Nice Games Club - a gamedev podcast!

Lydia, Stephen, and Mark
  • 4.7 (42)
  • Video Games
  • Updated Weekly

The podcast where nice gamedevs talk gaming and game development. Nice!

  1. 5d ago

    Escape Rooms 101

    Mark returns with gifts from Europe! Then Lydia teaches her nice boys how to make a puzzle room: the ins and outs, the dos and don'ts, it’s an escape room special! The Sega coin that Mark stood in multiple very long lines to get. Junction Jam (Midwest US 2026)  -  itch.io Saprolige  -  LydiaSymchych, HeadlessKhan, Ally, Ice Husky, Martin_Gazelle ,  itch.io Escape Rooms 101 Lydia's first episode on the program was as a guest, where she talked about: Digital Escape Rooms Years earlier, we spoke with another Escape Room designer, for: Puzzle/Escape Rooms

  2. Sep 10

    "It’s annoying because, like, I’m annoying." Replayability; Blue-skying

    Your nice hosts discuss a previously talked about topic, and also engage in something completely new (though both are an excuse to discuss work issues in reality), with a brief divergence to mention a Star Trek anniversary.  0:06:02 Replayability 0:27:34 Blue-skying

  3. Sep 3

    Chance Mechanics (with Heather Flowers)

    In this episode, your nice hosts welcome Heather Flowers into the clubhouse to talk about math and probability, while Heather insists they should be on Evil Games Club instead. The group reflects on art and the interpretation of art. Chance Mechanics Game Design Heather Flowers Games Unfair Flips  -  Heather Flowers ,  Steam 500 Finger Fillet  -  Heather Flowers ,  Steam Understanding Systems Suspense  -  Cat Manning, Jason Grinblat, Max Kreminski, Graeme Lennon, Alexsei Pepers, Lauren Scott ,  Polaris Game Design Retreat Other mentions Buckshot Roulette  -  Wikipedia Archane Kids Manife$to Number Gotcha  -  itch.io

  4. Aug 27

    "Praise be to the bureaucrats." Player Investment; Crunch Culture

    Two of your nice hosts are prepping to go to Junction Jam (which already happened, you'll hear about it soon!), but before then the discussion goes over the why players can and should be invested in your game, and how to push back against crunch in the workplace. Junction Jam  -  Global Game Jam 0:06:57 Player Investment 'Cauldron of bats' and other great collective nouns Emma Cownley Jot Jot Boom 0:38:05 Crunch Culture Occupational Burnout in Games 2024: Causes, Impact, and Solutions Lis Moberly, Tim Stobo Game Developer Conference

  5. Aug 20

    Nice Games Jam: "The Great Floral Heist"

    From a floral prompt, a daring caper blossoms. This week your Nice Hosts answer the question: How many flowers to you have to eat to pull off a heist? Clank!: A Deck-Building Adventure  -  Board Game Geek Clue: The Great Museum Caper  -  Board Game Geek The game board for Clue: The Great Museum Caper Our spreadsheet of Flowers, Powers, and Barriers. Prompt Create a game about flowers. The flowers may give you powers (regular or super) or may become animated when they are in full bloom. An example of a regular power is power of attorney or a driver's license and example of a superpower is invisibility. Game type Tabletop game Materials Game board Thief meeples Barrier cards Flower tokens Flower combination legend Flower box containers Ability tracker "a one-to-one scale replica of a particularly rare flower completely made of precious metals and gems" Setup Lay out the board Place the "one-to-one scale replica of a particularly rare flower completely made of precious metals and gems" in the center chamber Distribute flower tokens Shuffle flower tokens in a bagAdd flower tokens to flower boxes without looking at them Place the boxes on the marked spaces on the boardDistribute the remaining flower tokens around the flower patches marked on the boardPlace barriers Shuffle barrier cardsFor each marked space on the board, draw a barrier card and place it on the spacePlayer setup Choose a thief meepleTake a flower combination legendTake an ability tracker Rules Players are thieves after the same jeweled flower in the center of the board  Players must gather different flowers to give them the ability to get through the board/mazeGoal is to get through to the center of the maze-like building firstPlayers navigate to get the different flowers Combinations of flowers give you new abilities (either mundane or super-powered)Players may only have 3 active abilities at a time (if you get a new one, the first one gets pushed out)Could be places or a power that allows you to remove all of your powersPlayers need to get these powers to get through barriers in the game Barriers can be gotten through by various means (2 or 3, minimum 1)On the board there are places where flowers grow (distributed fairly) (tokens of a color/image) Some places have flower boxes, and they’d give you a random flowerMore of the flower boxes in the center of the boardIf someone gets to the center, they win, but the others now want to try and get them caught (so they can now win) Players create new barriers for the winning one to keep them from being able to get out

  6. Aug 13

    "Your second draft." Code Comment; The Critical Eye Part 2

    In this episode, Mark touts the virtues of commenting, Stephen dreads the topic, and Lydia wishes she could talk about marginalia. Code Comment The Critical Eye Part 2 This is part 2 to The Critical Eye in Episode 416 "I saw a Beatle."

  7. Aug 6

    Narrative-Driven Puzzles (with Brian Crick)

    Brian Crick is in the clubhouse to talk about how he intertwines narrative and puzzles in his game Tinselfly. We talk about character motivation, player buy-in, and where you even start with a project like this. And if you also are late to playing Myst, you'll learn you are not alone. Just... don't bring Mark the red pages... Narrative-Driven Puzzles Game Design Narrative Tinselfly  -  Steam Gorogoa  -  Steam The Longest Journey  -  Steam

  8. Jul 30

    “That’s not how Lutherans work” Geology In Games; Shipping Updates

    Stephen is still away so Ian Peters uses that as an excuse to talk about rocks and how that relates to storytelling. Also in this episode, Mark is preparing for an exciting trip and Lydia is hype about trains for a good reason. Junction Jam gamescom 0:15:35 Geology In Games Nicolas Steno Wikipedia The potential for using video games to teach geoscience: learning about the geo… Edward G. McGowan and Lewis J. Alcott European Geosciences Union 0:36:00 Shipping Updates

See All (509)

4.7
out of 5
42 Ratings

About

The podcast where nice gamedevs talk gaming and game development. Nice!

Information