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
Combat Design Art, Game Design Timothy Staton-Davis 369 Combat Design n/a
Comedy in Games Game Design, Narrative Mark LaCroix 199 "Random hilarious nonsense." 0:44:16
Commitment Game Design Stephen McGregor 239 "Oh is that Rugrats?" 0:35:00
Communicating Difficulty Game Design Ellen Burns-Johnson 368 “That’s way too many pawns.” 0:21:44
Community Development Game Design, Marketing, Production Christine Marten 184 Community Development n/a
Community Managment Marketing Holly Harrison 40 Community Managment n/a
Companion Characters Game Design, Gaming Stephen McGregor 312 "Ask your friends." 0:46:22
Competition Gaming Stephen McGregor 24 "I trolled myself." 0:43:20
Completionism Gaming Holly Harrison 323 "Sweet, sweet Toronto sounds." 0:09:09
Composition over Inheritance Programming Mark LaCroix 326 "The opposing metric of jank." 0:07:41
Composting Misc. Lydia Symchych 399 "Half trash compactor, half empty." 0:09:56
Concept Art Workflows Art, Production Laura Onderwater 403 Concept Art Workflows n/a
Conferences / Gaming Events (revisited) Events, Gaming Mark LaCroix 57 "This misinformation vortex." One year of Nice Games Club! 0:14:20
Consensus Pick (2016) Nicest Mark LaCroix, Martha Megarry, Stephen McGregor 9 Nicest of 2016 n/a
Console vs. PC Development Hardware Mark LaCroix 26 "The Stevechievement." 0:54:44
Control Flow Programming Mark LaCroix 339 "Things just happen, somewhere." 0:41:08
Copying Others Art, Game Design, Narrative Stephen McGregor 314 "Salt, in everything?" n/a
Crafting Systems Game Design Adia Alderson 47 Evil Games Club 2! 0:02:46
Crafting Systems Game Design Martha Megarry 3 "It's against the law to stop." 0:11:44
Creative Career Paths Art, Game Design, IRL, Misc. Will Bredbeck 335 Creative Career Paths n/a
Creative Direction Game Design Stephen McGregor 355 "Ellen's going to be so mad!" 0:4:40
Creative Peer Communities IRL, Misc. Sam Baeseman 411 Creative Peer Communities n/a
Creative Process & Workflow for Music Audio Kobe Anthony (aka MEMODEMO) 350 Creative Process & Workflow for Music n/a
Crowdfunding Marketing, Production Martha Megarry 92 "Who are you wearing? Nintendo." 0:57:47
Crunch IRL, Production, Programming Stephen McGregor 165 "If you're feeling saucy..." 0:42:22
CSS Programming Mark LaCroix 298 "One size bigger and red." 9:47
Curling Game Design Mark LaCroix 268 "No referees?!" 0:10:15
Cynicism Misc., Production Stephen McGregor 362 "Apply your context, thusly." 0:33:35
Dale Makes GDC Magic Events Dale LaCroix 124 GDC 2019 Special 0:25:17
Dale’s Additional Travel Tips IRL, Meta Dale LaCroix 156 "All your maps are belong to us." 1:23:55
Day of the Devs at Alamo Drafthouse Events Mark LaCroix 17 GDC 2017 Special (Part 1) 0:24:21
Day-One Patches Production, Programming Mark LaCroix 165 "If you're feeling saucy..." 0:02:48
Debug Functionality Production, Programming, Tools Stephen McGregor 333 "Am I making a joke?" 0:42:09
Debugging Programming Mark LaCroix 241 "..." 0:02:06
Deluxe Editions Gaming, Marketing, Physical Games Ellen Burns-Johnson 238 "Just-In-Time Compiler." 10:04
Demoing and Playtesting Production Stephen McGregor 15 "We are artists and we should be artists." 0:03:27
Design Pillars Game Design, Production Mark LaCroix 187 "A way to farm notions." 0:49:22
Design Surface Area Game Design Mark LaCroix 391 "The things that create the geometry." 0:48:57
Designing a Spiritual Successor Game Design, Gaming, Production Dmitry Samartsev, aka Special Bread 279 Designing a Spiritual Successor n/a
Designing Discovery Game Design, Gaming Stephen McGregor 397 "Everyone hates Jira." 0:50:37
Designing for VR Game Design, IRL, VR / AR / XR Dana Ware 230 Designing for VR n/a
Designing Games for Non-Gamers Game Design Stephen McGregor 3 "It's against the law to stop." 0:27:30
Designing Horror Games Game Design Stephen McGregor 139 "Who approved these topics?" 0:16:46
Designing like a Dungeon Master Game Design, Narrative, Tabletop Katrina Ostrander, Jon Kiehne 247 Designing like a Dungeon Master n/a
Designing Party Games Game Design Mark LaCroix 8 "Will you be the best with me?" 0:38:30
Developer Art! Art Mark LaCroix 5 "Bananas, from here to eternity." 0:42:08
Developer/Publisher Relations Production August Brown 120 Developer/Publisher Relations n/a
Developing for Speed Runners Game Design Lydia Symchych 412 "This is the earliest we’ve been this unhinged." 42:31
Developing Ideas IRL Martha Megarry 98 "I like naps." 0:05:48
Diagramming Gameplay Loops Game Design Ellen Burns-Johnson 262 "Start fresh, in a certain way." 0:15:20
Dialogue Through Goals Game Design, Narrative Stephen McGregor 349 Dialogue Through Goals n/a
Difficulty Game Design Stephen McGregor 30 "75% sure." 0:54:27
Digital Escape Rooms Game Design Lydia Symchych 375 Digital Escape Rooms n/a
Diversity in Scoring Game Design Lydia Symchych 389 "This is an impossible challenge." 0:45:47
DLC and Expansions Gaming, Production Martha Megarry 48 "I do business." 0:02:40
Documentation Game Design, Production, Tools Stephen McGregor 191 "Claps in the chat." 0:36:05
Double Jump vs. Dash Game Design Stephen McGregor 370 "Please go vote." n/a
Early Access Marketing, Production Sami Sati and Erick Sati 242 Early Access n/a
Economies Game Design Stephen McGregor 173 "Balance all those prices." 0:11:20
Educating Intuition IRL, Misc. Ellen Burns-Johnson 323 "Sweet, sweet Toronto sounds." 0:52:56
Elegance Game Design Ellen Burns-Johnson 326 "The opposing metric of jank." 0:33:00
Ellen's Most Anticipated (for 2019) Nicest Ellen Burns-Johnson 113 Nicest of 2018 n/a
Ellen's Nicest (2018) Nicest Ellen Burns-Johnson 113 Nicest of 2018 n/a
Ellen's PC Build - The Journey Begins Hardware Ellen Burns-Johnson 212 "Brainy. Not academic." 0:20:04
Emotional Effects of Music Audio Stephen McGregor 393 "I’m intrigued by big door." n/a
Emphasizing Uniqueness Marketing Stephen McGregor 320 "Stephen, explain this." 26:32
Ending Projects IRL, Production Martha Megarry 171 "Martha, Martha, Martha!" 0:13:13
Endings Game Design, Narrative Mark LaCroix 302 "I love it when you kinda agree." 0:13:40
Enemy AI Game Design Mark LaCroix 36 "Maybe a Zeldo." 0:03:00
Environmental Storytelling Narrative Mark LaCroix 104 "Safety gone!" 0:38:20
Ergonomics IRL Ellen Burns-Johnson 173 "Balance all those prices." 0:55:15
Escapist Games Gaming Dylan Skerbitz 189 Evil Games Club 5! 0:45:46
eSports Events, Gaming Martha Megarry 51 "Right the dang now." 0:30:53
Establishing a Sense of Place Game Design, Narrative Stephen McGregor 178 "A place where people live." 1:02:00
Ethical Consumption Gaming, Misc. Holly Harrison 224 "To whom it may concern." 0:13:06