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  • Nice Games Jam: "I’m Holding It for a Friend"

    Nice Games Jam: "I’m Holding It for a Friend"
    2025/10/02

    Note: Minor hiccup with the audio recording in the first 2 minutes, so Lydia is off mic briefly but it fixes itself.

    We invite Joanna May into the clubhouse again in this supersized episode to design a game about stowing illicit goods into spacecraft as it's being built!

    • Tangrams - Wikipedia
    • We mention Dogpile!, a game we made in a previous game jam.Dogpile!
    PromptDesign a puzzle game about loading passengers and/or cargo into various spacecraft (or other transport).Game typeTabletop gamePlayer count4 or moreRules
    • The ship is a pad of paper with outline of ship (legal pad sized)
      • The interior is blank, what you draw is the interior spaces
      • Each turn, the freighter captain draws the modules
        • False walls, freezers, to shape what you can put in there
        • They have their own secret goal
      • Each turn, the other players are smuggling things (they don’t know about what others are doing)
        • Contraband
        • Each turn they can put one thing in there or move a thing
          • Maybe you have to slide it only, you can’t pick it up after it’s been added
    • Each game has an ending determination and then also a scoring system
      • Everyone loses if ship gets caught
    • Hidden role game?
      • Freighter Captain
        • Makes the ship
      • Contraband smuggler
        • Tries to add the most of contraband as they can
      • Honest worker
        • Wants to add the most of the goal as possible
      • Inspector
        • Wants to find the smuggler
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  • "Ain’t nothin’ left." Role-playing; To Rebuild or Not to Rebuild

    "Ain’t nothin’ left." Role-playing; To Rebuild or Not to Rebuild
    2025/09/25
    Joanna May returns to the clubhouse as a guest host! Your four nice hosts chat Tetris, knitting, and CSS, but also have a pair of actual topics to discuss...Mark's game Blippo+ is out NOW! Go buy it on Switch and Steam!0:13:36Role-playingComplete History Of The Soviet Union, Arranged To The Melody Of TetrisPig with the Face of a BoyYouTubeTetris (film) - Historical accuracyWikipedia0:35:27To Rebuild or Not to RebuildJoanna previously joined us as a guest to discussSerializationGodot 4.5 release notes - SDL3 gamepad inputGodotNoble EngineNoble RobotGitHubThe Slow Way Is the Fast WayMark SamplesJoanna and Mark debated a concept called "Utility-first CSS"A Year of Utility Classes (Pro)Michelle BarkerCSS { In Real Life }What is Utility-First CSS? (Anti)Heydon PickeringHeydonWorks
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  • Serious Play Conference 2025

    Serious Play Conference 2025
    2025/09/18

    Your nice hosts Lydia and Ellen are on a seriously playful adventure in beautiful Rochester, New York for the Serious Play conference! They discuss game accessibility, D&D therapy, lexical gaps, validation, and more.

    In addition, Lydia beats the pavement and gets the hot scoop on what attendees learned at the conference and the games that shaped them.

    Many thanks once more to:

    • Serious Play for Lydia's press pass.
    • Ellen for the cute little lavalier microphones that made interviews possible.
    • Ellen and Nikita for being the best travel buddies ever.
    • Interviewees for sharing their thoughts with our nice listeners.
    • Serious Play Conference
    • Ellen's previous trip to this conference was recounted in:Serious Play Conference 2023
    Serious Play ConferenceXbox Adaptive ControllerXbox.comPlayStation Access ControllerPlaystation.comQuadstickAble Gamers
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  • "There's little guys in my screen." Video Content; Use the Dang Potion!

    "There's little guys in my screen." Video Content; Use the Dang Potion!
    2025/09/11
    In this episode, Mark and Stephen talk about what they are excited about. Lydia deals with a existential crisis about keeping too much stuff. And nobody talks about the full motion video game that Dale made during a Global Game Jam during the topic on video content, where they talked extensively about FMV games. Don't worry! Dale edited this episode and linked the game in the show notes below. ;)Lydia played some Dutch gamesGeharrewar in de Sushi-bar - Board Game GeekPort Royale - Board Game GeekStephen is very excited about Kirby Air Riders. Is it as good as he anticipated? Past Stephen sure hopes so!Kirby Air Riders Direct 8.19.2025 - Nintendo of America, YouTubeMark went to L.A. for the Blippo+ ExhibitionBlippo+ - SteamPre-order Blippo+ on Switch - NintendoMark's favorite museum: LACMANice Games AllianceNice Games Alliance is the org that supports the local communityBeth Korth was recently on the show in Episode 382 to talk aboutNice Games Alliance WorkshopsWhen the club plugs the Discord, Mark mentions a Discord conversation the podcast's outro in Episode 400"From apocrypha or experience." 400th Episode SpecialVideo ContentBlippo+Telling LiesWikipediaDinosaur Hunter (aka 3D Dino World)WikipediaQuantum BreakWikipediaControl (the game)WikipediaWitnessWikipediaDragon's Dogma 2 Steak videoYouTubeAlan Wake 2The FMV (Full Motion Video) Game that Dale and Beth made for Global Game Jam 2020 is very campy. Enjoy!Global Game JamGlobal Game JamCorporate Espionage (the Game) Use the Dang Potion!The reasons Lydia doesn't use the Potion:1) She might need it (more) later, I don't want to waste it2) Everything could matterAnd more reasons:3) Things are power in a power fantasy game, and it's hard to give up power 4) Potions feel like an assist mode, because you want to be better than that 5) Gambler's funCombatting the natural emotional response for players to keep their stuffMake stuff very abundant, and add use ware (like Zelda Breath of the Wild) Add narrative context that the intention is to sell it for in game money (like in Spirit Farer) Add explicit indicators that an item is required for a quest.Create items that are specific to a single purpose.Discourage gathering more items by making them annoying to collect
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  • Nice Thinking: "Fishing Minigame Collection"

    Nice Thinking: "Fishing Minigame Collection"
    2025/09/04
    Stephen Business is back! And he’s attempting to make a meme into a reality. It’s a fishing minigame collection. The clubhouse attempts to answer the questions:How many fishing minigames is too many fishing minigames?What are different ways of fishing?Is it okay to shoot fish with lasers?Who are those teenagers with emo hair in the Bentley?Should Stephen make something on the Playdate?Is button mashing good?Why do people go fishing? Does anyone actually like fishing?You can wishlist 'Blippo+' on Steam! - SteamFishingLydia kicked of this topic with a comment an episode, maybe this one?Revisiting Your GamesFishing Minigame MemeRedditLydia learned about noodling from this youtube channelBon AppetitYouTubeFeeding time at a Fish Hatchery is bonkers!YouTubeLydia's nice list of games with fishing minigamesTales of Arise Pokemon Animal Crossing Stardew ValleyLegend of Zelda (many) SkyrimKirby The Forgotten Land Verdant Skies Spiritfarer Red Dead Redemption 2 Final Fantasy (many) Sonic Frontiers Far Cry 5Hades
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  • "Okay, I need to learn buttons." microStudio; Min-Maxing

    "Okay, I need to learn buttons." microStudio; Min-Maxing
    2025/08/28
    It is a joyous day for pancake lovers everywhere, and a joyous week in the Clubhouse for Lydia who successfully made a thing using code! WOW! She shares her experience learning how to make buttons (and everything else) in microStudio. Then the Nice Hosts get real about their experiences with min-maxing in games. You know it's a good topic when it promises at least one spinoff topic so buckle up. Also in this episode: Mark is doing level design when he should be playing Donkey Kong Bonanza, new laptop(!), and the existential horror of the cozy game genre.0:12:09microStudioLydia's starting point for her incremental learning plan."A Paragraph Signing"microStudiomicroStudioLydia's Experiment 1 - TutorialPress space to start. Use the arrow keys to move the slime to the cookie. microStudioLydia's Experiment 2 - Buttons PracticeClick the heart to add it to the skeleton’s chest microStudioLydia's Experiment 3 - Build a SkeletonClick on the buttons to add silly organs to the skeleton. Keep clicking the button to cycle through your options for that organ. microStudioLydia's Experiment 4 - Despawn PracticePress space to add 10 seconds to the timer. Click correct or incorrect to add or subtract points to the score. Clicking spawns sparkles! microStudio0:37:00Min-Maxing
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  • Concept Art Workflows (with Laura Onderwater)

    Concept Art Workflows (with Laura Onderwater)
    2025/08/21

    Returning "favorite" Laura Onderwater re-enters the clubhouse to talk about task tracking, naming conventions, and paper trails of various kinds in an engaging discussion on concept art workflows. Even if you’re not part of an art team, there’s a lot to take away from this one!

    • We spoke with Laura previously in an episode onVisual Worldbuilding
    Concept Art WorkflowsArtProductionLaura on ArtstationLaura on Bluesky
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  • Nice Games Jam: "Repair-ent"

    Nice Games Jam: "Repair-ent"
    2025/08/14

    As promised, the three Korths, Andy, Beth and Gabe, join us in the clubhouse for our hundred and two or so episode tradition! The clubhouse was too crowded to fit Mark in, but having five hosts makes up for it. Your nice hosts design a game about fixing the messes your child makes and then returning the favor as you age.

    • Andy had brought up a chaotic game where you need to prevent your infant from getting into trouble, turns out there's a lot of those but here's an example!
    • Who's Your Daddy - Evil Tortilla Games, Steam
    PromptCreate a game where you need to follow around a person or a thing that is breaking stuff. You gotta fix it!Game typeDesign documentPlayer count1Rules
    • Child causes destruction and you have to fix it
    • Child become adult you have to fix parent stuff
    • Parent needs to work (remotely) and also fix whatever the kid has broken
      • You want to fix the things as best as you can before your partner gets home
      • Partner will do some fixing at the end of the day (to prevent negative feedback loop)
    • Each level is just one day in the life of this family
      • The last level, the parent retires and now the kid is an adult and has to fix parents’ messes
      • And maybe also has a kid they need to take care of
    • Mess examples
      • Older parent
        • Find keys
        • Knocking a pot off the stove
        • Install rail in shower/toilet
        • Bookcase falls down
      • Toddler
        • Pulling things with cords (as toddler)
        • Crayons on the walls
        • Legos (or any toy)
      • Pulled shower curtain
      • Teenager
        • Get mad at a thing and punch a hole in the wall
        • Leave the fridge open
        • Shave without cleaning sink
        • Dirty clothes
        • Plates everywhere
        • Dart board
        • Sticky slime
        • Leave milk on table
    • What does cleaning look like?
      • Different minigames
    • Co-op mode
      • Two parents, or parent and grandparent
    • Orthographic camera angle that slides from one room to another
    • Maybe the daycare couldn’t take the kid today
      • Basically these are snapshots of unexpected parenting that the player needs to deal with
    • Need moments of time for narrative/exploration time
      • When you find an important item, time stops so the player can appreciate it
      • You can find things that you made as a kid
    • More preventative tasks for the player to do
      • Place paper around so kid doesn’t draw on walls
    • Parent sim
      • Decisions impact future decisions and might cause problems depending
      • How you parent changes how you recover energy/your stats during elderly stages
    • Intro
      • Set the tone of the home
      • Ask questions for the player to adjust the game for them somewhat
        • How does a messy home make you feel?
        • How do you respond to criticism? How do you respond to conflict?
        • Center questions on the parent, not the child.
        • What kinds of appliances do you have in your home?
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