Topics

Your nice hosts have covered hundreds of topics over the years, so we've categorized them here! Select a category, or browse the whole list. You can sort by topic name, episode name, or episode number.
Topic Category Host or Guest # Episode Starts at
Video Game Events Events Martha Megarry 127 “When two colors of paint really love each other…” 0:09:21
Color Theory Art Mark LaCroix 127 “When two colors of paint really love each other…” 0:32:58
Boss Battles Game Design Martha Megarry 126 “Three-headed monster.” 0:35:12
Resource Management in Games Programming Stephen McGregor 126 “Three-headed monster.” 0:07:58
Franchises Gaming, Marketing Ellen Burns-Johnson 243 “The different beams I can do.” 0:52:10
Power-ups Game Design Mark LaCroix 243 “The different beams I can do.” 0:23:09
Unit Testing Programming Martha Megarry 133 “That wasn’t the angle I was going for.” 0:41:31
Extra Modes Production Mark LaCroix 133 “That wasn’t the angle I was going for.” 0:07:06
Lives and Continues Game Design Stephen McGregor 130 “Once more with feeling!” 0:38:52
Scoring Systems Game Design Mark LaCroix 130 “Once more with feeling!” 0:15:10
Special In-Person Special IRL, Meta, Misc. Mark LaCroix, Stephen McGregor, Ellen Burns-Johnson 220 “My face is over here.” Special In-Person Special n/a
Wikis and Guides Gaming Ellen Burns-Johnson 251 “Done enough.” 0:46:47
Milestone Builds Production Mark LaCroix 251 “Done enough.” 0:13:18
Game Length Game Design Stephen McGregor 131 “A secret room with secret stuff!” 0:13:08
Saving and Loading Systems Programming Martha Megarry 131 “A secret room with secret stuff!” 0:44:41
Writing for Games IRL, Narrative Anna C Webster 315 Writing for Games n/a
Working on a Bigger Team Production Julia Keren-Detar 322 Working on a Bigger Team n/a
Workflows IRL, Production Aubrey Jane Scott 85 Workflows n/a
Work Weeks Production August Brown 255 Work Weeks n/a
Work Cultures Misc., Production Chris Bergman 346 Work Cultures n/a
What We Did On Our Winter Break (2019) IRL, Meta 114 What We Did On Our Winter Break n/a
Wandering into Game Development IRL Jamaal Sawyer-Dymski, Greg Borreson 305 Wandering into Game Development n/a
VR Workflows Production, VR / AR / XR Krista McCullough 109 VR Workflows n/a
Visual Worldbuilding Art Laura Onderwater 340 Visual Worldbuilding n/a
Visual Novels Game Design, Marketing, Narrative Gloria Kim, Lane Davis 93 Visual Novels n/a
Visual Coding Programming, Tools Alina Matson 252 Visual Coding n/a
Virtual Reality VR / AR / XR Andrew Fladeboe 97 Virtual Reality n/a
Violence in Games Game Design Dev Jana 25 Violence in Games n/a
User Interfaces Art, UI / UX Jajeev Nithiananda 145 User Interfaces n/a
Unreal Engine Game Design, Production, Programming, Tools Zack Gilbertson 307 Unreal Engine for Indies n/a
Tips for Designing Games for Learning Events, Game Design, UI / UX Ellen Burns-Johnson 203 Tips for Designing Games for Learning n/a
Tiny Horrors Game Design, Narrative Rosalie Vile 299 Tiny Horrors n/a
Therapeutic Games Game Design, Tabletop Adam Davis 219 Therapeutic Games n/a
The Taxonomy of Horse Games Game Design, Gaming, Production Alice Ruppert 303 The Taxonomy of Horse Games n/a
VR in 2022 and its Future VR / AR / XR Andrew Eiche 273 The State of VR in 2022 n/a
The State of "Dogpile!" IRL, Tabletop Mark LaCroix, Stephen McGregor, Ellen Burns-Johnson 311 The State of "Dogpile!" n/a
Nice Thinking about our future in Board Games IRL 309 The Nice Board Game Industrial Complex, a Nice Games Club Skunkworks Project 0:04:40
Nice Thinking about traveling to conferences Tabletop 309 The Nice Board Game Industrial Complex, a Nice Games Club Skunkworks Project n/a
Nice Thinking about NiceGameJam Games with Potential Game Design 309 The Nice Board Game Industrial Complex, a Nice Games Club Skunkworks Project 0:46:06
The New Clubhouse IRL, Meta Mark LaCroix 235 The New Clubhouse n/a
The Logistics of Moving On IRL, Production Zach Barth 293 The Logistics of Moving On n/a
The Gaming Press Gaming, IRL, Marketing Ben Hanson 88 The Gaming Press n/a
Teaching Gamedev to Young People, Again! Game Design, IRL Chris Totten 264 Teaching Gamedev to Young People, Again! n/a
Teaching Gamedev to Young People Game Design, IRL Truman Simpson 263 Teaching Gamedev to Young People n/a
Steam Greenlight Marketing, Production Beth Korth, Andy Korth 2 Steam Greenlight n/a
Star Trek games (from Enterprising Individuals) Gaming, IRL Mark LaCroix 233 Star Trek games (from Enterprising Individuals) n/a
Solo Development IRL Will Tice 14 Solo Development n/a
Sledgehammer Bride Game Design, Narrative Stephen McGregor 240 Sledgehammer Bride n/a
Excerpt from a conversation with Roz Hussin Game Design, IRL, Misc. 330 Serious Play Conference Special 0:45:07
Excerpt from a conversation with Dr. David Chandross Art, Game Design, Misc., Narrative 330 Serious Play Conference Special 0:28:07
Self-education, et al. IRL, Misc. Freya Holmér 110 Self-education, et al. n/a
Sega Consoles Hardware Mark LaCroix # Sega Consoles n/a
Scoping for your Project Production John Donkin, Rob Donkin 332 Scoping for Your Project n/a
Running An Indie Studio IRL Matt Gravelle 137 Running An Indie Studio n/a
Rhythm Rumble Game Design Stephen McGregor 285 Revisiting Rhythm Rumble n/a
Releasing a Game Marketing, Production Ben Burnes 62 Releasing a Game n/a
Puzzle/Escape Rooms Physical Games Art Allen 56 Puzzle/Escape Rooms n/a
Putting on a GlitchCon! Events Alex Chang 22 Putting on a GlitchCon! n/a
Programming VR Games Programming, VR / AR / XR Jonathan Jennings 190 Programming VR Games n/a
Preserving the Dreamcast Hardware Ben Franks 52 Preserving the Dreamcast n/a
Postmortem: "Scrapeboard" Events, Game Design, Hardware Frank DeMarco, Blake Andrews 277 Postmortem: "Scrapeboard" n/a
Postmortem: "LxJamathon" Production Mark Hamilton, Ellen Burns-Johnson 260 Postmortem: "LxJamathon" n/a
Postmortem: "Infernax" Production Hunter Bond, Mike Ducarme 256 Postmortem: "Infernax" n/a
Postmortem: "C.A.R.L." Game Design, Marketing, Production Andrew Kenady 297 Postmortem: "C.A.R.L." n/a
Playtesting Production Dale LaCroix 46 Playtesting n/a
Nice Thinking Notes Game Design Ellen Burns-Johnson 295 Pizza Land n/a
Pitching Tabletop Games Marketing, Physical Games, Tabletop Peter Yang 231 Pitching Tabletop Games n/a
Physical Releases for Indies Marketing, Production Ryan Brown 283 Physical Releases for Indies n/a
Open Source Software Programming, Tools Mark Mandel 217 Open Source Software n/a
Nostalgia and the Lo-fi Aesthetic Art Marina Kittaka 141 Nostalgia and the Lo-fi Aesthetic n/a
2024 Gamedev Resolutions IRL Mark LaCroix, Stephen McGregor, Ellen Burns-Johnson 336 Nicest of 2023 1:16:13
Most Anticpated of 2024 Gaming Mark LaCroix, Stephen McGregor, Ellen Burns-Johnson 336 Nicest of 2023 1:01:08
Nicest of 2023 Gaming Mark LaCroix, Stephen McGregor, Ellen Burns-Johnson 336 Nicest of 2023 0:29:11
Our accomplishments IRL Mark LaCroix, Stephen McGregor, Ellen Burns-Johnson 336 Nicest of 2023 0:10:30
Most Anticipated of 2023 Gaming Mark LaCroix, Stephen McGregor, Ellen Burns-Johnson, Holly Harrison 291 Nicest of 2022 0:49:28