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
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...
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...
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...
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 ...
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...
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...
Mark as Played
July 2, 2025 • 40 mins
Even after years of working together, there are times where we just can’t agree. The work grinds to a halt, and we end up frustrated and confused. When there’s a breakdown in collaboration, how do you diagnose what went wrong, repair the rift, and move forward together?
Links:
Join the Turtlebun Discord: https://discord.gg/XD4WVDjvbz
Support our work on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/turtlebun
Buy our games: https://...
Mark as Played
June 18, 2025 • 44 mins
In the early stages of a game's design, it's hard to even know what questions to answer. We've hit a turning point with Escape from Wonderland where we can see the shape of the game taking form. Big, abstract questions are getting small and specific. Now that the game has real structure, what comes next?
Links:
Join the Turtlebun Discord: https://discord.gg/XD4WVDjvbz
Support our work on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com...
Mark as Played
June 4, 2025 • 40 mins
After you’ve made the rules, you need to decide how you’re going to tell them. The right rule in the wrong order can make all the difference!
In this unscripted episode, we share our initial thoughts about how we want our next rulebook to start, how to include immersive writing without sacrificing clarity, and (for some reason) reminisce about spooky VHS covers we encountered as children.
Links:
Join the Turtlebun Discord: ht...
Mark as Played
May 21, 2025 • 47 mins
Story endings are hard! The epilogue of a game not only has to logically wrap up the story and tie up any loose ends—it’s also the moment to reflect on how your character has grown over many sessions, and a moment for you as the player to feel like the time spent playing was worthwhile.
In this episode, we talk about what makes roleplaying game epilogues special, and how we're approaching epilogue design in Escape from Wonderland....
Mark as Played
May 7, 2025 • 52 mins
This week, we talk about the unpredictable mechanical swings that can happen between different versions of a game. Small tweaks to mechanics can trigger a cascade of unintended effects, causing the game design pendulum to swing from too many choices to too few and back again. We talk through examples of how we've managed these swings in Escape from Wonderland, and discuss our ongoing efforts to find the right balance.
Links:
Join...
Mark as Played
April 23, 2025 • 38 mins
We’re introducing a new dynamic to our latest roleplaying game! You all came to this amusement park as friends, but one of you started serving the park’s demonic forces. And things are about to get mean.
How can characters become enemies while players remain friends? When the rules ask you to clash with you peers, care and consideration needs to be given to keeping the antagonism fun.
Links:
Turtlebun Discord: https://discord.gg/...
Mark as Played
April 9, 2025 • 60 mins
Hannah had to get a full time office job. Since then, finding the time and energy for creative work has been an uphill battle. In this episode, Hannah sits down with close friend and fellow game designer Joshua A.C. Newman to talk about life, art, and staying true to your values in trying times.
Support Joshua’s work!
https://www.patreon.com/joshua
https://www.patreon.com/PunkPedagogy
Links:
Turtlebun Discord: https://discord.gg...
Mark as Played
March 26, 2025 • 45 mins
Hannah and Evan discuss Wonderland's first four-player playtest. When a playtest goes wrong, it can be tricky to diagnose the cause. How much is due to the rules, and what's connected to the more subtle influence of mood and flow?
Links:
Turtlebun Discord: https://discord.gg/XD4WVDjvbz
Patreon: patreon.com/turtlebun
Website: turtlebun.com
Credits:
Design Doc intro/outro theme by ipaghost: https://www.ipaghost.com/
Episode edited ...
Mark as Played
March 12, 2025 • 55 mins
Slow and steady wins the race... but does it work in a one-session RPG? From what we've seen in Escape from Wonderland, not quite. In this episode, we discuss pacing in roleplaying games: from the moment players arrive at the table to leaving everyone feeling satisfied with the story's twists and turns. We dig into the challenge of building uncanny horror—where a slow burn creates the best dread—and whether it's possible to communi...
Mark as Played
February 26, 2025 • 52 mins
Sometimes a secret is worth more than gold. But how do you make concrete rules for something intangible? Hannah and Evan talk about the secrets of Wonderland and what to do when the rules are out of step with the story.
Links/Credits:
Patreon: patreon.com/turtlebun
Website: turtlebun.com
Design Doc intro/outro theme by ipaghost: https://www.ipaghost.com/
Episode edited by Rob Abrazado: https://robabrazado.com/
Support Design Doc wi...
Mark as Played
February 12, 2025 • 44 mins
Even when things are going wrong for your characters, you as a player might feel rewarded by narrative twists and turns. In this episode, Hannah and Evan discuss the ways that games can reward both players and characters, and do some live game design about claw machine prizes...
Links/Credits:
Patreon: patreon.com/turtlebun
Website: turtlebun.com
Design Doc intro/outro theme by ipaghost: https://www.ipaghost.com/
Episode edited by ...
Mark as Played
January 29, 2025 • 55 mins
When people decide what art is worth looking at, they look for the very best. In a world that demands creative endeavors be perfect, how do we find the confidence to make and share our own art?
Episode mentions:
Olga Smirnova / Dutch National Ballet:
https://www.operaballet.nl/en/dancers/olga-smirnova
Toki Pona:
https://tokipona.org/
A Mathematician's Lament by Paul Lockhart (essay):
https://worrydream.com/refs/Lockhart_2002_-_A_Ma...
Mark as Played
January 15, 2025 • 53 mins
Is playtesting more of a science, or more art? How prepared should you be for a playtest if you're testing rules that might change on the fly, never to be seen again? In this episode we talk about playtesting our newest game, Escape from Wonderland, and how that went!
Links/Credits:
Patreon: patreon.com/turtlebun
Website: turtlebun.com
Design Doc intro/outro theme by ipaghost: https://www.ipaghost.com/
Episode edited by Rob Abrazad...
Mark as Played
December 25, 2024 • 44 mins
Our newest game, Escape from Wonderland, began as a hack of Questlandia. But what happens when the mechanics of an old game don't work with the story you want to tell? In this episode we talk about hacking games to do what we want them to do.
Links:
Support Design Doc on Patreon: patreon.com/turtlebun
Find our games at: turtlebun.com
Credits:
Design Doc intro/outro theme by ipaghost: https://www.ipaghost.com/
Episode edited by Rob ...
Mark as Played
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