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
Tutorials Game Design, UI / UX Stephen McGregor 90 "Press A to jump." 0:41:51
Crowdfunding Marketing, Production Martha Megarry 92 "Who are you wearing? Nintendo." 0:57:47
Roguelikes Game Design, Gaming Stephen McGregor 92 "Who are you wearing? Nintendo." 0:29:45
Visual Novels Game Design, Marketing, Narrative Gloria Kim, Lane Davis 93 Visual Novels n/a
Sequels Misc. Mark LaCroix 94 "Somebody's first episode." 1:07:25
Language of Games Game Design Martha Megarry 94 "Somebody's first episode." 0:11:31
HUDs UI / UX Stephen McGregor 96 "But WE know what we're talking about." 0:53:49
Level Design Game Design Mark LaCroix 96 "But WE know what we're talking about." 0:14:19
Virtual Reality VR / AR / XR Andrew Fladeboe 97 Virtual Reality n/a
Game Dev Success IRL Stephen McGregor 98 "I like naps." 0:36:10
Developing Ideas IRL Martha Megarry 98 "I like naps." 0:05:48
100th Episode Special  Meta 100 "100 times nice." 100th Episode Special 0:00:27
Turn-Based RPGs Gaming Martha Megarry 101 "Don’t start with me." 0:52:15
Pitching to Consoles Hardware, Marketing Mark LaCroix 101 "Don’t start with me." 0:05:11
Self-publishing Must-haves Marketing Mark LaCroix 103 "Put it in a WordSpace!" 0:44:30
Modding Gaming Stephen McGregor 103 "Put it in a WordSpace!" 0:05:00
Environmental Storytelling Narrative Mark LaCroix 104 "Safety gone!" 0:38:20
Hub Worlds and Safe Houses Game Design Martha Megarry 104 "Safety gone!" 0:09:09
Gaming Habits Gaming, IRL Mark LaCroix 106 "They don't call it 'full.'" 0:46:05
Space Exploration games Gaming Martha Megarry 106 "They don't call it 'full.'" 0:06:18
Video Game Soundtracks Audio Stephen McGregor 108 "All that and a bag of chips." 0:38:30
90s Consoles Hardware Mark LaCroix 108 "All that and a bag of chips." 0:06:35
VR Workflows Production, VR / AR / XR Krista McCullough 109 VR Workflows n/a
Self-education, et al. IRL, Misc. Freya Holmér 110 Self-education, et al. n/a
Unions IRL Martha Megarry 111 "Game workers unite!" 0:38:53
Game Dev as a Day Job IRL Stephen McGregor 111 "Game workers unite!" 0:11:44
Pokémon Gaming Martha Megarry 112 "How would I know that?" 0:54:18
Optimization Programming Mark LaCroix 112 "How would I know that?" 0:04:53
Martha's Nicest (2018) Nicest Martha Megarry 113 Nicest of 2018 n/a
Martha's Most Anticipated (for 2019) Nicest Martha Megarry 113 Nicest of 2018 n/a
Local Releases (2018) News 113 Nicest of 2018 n/a
Stephen's Nicest (2018) Nicest Stephen McGregor 113 Nicest of 2018 n/a
Ellen's Most Anticipated (for 2019) Nicest Ellen Burns-Johnson 113 Nicest of 2018 n/a
Mark's Nicest (2018) Nicest Mark LaCroix 113 Nicest of 2018 n/a
Stephen's Most Anticipated (for 2019) Nicest Stephen McGregor 113 Nicest of 2018 n/a
Ellen's Nicest (2018) Nicest Ellen Burns-Johnson 113 Nicest of 2018 n/a
Mark's Most Anticipated (for 2019) Nicest Mark LaCroix 113 Nicest of 2018 n/a
What We Did On Our Winter Break (2019) IRL, Meta 114 What We Did On Our Winter Break n/a
Writing for Games Narrative Martha Megarry 115 "Steal this episode." 0:15:15
Intellectual Property and the Public Domain News, Production Mark LaCroix 115 "Steal this episode." 0:37:57
Representation in Games IRL, Production Stephen McGregor 118 "It's Black History Month, y'all!" 0:41:57
Audio Basics Audio Mark LaCroix 118 "It's Black History Month, y'all!" 0:05:32
Fanbases Gaming, IRL Martha Megarry 119 "Let Reggie get back to work." 0:16:50
Game Design Balance Game Design Stephen McGregor 119 "Let Reggie get back to work." 0:41:00
Developer/Publisher Relations Production August Brown 120 Developer/Publisher Relations n/a
Accessibility Accessibility, Game Design Martha Megarry 121 "I definitely thought of that ahead of time." 0:46:30
Localization Systems Production, Programming, UI / UX Mark LaCroix 121 "I definitely thought of that ahead of time." 0:07:03
Game Identities Game Design Ellen Burns-Johnson 123 "Does this game mechanic spark joy?" 0:22:37
Team Building IRL, Production Stephen McGregor 123 "Does this game mechanic spark joy?" 0:01:57
Mark Does GDC Business Events Mark LaCroix 124 GDC 2019 Special 0:53:56
The MIX 2019 Events Mark LaCroix 124 GDC 2019 Special 0:49:05
Dale Makes GDC Magic Events Dale LaCroix 124 GDC 2019 Special 0:25:17
GDC 2019 Sessions Events Mark LaCroix 124 GDC 2019 Special 0:08:06
Game Workers Unite! Events Mark LaCroix 124 GDC 2019 Special 1:11:16
Resource Management in Games Programming Stephen McGregor 126 “Three-headed monster.” 0:07:58
Boss Battles Game Design Martha Megarry 126 “Three-headed monster.” 0:35:12
Color Theory Art Mark LaCroix 127 “When two colors of paint really love each other…” 0:32:58
Video Game Events Events Martha Megarry 127 “When two colors of paint really love each other…” 0:09:21
Scoring Systems Game Design Mark LaCroix 130 “Once more with feeling!” 0:15:10
Lives and Continues Game Design Stephen McGregor 130 “Once more with feeling!” 0:38:52
Saving and Loading Systems Programming Martha Megarry 131 “A secret room with secret stuff!” 0:44:41
Game Length Game Design Stephen McGregor 131 “A secret room with secret stuff!” 0:13:08
Narrative Design Narrative Beth Korth 132 Narrative Design n/a
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
Square Enix at E3 2019 News 135 E3 2019 Special 0:34:50
Bethesda at E3 2019 News 135 E3 2019 Special 0:22:49
Stephen’s Travelogue! Events Stephen McGregor 135 E3 2019 Special 0:56:03
Microsoft E3 2019 News 135 E3 2019 Special 0:16:57
Others at E3 2019 News 135 E3 2019 Special 0:54:37
Google Stadia at E3 2019 Hardware, News 135 E3 2019 Special 0:05:28
Nintendo at E3 2019 News 135 E3 2019 Special 0:38:27
International Age Ratings Systems Marketing Mark LaCroix 136 "E for Everybody!" 0:15:29
Patches and Add-on Content Programming Stephen McGregor 136 "E for Everybody!" 0:15:29
Running An Indie Studio IRL Matt Gravelle 137 Running An Indie Studio n/a