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Ever been afraid to follow your true passion? The guests of Nice Work! have all been there, and they’ve all taken the leap of faith…and stuck the landing. Host Tod Brilliant is the founder of the Super Nice Club, and his inspirational guests will give you the confidence to turn your passion(s) into your career! Brought to you by the SUPER NICE CLUB – a global effort to make the world 10% nicer. Join us!
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The podcast where nice gamedevs talk gaming and game development. Nice!
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HANGS UP HIS HARNESS, PICKS UP A PEN. Screenshot Cory Richards’ new book is “The Color of Everything: A Journey to Quiet the Chaos Within”. And, for real, it’s a helluva read. But before he could write such a powerful work, the man had to have some experiences. In episode #109 of Nice Work, Cory shares his personal struggles with bipolar disorder a…
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In this episode, Stephen gets excited about Summer Games Done Quick, reveals some Doctor Who spoilers,and then is shocked that Flappy Dragon has more dragons.Ellen ponders rituals, and why she comes back to some games and not others. And finally Mark wonders if it is okay to get lost in a super-fun mini-game. 0:12:21 Familiarity Ellen asks the inte…
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In the first Nice Games Jam in a few months (and we made it a long one!), your nice hosts explore the history of bicycles to develop a racing board game. Our last Nice Games Club episode: Eddies Two Wheels Good - Jody Rosen Safety Bicycle - Wikipedia Prompt Design a racing game in a historical setting. Game type Tabletop game Player count 2 - 4 Mat…
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Time is money, friend! Okay, not always. Sometimes time is a puzzle involving many interlocking responsibilities. That’s Beth’s situation, and she asks Mark and Stephen for advice on time management in the second half of this roundtable episode. During the first half, Stephen shares some BIG NEWS that will soon place some additional responsibilitie…
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Your nice hosts welcome famed designer Ron Gilbert (Monkey Island, Thimbleweed Park) into the clubhouse to discuss the virtues of inexperience, friction for its own sake, how it's all about story, and it's puzzles all the way down. The Intersection of Puzzle and Story Game Design Narrative Production Return to Monkey Island will have a hint system …
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This week, your nice hosts talk about code that isn't yours and ask about the natural conclusion of the narrative. Mark is handy, Ellen kinda wants to add a note, and Stephen is grounded. It looked so easy in the brochure, but the brochure lied - Antony Ingram , Hagerty 0:07:41 Code Libraries Best practices for writing code comments Ellen Spertus S…
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This week we invite Ryan Adams, of Corgi Art House fame, to discuss his expertise in game production. Ryan shows us how production is more than just moving tickets around, and how valuable it is to have someone on the team organizing tasks for everyone. But also, there's plenty of moving tickets around! Game Production Production Corgi Art House Bl…
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HEART TRANSPLANT TO HOLLYWOOD // ALTERNATE TITLE THIS IS ONE TOUGH SUPERHUMAN ALTERNATE TITLE // JON LURIE WANTS YOU TO THINK BIGGER, LIVE BOLDER, AND EMBRACE ALL SORTS OF WILD AND WONDERFUL POSSIBLE REALITIES Screenshot Writer, journalist, adventurer JON LURIE is our guest today and we know you’ll love him. We talk about his heart transplant, his …
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This episode recounts each guests' recent project - Stephen is developing a new spirit for Spirit Island, Ellen is getting into music, and Mark talks at length about his car. The club helps Ellen process a recent pivot her company had to make. And Mark reveals some simple insights from his life: urgent vs. high priority, he has an irritating existe…
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As MEMODEMO, Kobe Anthony creates music for video games and inspired by video games. In this episode, we learn about Kobe's creative process for composing music. He also shares a bit about how he uses his DAW (digital audio workstation) to capture sounds and convert them into melody and beats. Also featured in this episode: memes, rhythm games, and…
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Stephen brings a half-baked thought into the clubhouse for this Nice Thinking episode: how can we improve dialogue systems? He's got some opinions, which Mark and Ellen immediately debunk, but it leads to some engaging conversation. Dialogue Through GoalsBy Ellen, Stephen, and Mark
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Last month, Mark gave a talk at the IGDATC Gamedev Meeting about what it might mean to take game development seriously as an artistic practice, theorizing that video games are still a very young and immature medium by that standard. It's "sorta-Socratic" seminar, a set of three case studies, and a string of stone cold bummers that ends on a hopeful…
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In the episode, Mark, Ellen, and Stephen talk local events, including (don’t worry everyone’s fine) a fire in the clubhouse’s building, construction, and the games they are playing, so if you are just here for the topics, go ahead and skip to minute 23. Ellen learns about King Making, Stephen humble brags about being good at Smash Brothers, and Dal…
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Most of our favorite games aren't created by solo devs; they're created by groups of people. And, when you get a bunch of people together in a group, culture happens. So, what makes for a good working culture in a game development team? How do you establish such a thing and maintain it? When we say someone doesn't "fit the culture" of a team, what …
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In this more games-adjacent episode, Mark recounts his experiences at the South by Southwest conference this year! Many fascinating discoveries to be found within that topic, in addition to Stephen's continued obsession with Dragon's Dogma 2 and Ellen's experience with the podcast as a listener. Stagg EKG Pro Electric Kettle - Fellow Stephen's used…
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In this Episode Seth Fulkerson joins us in the clubhouse to talk the game engine, GameMaker. Seth is a long time user of GameMaker who's latest project is "Arzette: the Jewel of Faramore." The clubhouse discusses the history of GameMaker, the scripting language GML, and the advantages and disadvantages of the system. And Stephen learns a bunch of t…
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We’re joined this week by Laura Onderwater, friend of the show! Laura is an experienced concept artist currently working with Greensky Games. In this interview, she shares a bit about her workflow and how she thinks about worldbuilding from an artistic perspective. Plus, your hosts learn when to cry into a pillow, and Stephen repeatedly asks for TH…
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Your nice hosts conclude their GDC 2024 coverage with a pair of interviews they conducted at the show. Mark catches a post-show cold, Stephen gets over his, and Ellen thought everything sounded great. Midwest Games / Carbon Engine Midwest Games Midwest Games Chris Klimecky - LinkedIn Midwest Games - Work with us Carbon Engine Carbon Engine - Limite…
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And now, the conclusion (sorta!), as tour nice hosts recount the back half of the week at this year's GDC. It's a long one, but there's somehow even more on our Patreon. GDC 2024 Special (Part 2) ReSpec: Accountability Support How Nintendo made Super Mario Bros. Wonder so weird Andrew Webster The Verge Jack Foley (sound effects artist) Wikipedia Th…
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Some of your nice hosts, plus some nice guest hosts, traveled to San Fransisco last week for the 2024 Game Developers Conference. There was so much to see and do and it ended up being too much for just one episode... actually, it was too much for just two episodes! So, how much GDC 2024 content is there exactly? Well, plans changed and it's too com…
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It's our first roundtable of the year! And did you know that Minneapolis is "partnered up" with Saint Paul? Stephen's not sure what either of these topics have to do with game development, but don't worry—we get there. Ellen kicks off a conversation about how the people we work with have a huge influence on what we create, and the experience of cre…
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The clubhouse is caffeinated and ready to jam, game jam that is. The clubhouse is giving a prompt where air movement is the main mechanism of action and they create a physical game for a tabletop (in the style of 'Hungry Hungry Hippos'). The notoriously unpredictable 'Eddies' of air movement gives this game it's name. The main challenge for the tea…
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We're all back in the clubhouse for the first episode of 2024! There's some news about the show up top, but in terms of your nice hosts: Ellen has important job happenings, Mark establishes important business for IGDATC and Stephen remembers he's good at game design, but not much else. What We Did On Our Winter Break (2023) 2024 GDC Public Events G…
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#319 Getting Things Going Interview 2023.08.24 In this episode your nice hosts welcome Rick Stemm of PikPok to the clubhouse to talk about what happens after a game gets greenlit. Turns out the answer involves building your team and trust. Rick touts the idea of a sh*tty first draft - faster and worse. Coaching feedback givers for what you are look…
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#296 "Metroid is very serious." Roundtable 2023.03.16 In this episode, Mark makes up a reason to take a road trip, Ellen outwits everyone, and Stephen was also there. Zachtronics Solitaire Collection LACMA A Better Route Planner Secrets & Easter Eggs 0:24:43 Ellen Burns-Johnson Game Design The Super Mario 64 Coin that Took 18 Years To Collect - Pat…
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#301 Pothole Run Nice Games Jam 2023.04.21 According to Minnesota Public Radio, it's hot girl sinkhole spring. In other words, we have an insane number of potholes right now in the Twin Cities, and since we can't do anything other than wait for the hardworking folks of road repair to fix them, we made a game about the whole situation. Andy and Beth…
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#298 "One size bigger and red." Roundtable 2023.04.13 Dale learned a lot while editing this episode. She learned the board game ‘Spirit Island’ is about spirits that protect an island, and she is pretty sure that this is the same premise as hit TV show ‘LOST’. She learns that CSS is not a programming language or a mark-up language And she learns th…
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#284 "Shiny rocks get me every time." Roundtable 2022.10.28 It's spooky season! Stephen is SO over it, but he can't escape all the scary stuff happening in this week's episode. We start with a lesson on the necromantic arts of branding and iconography, guided by Mark, a master of these dark magics. After the break, Ellen raises a past topic from th…
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#321 Cat Time Nice Games Jam 2023.09.07 It's been a while but your nice hosts come up with a game in roughly an hour, this one for the cat owners out there! After a fairly long meta, we get into the mind of a cat and design a competitive game for them to play. Toronto International Film Festival Renew an adult passport - USA.gov Bloor–Yonge station…
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#324 Much Ado About Unity (with Freya Holmér) Special 2023.09.22 Earlier today, Unity issued an update to their controversial "runtime fee" policy introduced last week. What changed? What didn't? How could this have even happened? What does it mean going forward? Can we ever trust Unity again? We get into all of it, from the original announcement o…
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#282 "Today’s the day that I screw things up." Roundtable 2022.10.13 Your nice hosts start off strong with an excellently performed intro, and it just gets better from there! The Game Agency - The Game Agency Pre-production 0:06:24 Stephen McGregor Production Idle Games 0:31:45 Mark LaCroix Game Design Gaming Star Trek Lower Decks: The Badgey Direc…
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#293 The Logistics of Moving On Interview 2023.02.22 Your nice hosts invite Zachtronics founder Zach Barth to discuss the closing of the studio and the logistics of moving on from that. In this episode, you'll also hear about ruminations on what success means as a game dev, a theory about how great walking is and exclusive news about Zach's future …
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This year, Ellen thought a lot about cheating in games. So your nice hosts kept doing episodes about it. Three in total over this last summer. So, to kick off this year's run of Nice Replays, we’ve stitched all three topics together into one SUPER MEGA NICE NEW YEAR’S OMNIBUS EPISODE! Cheating (omnibus edition) Part 1: "What's a little grand larcen…
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The clubhouse continues the annual tradition of reviewing the past year. But first they need to talk about Doctor Who and new Minnesota state flag. Ellen makes her first programming joke, and Dale learns to add comments from the editing booth. Finally, everyone shares which games they have been playing the bees out of in 2023. But, wait... there's …
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Will went to school for illustration. After many plot twists—including a bike accident, leading a team of animators, and climbing mountains in Alaska—he ended up working in games. Now, he's a design director and creative consultant, working on games that aim to make the world a better place. This week, Will joins us in the clubhouse to discuss how …
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This week, the clubhouse becomes the birdhouse; we're talking pigeons! Dale created a prompt inspired by Ellen's activities as a child and she bombards your nice hosts with a TON of pigeon facts! We somehow designed a game out of it! As a note, Ellen's was still recording remotely but the first 5 minutes she was recording on the wrong mic! We corre…
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Your nice hosts start this episode with some personal updates, and (spoiler) it does not "go quick" as planned, then take on two really fascinating production topics. Ellen puts both drawings on the fridge, Mark recommends a modern Polish masterpiece, and Stephen is a changed man. BONUS: This week's outtakes were much too long to include at the end…
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In this episode the brothers Rob and John Donkin of BadViking join the hosts in the clubhouse for a frank discussion on goals and expectations, scoping, and setting milestone timelines, and making feedback useful. Scoping for your Project Production Bad Viking talks about Strange Horticulture, their most recent game Best Best review for Strange Hor…
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HOW HUMANOIDS WILL SAVE HUMANITY Former top Apple executive SANDRA ŠOŠKIÇ is the founder of humanoid labs. Her personal motto “go bold or go home” has defined her life, loves, failures, and successes. Listen in for a great founder/entrepreneur story as we jump into what, exactly, humanoid is…and how Sandra and her team are working to create an enti…
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Ellen spoke with this week's guest, Filament Games' chief partnerships officer Jennifer Javornik, at the 2023 Serious Play Conference in Toronto, Canada about game-based learning, but also about commercializing serious games, growing the game development industry in the midwest US, and a whole lot more. Game-based Learning Events Game Design Produc…
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Earlier this autumn, Ellen visited Toronto to attend the Serious Play Conference. It's an event for people who design, develop, and study so-called "serious games" — that is, games used for education, training, therapy, and more. Ellen reports on her experiences in the city and at the conference, and shares some clips from conversations she had wit…
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We welcome Trenton Greyoak into the clubhouse to talk about the vast topic of megagames! Trenton provides a huge amount of insight into the development and play of these games in this slightly more mega-sized than normal episode. Megagames Game Design Gaming Physical Games Megagame - Wikipedia Model United Nations - United Nations Watch the Skies! …
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In this week's episode, Mark teaches us to cast polymorph, a 4th level transmutation spell. Just kidding! But Mark does put his high INT score to work helping us understand polymorphism, a useful feature of object-oriented programming. Later on, Stephen talks about the pattern of "save scumming" and considers how it might influence how designers cr…
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Nice Games Club continues to celebrate the Spooky Season with the second-ever “Nice Games Panel”. Our panelists include creators known for their work on horror games: James Pratt, TorpalDork, and Max Kunze. We discuss the using humor and using nostalgia in horror games and if clowns have ever not been scary. Horror Games 201 Game Design James Pratt…
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In this episode, the team gets back to all the regular reasons to complain about Unity. Stephen makes a pun, and Ellen searches for elegance through the power of internet research. Noodle - The Training Arcade Mark and his bike took a train to Chicago. 0:07:41 Composition over Inheritance Composition over inheritance Wikipedia 0:33:00 Elegance Eleg…
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#106: LORI WOODLEY + JUSTINE FISCHER
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OUR KIDS DESERVE A TRUSTED SPACE LORI WOODLEY is the founder of ALL IT TAKES, a non-profit that equips youth and educators with essential emotional intelligence skills to successfully navigate their lives and support their communities. Working alongside JUSTINE FISCHER (Outreach & Engagement Manager) and the rest of her team, they teach young peopl…
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It's the first-ever "Nice Games Panel," in which we invite multiple guests on the show to discuss something interesting! Our panelists today include multiple creators who are known for their work on horror games: Schera Wyss, Conner Rush, Henry Hoare, Samuel Guglielmo, and Nick F. We discuss the fundamental nature of horror as a genre (or maybe a t…
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Mark is back from Toronto, and guest host Holly Harrison is back in the clubhouse! Holly completes a topic, Stephen likes that part, and Ellen reads half a book. Talking Heads Take Over TIFF As ‘Stop Making Sense’ Reunion Has Crowds Dancing … - Anthony D'Alessandro , Deadline 'Lost Ladies' Review: Kiran Rao’s Delightful Hindi Comedy Swings and Wins…
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Earlier today, Unity issued an update to their controversial "runtime fee" policy introduced last week. What changed? What didn't? How could this have even happened? What does it mean going forward? Can we ever trust Unity again? We get into all of it, from the original announcement on September 12th, to the "open letter" update and "fireside chat"…
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We continue the recent production talks this week as we welcome Julia Keren-Detar into the clubhouse! The discussion topic is "working on a bigger team" but we also somehow talk about rain water barrels at some point? It's relevant, I swear. Mushroom 11 - Untame , Steam Working on a Bigger Team Production Work: A deep history, from the stone age to…
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