Roundtable

In this episode the your nice hosts discuss broken games, solved games, and purposely broken games. Ellen realizes that even if it is broken, doesn't mean you need to fix it.

Your nice hosts accidentally stumble into the thesis of the show as this episode explores these two topics!

In this larger than normal episode, your nice hosts bring a lot to the top of the show with a bunch of exciting news. And there's still two topics to discuss after that!

How much of the culture around a game is rooted in its design?

Your nice hosts bring deep topics to the clubhouse this week!

In this episode, Stephen, Mark, and Ellen talk about gameplay loops. Then, they talk about art direction. Then they talk about loops. And then art direction. And then, more loops. Just kidding!

This week your nice hosts are joined again by Alina Matson in a fun roundtable episode! Join us as we continue through Ellen's Metroid Dread journey, Stephen's newest discovery, and Mark's potential bonus side hustle.

It's a day of celebration in the clubhouse as Ellen finally starts Metroid Dread. Meanwhile, Mark delivers, and Stephen looks it up (but isn't happy about it).

This week, your Nice Hosts talk about "games you get for free" on various gaming platforms. Also, the trio explores the relationship between "fun" and "joy"—and where does "engaging" fit in?

Three nice hosts, plus two topics, plus three meta topics equals a good time! Listen to Stephen's secret to popcorn success, Mark bringing up the Observer effect multiple times and Ellen's branding plans for her latest game.

As the podcast approaches its fifth anniversary, your hosts get a little (more) frivolous.

This week, your nice hosts discuss Star Trek, Star Trek, and Ghostbusters. Plus, Mark talks something out of existence, and Ellen is not even gonna not disagree with Stephen.

Mark goes over the theory and practice of debugging (in Unity, at least). Ellen gets the gist of it. Stephen considers when a game can benefit from having a silent protagonist, or at least a main character that doesn't say anything.

This week's episode has things getting a little crepuscular in the clubhouse! Mark possibly flubs the intro (jury is still out on this!), Stephen has prepared two rants and Ellen requests all of our best silly noises.

Your nice hosts recorded this episode on an especially-timely Tuesday evening. It turns out that recording on an "off" day does goofy things to a podcaster's brain. Can you improve upon the game of "rock, paper, scissors"?