Design Doc
By Hannah Shaffer and Evan Rowland
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Image by Hannah Shaffer and Evan Rowland
Category: Design
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Subscribers: 28
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Episodes: 109
Description
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.
| Episode | Date |
|---|---|
|
Epiphanies
|
Jan 07, 2026 |
|
Resolutions New and Old
|
Dec 24, 2025 |
|
Convention Dids and Didn’ts
|
Dec 10, 2025 |
|
Short Break Announcement
|
Nov 26, 2025 |
|
Making Game Hacks That Stay Small
|
Nov 13, 2025 |
|
You Can’t End the Game Until You Know What It Means
|
Oct 29, 2025 |
|
Design Doc 101
|
Oct 15, 2025 |
|
Bonus: Ernest Cline's Stinker (Part 2—the Movie!)
|
Oct 01, 2025 |
|
Bonus: Ernest Cline's Stinker (Part 1)
|
Sep 17, 2025 |
|
The Realest Place on Earth
|
Sep 03, 2025 |
|
Game Design Grab Bag
|
Jul 30, 2025 |
|
Roleplaying in the Park
|
Jul 16, 2025 |
|
Creative Disagreements
|
Jul 02, 2025 |
|
The Game Takes Shape
|
Jun 18, 2025 |
|
The Rules Tell a Story
|
Jun 04, 2025 |
|
Epilogues in Games
|
May 21, 2025 |
|
Balancing the Pendulum
|
May 07, 2025 |
|
Now You're the Bad Guy
|
Apr 23, 2025 |
|
Don’t Stop Making Art! (Feat. Joshua A.C. Newman)
|
Apr 09, 2025 |
|
It’s My Playtest and I’ll Cry If I Want To
|
Mar 26, 2025 |
|
Pacing
|
Mar 12, 2025 |
|
Insights and Secrets
|
Feb 26, 2025 |
|
Rewards and Prizes
|
Feb 12, 2025 |
|
The Art of Perfect Art
|
Jan 29, 2025 |
|
What Makes a Good Playtest?
|
Jan 15, 2025 |
|
When Mechanics Don't Match
|
Dec 25, 2024 |
|
Going Places! (or, Navigation Mechanics in Games)
|
Dec 11, 2024 |
|
A Moment of Rest
|
Nov 27, 2024 |
|
Finding Community Again
|
Nov 13, 2024 |
|
Levels of Doneness
|
Oct 29, 2024 |
|
Judging a Book by Its Cover
|
Oct 16, 2024 |
|
The Ideas You'll Be Buried With
|
Oct 02, 2024 |
|
Designing a Spooky Game (Part 4): Finally, the Playtest
|
Sep 18, 2024 |
|
The Pizza or the Basket? (Amusement Park Horror w/ Alanna Shaffer)
|
Sep 04, 2024 |
|
Designing a Spooky Game (Part 3): Mr. Bones' Wild Ride
|
Aug 21, 2024 |
|
Designing a Spooky Game (Part 2): The Setting
|
Aug 07, 2024 |
|
Designing a Spooky Game (Part 1): The Brainstorm
|
Jul 25, 2024 |
|
The Founder Olympics
|
Jun 27, 2024 |
|
Our Best Design Doc Ideas
|
Jun 03, 2024 |
|
The Taste Talent Gap
|
May 03, 2024 |
|
Adapting a Text
|
Apr 11, 2024 |
|
Working around a Job
|
Mar 20, 2024 |
|
Obsessions
|
Feb 21, 2024 |
|
Better Never Than Late?
|
Jan 11, 2024 |
|
Designing Alone, but Not Lonely
|
Dec 18, 2023 |
|
Design Session: What Makes a Good Solo RPG?
|
Nov 15, 2023 |
|
Will We Ever Finish Questlandia 2?
|
Oct 24, 2023 |
|
The Liminal Spaces of Six Flags
|
Sep 26, 2023 |
|
"People Were Shorter Back Then" (Guest ep w/ historical interpreter Enzo!)
|
Aug 24, 2023 |
|
Old Sturbridge Village
|
Jul 28, 2023 |
|
Founder Energy
|
Jul 05, 2023 |
|
Fish People
|
Jun 06, 2023 |
|
Focusing on Focus
|
May 10, 2023 |
|
We're Writing a Novel
|
Mar 28, 2023 |
|
Packed With Care (Part 2)
|
Feb 16, 2023 |
|
Packed With Care (Part 1)
|
Jan 13, 2023 |
|
Actually selling our games
|
Dec 23, 2022 |
|
What to do when you're sick of your game
|
Nov 10, 2022 |
|
FLETs (Fiddly Little End Things)
|
Oct 05, 2022 |
|
Dispatch from an on-time timeline
|
Sep 09, 2022 |
|
Imperfect Inspiration
|
Jul 21, 2022 |
|
Bad lo-fi game ideas to study or relax to
|
May 28, 2022 |
|
Underdressed and over-diced
|
Mar 16, 2022 |
|
Kudos Conundrum
|
Jan 24, 2022 |
|
Rekindling the Flame
|
Dec 27, 2021 |
|
A Cat in the Lap and Other Good Things
|
Dec 02, 2021 |
|
Numbers Hide Everything
|
Nov 08, 2021 |
|
The Episode Before the Kickstarter
|
Oct 19, 2021 |
|
Resist the Urge to Fill Negative Space
|
Sep 24, 2021 |
|
The Work of Games Is Not Just Making Games
|
Aug 31, 2021 |
|
Shootin the shoot
|
May 27, 2021 |
|
How to Compare Roleplaying Games
|
Apr 06, 2021 |
|
Deluxe Edition
|
Mar 16, 2021 |
|
Everything Old Is New Again
|
Feb 02, 2021 |
|
Scopeful Optimism
|
Jan 12, 2021 |
|
Designing a Game Design Workday
|
Sep 28, 2020 |
|
The Games You Want to Make, The Life You Want to Live
|
Jul 31, 2020 |
|
Burnout
|
May 07, 2020 |
|
The Ski Bike
|
Mar 31, 2020 |
|
Breaking up with Character Creation
|
Dec 17, 2019 |
|
When to Add Ghosts to Your Game
|
Oct 22, 2019 |
|
When No One Is the GM, Everyone Is
|
Aug 23, 2019 |
|
The UltraLux Bait-and-Switch
|
Jul 24, 2019 |
|
Your Kickstarter Questions (Mostly) Answered
|
Jun 18, 2019 |
|
Okay, Let's Redesign Noirlandia
|
May 21, 2019 |
|
We Still Don't Know Who the Junk Poets Are
|
Apr 16, 2019 |
|
Finding the Game's Emotional Core
|
Mar 13, 2019 |
|
Playtesting Progress Part 2: The Spinning Mountain
|
Feb 21, 2019 |
|
Playtesting Progress Part 1: Knotty Business
|
Jan 31, 2019 |
|
Make-Believe History
|
Jan 11, 2019 |
|
Whoops, It's a Dystopia
|
Dec 12, 2018 |
|
It's Trans Awareness Week (Mini Bonus Ep)
|
Nov 19, 2018 |
|
Games Are Political
|
Nov 06, 2018 |
|
Retreat Forward
|
Oct 04, 2018 |
|
Making Things in Hard Times
|
Aug 17, 2018 |
|
Social Dynamics at the Table
|
Jul 13, 2018 |
|
You Can Kill a King, but You Can't Make a Marinara
|
Jun 18, 2018 |
|
Romancing the Wall
|
May 18, 2018 |
|
The Worst Ideas We've Had so Far
|
Apr 23, 2018 |
|
Deadline Motivated
|
Mar 23, 2018 |
|
Mosslickers
|
Mar 04, 2018 |
|
The Symbol Reader
|
Feb 16, 2018 |
|
Collaboration
|
Jan 25, 2018 |
|
The First Playtest
|
Dec 28, 2017 |
|
Preparing the Playtest
|
Dec 16, 2017 |
|
Plumb Bobs
|
Nov 29, 2017 |
|
Worldbuilding
|
Nov 14, 2017 |
|
Metaplot
|
Oct 31, 2017 |
|
Welcome To Questlandia!
|
Oct 17, 2017 |