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
Fusing Genres Game Design, Marketing Millie Walker 287 Fusing Genres n/a
Fun in Games Game Design Ellen Burns-Johnson 175 "Kapow?" 0:11:09
Frustration Game Design, Gaming Ellen Burns-Johnson 236 "Forged by that experience." 0:10:34
Franchises Gaming, Marketing Ellen Burns-Johnson 243 “The different beams I can do.” 0:52:10
Fonts Misc. Mark LaCroix 208 "All of this mess that I'm throwing at you." 0:09:37
Flash Games Postmortem Events Mark LaCroix 18 GDC 2017 Special (Part 2) 0:34:46
Fingeance Portmortem Game Design, Production Stephen McGregor 216 "They wouldn't fully respawn." Fingeance Postmortem n/a
Finding Your Artistic Voice Game Design, IRL Stephen McGregor 209 "Go pound a Monster." 0:48:12
Finding Help Production Ellen Burns-Johnson 312 "Ask your friends." 0:11:46
Finding Fidelity Game Design, IRL Ellen Burns-Johnson 154 "Abstracted to the point of silliness." 0:03:45
Fighting Games Gaming Stephen McGregor 58 "Shaniqua Shepard sounds cool." 0:08:08
Ferrets Misc. Martha Megarry 158 "Space ferrets lift off!" Widget Satchel Special 0:24:26
Fanbases Gaming, IRL Martha Megarry 119 "Let Reggie get back to work." 0:16:50
Families in Games Gaming Beth Korth, Andy Korth 204 Families in Games n/a
Fall Damage Game Design Stephen McGregor 308 "You've probably seen them in Zelda." 56:40
Fail States Game Design Stephen McGregor 201 "Not like Beauty and the Beast." 32:28
Extracurricular Activities Events, IRL Ryan Foss 11 Extracurricular Activities n/a
Extra Modes Production Mark LaCroix 133 “That wasn’t the angle I was going for.” 0:07:06
Exploits Gaming, IRL Stephen McGregor 222 "The anitidote to hype." 0:36:36
Experimental Games Workshop Events Mark LaCroix 18 GDC 2017 Special (Part 2) 0:36:32
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
Ethical Consumption Gaming, Misc. Holly Harrison 224 "To whom it may concern." 0:13:06
Establishing a Sense of Place Game Design, Narrative Stephen McGregor 178 "A place where people live." 1:02:00
eSports Events, Gaming Martha Megarry 51 "Right the dang now." 0:30:53
Escapist Games Gaming Dylan Skerbitz 189 Evil Games Club 5! 0:45:46
Ergonomics IRL Ellen Burns-Johnson 173 "Balance all those prices." 0:55:15
Environmental Storytelling Narrative Mark LaCroix 104 "Safety gone!" 0:38:20
Enemy AI Game Design Mark LaCroix 36 "Maybe a Zeldo." 0:03:00
Endings Game Design, Narrative Mark LaCroix 302 "I love it when you kinda agree." 0:13:40
Ending Projects IRL, Production Martha Megarry 171 "Martha, Martha, Martha!" 0:13:13
Emphasizing Uniqueness Marketing Stephen McGregor 320 "Stephen, explain this." 26:32
Ellen's PC Build - The Journey Begins Hardware Ellen Burns-Johnson 212 "Brainy. Not academic." 0:20:04
Ellen's Nicest (2018) Nicest Ellen Burns-Johnson 113 Nicest of 2018 n/a
Ellen's Most Anticipated (for 2019) Nicest Ellen Burns-Johnson 113 Nicest of 2018 n/a
Elegance Game Design Ellen Burns-Johnson 326 "The opposing metric of jank." 0:33:00
Educating Intuition IRL, Misc. Ellen Burns-Johnson 323 "Sweet, sweet Toronto sounds." 0:52:56
Economies Game Design Stephen McGregor 173 "Balance all those prices." 0:11:20
Early Access Marketing, Production Sami Sati and Erick Sati 242 Early Access n/a
Documentation Game Design, Production, Tools Stephen McGregor 191 "Claps in the chat." 0:36:05
DLC and Expansions Gaming, Production Martha Megarry 48 "I do business." 0:02:40
Difficulty Game Design Stephen McGregor 30 "75% sure." 0:54:27
Diagramming Gameplay Loops Game Design Ellen Burns-Johnson 262 "Start fresh, in a certain way." 0:15:20
Developing Ideas IRL Martha Megarry 98 "I like naps." 0:05:48
Developer/Publisher Relations Production August Brown 120 Developer/Publisher Relations n/a
Developer Art! Art Mark LaCroix 5 "Bananas, from here to eternity." 0:42:08
Designing Party Games Game Design Mark LaCroix 8 "Will you be the best with me?" 0:38:30
Designing like a Dungeon Master Game Design, Narrative, Tabletop Katrina Ostrander, Jon Kiehne 247 Designing like a Dungeon Master n/a
Designing Horror Games Game Design Stephen McGregor 139 "Who approved these topics?" 0:16:46
Designing Games for Non-Gamers Game Design Stephen McGregor 3 "It's against the law to stop." 0:27:30
Designing for VR Game Design, IRL, VR / AR / XR Dana Ware 230 Designing for VR n/a
Designing a Spiritual Successor Game Design, Gaming, Production Dmitry Samartsev, aka Special Bread 279 Designing a Spiritual Successor n/a
Design Pillars Game Design, Production Mark LaCroix 187 "A way to farm notions." 0:49:22
Demoing and Playtesting Production Stephen McGregor 15 "We are artists and we should be artists." 0:03:27
Deluxe Editions Gaming, Marketing, Physical Games Ellen Burns-Johnson 238 "Just-In-Time Compiler." 10:04
Debugging Programming Mark LaCroix 241 "..." 0:02:06
Debug Functionality Production, Programming, Tools Stephen McGregor 333 "Am I making a joke?" 0:42:09
Day-One Patches Production, Programming Mark LaCroix 165 "If you're feeling saucy..." 0:02:48
Day of the Devs at Alamo Drafthouse Events Mark LaCroix 17 GDC 2017 Special (Part 1) 0:24:21
Dale’s Additional Travel Tips IRL, Meta Dale LaCroix 156 "All your maps are belong to us." 1:23:55
Dale Makes GDC Magic Events Dale LaCroix 124 GDC 2019 Special 0:25:17
Curling Game Design Mark LaCroix 268 "No referees?!" 0:10:15
CSS Programming Mark LaCroix 298 "One size bigger and red." 9:47
Crunch IRL, Production, Programming Stephen McGregor 165 "If you're feeling saucy..." 0:42:22
Crowdfunding Marketing, Production Martha Megarry 92 "Who are you wearing? Nintendo." 0:57:47
Creative Career Paths Art, Game Design, IRL, Misc. Will Bredbeck 335 Creative Career Paths 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
Copying Others Art, Game Design, Narrative Stephen McGregor 314 "Salt, in everything?" n/a
Control Flow Programming Mark LaCroix 339 "Things just happen, somewhere." 0:41:08
Console vs. PC Development Hardware Mark LaCroix 26 "The Stevechievement." 0:54:44
Consensus Pick (2016) Nicest Mark LaCroix, Martha Megarry, Stephen McGregor 9 Nicest of 2016 n/a
Conferences / Gaming Events (revisited) Events, Gaming Mark LaCroix 57 "This misinformation vortex." One year of Nice Games Club! 0:14:20
Composition over Inheritance Programming Mark LaCroix 326 "The opposing metric of jank." 0:07:41
Completionism Gaming Holly Harrison 323 "Sweet, sweet Toronto sounds." 0:09:09