Nice Games Club - a gamedev podcast!

#417Reinventing GDCInterview2025.11.27After the discussion, DeLoura turned the tables on your nice hosts and asked a question of his own. It didn't fit into the episode, but we saved it and put it up as a Patreon exclusive bonus segment!Mark DeLoura's decades-long career in games includes roles ranging from Nintendo engineer to White House senior advisor. A longtime and passionate developer advocate, this year he's been tapped to help reinvent the industry's largest annual gathering, GDC.DeLoura outlines the changes coming to this year's conference, defines what "festival" means in the context of GDC, and previews the ambitious goals for its future. But your nice hosts also raise concerns about the elimination of the lowest-priced passes, the accessibility of new programming, and the critical issue of attendee safety now that more official GDC events serve alcohol.Whether you have or are planning to attend GDC, are one of its critics, or just want to know more about how the industry creates and manages its community, this episode is a must-listen.Your nice hosts will be at GDC 2026, March 9th - 13th, 2026 in San Francisco. Look for our annual GDC special episode(s) then.Mark DeLoura on BlueskyMark DeLoura on LinkedInHITLab - Human Interface Technology Lab - University of WashingtonGame Programming Gems - Mark DeLouraDr. Miguel Luengo-Oroz (MalariaSpot) - Online game & crowdsourcing & malaria - The International Society for Neglected Tropical Diseases, YouTubeAbout FoldItVideo games owe a lot to President Obama's administration - Brian Crecente, PolygonMark DeLoura also co-hosts a podcast! His weekly gaming news/discussion show, Boss Rush, is available on YouTube!After the discussion, DeLoura turned the tables on your nice hosts and asked a few questions of his own. It didn't fit into the episode, but we saved it and put it up as a Patreon exclusive bonus segment!Reinventing GDCThe annual Game Developers Conference is changing - Michael McWhertor, PolygonCannes Lions International Festival of Creativity - WikipediaBlack Hat - Upcoming EventsGDC Passes & Pricing - Game Developer ConferenceSeattle Indies SLICECalling partners for GDC 2026! - Game DeveloperGames Industry GatheringFemale Game Devs Open Up About Harassment And Drink Spiking At GDC - Ahmad Hassan, RespawnFirstAmir Satvat's Games Jobs Resources

#381Dinosaurs of North DakotaNice Games Jam2025.03.13The 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 (triceratops)Survive a day as each of these creaturesOrder of playMedium first (herbivore)Big next (T-rex)Small last (scavenger)Then Paleontologist discovers (eats chicken with a PLASTIC fork)Where you die determines how preserved the bones are during the paleontology phaseIf you want more preserved bones you have to choose to not live as long (due to how the preservation works)GameplayPlay as the different creatures, the player chooses when that phase of the game endsCan also end after a certain time playedThen you swap to a new creature and play as them, choosing when to endWhen you get back to a creature, time has passed and things are different in the world (partly due to player influence from other creatures)Player knocking down trees might be knocked down in future scenes, eating a lot of plants may make the area sparse in the futureKeep playing as the different creature until enough time has passedAfterwards, play as a paleontologist and rediscover what you’ve doneRecord what you’ve done with the knowledge the paleontologist has (and not the player), so it won’t actually be accurate to the player’s playthroughBased on what the player’s done, it can affect what things the paleontologist will be able to say about the state of things after

#3963D Workflows for Indie DevsInterview2025.07.03We 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 HolmérShapes - Freya Holmér, Unity Asset StoreShader Forge - Freya Holmér, GitHub3D Workflows for Indie DevsGame DesignToolsUI / UXValve Hammer Editor - Valve Developer CommunityPicoCAD - Johan Peitz, itch.ioTrenchBroom - GitHubCrocotile 3DWhat’s the difference between OBJ and FBX? And when to you what - Reddit

#384Time Traveler Estate SaleNice Games Jam2025.04.10Roles 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

#399"Half trash compactor, half empty."Roundtable2025.07.24Ellen's back for a serendipitously in-sync pair of metacognition-rich roundtable topics. In this episode, Lydia shares a chapter from one of her favorite books and tries to explain ganache while Stephen laments how easy it is to duct tape on features instead of solving problems. Together they discover four brains are better than one when it comes to figuring out how to get out of your head. Composting0:09:56Lydia SymchychMisc.Writing Down the Bones - Natalie GoldbergBonbon - WikipediaThe Croissant Express diner mentioned in the book, formerly located on the corner of the Uptown Theater building.Overdesigning0:36:00Stephen McGregorGame DesignMuralMirovia. "Writing at Night: Lewis Carroll, John Milton, and Me" by Mike Mason. https://www.mikemasonbooks.com/writing-at-night-lewis-carroll-john-milton-and-me/

In this end-of-year tradition, your nice hosts talk about the games they played and the things that they accomplished in 2025, as well as the games they're excited to play and the things they hope to do in 2026.Stephen and Mark both had an up and down year and both picked predictable nicests (if you know anything about them), while Lydia realizes that she missed the show's orientation day.For 2025, Lydia made a Bingo card instead of making resolutions.0:03:002025 AccomplishmentsMarkBlippo+Nice Games AllianceGDC 2026 Speakers - Mark LaCroixStephenStephen successfully helped run an unsuccessful Kickstarter campaign, which he detailed in:"The things that create the geometry."Melanated Game KitchenLydiaLydia joined the podcast this year! Her first episode as a permanent host was in the ironically titled"More Ellen in the future." What We Did On Our Winter Break (2024-25)Lydia went from a contractor to a full-time employee!0:18:002025 "Nicest" GamesLydiaWord PlayGame Maker's ToolkitSteamMy SimsWikipediaAge of Mythology: RetoldWikipedia(Honorable Mention) PeakWikipedia(Honorable Mention) Axolotl with a GunBright Bard Gamesitch.ioMarkMario Kart WorldNintendo Switch 2 Welcome Tour(Honorable Mention) Super Mario Galaxy + Super Mario Galaxy 2StephenKirby Air Riders Blue Prince(Honorable Mention) Root (Honorable Mention) 2XKO0:36:402026 Most Anticipated GamesLydiaSlay The Spire 2Steam(hopeful) Tales of the Abyss RemakeWikipedia(hopeful) Persona 6RedditMarkBig WalkWikipediaSuper Mario Bros. Wonder – Nintendo Switch 2 Edition + Meetup in Bellabel Park …NintendoMark is hopeful, but not expecting, that Super Mario Galaxy 3 might be announced for Super Mario Bros.' 40th anniversary.StephenStephen is always wishing for another Kirby gameNioh 30:47:222026 ResolutionsHear more on last year's resolutions in:Nicest of 2024StephenMake stuff and be creative.Go to GDC.Get a job or work towards getting projects in Melanated Game Kitchen that are equivalent to a full time job.Get or make progress on his degree.We interviewed a developer from Melanated Game Kitchen in:Mental Health and DiscriminationMarkFinish playing Chants of Senaar.Get out of post-release rut.Release something in 2026, such as Operators, Noble Tools, or anything else.Keep working for/on Nice Games Alliance and get grant funding.Organize a large indie developer community project or event.Maybe bring Blippo+ to other consoles.Bring a project to pitch at GDC.LydiaGo to GDC.Work on her website.Developer another escape room project.Make a game that features environmental storytelling.Play more games.

Lots of thinking about thinking in this episode as the Nice Hosts attempt to define some core concepts to gameplay. What even is a game? Interactivity? Play? A failstate?!Buckle in for an intellectual conversation, and remember to go to nicegames.com/feedback to tell Stephen exactly why he's wrong about any of it. Word Play - Steam This Is Minnesota Orchestra: Søndergård and Symphonie fantastique - YouTubeWho is the Sky - David ByrneTwin Cities violin maker saves the day for David Byrne's bandleader - Brianna Kelly, Bring Me The NewsNoble Robot Website - Noble Robot0:14:47Interactivity vs. PlayBlippo+Steam0:35:24Fail States in ArtThis topic is a continuation of Lydia's previous roundtable topic/therapy session in"I saw a Beatle."Stephen brought forward the concept of purposefully designing friction into games earlier in the year. You can find that conversation in"This is an impossible challenge."