Nice Games Club - a gamedev podcast!

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**Nice Games Club – a gamedev podcast!**

The podcast where nice gamedevs talk gaming and game development. Nice!

Latest Episodes:

**"More soda thoughts." Pitch Decks; Rotating Leadership** Sep 24, 2026
Show notes

In this episode, Mark has some general notes on Europe, and walks though how he assembled the pitch deck that he brought with him to Gamescom. Meanwhile, Lydia wonders what it would be like to share responsibility on a schedule, and Stephen's clock is 10 minutes fast so we're not going to be as late to the screening of *Star Trek III: The Search for Spock* as he thinks.
Mark on a bike in Dublin.
Mark on a bike in Amsterdam.
Mark on a bike in Cologne.
Mark on a bike in Zurich.
Mark on a bike in Paris.
Mark feeding the birds underneath the Eiffel Tower.
0:20:56
Pitch Decks
Slides in Mark's pitch deck:
Title (with links to contact, build, video, etc)
Table of Contents
Fact Sheet
Concept summary
Team
Embedded video
Slides covering each main topic from summary slide
1-3 slides after each topic slide
Concept conclusion
Inspiration sources
Timeline
Budget
Why support this team?
What we want from a publisher
Title (again)
1:10:13
Rotating Leadership

**"More soda thoughts." Pitch Decks; Rotating Leadership** Sep 24, 2026
Show notes

In this episode, Mark has some general notes on Europe, and walks though how he assembled the pitch deck that he brought with him to Gamescom. Meanwhile, Lydia wonders what it would be like to share responsibility on a schedule, and Stephen's clock is 10 minutes fast so we're not going to be as late to the screening of *Star Trek III: The Search for Spock* as he thinks.
Mark on a bike in Dublin.
Mark on a bike in Amsterdam.
Mark on a bike in Cologne.
Mark on a bike in Zurich.
Mark on a bike in Paris.
Mark feeding the birds underneath the Eiffel Tower.
0:20:56
Pitch Decks
Slides in Mark's pitch deck:
Title (with links to contact, build, video, etc)
Table of Contents
Fact Sheet
Concept summary
Team
Embedded video
Slides covering each main topic from summary slide
1-3 slides after each topic slide
Concept conclusion
Inspiration sources
Timeline
Budget
Why support this team?
What we want from a publisher
Title (again)
1:10:13
Rotating Leadership

A close-up photo of a large coin in a commemerative box. The coin is silver and features the classic — **Escape Rooms 101** Sep 17, 2026
Show notes

Mark returns with gifts from Europe! Then Lydia teaches her nice boys how to make a puzzle room: the ins and outs, the dos and don'ts, it’s an escape room special!
The Sega coin that Mark stood in multiple very long lines to get.
Junction Jam (Midwest US 2026) - itch.io
Saprolige - LydiaSymchych, HeadlessKhan, Ally, Ice Husky, Martin_Gazelle, itch.io
Escape Rooms 101
Lydia's first episode on the program was as a guest, where she talked about:Digital Escape RoomsYears earlier, we spoke with another Escape Room designer, for:Puzzle/Escape Rooms

"It’s annoying because, like, I’m annoying." Replayability; Blue-skying Sep 10, 2026

Show notes

Your nice hosts discuss a previously talked about topic, and also engage in something completely new (though both are an excuse to discuss work issues in reality), with a brief divergence to mention a Star Trek anniversary.

0:06:02

Replayability

0:27:34

Blue-skying

Chance Mechanics (with Heather Flowers) Sep 03, 2026

Show notes

In this episode, your nice hosts welcome Heather Flowers into the clubhouse to talk about math and probability, while Heather insists they should be on Evil Games Club instead. The group reflects on art and the interpretation of art.

Chance Mechanics

Game Design

Heather Flowers Games

Unfair Flips - Heather Flowers, Steam 500 Finger Fillet - Heather Flowers, Steam Understanding Systems Suspense - Cat Manning, Jason Grinblat, Max Kreminski, Graeme Lennon, Alexsei Pepers, Lauren Scott, Polaris Game Design Retreat

Other mentions

Buckshot Roulette - Wikipedia Archane Kids Manife$to Number Gotcha - itch.io

"Praise be to the bureaucrats." Player Investment; Crunch Culture Aug 27, 2026

Show notes

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

0:06:57

Player Investment

'Cauldron of bats' and other great collective nounsEmma CownleyJot Jot Boom0:38:05

Crunch Culture

Occupational Burnout in Games 2024: Causes, Impact, and SolutionsLis Moberly, Tim StoboGame Developer Conference

Clue: The Great Museum Caper board. A game board with a grey foundation of a museum build up from it. There are six colored rooms: one in the center, one in the back, and two on each side. — **Nice Games Jam: "The Great Floral Heist"** Aug 20, 2026
Show notes

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 Geek
Clue: The Great Museum Caper - Board Game Geek
The game board for Clue: The Great Museum Caper
Our 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 gameMaterials
Game board
Thief meeples
Barrier cards
Flower tokens
Flower combination legend
Flower box containers
Ability tracker
"a one-to-one scale replica of a particularly rare flower completely made of precious metals and gems"
Setup
Lay out the board
Place the "one-to-one scale replica of a particularly rare flower completely made of precious metals and gems" in the center chamber
Distribute flower tokens
Shuffle flower tokens in a bag
Add flower tokens to flower boxes without looking at them
Place the boxes on the marked spaces on the board
Distribute the remaining flower tokens around the flower patches marked on the board
Place barriers
Shuffle barrier cards
For each marked space on the board, draw a barrier card and place it on the space
Player setup
Choose a thief meeple
Take a flower combination legend
Take an ability tracker
Rules
Players 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/maze
Goal is to get through to the center of the maze-like building first
Players 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 powers
Players 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 flower
More of the flower boxes in the center of the board
If 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

A screen grab of the flowers, powers, and barriers spreadsheet we made during episode 445. There are three columns labeled Flowers, Powers, Barriers, and Notes with a list of said items under each header. — **Nice Games Jam: "The Great Floral Heist"** Aug 20, 2026
Show notes

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 Geek
Clue: The Great Museum Caper - Board Game Geek
The game board for Clue: The Great Museum Caper
Our 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 gameMaterials
Game board
Thief meeples
Barrier cards
Flower tokens
Flower combination legend
Flower box containers
Ability tracker
"a one-to-one scale replica of a particularly rare flower completely made of precious metals and gems"
Setup
Lay out the board
Place the "one-to-one scale replica of a particularly rare flower completely made of precious metals and gems" in the center chamber
Distribute flower tokens
Shuffle flower tokens in a bag
Add flower tokens to flower boxes without looking at them
Place the boxes on the marked spaces on the board
Distribute the remaining flower tokens around the flower patches marked on the board
Place barriers
Shuffle barrier cards
For each marked space on the board, draw a barrier card and place it on the space
Player setup
Choose a thief meeple
Take a flower combination legend
Take an ability tracker
Rules
Players 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/maze
Goal is to get through to the center of the maze-like building first
Players 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 powers
Players 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 flower
More of the flower boxes in the center of the board
If 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

"Your second draft." Code Comment; The Critical Eye Part 2 Aug 13, 2026

Show notes

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

Code Comment

The Critical Eye Part 2

This is part 2 to The Critical Eye in Episode 416"I saw a Beatle."

Narrative-Driven Puzzles (with Brian Crick) Aug 06, 2026

Show notes

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 Puzzles

Game Design Narrative Tinselfly - Steam Gorogoa - Steam The Longest Journey - Steam

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

Show notes

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.

0:15:35

Geology In Games

Nicolas StenoWikipediaThe potential for using video games to teach geoscience: learning about the geo…Edward G. McGowan and Lewis J. AlcottEuropean Geosciences Union0:36:00

Shipping Updates

Nice Games Jam: "Triage Simulator" Jul 23, 2026

Show notes

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
- 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