PODCAST

Nice Games Club - a gamedev podcast!

Lydia, Stephen, and Mark

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

leisure video games

All Episodes

"Everyone hates Jira." QA Workflows; Designing Discovery

Nice Games Club - a gamedev podcast! ·

2025/07/10

Your nice host return to the complex and sometimes underappreciated world of quality assurance in the game dev space, and also explore discovery as a design focus. In this episode: Lydia is still looking for recommendations while at the Serious Play Conference (answer in Discord!), Mark hates on Jira and Stephen finally catches up to the latest gaming trend a couple of months late.Chants of Sennaar - Rundisc, Steam0:06:27QA WorkflowsWhat Is A Kanban Board? The Ultimate GuideLaura Hennigan, Cassie

3D Workflows for Indie Devs (with Freya Holmér)

Nice Games Club - a gamedev podcast! ·

2025/07/03

We welcome Freya Holmér back into the clubhouse to talk about 3D game development for independent game developers. We get into the specifics of the tools available for devs and why they work and don't work for different teams, but it's mostly an excuse to talk about Freya's new 3D modeling software.Half-Edge - Freya HolmérShader Forge - Freya Holmér, GitHubShapes - Freya Holmér, Unity Asset Store3D Workflows for Indie DevsGame DesignToolsUI / UXValve Hammer Editor - Valve Developer

Nice Games Jam: "Head of the Clouds"

Nice Games Club - a gamedev podcast! ·

2025/06/26

This week, your Nice Hosts have a new prompt from a new source. Lydia's husband, Ian, draws from a rainy source of inspiration and the Hosts are all-in. We brush up on the water cycle, requisition the equipment, practice our Trans-Atlantic accents, dunk on hot dogs, and puzzle over water-based cloud economies.Big Pharma - SteamLe Ballon Rouge - WikipediaWater Cycle - WikipediaLoop Hero - SteamHuman Resource Machine - SteamPromptto match the current weather - what goes on inside the clouds during a

"It's about trust." Save Systems; Keeping Secrets

Nice Games Club - a gamedev podcast! ·

2025/06/19

Your nice hosts talk about saving both your position in a game and saving your secrets from being spread around. Also in this episode: Stephen's birthday is coming up, Lydia's been presenting in webinars for a while, and Mark's got a new game coming soon!Category Quest - ELB LearningWebinar | Let’s Play! Category Quest: ELB Learning’s Newest Game - ELB Learning, YouTubeWebinar | Escape Room Rx: Innovating Game-Based Clinical Education - ELB Learning, YouTubeEpisode we interviewed Lydia on before she

"I’m intrigued by big door." Emotional Effects of...

Nice Games Club - a gamedev podcast! ·

2025/06/12

Mark rushes through the introduction to talk about his two rush projects, one of which, Blippo+, was announced on Sunday during the PC Gaming Show! You'll hear more about that next week, but until then, Lydia talks about feeling seen in Anime, Stephen laments that his filmmaking class has not only ruined movies for him, but also music, and Dale does a good job editing out Lydia’s coughs.Blippo+, coming to PC and Switch this fall!You Need To See FMV Cable TV Simulator Blippo+ - Wesley LeBlanc, Game

Video Game History (with Adrian Sandoval)

Nice Games Club - a gamedev podcast! ·

2025/06/05

This week in the club house Adrian Sandoval describes how video games are speed running art history. Your nice hosts have their minds blown many times and Steven discovers he might actually like history!? Stay tuned to find out where the 90 day return policy came from.Little Nemo and the Nightmare Fiends - Team NemoChris Totten, co-author of Adrian's book, has been on the showTeaching Gamedev to Young People, Again!Adrian SandovalGame DesignHardwareMarketingSpacewar! - WikipediaAdventure (Atari

"The things that create the geometry." What Happened...

Nice Games Club - a gamedev podcast! ·

2025/05/29

Your nice hosts all secured a Switch 2 pre-order... from a certain point of view. Then, Stephen examines the body, Mark attempts a vocabulary, and Lydia has recommendations.Chants of Sennaar - WikipediaNintendo Switch 2 preorders were a total mess — at first - Jay Peters, The VergeMissed out on a Nintendo Switch 2 pre-order? GameStop and Best Buy will have mo… - Demi Williams, TechRadar0:22:17What Happened With Future ClubPart-Time Hero Campaign EndingFuture ClubKickstarter0:48:57Design Surface

Mental Health and Discrimination (with Ashley Phipps)

Nice Games Club - a gamedev podcast! ·

2025/05/22

The clubhouse welcomes Ashley Phipps, producer for the game Clock Out at 2, to discuss the topic of mental health and discrimination.Mental Health and DiscriminationGame DesignGamingNarrativeClock Out at 2 Demo - Borderless Studios, SteamWhat to know about microaggressions - Anna Smith Haghighi, Medical News TodayQueerty Gamers - Queerty GamersSpooktober 2023 Clock Out at 2 Build - itch.ioDepression Quest - Zoe QuinnAdventures with Anxiety - Nicky CaseFight, Flight, Freeze, or Fawn: How We Respond

"This is an impossible challenge" Friction by Design;...

Nice Games Club - a gamedev podcast! ·

2025/05/15

In this episode the club house talks about the games that they have been playing. Mark attempts to define the terms good friction and bad friction, declares his distaste of rouge-likes, and talks about friction in his current projects. Lydia shows us how to make scoring sound way more academic.Civilization VIIAge of Mythology RetoldBlue Prince0:18:21Friction by DesignMark tries to define some terms:Good Friction - something that was designed into the game, or that could be described as a bug, or

Video Game IP Law (with Haley MacLeon)

Nice Games Club - a gamedev podcast! ·

2025/05/08

Your nice hosts get a crash course on video game IP law from lawyer and MinnMax cohort, Haley MacLeon. We learn about incorporating, publishing agreements, the difference between a lot of commonly used terms like "copyright", and the joys of contract templates. MinnMax - MinnMaxGame Informer Revival - Game InformerVideo Game IP LawMarketingMisc.ProductionThe $10 Million Lawsuit That Hinges On An Oxford Comma - Anna King, NPRVideo Game Publishing Agreement Market Report 2025 - Kellen Voyer & Haley

"Our sense of epoch." Let's Plays; Responsive Game...

Nice Games Club - a gamedev podcast! ·

2025/05/01

A new Nintendo is on the way, and your nice hosts talk about both it and the world it's being born into. It kicks off a longer than usual episode where Lydia just wants a way to experience horror games, Mark has an unpopular opinion, and Stephen thinks players have too much agency already.0:31:57Let's PlaysEndoparasiticmizizizizitch.ioLet’s Plays: A Copyright ConundrumAlexandra ChampagneSlaw Why I am Hesitant to Declare Let's Plays as Fair UseAquasonReddit1:17:44Responsive Game DesignWhat Capcom

Nice Games Jam: "The Intergalactic Dining Consortium"

Nice Games Club - a gamedev podcast! ·

2025/04/23

Your nice hosts settle their differences in opinions when it comes to food to serve up a fresh game design document in a new Nice Games Jam episode.PromptCreate a game with one of my favorite things, food! It cannot be about/or have mechanics that are cooking. Think: growing food, pairing foods, making an international food court, menu design, using foods in season, etc.Game typeDesign documentPlayer count1Rules(Stephen note: This is more of a set of notes taken during the episode outlining a game

"You shouldn't pet the wolf." The art of Saying No;...

Nice Games Club - a gamedev podcast! ·

2025/04/17

Mark is still out sick, so Dale takes his place in the clubhouse and brings a topic! The club makes a prediction that by the time that this episode comes out, Mark will still be sick, and if you are listening on Patreon, that is absolutely true. If you aren't listening on Patreon, you probably should be.The group talks about how often and when to say no. Stephen admits that he is the bottleneck, Lydia talks about things that she finds delightful in video games, and Dale makes a bold

Nice Games Jam: "Time Traveler Estate Sale"

Nice Games Club - a gamedev podcast! ·

2025/04/10

Roles reverse as Dale joins Stephen and Lydia for a Nice Game Jam prompted by Mark. The results are an antiques-fueled jaunt through time, and an unexpected win for Stephen.Costcodle - Zak Kermitz, CostcodleTimeline Inventions - Zygomatic, ZygomaticHypodermic Needles - Sawbones: A Marital Tour of Misguided Medicine, Maximum FunPrompt"Come up with a game where the winner is the player who gets (or gets closest to) a certain amount of points, but that amount changes from round to round. Hard mode

"Nice Games Club cannot solve all of your problems."...

Nice Games Club - a gamedev podcast! ·

2025/04/03

Beth leads Mark and Stephen through a therapy session. Stephen talks Kickstarter, Mark talks Patreon, and everyone agrees Beth's game Verdant Skies is great. Part-Time Hero: I'm Broke But I Have To Save The World! - Future Club, KickstarterDreamsettler - Tendershoot, Patreon0:06:40Begging for Money0:52:09Quality of LifeQuality of LifeMichael “Kayin” O’ReillyKayin WorksVerdant SkiesHowling Moon SoftwareSteam

Nice Thinking: "Nice Games Alliance Workshops"

Nice Games Club - a gamedev podcast! ·

2025/03/27

Beth Korth, board member of Nice Games Alliance, enters the clubhouse to talk about the purpose of the NGA and how to best fulfill that mission. They discuss how workshops, talks, and conferences fit into their plans. And how they can provide unique experiences and services that the gamedev community can't get elsewhere. They also emphasize the importance of lunch.Nice Games Alliance Workshops

"A Paragraph Signing" Incremental Learning ; Making...

Nice Games Club - a gamedev podcast! ·

2025/03/20

Lydia joins the clubhouse for her first regular episode as a host (it's calendar math)! The clubhouse discusses the release of Civilization VII and how it is taking up all of Stephen's time. Lydia brings to the table the question of how she can learn more games, and how tutorials don't work for her. Stephen regrets not being able to fully develop the world which is the setting for his five-minute student film.Civ VIICivilization VIISwitch 2Switch 2 mouse control - Kyle Orland, Ars

Nice Games Jam: "Dinosaurs of North Dakota"

Nice Games Club - a gamedev podcast! ·

2025/03/13

The clubhouse gets Cretaceous this week; your nice hosts have been challenged to create a game about dinosaurs and their feeding habits.PromptMake a game about the feeding habits of dinosaurs or of paleontologists, bonus points if all the dinosaurs are from the same era.Game typeDesign documentPlayer count1RulesCretaceous periodFlowering plants evolved hereEarly mammals here tooVelociraptors too!Different sized dinosaursName: Dinosaurs of North DakotaPlay as big (T-rex), small (dog-sized) and medium

"More Ellen in the future." What We Did On Our Winter...

Nice Games Club - a gamedev podcast! ·

2025/03/06

NEWS! New episodes now come out a week early on Patreon!! Sign up to listen to next week's episode now! We talk about why, and the silly reason why now, in this episode, along with another, much bigger piece of NEWS.And of course, your nice hosts continue the show's annual tradition of recounting what they did during hiatus.SO. MUCH. NEWS.Nice Games Club on PatreonWhat We Did On Our Winter Break (2024-25)Twin Cities Gamedev communityJoin the IGDATC serverDiscordDonate to Nice Games Alliance ("no"

Puzzle Systems (with Arvi "Hempuli" Teikari) [Nice...

Nice Games Club - a gamedev podcast! ·

2025/02/27

#373Puzzle SystemsInterview2024.11.15Releasing 2019's "Baba is You" after more than a decade of making puzzle games was a milestone for this week's guest, but it was also just the beginning of his design journey. Arvi "Hempuli" Teikari talks to your nice hosts about the balance between giving players freedom and constraining their expression, the pacing and sequencing of individual puzzles, what happens when a "cool" design annoys players, and more.Arvi's cats make a spirited apperance in the back

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Nice Games Club - a gamedev podcast!

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