Nice Games Club - a gamedev podcast!

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 AreaRubber duck debuggingWikipedia

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 to Threats - "Olivia Guy-Evans, MSc", Simply PsychologyGood Reps for Mental Health depictionFinal Fantasy XIV - SquareEnixThe Cosmic Wheel SisterhoodTales of Arise - Steam

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 only confuses a player Bad Friction - unintentional friction0:45:47Diversity in ScoringHuffington Post News Triva GameHuffington Post

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 MacLean, Voyer Law Corporation

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 Didn't Tell You About Resident Evil 4Game Maker's ToolkitYouTubeWe should talk.Carol Mertz

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 design document.)Human in an alien culture, giving recommendations for pairings for foodYou should need to learn the rules before you can break themGain credibilityPeople order categories of food and you put it on the plate (no cooking)Gamer JourneyYou’re a plater at an alien restaurantYou first do it like a human (based on taste)You get feedback that opposes basing plates on tastePlayer starts to get curious about how to make better plates to meet needsSense criteriaTouchSightTemperatureSpicinessTaste the “wine” to know what it “tastes” likeThe threat is if you do poorly you get shipped to another planet, they have different foods and different desires for foodsOptions to changeTwo ingredients (tomato and other tomato? Looks similar)Position of foodsContainer of foodsOrientation of foodsAesthetic of the restaurant?You design the specialCreate one dish for the special, you get an amount of feedback based on the size of the restaurantYou can tweak your dish based on the feedback you getThings change as you go through the game and impact what you have available and what patrons likeThe goal is for players to experiment with the different foods (positions, containers, etc.) so they begin to understand the rules of the gameThere can be clues with the background/worldbuilding so players can learn why the foods these aliens like are why they like themWhen do you get to influence cultures? Do you get to at all?Yes, you need to figure out a way to get aliens to love the food and not just like it

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 admission.1:33The art of Saying NoGatchamari - Dale (and Mark)'s Global Game Jam GameGlobal Game JamMini Post-Mortems on Global Game Jam GamesIGDA TCYouTubeFTL PostmortemJustin Ma and Matthew DavisGDCCeleste team Cancels a project (Earthblade)ExokEarthblade OST SoundtrackLena Raine0:31:30Tiny InteractionsSkyrim's myth of the treasure fox finally explainedWesley Yin-PooleEurogamer

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 variant: the players don’t always know what the amount is."Game typeTabletop gamePlayer count2-8MaterialsSet of item cards from various years10 chips for each playerSet of years/eventsTimerSetupPlace 8 item cards on the table easily accessible for all players. Pick a random year/event. Set timer for 1 minute.RulesStart the timer to start the roundWhile the timer runs, players place chips on items to bid on themWhen the timer runs out, the player with the most chips on an item gets that item. In a tie, no one gets an item and it gets added to the pool during the next roundItems that are earned get their times revealed, player closest to the chosen year/event winsPlay repeats for three rounds, player with the most round wins wins the game

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

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