Design Doc
Come along with Hannah and Evan in a living documentation of the game design process, from the first spark of an idea, to every disastrous surprise. It’s not an instruction manual, but a travel guide, with lots of unexpected stops along the way.
Episodes
May 6, 2026 • 27 mins
While Evan's away, Hannah reflects on the announcement that Hampshire College, an unconventional school founded in the 1970s, is closing its doors. It was flawed, idealistic, and not always what was promised. But it was a special place that encouraged weirdos to be weird, and paved our own winding path to game design.
Hampshire College Workers' Emergency Relief Fund
Help Hampshire workers faced with sudden job loss:
https://www....
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Mark as Played
April 23, 2026 • 47 mins
We've always struggled to juggle multiple projects at a time. Right now, finishing the design on Escape from Wonderland is the top priority. But we don't want to set aside every other game and dream. What would it take to do two things at once?
Links & Credits:
Turtlebun Discord: https://discord.gg/ajP36nzPb2
Turtlebun on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/turtlebun
Our website, for games/art/zines: https://turtleb...
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Mark as Played
April 8, 2026 • 64 mins
How many generations does it take to get into a canoe-making class? In this episode we go on a quest to redesign a queue system for a local craft school and quickly find that you cannot make a perfect queue without systemic social change.
Episode Mentions:
Hill Institute (With their mission right there on the front page)
What Money Can’t Buy: The Moral Limits of Markets by Michael J. Sandel, 2013 (This link takes you to bookshop...
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Mark as Played
March 18, 2026 • 54 mins
A discussion about how to design a liminal zone in a TTRPG leaves us trapped in an in-between place.
Episode mentions:
r/backrooms
House of Leaves (2000 - Horror novel by Mark Z. Danielewski)
The Last Unicorn (1982 - Animated movie based on 1968 book by Peter S. Beagle)
Ultimate Haunted House (1994 - Point-and-click video game with art by Gahan Wilson) Play it on archive.org here.
Links:
Turtlebun Discord: https://discord.gg...
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Mark as Played
March 4, 2026 • 48 mins
In this episode, we talk fatigue. Is fatigue something to conquer, or is it a warning sign on the way to a physical and emotional crash? Evan is tired, but we’ve got strategies! After years of learning what the burnout cycle looks like while working on a game, we’re eager to intervene before exhaustion gets the best of us.
Episode mentions:
Ever so briefly, The Witness (2016 video game, Jonathan Blow)
Snowpiercer (2013 movie, Bo...
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Mark as Played
February 18, 2026 • 55 mins
Game design questions can be longer and more complex than their answers. In this episode, we initially set out to do a live-design session tackling an issue from our latest playtest, but discovered that describing the question required revisiting nearly every other part of the game. Join us for a chat about Twilight rules, open-eyed investigations, and escaping a cursed amusement park.
Links:
We have a Discord! Come talk about De...
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Mark as Played
February 4, 2026 • 56 mins
Who designs the game? Is it the players, who make decisions in real time at the table? The GM, who’s at the ready to suggest ideas or dole out consequences? Or the designers, who… well… make the game? In this episode, we talk about when and how to distribute control of the experience between the players, the GM, ourselves as designers, and random rolls of the dice.
Links:
Join the Turtlebun Discord: https://discord.gg/ApNfNvUk
S...
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Mark as Played
January 21, 2026 • 48 mins
Hannah watched 51 movies in 2025. Not all of them were helpful for game design, but there was inspiration to be found everywhere—in the form of left-behind robots, edgy existential planets, sci-fi noir, and Mother. Mother? Mother!
Follow along and find every movie mentioned in the episode here:
https://letterboxd.com/hanbandit/diary/films/for/2025/by/added-earliest/
Watch movies through your library on Kanopy:
https://www.kano...
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Mark as Played
January 7, 2026 • 50 mins
Sometimes a design problem can't be solved in any straightforward way. You need an epiphany! That can't be forced, but it can be encouraged. Hannah and Evan talk about the epiphanies that shaped their previous games and how to attract those mysterious flashes of insight.
Links:
We have a Discord! Come talk about Design Doc and Star Trek. https://discord.gg/XD4WVDjvbz
Turtlebun on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/turtlebun...
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Mark as Played
December 24, 2025 • 53 mins
As the year draws to a close we talk about New Year's resolutions. Hannah makes them every year, Evan does not. Hannah shares her elaborate system for setting goals of masteries, experiences, and skills. And together, we consider Turtlebun's upcoming year.
Links:
Join the Turtlebun Discord: https://discord.gg/XD4WVDjvbz
Support our work on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/turtlebun
Buy our games: https://turtlebun.com/...
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Mark as Played
December 10, 2025 • 44 mins
Conventions are an opportunity for us to get our games in front of a bigger audience, and PAX Unplugged is our biggest show. The stakes feel high, and we have to balance our ambitious goals with practical preparations. In this episode, we talk about what we were proud of, what we wish we’d done differently, and how every year we get a little better.
Episode mentions:
Thoughtcrime Games - https://thoughtcrimegames.itch.io/
Elliot...
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Mark as Played
November 26, 2025 • 2 mins
Just a quick announcement that we'll be skipping a release cycle for the Thanksgiving holiday. See you back in two weeks with a new episode!
In the meantime you might consider:
Joining the Turtlebun Discord: https://discord.gg/XD4WVDjvbz
Supporting Design Doc on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/turtlebun
Picking up one of our games: https://turtlebun.com/
Design Doc Credits:
Design Doc intro/outro theme by ipagh...
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Mark as Played
November 13, 2025 • 55 mins
It's hard for us to make a hack that doesn't grow into a game of its own. In this episode, we talk about two playtests—one for a game variant, another for a new hack—and say what went well, what needs work, and how to keep small things small.
Links:
Join the Turtlebun Discord: https://discord.gg/XD4WVDjvbz
Support Design Doc Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/turtlebun
Check out our games: https://turtlebun.com/
Cr...
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Mark as Played
October 29, 2025 • 50 mins
Endings are hard. The ending of a roleplaying game isn’t just the culmination of the story; it’s also when the themes and purpose of the game become clear. In this episode we talk about designing a conclusion that comes at the right time, conveys the right message, and still leaves room for all the improvisation of roleplaying.
Episode mentions:
Ready Player One—but just a brief mention this time, promise!
Mother! (2017 film wri...
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Mark as Played
October 15, 2025 • 43 mins
Is Design Doc a game design podcast? A saga about the challenges of making art for a living? A never-ending field trip? In episode 101 we talk about how Design Doc began, what it became, and what we hope it could become. Plus, dinosaurs!
Episode mentions:
Internet Shaquille video about short-form content - “I Posted a Short EVERY Day and THIS Happened!” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uvu3SDigoMA
Links:
Join the Turtlebun Disco...
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Mark as Played
October 1, 2025 • 70 mins
We conclude our discussion of Ready Player One with an updated review of the movie. In pondering this mid movie, we leave no stone unturned... and no critically-acclaimed director forgiven. Come for the movie critique, stay for the poetry!
Find part 1 of the discussion, Ernest Cline's Stinker (Part 1), here.
Find our original review of the movie on Patreon here.
Episode Mentions:
Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters (2013 directed by...
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Mark as Played
September 17, 2025 • 91 mins
We’re pulling an unaired episode from the archives this week! We talk about Ready Player One, the dystopian virtual-world novel that took the world by storm over a decade ago. We each completed the book independently, then came together in this conversation to share our thoughts with each other (and the world). In part 1 we discuss the novel, in part 2 we watch the movie and read an illuminating poem.
Links:
Join the Turtlebun Di...
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Mark as Played
September 3, 2025 • 117 mins
Happy Design Doc episode 100! In this special episode, we take a field trip with our game Escape from Wonderland. Trapped in an amusement park with a half-finished game, we explore liminal spaces, shuttered VIP lounges, and mind-bendingly long queues. To escape Six Flags New England, we must first fix our broken larp.
Creepy circus music is Creepy Circus Music from Derek Fiechter & Brandon Fiechter on Soundcloud
Roller coaster ...
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Mark as Played
July 30, 2025 • 58 mins
In an impromptu recording, we decided to take turns setting a 6-minute timer and sharing whatever topics came to mind. The result was a series of compressed design conversations and a snapshot of our current ambitions and troubles.
1 - Sandbox exploration (chicken)
2 - Questlandia audio drama (cow)
3 - Traits & Conditions accounting (duck)
4 - Making the bed (whale)
5 - Null result (seagull)
6 - Mud gallery (horse)
Links:
J...
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Mark as Played
July 16, 2025 • 54 mins
We're going back to the park and taking Wonderland with us! To get the game off the table and into the real world, there are a number of changes we'll have to make. We talk fanny packs, waterproof paper, coordinated outfits, and ditching friends.
You can listen to our previous episode about Six Flags here.
Links:
Join the Turtlebun Discord: https://discord.gg/XD4WVDjvbz
Support our work on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/t...
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Mark as Played
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