Nice Games Club - a gamedev podcast!

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An image of Lydia's 2025 Bingo card — **Nicest of 2025** Dec 18, 2025
Show notes

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.
0:03:00
2025 Accomplishments
Mark
Blippo+Nice Games Alliance GDC 2026 Speakers - Mark LaCroix
Stephen
Stephen successfully helped run an unsuccessful Kickstarter campaign, which he detailed in:"The things that create the geometry."Melanated Game Kitchen
Lydia
Lydia 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!0:18:00
2025 "Nicest" Games
Lydia
Word PlayGame Maker's ToolkitSteamMy SimsWikipediaAge of Mythology: RetoldWikipedia(Honorable Mention) PeakWikipedia(Honorable Mention) Axolotl with a GunBright Bard Gamesitch.io
Mark
Mario Kart World Nintendo Switch 2 Welcome Tour (Honorable Mention) Super Mario Galaxy + Super Mario Galaxy 2
Stephen
Kirby Air Riders Blue Prince (Honorable Mention) Root (Honorable Mention) 2XKO0:36:40
2026 Most Anticipated Games
Lydia
Slay The Spire 2Steam(hopeful) Tales of the Abyss RemakeWikipedia(hopeful) Persona 6Reddit
Mark
Big 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.
Stephen
Stephen is always wishing for another Kirby gameNioh 30:47:22
2026 Resolutions
Hear more on last year's resolutions in:Nicest of 2024
Stephen
Make 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 Discrimination
Mark
Finish 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.
Lydia
Go to GDC.
Work on her website.
Developer another escape room project.
Make a game that features environmental storytelling.
Play more games.

“Well, what do you art?” Lydia is an Artist; Platforms and Ecosystems Dec 11, 2025

Show notes

Part 3 of what your nice hosts are calling "Giving Lydia Therapy," we get into Lydia's thoughts on calling herself an artist and what it may mean to think of yourself in this way.

0:13:28

Lydia is an Artist

Part 2 of "Giving Lydia Therapy""I saw a Beatle."Part 1 of "Giving Lydia Therapy""Argue with me, I guess."

Platforms and Ecosystems

Blippo+PanicAn unsettling indie game about horses keeps getting banned from storesAsh ParrishThe VergeGamers really overestimated the sales of the Steam Deck...MewWeebTwoReddit

"Argue with me, I guess." Interactivity vs. Play; Fail States in Art Dec 04, 2025

Show notes

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.

0:14:47

Interactivity vs. Play

Blippo+Steam0:35:24

Fail States in Art

This 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."

Reinventing GDC (with Mark DeLoura) Nov 27, 2025

Show notes

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 Bluesky
Mark DeLoura on LinkedIn
HITLab - Human Interface Technology Lab - University of Washington
Game Programming Gems - Mark DeLoura
Dr. Miguel Luengo-Oroz (MalariaSpot) - Online game & crowdsourcing & malaria - The International Society for Neglected Tropical Diseases, YouTube
About FoldIt
Video games owe a lot to President Obama's administration - Brian Crecente, Polygon
Mark 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 GDC

The annual Game Developers Conference is changing - Michael McWhertor, Polygon Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity - Wikipedia Black Hat - Upcoming Events GDC Passes & Pricing - Game Developer Conference Seattle Indies SLICE Calling partners for GDC 2026! - Game Developer Games Industry Gathering Female Game Devs Open Up About Harassment And Drink Spiking At GDC - Ahmad Hassan, RespawnFirst Amir Satvat's Games Jobs Resources

"I saw a Beatle." Being Honest With Your Work; The Critical Eye Nov 20, 2025

Show notes

This week the clubhouse is filled with emotions. Lydia was frustrated that she did not recapture the magic of her first escape room game, Stephen was frustrated that finding his critical eye makes for a different movie watching experience, and Mark was frustrated by the acoustics at a football stadium.

In other news, it's time to make your GDC Plans! Mark and Dale will be there, and probably some other nice hosts, too.

0:16:06

Being Honest With Your Work

Lydia went to Chicago to run a escape style game at the Chest Medicine Conference about Eosinophilic Asthma. That was set in the 1920s prohibition chicago.

CHEST Conference

CHEST Medicine Conference Eosinophilic and Noneosinophilic AsthmaCHEST Journal Podcast(Yes, Dale included that last link because its host is named Dr. Pepper.)

Escape room games

Lydia's first apperance on the show was as a guest to discuss last year's project, inDigital Escape RoomsLater on as a host, Lydia talked a little about this year's project, which was upcoming at the time, in"It's about trust."0:56:30

The Critical Eye

Stephen has previously talked about his filmmaking class in:

Episode 367"Numbers go up."Episode 393"I’m intrigued by big door."

Nice Games Jam: "Grog" Nov 13, 2025

Show notes

This week, Lydia provides all the fun facts about living on a boat while your nice hosts develop a card game based around scurvy management!

Hoyle's Official Book of Games - Wikipedia

PromptCreate a pirate themed game about food and scurvy management.Game typeCard gamePlayer count2-4Materials

Event deck

Resource Deck

Setup

Shuffle the event deck and the resource deck separately. Deal 5 cards from the resource deck to each player.

Rules

Card game
- Set making
- Need to create as many sets as you can to create grog, while preventing vermin from being in your hand
- These resources will keep you going in phase 2 when pulling from port of call / event cards
- Whoever is able to travel farthest (successfully draw the most port of call / event cards) wins
Beneficial food
- Grog (face cards)
  - Rum - Jack
  - Sugar - Queen
  - Water - King
  - Limes - Ace
- Salt meat/fish
  - Pork or Cod (Hearts)
  - Salt (Diamonds)
- Hard tack (Clubs)
- Suet (Spades) (added to meat or hard tack to enhance it)
Vermin (clogs your hand and could cause problems in events)
- Weevil
- Maggots
- Rats
Rules
- Each turn you have one action. You can either:
  - Draw a card
  - Play a complete set
- After a certain number of cards (10 as default), you all go to sail and have ports of call events
  - Draw an event card each turn
Ports of call / Events? - you get a point for every port you successfully make it to. Certain cards when “won” enter your stack and give you extra points or mechanical advantage
- Windfall of resources
  - Everyone draws 5 cards and makes stacks
- Ship cat
  - The cat joins the most rat-infested ship (removes all rats from hand)
  - OR spend the most salt meat to attract it to your ship
- Trade with each other
  - Draw 3 cards and give 1 card from hand to the player on your left. Make stacks
- Injured shipmate
  - Spend water and salt from your hand
  - Spend maggots from your hand
- Threat of scurvy
  - Spend grog
- Weevil infestation!
  - Lose a hard tack for every weevil in your hand. Discard those cards from your hand and stacks(?)

Escape room props: Booklets — **"That's an interesting example." Naming Files; Unity Security Vulnerability (2025)** Nov 06, 2025
Show notes

This week features a *timeless* topic followed by a *timely* one, both of them pretty important. Lydia prepares for Chicago, Mark shares his slides, and Stephen gonna chill.
CHEST 2025 - American College of Chest Physicians
Some of Lydia's escape room props!
0:05:26
Naming Files
Museum Accessioning: Numbering SystemsOklahoma Museums AssociationRice County Historical Society Montshire Museum of Science0:43:13
Unity Security Vulnerability (2025)
"Unity Security Update, What Do?" presentation slidesMark LaCroixUnity Platform Protection - Security AdvisoryUnityUnity Platform Protection - Developer Remediation GuideUnityUnity Platform Protection - Patcher ToolUnityCVE-2025-59489: Arbitrary Code Execution in Unity RuntimeRyotaKGMO Flatt Security Inc.CVE-2025-59489CVE

A black hat with a handmade label stitched on the inside that reads — **"That's an interesting example." Naming Files; Unity Security Vulnerability (2025)** Nov 06, 2025
Show notes

This week features a *timeless* topic followed by a *timely* one, both of them pretty important. Lydia prepares for Chicago, Mark shares his slides, and Stephen gonna chill.
CHEST 2025 - American College of Chest Physicians
Some of Lydia's escape room props!
0:05:26
Naming Files
Museum Accessioning: Numbering SystemsOklahoma Museums AssociationRice County Historical Society Montshire Museum of Science0:43:13
Unity Security Vulnerability (2025)
"Unity Security Update, What Do?" presentation slidesMark LaCroixUnity Platform Protection - Security AdvisoryUnityUnity Platform Protection - Developer Remediation GuideUnityUnity Platform Protection - Patcher ToolUnityCVE-2025-59489: Arbitrary Code Execution in Unity RuntimeRyotaKGMO Flatt Security Inc.CVE-2025-59489CVE

Nice Thinking: "Noble Tools" Oct 30, 2025

Show notes

In this episode, Lydia and Stephen are rubber ducks for Mark as he talks through his ideas for a suite of Unity plugin tools. Buckle up, there's a lot! They also discuss whether to bundle or not to bundle tools, considerations of scope and price, and the deep appreciation for easy-to-use interfaces.

Will Mark complete these tools by Christmas?
Will Stephen get a reprieve from the nagging about his fishing mini game collection?
Will Lydia ever get over that one client project?

Stay tuned to find out!

Star Trek: Starfleet Academy | Official Trailer - Paramount+, YouTube

0:13:22

Noble Tools

RewiredUnity Asset StoreNoble EngineNoble RobotLydia really needs to listen to the episode where Stephen and Mark talk about the localization of Widget Satchel."I definitely thought of that ahead of time."Noble Menuitch.io

"This is the earliest we’ve been this unhinged." Health; Developing for Speed Runners Oct 23, 2025

Show notes

Sam! returns to the clubhouse to help your nice hosts decide that Lakitu is no longer a savoir that comes down from the clouds, but since he has a job as a referee, should therefore be wearing a little ref shirt.

Sam Baeseman is a member of the IDGATC board, the Nice Games Alliance board, and founding member of JAMA Jam.
Nice Games Alliance
IDGATC
JAMA Jam
Sam! joined us last week to talk about:Creative Peer Communities
Blippo+ (Mark's game) released, and you can buy it:
Blippo+ on Steam
Blippo+ on Switch
Blippo+ on itch.io
Lydia:
Why Learning Is So Hard for Adults (And How Games Can Help) - ELB Learning, YouTube
Before becoming a host, Lydia joined the clubhouse as a guest to talk about:Digital Escape Rooms
Stephen is:
not going to talk about his fishing game
doing a game jam, Ludem Dare

0:15:30

Health

Calculate your pet's HPPolygonYouTube

Your nice hosts talked about these health systems:

Subnautica - oxygen/food/water
Dave the Diver - oxygen
PEAK - stamina
Gauntlet - time
Super Smash Bros. - percentages
Star Trek Adventures (TTRPG) - stress
Doom (1993) - health packs
Doom (2016) - enemy damage
Super Mario Bros. - mushrooms (2D) / coins (3D)
Bloodborne - dignity
Sonic the Hedgehog - rings
Call of Duty - regenerating health
Blades in the Dark - "harm"

42:31

Developing for Speed Runners

We talked about normal players vs. speedrunners in:Ladder Game

Creative Peer Communities (with Sam Baeseman) Oct 16, 2025

Show notes

Your nice hosts welcome 3D artist and Nice Games Alliance board member Sam Baeseman into the clubhouse to talk about how online Discord communities become available and how to become a part of or lead such communities.