About this episode

Hannah discusses public playtesting with game designer Josh Yearsley, focusing on feedback and maintaining one's voice.

Hannah sits down with rules editor and game designer Josh Yearsley (Root, Arcs) for a conversation about public playtesting. After more than a decade of editing rulebooks, Josh has developed a keen eye and intuition for playtest feedback. Josh talks about playtesting as a fluid conversation, incorporating feedback on a community scale, and staying true to your own voice when it starts to get lost in the shuffle. Links to episode mentions: Buried Giant Studios Double Fine PsychOdyssey Episode credits: Design Doc intro/outro theme by ipaghost:⁠ ⁠https://www.ipaghost.com/⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Episodes edited by Rob Abrazado:⁠ ⁠https://robabrazado.com/⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Turtlebun links: Turtlebun Discord: https://discord.gg/h6JsahwgH (this link expires after 30 days—if you click and it's expired, email us!) Patreon: ⁠https://www.patreon.com/turtlebun⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠  Website: ⁠https://turtlebun.com/⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠  Get in touch: Designdocpod (at) gmail (dot) com Instagram: ⁠⁠⁠instagram.com/turtleandbun⁠⁠⁠⁠ Bluesky: ⁠https://bsky.app/profile/turtlebun.com⁠⁠

People in this episode

Hosts: Hannah Shaffer, Evan Rowland

Guest: Josh Yearsley

Topics covered

• public playtesting
• game design
• feedback incorporation
• community engagement
• rule editing

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Buried Giant Studios, Double Fine

Books & works: PsychOdyssey

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