Game designer
Myles Blasonato (Game Designer)
A conversation with a game designer for listeners thinking about how an idea becomes something people can play.
Watch on YouTube ↗Game design podcast
Design the
feeling.
Jams and Joysticks is a game design podcast for the creators, builders, and community shaping how games move, feel, and stay with people.
Behind the controls
A game is a thousand decisions you can feel.
A player may never see the conversation that shaped a level, the small adjustment that made a challenge read more clearly, or the moment a team chose what to leave out. They feel the result anyway. Game design turns a point of view into movement, rhythm, surprise, tension, and the kind of memory people carry after the screen goes dark.
That work deserves a fuller conversation than a feature list or a launch-day headline. Jams and Joysticks sits with the creators and builders behind games to make room for the choices that guide their work, the people who sharpen an idea, and the culture that gives a project meaning beyond the build.
This is not a shortcut or a single formula for making games. It is a place to hear how people think through real creative work. Bring the question in front of you, whether it is about a mechanic, a world, a team, or where you fit, then listen for a perspective you can carry into the next version of your own work.
Start with a design conversation
See every episode →Meet people whose work brings ideas into play. Pick the perspective that feels closest to your next question, then follow it into the wider archive.
Game design conversation
Gabe Sheets (Game Designer, Eighth Lantern)
A designer’s perspective for people drawn to the choices, craft, and relationships behind a game.
Watch on YouTube ↗
Creative direction
Jordan Horton (Creative Director, Wakeup Super Studios)
A creative director’s view for listeners who want to understand how a larger point of view holds a project together.
Watch on YouTube ↗A useful listen at every stage
Bring the work closer.
For designers finding the question
Good design starts before an answer. It begins with noticing what a player needs to understand, what a moment needs to feel like, and what is worth protecting when a project gets complicated. These conversations give emerging designers a place to hear how other people describe their choices without pretending every project follows the same path. Listen for a question that makes your next experiment more precise.
For teams shaping a shared idea
Design is not separate from the people making the game. It meets art, music, writing, code, production, feedback, and the everyday work of keeping a team in conversation. The archive makes space for that bigger picture. It can help a collaborator see a familiar problem from another role, or give a team a clearer way to talk about the feeling they are trying to build together.
For players who want context
Players can feel when a game has been made with care, even when they do not have the language for every decision on the screen. Hearing from the people behind the work turns a finished experience into a fuller story. It gives fans a closer connection to the craft, and gives them something more meaningful to share with the people they play with.
How the conversations help
Listen for the decisions beneath the surface.
Start with the person whose role feels closest to your current challenge. A game designer may help you look again at how a player understands a space. A creative director may change the way you think about protecting an idea while a project grows. A developer or community builder may reveal how much a game depends on the connections around the work, not just the work itself.
Do not look for a set of instructions to copy. Real creative work is too specific for that. Listen instead for the detail that gives you a better next question: the tradeoff someone named, the relationship they protected, the moment they changed direction, or the way they made room for another voice in the process.
When you return to your own project, make the listening practical. Pause on the decision that catches your attention and name what it changes for the player. Is it helping a moment read more clearly, giving a teammate a clearer shared goal, or protecting the feeling that made the idea worth building in the first place? That small habit can turn a good conversation into something you can use, without pretending someone else’s route is yours to repeat.
The most useful design conversations make the work feel less mysterious without making it smaller. They remind you that a good game can begin with attention, a clear intention, and enough patience to keep learning what the experience needs. Take that perspective back to your sketch, prototype, playtest, team meeting, or shared conversation.
Jams and Joysticks keeps the people at the center because games are made through people. Their taste, care, and willingness to keep a conversation open are part of what players eventually feel. The archive is here to help more of those voices travel.
Keep exploring
Find the conversation that meets your work.
Game design connects to every part of a playable experience. If you are looking for the wider picture of making games, explore conversations with developers and creative leaders. If independent work is closest to your own path, follow the voices building projects and communities on their own terms. If sound is the question in front of you, head toward the people shaping what players hear and remember.
Each route begins with a different kind of curiosity, but they all lead back to the same thing: creators, builders, and community making space for work that matters. Start with the topic that has your attention, then let the archive introduce you to a perspective you did not know you needed.
Frequently asked questions
Good to know
What is this game design podcast about?
Jams and Joysticks is a place for conversations with the people making games. Episodes make room for game designers, creative directors, developers, and community builders to talk about the choices, relationships, and creative work behind what players experience.
Is this for people who are new to game design?
Yes. Start with the guest or question that feels closest to your own work. The conversations are for curious listeners, students, early-career creators, and experienced builders who want a more human view of how games come together.
Where can I watch the conversations?
You can watch full conversations on YouTube, listen on Spotify, or browse the episode archive here. Each path leads back to the same growing collection of creators, builders, and community voices.
What kinds of design perspectives are featured?
The archive includes conversations with game designers, creative directors, developers, card game creators, and other people whose work shapes how games feel, move, and bring people together.
Keep the conversation moving
Find the choices behind the game.
Watch original conversations across games, music, and culture, then bring someone from your community into the mix.