エピソード

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

    "Praise be to the bureaucrats." Player Investment; Crunch Culture
    2026/08/27

    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
    0:06:57Player Investment'Cauldron of bats' and other great collective nounsEmma CownleyJot Jot Boom0:38:05Crunch CultureOccupational Burnout in Games 2024: Causes, Impact, and SolutionsLis Moberly, Tim StoboGame Developer Conference
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  • Nice Games Jam: "The Great Floral Heist"

    Nice Games Jam: "The Great Floral Heist"
    2026/08/20
    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 GeekClue: The Great Museum Caper - Board Game GeekThe game board for Clue: The Great Museum CaperOur spreadsheet of Flowers, Powers, and Barriers.PromptCreate 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 typeTabletop gameMaterialsGame boardThief meeplesBarrier cardsFlower tokensFlower combination legendFlower box containersAbility tracker"a one-to-one scale replica of a particularly rare flower completely made of precious metals and gems"SetupLay out the boardPlace the "one-to-one scale replica of a particularly rare flower completely made of precious metals and gems" in the center chamberDistribute flower tokensShuffle 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 barriersShuffle barrier cardsFor each marked space on the board, draw a barrier card and place it on the spacePlayer setupChoose a thief meepleTake a flower combination legendTake an ability trackerRulesPlayers 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
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  • "Your second draft." Code Comment; The Critical Eye Part 2

    "Your second draft." Code Comment; The Critical Eye Part 2
    2026/08/13

    In this episode, Mark touts the virtues of commenting, Stephen dreads the topic, and Lydia wishes she could talk about marginalia.

    Code CommentThe Critical Eye Part 2This is part 2 to The Critical Eye in Episode 416"I saw a Beatle."
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  • Narrative-Driven Puzzles (with Brian Crick)

    Narrative-Driven Puzzles (with Brian Crick)
    2026/08/06

    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 PuzzlesGame DesignNarrativeTinselfly - SteamGorogoa - SteamThe Longest Journey - Steam
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  • “That’s not how Lutherans work” Geology In Games; Shipping Updates

    “That’s not how Lutherans work” Geology In Games; Shipping Updates
    2026/07/30

    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
    0:15:35Geology In GamesNicolas StenoWikipediaThe potential for using video games to teach geoscience: learning about the geo…Edward G. McGowan and Lewis J. AlcottEuropean Geosciences Union0:36:00Shipping Updates
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  • Nice Games Jam: "Triage Simulator"

    Nice Games Jam: "Triage Simulator"
    2026/07/23

    This week, Ian emerges from the clubhouse vents to fill-in for Stephen as Dale gives us a bare minimum prompt with maximum implications.

    Prompt"Make a game called 'Triage Simulator'"Game typeDesign documentPlayer count1Rules
    • Triage - the verb
    • Learn about the consequences of your actions later
    • Papers Please-like interface
      • Situation/Scenario
      • Buckets to sort in - limited space within the bucket
    • Every level is a different situation
      • Level 1 - Hospital
      • Level 2 - Pizza Day at the Elementary School
      • Level 3 - Water Station at a Marathon
      • Level 4 - Planning a Foot Route as a Courier
      • Level 5 - Anubis is back from vacation and he’s backlogged
      • ???
      • Level 7 - In the pizza store making the pizza for the elementary school
    • A system-based puzzle - Scheduling and ordering
      • Information you don’t have
        • How many more of each type are coming in?
      • Information that lets you anticipate incoming situations
        • Events happening in the background that mean something going to come in at some point
    • You get the case
      • Outside context as a bulletin on the side that is in natural language and would have some influence on the level that the player doesn’t know yet
      • Time constraint known (5min, 90s)
    • The Puzzle
      • Sorting - the simplest system possible of how much resources go where
        • Highest Priority
        • Pretty Important
        • Mid-tier
        • Low Priority
        • Meh
      • Cannot rank within the bucket (eg. cannot say there is a highest priority of highest priority items)
      • Put in buckets or stamp it with a stamp
      • Each item gets ranked on certain variables which then designate which tier it should be assigned
      • No right answer - aiming for highest efficiency
    • Walkthrough a level - Sandwich lunch orders
      • BIG TRIAGE MACHINE that gets plonked onto a desk
      • Area of the broader context of what’s happening (updated throughout the shift time)
      • Deck of cards with variables for that level (eg. Order for 3, the order, how much it cost, extra paid to rush, for or to go)
      • Timing element - different form per level
      • Punches into the card to annotate the cards (with unique shaped punches <3) with before making the final decision that you can’t UN-punch either as a 1-5 scape or YES/NO bool:
        • Urgency
        • Impact
        • Severity
        • Scale
        • Consequence
        • Exceptional (YES/NO)
      • Feed the punch card into a different part of the machine which crunches the punch numbers and gives a recommendation that the player can then either follow or ignore
      • Want to be able to punch as much as you want into one card
      • If punch 2, will average the numbers out
        • Or always read the lowest number?
        • What if more than 2 punches? The machine is snarky at you?
      • Put the card into 1-5 slots in the contraption that then stamps the thing and keeps it in its own mail slot as the final verdict (can’t get it back) with counters of how many went through each slot.
        • Someone picks up the tickets periodically and gives vague body language feedback on the ticket
    • Accessibility features:
      • Pause while reading
      • Time scale adjustments 0.75x, 0.5x, 0.25x
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  • "Level designing your own home." Story Players Won't See; Polish Priorities

    "Level designing your own home." Story Players Won't See; Polish Priorities
    2026/07/16

    In this episode Mark talks about an awesome Game Jam he is planning in association with Global Game Jam - Listeners in the Midwest or the UK (or have the ability to get there) can make a game on a train in Junction Jam.

    Mark rants about his new apartment, Stephen realizes that the purpose of this podcast is to rant and Lydia imagines what it would be like to have a following on YouTube, then waffles on sharing her social media TTRP in these show notes (let her know i the discord or feedback form if you want this)

    Mark philosophizes about the artist's intent vs the receiver's experience. Lydia compares Slay the Spire to Slay the Spire 2.

    • Junction Jam

    • Junction Jam
    • The clubhouse discussed Junction Jam in"We need more train service in this country." What We Did On Our Winter Break (2025-26)
    • Mark's apartment

    • Lydia rediscovers a game she made, and then she waffles on sharing it with everyone. If you want to see her materials, you can ask on the discord or the feedback form.

    Story Players Won't SeeHe Won't Stop Making a Map to an Imaginary PlacePeople Make GamesYouTubeJerry's MapPolish Priorities
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  • Nice Thinking: "Who That Pocket Monster?"

    Nice Thinking: "Who That Pocket Monster?"
    2026/07/09
    In this week's episode, the Nice Hosts want to make this year's IDGATC summer picnic the very best, like no picnic ever was. Lydia brings to the table a game that relies on knowing nothing about Pokémon, Mark accuses her of knowing too much about Pokémon, and Stephen does his best as their acting Person-Who-Knows-Pokémon (nicegames.club/feedback). Will they make a game in time to play that weekend? Stay tuned as the journey continues.Strange Finds (demo) - SteamPinfinityNot-Game-of-Thrones Puzzle Room - Trapped Puzzle RoomsPuzzle Works Escape Co.PromptTurn the Pokemon guessing game Lydia plays with her husband into a party game in time for the IDGATC summer picnic.Game typeTabletop gamePlayer count6+MaterialsElectronic device (laptop or phone)Random Pokémon Generator (we use randompokemonpicker.com)Grid of possible Pokémon pictures and namesSetupDivide into two teams of at least 3 people. The two Team Captains stand in front facing both teams.Distribute the list of the possible Pokémon to the players, either physically or digitally.Team Captains pull up the random generator on their device. If you'd like to play at home, here is the graphic Lydia made for the IDGATC picnic, complete with rules and round order:RulesGen 1, Kanto region, Unevolved, Default version Pokémon onlyTwo teams, 3+ people each, not including Team CaptainsBoth team are trying to guess the same, randomly selected PokémonOnly Team Captains can see the selected PokémonTeam Captains must know as little about Pokémon as possibleTeam Captains may not reveal obvious physical characteristics in their initial description1 correctly guessed Pokémon = 1 pointFirst team to 2 points wins!Round Order:Team A asks their Captain "Who that Pocket Monster?"Team A's Captain describes the Pokémon in a humerous, vibes-based wayTeam A may ask 1 obvious yes/no question about the Pokémon and it's appearance. If the Captain can't answer the question, they will say so and the team may ask a different one.Team A guesses which Pokémon their Captain is describingIf correct, Team A gets a point and a new Pokémon is chose. If incorrect, the process repeats for Team BRepeat steps 1-4 until a Team guesses the Pokémon correctly.If the rounds are dragging on, the Team Captains may reveal the Pokémon and take a point (bragging rights) for themselves
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