

Nice Games Club - a gamedev podcast!
Lydia, Stephen, and Mark
The podcast where nice gamedevs talk gaming and game development. Nice!
Episodes
Mentioned books

Oct 10, 2018 • 0sec
Code Comment: "Adjacency"
This week’s episode is another edition of Code Comment, where your nice hosts look at the project, code, assets, and design of an indie game to see how it’s made.This week we are joined by Farzan Fatemi of Sleepy Macaw to show us behind the scenes of his abstract puzzle game Adjacency, which is available now on Steam and Itch! Martha steals Mark's line, Stephen and Mark discuss the idiosyncrasies of Unity and at the end of the episode Farzan reveals some surprising opinions about puzzle games.Buy Adjacency now on Steam and Itch!Video

Oct 2, 2018 • 0sec
"They don't call it 'full.'" Space Exploration games; Gaming Habits
This week, Stephen promises he can stop whenever he wants, Martha gets there eventually, and Mark earns 100%.If you like The Good Place, check out The Good Place: The Podcast! - Podcast0:06:18Space Exploration games"Elite: the game that changed the world" Adam LusherThe Telegraph"BBC releases computer history archive" BBChttps://www.polygon.com/2017/12/25/16817700/elite-dangerous-fuel-rats-rescue-cm…Owen S. GoodPolygon"New Book Chronicles The Continuing History Of EVE Online" Lee YancyKotaku"Warring EVE Online Factions Declare Peace, For Money" Lee YancyKotaku"Star Citizen’s $27,000 bundle raises eyebrows" Charlie HallPolygon0:46:05Gaming HabitsThe Surrounding Game, a recent documentary about American players of Go."Develop 2015 Highlights Rami Ismail, Indie Keynote"Develop Conference and Rami IsmailYouTube

Sep 25, 2018 • 0sec
Nice Games Jam: "Ha-Ha!"
This week on Nice Games Club we are trying out a new type of episode: Nice Games Jam! We get a topic from Martha’s boyfriend Dylan and then attempt to create a playable game by the end of the episode. We then include the rules here in the show notes for you to play at home!Let us know what you think of this episode format on the feedback from!Prompta realtime card game [for PC]Game typeCard gameMaterials52 Card deck + two jokersSix sided die (One per Player)A stuffed trophy - we used a plush Toad! but a jesther hat would be the most appropriateSetupEach player starts with seven cards.RulesThis game happens in real time. No turns!Roll for six with the dice, if so draw a card then pass it or another card in your hand to someoneIf you’re passed a card, you have to discard a card that was not passed to you.Having a joker allows you to pick up the TROPHY (Toad) on a roll of six.If you pick up the TROPHY (Toad), the game stops, you announce you have a joker and are looking for another, if someone has it they have to give it to you, the person losing a joker draws a card, the person gaining the joker discards a card.If you have two jokers, you can end the game early by saying “haha!” at any point.If you gain a joker you cannot discard it.The game ends if someone says “haha!” or as soon as the deck runs out (and all card passes are resolved.)If you have the highest poker hand, you win!

Sep 18, 2018 • 0sec
"Safety gone!" Hub Worlds and Safe Houses; Environmental Storytelling
This week on the program, Mark starts playing Spider-Man, Stephen ignores your narrative, and Martha is very smart.The 'Spider-Man' Puddle Controversy Is One Of Gaming's Dumbest - Dave Thier, Forbes0:09:09Hub Worlds and Safe HousesDestiny 2 Will Let You Play 'Fully Scored Soccer'Alex WalkerKotakuGearbox and Claptrap honor late Borderlands fan with eulogy, NPC in sequel Jessica CondittEngadgetSea of Thieves is fun until you meet other piratesFraser BrownRock Paper Shotgun0:38:20Environmental StorytellingAn image of some of the narrative-assisting collectables in Widget SatchelMark talks about the subtext of Metro Nexus' overworld maps in our episode topic on research for games."That gets real meta, real fast."

Sep 11, 2018 • 0sec
"Put it in a WordSpace!" Modding; Self-publishing Must-haves
This week on Nice Games Club your nice hosts talk all about Modding and Self-Publishing Must-Haves. Stephen explains different viewpoints on mod-ownership, Martha goes fishing on easier mode and Mark makes too many gifs.0:05:00Modding"Who owns the mods?"Yonnie Ming Kow and Bonnie NardiFirst MondayThe Requiem mod team tells its community about the delays to their update here.RedditNexus Mods is a great place to find community created mods.Wrye Musings is a blog from a famous Elder Scrolls modder who writes about vari…0:44:30Self-publishing Must-havesYou can find good examples of gifs on the Widget Satchel Steam page.SteamLearn more about how to make a good website on our Website topic in our episode"Ugly and hard to use."“How we Used Discord to build a dream community for our game Descenders”Mike Rose DiscordWe have had friend of the pod/media relations wiz Holly Harrison on the show to talk about Community Management and Media Relations in our interview episodeCommunity Managment

Sep 6, 2018 • 0sec
Code Comment: "Verdant Skies"
This week, we look at Verdant Skies, the sci-fi life-simluation game from Howling Moon Software, available now on Steam, Itch, and Humble Bundle!We're joined by two of the game's developers, Andy and Beth Korth, as well as their little one, Gabe. All three are making their second appearances in the clubhouse, as they were the program's very first guests back in our second episode (exactly 100 episodes ago)! We've already booked them for episode 202!Video

Aug 29, 2018 • 0sec
"Don’t start with me." Pitching to Consoles; Turn-Based RPGs
This week, Mark doesn’t respect your secrets (but will keep them), Martha tells us where D&D really comes from, and Stephen reveals that he will play a Kirby RPG if someone makes one for him.0:05:11Pitching to ConsolesPlayStationInformation is on the PlayStation Partners site. Your first step is to fill out their company registration page.XboxInformation is on the ID@Xbox site. Before submitting your game, your first step will be to apply to the program with basic information about your company.NintendoFor Wii U and 3DS development, registration is open to all developers on their developer portal.For Switch development, just send them an email! ThirdPartyPublisher@noa.nintendo.com.General Business stuffWe talked about starting a business for your game studio in a previous episode."I trolled myself."“Not-for-profit game developer faces major obstacles” Colin CampbellPolygon0:52:15Turn-Based RPGs“How to choose the least annoying Octopath Traveler”Brian GilbertPolygon“The Dungeons and Dragons Session That Became a Real-Life Phenomenon” Lewis PackwoodKotakuRPG Maker

Aug 22, 2018 • 0sec
"100 times nice." 100th Episode Special
In this episode, your nice hosts celebrate 100 episodes of Nice Games! We reminisce a bit on how the podcast has been going and go behind the scenes on what it takes to release one of the episodes.Thanks for listening to us 100 times!0:00:27100th Episode Special Our evil counterparts, Evil Games Club, have released two episodes so far...Evil Games Club! and this one Evil Games Club 2!Martha in the recording studio aka "Clubhouse"StephenThe Microphones we use to record.The audio interface (hardware) we use to record

Aug 15, 2018 • 0sec
Code Comment: "Fingeance"
This week’s episode is another edition of Code Comment, where your nice hosts look at the project, code, assets, and design of an indie game in development to see how it’s made.This week, we are joined by Lane Davis, Charles McGregor and our co-host Stephen McGregor to take a look behind the scenes of their cooperative shoot-em-up Fingeance! Lane shows us how he and Stephen design levels for different difficulties, Stephen explains how they use 'Object Pooling' to spawn bullets and Charles breaks down his music tracks to show us how he sets the emotion for each level. It's the episode that is definitely three three three!Video

Aug 7, 2018 • 0sec
"I like naps." Developing Ideas; Game Dev Success
This week, a listener gives Martha a great topic, Mark establishes a Do-ocracy, and Stephen has trouble with transitions.0:05:48Developing IdeasThe book Martha recommended is "If You Want to Write" by Brenda Ueland. It has been described as "the best book ever written about how to write" but its advice applies equally well to all types of creative work.0:36:10Game Dev Success


