revisiting and expanding upon on a previous Nice Games Jam game! Ellen conjures some frightening scenarios, Stephen and Mark work the numbers, and everybody loves conditional formatting. See the original rules in the show notes for Roboston! (Live at 2D Con 2020) Check out our cool spreadsheet of game cards and notes! Astral Gunners is...