Micro Macro Board Game Art - The Perfectly Staged Crime - Interview with Johannes Sich
What's special about the concept? It's one big picture, but you can find the same character at multiple spots, doing different things at different moments in time.
In this board game art interview, I’m speaking to Johannes Sich, creator, designer, and artist of Micro Macro, a series of ‘hidden picture’ detective board games.
The series started in 2020 with Micro Macro: Crime City and now features 4 editions and a new digital app. In Micro Macro, you and your friends are given the task of solving increasingly complex cases together. To solve the cases, you’ll be given clue cards that ask you to examine a map of a city and its inhabitants. The city map serves as a map in time as well as space, so you'll typically find people in multiple locations throughout the streets and buildings, and you need to piece together what happened to solve the case at hand.
Considering these spaces are literally packed with criminal activity, these worlds don’t feel dark, but exude childlike whimsy and a constant sense of discovery. Johannes was kind enough to join me to reveal how it was all made.
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Micro Macro: Crime City board game
Thanks for joining us, Johannes! Could you tell us a bit about yourself?
Hi, thank you for having me in your interview section, which I really like. I am a game designer and illustrator, and together with my colleagues Daniel Goll and Tobias Jochinke, we created the MicroMacro game series.
I am from the rural area of the Rheinland/Ruhrgebiet in Germany, and I live in Düsseldorf with my wife and daughter. The studio where we work is not far, so I can walk or go by bike and have a coffee on my way (very important). This studio is originally a design studio, but nowadays the three of us work mainly on MicroMacro, supported by a team of coworkers and freelancers.
I met my colleagues when we studied Communication Design. We became close friends and frequently worked together on various projects. While they built a studio focused on Communication Design, I worked as a freelancer in illustration across many different areas. I was always troubled with my own ideas and interests in drawing, storytelling, worldbuilding, game design, and puzzle design.
When MicroMacro came out and became a success, everything fell into place, and now I have the pleasure of creating a world of story-driven, illustrated crime puzzle games all day long.
How did you first break into the tabletop industry?
During our time at university, we were already interested in creating games. When choosing a project for my diploma, I came up with La Cosa Nostra, a card game with a mafia theme and a strong focus on player interaction and negotiation. Initially, it was merely an excuse to create a bunch of badass gangster characters, and for my diploma, only the visual design mattered.
I became fascinated by creating the game mechanics, too. It took me years to design the final game, since I had no experience in this area, and I had to learn a ton of things. Even then, I got a lot of support from Tobi and Daniel, and together we started a crowdfunding campaign to self-publish it. It's a quite successful little indie game, at least in Germany. It was quite a ride of a project with many challenges. We got plenty of insights, contacts, and inspiration from diving into the board game scene as a self-publisher.
One of the biggest lessons was that we didn't want to spend our time on publishing work; we wanted to focus on the creative part. So when we developed the idea for MicroMacro, we looked for a professional publisher early on.
Fast forward to 2021, MicroMacro: Crime City won Game of the Year at the biggest board game awards, the Spiel des Jahres. So, what is MicroMacro?
In MicroMacro, players work as a team of detectives to solve crime cases. The core of the game is a huge map, a gigantic illustration of a city, loaded with characters and tiny details. What's special about the concept? It's one big picture, but you can find the same character at multiple spots, doing different things at different moments in time. So you can follow them through the map and discover their stories.
There are plenty of crimes happening in this city, and as players, you must determine what happened. Who is the murderer? How did they do it? What was their motive? And so on. Question cards lead through the cases, and mostly it's not only about searching and finding, but also about solving little puzzles, combining your information, and thinking like a detective.
The first series, "MicroMacro: Crime City", consists of four games. While the game mechanics are suitable for children, the stories and crimes partly address adult themes. Players frequently asked us to create a version for children, and we did: Last year, “MicroMacro: Kids” was published.
Also, last year, we published our first digital adaptation. It's called “MicroMacro: Downtown Detective", and it’s already available for iOS and Android! This is very exciting for us!
Where did the idea for MicroMacro come from?
As gamers with a visual design background, we have always been interested in innovative game concepts that rely heavily on art design.
The very first idea we developed was in 2015. We wanted to make a puzzle game where you have to use your smartphone camera zoom like a magnifier to find tiny details in a huge illustration. Details so tiny that you can't even see them with your bare eyes. We were fascinated by the new possibilities in print and camera technology. Soon, we got the idea that the "huge illustration with plenty of details" had to be a city, and the "puzzles based on tiny details" required a detective theme.
We developed the first prototype with a first case, "Dead Cat," and playtested it. And people loved it. They wanted more of this. At that point, we discovered that one of the biggest advantages of the concept was the accessibility. You don't need to read the rules or do a lot of preparation. (Well, you do need a big table and good lighting!) And this advantage was even stronger without needing to use a smartphone, so we got rid of this. (But this idea is still in our heads, maybe one day we'll make this version.)
Hidden picture books like Where’s Wally? were a big part of my childhood. Was MicroMacro inspired by series like these?
In Germany, we have a huge tradition with picture books called "Wimmelbilder", which work like "Where’s Waldo". There are tons of those; everybody knows them, and we all grew up with them. But, surprisingly, we never thought about those when we had the first idea.
It was the other way around: We wanted to create a game where you had to find little details in a huge picture and piece them together. Only after we created the first prototypes did we realize: "Damn, this looks like a Wimmelbild!" We even tried to avoid this association in the beginning.
For a long time, we avoided calling it a "Wimmelbild" game. Later, we realized this was the best way to describe the game, so we overcame our reluctance.
Micro Macro - Creating the City
The whole game of MicroMacro is set in a single illustration of one city, where everything is connected. What were the challenges in creating a prototype for this concept?
Yes, creating a prototype was the biggest challenge of our concept. Usually, you would playtest your first ideas with very rough prototypes to get basic insights early on. But in this case, an overwhelming abundance of detail is the core of the concept, so even a rudimentary prototype required a lot of work. Well, it was still veeeery rough. If you look at the first prototype today, it is quite ugly, with empty streets, houses, and cars that all look the same, and the characters are poorly drawn. But it worked! So we added more and more stories to it, and the city grew organically.
MicroMacro combines game mechanics, storytelling, and urban planning. How did you turn this first prototype into an entire city?
The stories came first, definitely. With every new story, we needed to add more special buildings, change the street grid, and rebuild entire blocks. After implementing a new case, we do extensive playtesting, which often reveals numerous issues in the puzzle designs. So we revise, playtest, revise, and so on. Thus, the city is constantly changing.
It was rather late in the process when we started revising everything to make it more appealing, which was quite a challenge. It took us a long time to establish a workflow for building a city and filling it with detail. We experimented a lot to make it work. It combines hand-drawn illustrations (characters, plants, details) and 3D-generated objects (houses, vehicles) to achieve a clearly structured yet organic and somewhat chaotic look.
Establishing a solid workflow was also important for us because we had already planned for MicroMacro to become a series. Only with an optimized workflow and organized asset libraries can we reproduce another version without spending another 5 years on it. We also had to experiment with material - what kind of paper, printing methods, how the paper would fold, what size of the map, stuff like this.
When you’re tasked with populating a city, how do you keep the characters feeling unique?
The character design is quite important. They all have to be distinguishable with the fewest possible details. Not only because of their technical size, but also because of the player’s attention. To make tracking down an 8mm tall character over the map fun, it is important to have a ‘hook’, one key feature that makes them unique. It’s also about the team communication during the game: It’s important that the players are able to identify a character by a vocal term like the egghead, the dog lady, the frog, for instance.
When it comes to designing a new main character, it depends on the story, but also on the mechanics. First question is: Will I have a section where the player has to track the character from bottom to top of the map - meaning that you will see him from behind? Then, a distinctive head silhouette is essential to make him recognizable from behind. When I am working on a new case, I like to plan the paths on the map early, so I can answer questions like this before I work on the characters. Also, the scenes and puzzles do influence this process.
Sometimes it’s important that a character is not too noticeable, sometimes I need a special detail for a special puzzle, and so on. For example, I was recently working on a case for a mobile game, where you see different details of the thief at different spots, and by combining that information, the player has to find the perpetrator. In this case, the design is entirely based on the mechanics.
Then there are other, more story-driven cases where the design is largely shaped by the character's role. In Showdown, there is a story about a group of market sellers, and they all have headshapes and names that relate to vegetables, like Tom Ato, Erica Rott, Poe Tato (don’t know how well this works in English; in German, it’s quite funny).
Sometimes we also use reference of real people in our lives. The thieves who rob the museum in "Full House“ are my nieces and nephews; the bank robbers are Tobi, Daniel, and me.
Do you have any favorites among your hand drawings?
While working on new cases for the second part of MicroMacro Full House, I made elaborate planning sketches in my sketchbook. Nowadays, I rarely do it because I am too lazy, and with experience, I can plan stories with just a few notes. I haven't shown them yet, so this is a nice opportunity. At that time, I was in France at the Atlantic on a camping site, alone for a few days. I wanted to surf, but I was injured or lazy or waiting for better waves, I don't know, and I was sitting in a café all day working on those. It was a pretty nice time.
And, to show something not MiMa-related: At that same time and same café, I was also starting to develop my first sketches for "Project Asterope", and one of them I found in the same sketchbook. I still like it, even though my skills were quite low at the time; it turned out pretty decent.
MicroMacro: Downtown Detective is OUT NOW for iOS and Android. What should fans of the series expect from the digital adaptation?
The mobile game is more than an adaptation of the board game; it features an entirely new city map with brand-new cases, specifically designed for the screen.
Quite early in the process, we realized that the experience of playing MicroMacro on a screen is very different from that of a physical map. We spent a long time identifying the differences, issues, and new possibilities of the medium. It was important to us to create a game that retains the spirit of the Crime City series but leverages digital capabilities. Therefore, we produced MicroMacro: Downtown Detective entirely by ourselves. Felix Weiler, a programmer and a friend of ours, joined the team, and together we founded the studio "Soft Boiled Games".
We had to find new ways to structure the map, adapt the case design, and develop the interface and UX in order to achieve the easy access and fluid gameplay of MicroMacro.
We wanted to create a standalone game that would appeal to new players who don't play board games and also satisfy MiMa fans. And of course, offer something new, take advantage of the digital opportunities. We had many ideas, and we even had to hold ourselves back at times to avoid diluting the concept's original DNA. For example, using animation was tempting, but it would, in a way, contradict the core concept of a still image and create issues with user expectations and experience.
We focused on a few new digital features that enhance the concept organically. Like the possibility to zoom in very deeply. Or, at some points in the story, you will do a search warrant and open up rooms in buildings. Those features gave us new possibilities to create different kinds of stories and puzzles while preserving the spirit of the original game.
The player's feedback is overwhelmingly positive, and we are very excited about it! We recently even published a first expansion. So try it out! :)
What are you reading, listening to, or looking at to fuel your work?
Regarding the stories and puzzles for MicroMacro, I used to read a lot of crime stories and listen to podcasts (crime fiction and true crime) in order to get ideas. And I got a lot of inspiration from playing other detective and puzzle games, both digital and analogue.
I am always looking for games with a strong, consistent story that's deeply interwoven with the puzzles. To mention some games I discovered over the last couple of years, which are outstanding in this quality: The Case of the Golden Idol, Return of the Obra Dinn, Outer Wilds, Perspectives (the last one is a board game, the others are digital games).
Regarding art and storytelling in general, I consume a lot of stories in comic books, movies, TV shows, digital games, animation, and anime. It's incredible how many good stories have been made in the last ten years, and how the art of storytelling has improved. I think that we are living in a Golden Age of storytelling right now!
I am very interested in storytelling and worldbuilding, since I have been working on another project for many years, “Project Asterope”, an epic Sci-Fi story I want to tell in a comic or picture book. But I am far from good enough at drawing and writing, so while I practice my skills, I soak up all the inspiration and ideas I can get.
The greatest artists in this regard, for me, are Hayao Miyazaki and Moebius. Speaking of modern animation art, I guess many of your readers will know the series Love, Death and Robots, Scavengers Reign, and Arcane – this is the kind of avant-garde in worldbuilding and storytelling that I am speaking of. Apart from these giants, I want to mention a few webcomic artists I discovered lately, who might be less known, but tell incredibly good stories:
Evan Dahm (Vattu, Third Voice), Anne Szabla (Bird Boy, Banquet), Minna Sundberg (Stand Still Stay Silent).
Of course, I follow the work of other contemporary illustration artists online. It's incredible how the digital era led to an explosion of artists, designs, and styles.
Finally, where can we find more of your work?
My online portfolio is outdated, so I'll skip it. You can find my work on my Instagram @jojosich.illustration. You will mostly find MicroMacro content there lately, but I plan to release other work from the worldbuilding project I mentioned. It's a long process; there are already many sketches and drawings. So if you're interested in that, follow my account - and have some patience ;)
Regarding MicroMacro, you will find all information on our website micromacro-game.com, and even more content on our Instagram @micromacro_game, like creative process and behind-the-scenes insights. If you are interested in stuff like this, we also have a newsletter where we frequently (but not too often, promise!) share insights from the creative process behind the series.
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Hedge Lord Board Game - Handmade Games and Traditional Methods - Interview with Timbrook Toys (Issue #65)
“The appeal of handmade products is that each item has special details which reveal the hand that made it.Working with irregular surfaces results in the kind of printing imperfections that distinguishes handmade art from mass-production… “
Welcome to issue 65 of my series sharing the stories behind board game art. This week, I wanted to bring to your attention a small company called Timbrook Toys, which is creating handmade games in Huntsville, Alabama. This project made me feel nostalgic for a bygone era, and I want to see more games like this in the modern era. I hope you enjoy this interview and a small insight into their work.
For more great insights into board game art, be sure to check out the interview archive.
Hi Dustin/Molly, thanks for joining me! For our readers who aren't aware of your work could you tell us a bit about yourself and what you do?
Dustin - Thanks for featuring us on your blog, Ross! I’m an artist who has lived in Huntsville, Alabama for a little over a decade now. I’ve worked professionally in a lot of creative fields during that time, including a lot of social media marketing and video production. A big part of what drew me to live in Huntsville is our local arts venue, Lowe Mill ARTS & Entertainment, which is actually the largest privately-owned studio art facility in the US. Being a part of this diverse creative community has been a highlight of my life. Outside of making art, my favorite pastime is probably watching British murder mysteries with Molly and our dogs.
Hedge Lord - top down view of game components
Molly - I've known since I was little that I wanted to write for a living. I'm a technical writer at one of Huntsville's many tech companies; my background in technical writing really informed how we wrote the instructions for Hedge Lord. As an aside, while Huntsville does have a burgeoning arts scene, Huntsville is more commonly known as "the Rocket City" or, sometimes, "the Silicon Valley of the South;" many technologies that got humans into space were developed by NASA in Huntsville and the city has attracted technology companies ever since. In my spare time, in addition to watching too many British procedurals with Dustin, I read, bake, and train our deaf dog, Ernest, who we adopted a few months ago.
Hedge Lord - Concept Sketches
Have you always been into games and puzzles?
Dustin - I’ve honestly never been much of a gamer, so it’s surprising to have a game be one of the most popular projects I’ve ever worked on. Molly and I did have a brief phase of being obsessed with the idea of obscure, failed games relegated to thrift store shelves despite being good ideas. The magnet-based game Touche' is one that we found during that time that fits the model. That idea of losing a game to history certainly had some influence on Hedge Lord, which we designed to have the feel of something uncovered from a past era.
Hedge Lord - Game art spread
Molly - Same. I appreciate a good board game, but I wouldn't have called myself a fan of board games until recently. I like how board games can create a kind of community, whether it's only for the duration of the game play or as a regular occurrence over the course of weeks or months as you play a game regularly with friends or family.
Hedge Lord - First game prototype
You've created your own game called Hedge Lord! What is it, and where did the seed of the idea come from?
Molly - Dustin and I were on vacation in Asheville, North Carolina in the fall of 2017. On the drive from Alabama to North Carolina, Dustin talked incessantly about gears. How to make them, how to make things with them, and all the endless possibilities afforded by gears. Eventually, this postulation turned into a line of inquiry along the lines of "What would a gear-based board game look like?"
We visited the Biltmore Estate, while in Asheville, a manor built in the late 1800s and the largest privately owned home in the United States. While touring the Biltmore grounds, we noted how inappropriate it was that for all of its grandeur, the Biltmore did not have a hedge maze. A hedge maze just seems like the kind of finishing touch you need for a palatial manor house. (Dustin is also obsessed with hedge mazes, even more obsessed than he is with gears.)
So, these two ideas collided. We started talking about what a gear-based, hedge maze board game might look like. We created a back story, rules, and characters on the drive back home, and while stopped at a bookstore in Knoxville, Tennessee, I came up with a name for our imaginary game -- Hedge Lord.
We got back into the grind of life when we got back home and I honestly didn't think much about Hedge Lord until I came home to find Dustin fiddling with a paper prototype of the game. From then on, our lives became consumed by developing, testing, and then marketing, selling, and producing Hedge Lord. The gear-based aspect eventually fell by the wayside, but I don't think Hedge Lord is any worse off for it.
Dustin - Like Molly said, I'm just obsessed with hedge mazes. The Jim Henson movie Labyrinth was a huge influence on me as a kid. So was the British stop-motion TV series The Wind in the Willows, which had a great episode where the characters race to solve the hedge maze at Toad Hall. Despite being fascinated by their appearances in TV and movies, I've never actually been in a real hedge maze. If we ever get rich off of this game you can bet we will be establishing one on the grounds of Timbrook Gardens.
Hedge Lord - Early game prototype tests
It sounds like you got well and truly bitten by the design bug. After that first prototype roughly how long were you playtesting the game and what did you learn?
Molly - I think we spent at least three or four months learning how to play the game with a prototype that Dustin made out of copy paper. The circle "hedge pieces" were attached with little brads and the playing pieces were different color beads that had angry faces, for the beasts, and happy faces, for the lords. We made our friends play constantly. The rules didn't change much from what we had in mind in the early days, we talked about it incessantly on vacation, but we did test different ideas, like if the beast should continue playing after the lord has been devoured and when and how the hedge pieces should be turned.
Our friends were really patient to keep playing through every iteration of the rules. Folks really seemed to enjoy the "entrapment" features intrinsic in moving the hedge and some people were frustrated to discover that "camping" their beast near an exit or guarding their lord with their beast were not full-proof paths to victory.
Hedge Lord - game illustrations
Every copy of Hedge Lord is handmade. Could you give us an overview of what goes into creating each one?
Dustin - We wanted these early copies of Hedge Lord to genuinely resemble something manufactured in the early 1900's, so using traditional methods like screen printing and woodworking was a must. Each copy of the game requires a painstaking process that involves 13 stages of screen printing and a lot of time at the drill press. Hopefully soon we will do the milling stage of production with a CNC router, but so far we've made over 100 games the old fashioned way.
Timbrook Toys - Handmade flyer
Hedge Lord - Game flags
We still aren't totally sure how long it takes to make each game because we do things in batches and stages rather than making one game at a time. It's safe to say each game takes 2-3 hours total though. I recently quit my day job to make games and toys full time, so I'm the main person in the shop. Molly still has a day job so she focuses on the matter of running our business and lends a hand in the shop a few hours a week.
Molly - It seems like it might take about thirty hours to produce twelve games, so Dustin's math checks out.
Hedge Lord - printed rules
What is the appeal of creating handmade products and why do you think it's important that people continue to make things this way?
Dustin - The appeal of handmade products is that each item has special details which reveal the hand that made it. I particularly like screen printing projects on wood because every copy that is produced ends up being unique. No two pieces of wood are going to have the same grain pattern, and working with irregular surfaces results in the kind of printing imperfections that distinguishes handmade art from mass-production.
Dustin - With a stack of Hedge Lord game copies
Most copies of our game have some registration errors and places where the wood surface is scarred. As long as the "flaws" in a print don't interfere with anyone's ability to play the game, we consider it a perfect copy. Your copy of Hedge Lord won't be identical to your neighbor's, and that's a good thing!
Hedge Lord - Game Parts
With such a DIY project how have you tried to spread the word about Hedgelord?
Molly - We have been very fortunate that our promotion has been largely organic. Folks seem to like Hedge Lord as much as we do and word spread quickly after we first offered Hedge Lord for sale on Dustin's personal Facebook page. We were approached by Alabama Public Television and the Alabama Media Group as a result of word of mouth promotion and both pieces from both organizations brought Hedge Lord even more attention.
Hedge Lord - Tournament
We've attended events as exhibitors and we've hosted a tournament at a local brewery. Those promotion avenues weren't successful, in terms of sales, but they've been extremely fulfilling in terms of meeting our audience, getting feedback, and sharing some wild games of Hedge Lord.
Dustin - The great thing about board games is that they are shared experiences. Word of mouth marketing is built directly into the product by the very nature of requiring multiple people to play. Since Hedge Lord is fun and people who play it end up wanting their own copy, the game really kind of sells itself.
Hedge Lord - Grid of game lids
What were the goals you set yourselves with this project and how have they changed?
Molly - Hedge Lord is the first of what we hope are many, many board games and toys, but making Hedge Lord takes up most of our time. Our current goal is to find ways to better automate the production of Hedge Lord (right now manufacturing is 95% powered by Dustin) so that we can pursue other ideas, too.
Dustin - In the big picture view we want to develop a whole creative universe around the characters and story of Hedge Lord that takes place outside of the confines of the maze. The business that we hope to build will allow us to focus on design and storytelling through other games, toys, comics, and film. It will be a dream come true to some day hire other artists to help bring our imagined world to life. For the near future though we are buckling down and focusing on making these early edition collectible games.
What are some non-game related creations (books, music, movies, etc) that you’re currently enjoying?
Molly - We watch a lot of murder mystery shows... probably too many. We're enjoying Endeavor (UK) and The Brokenwood Mysteries (NZ) right now. This week, I binge-listened to the podcasts Who the Hell is Hamish and Bear Brook and Dustin has binge-watched Call the Midwife while making games out in the shop.
Spinning top DIY prototypes
Do you have any current projects underway, or coming up that you’d like (or are able) to tell us about?
Dustin - We’ve got more fun hand made products designed and ready to sell once we are further caught up with Hedge Lord production. Simple spinning tops, some colorful magnetic sticks for building with, and a really fun wooden watercolor palette.
Those items are fully developed, but we’ve got other games and toys in the works that still need months of design and testing before they are market-ready. These new products are spin-offs of the aesthetic and story we have established so far with Hedge Lord.
Hedge Lord - Game in play
Finally, if we’d like to see more of you and your work, where can we find you?
Molly - You can visit our website https://timbrook.toys and follow our Facebook and Instagram pages. We post a lot of process and progress videos on Instagram.
All images provided by and copyright of Timbrook toys.
If you’re new to the site, why not stick around a while? There are interviews with some of the best artists in the industry and if you’d like to read more you can them by heading over to the Interview Archive!
Techlandia Board Game - Silicon Valley meets Lovecraft - Interview with Dan Ackerman (Issue #64)
“The key for me was not to just have a guy in a suit with a Cthulhu head, but to have the guy in a suit with a Cthulhu head be just another cog in the corporate wheel…”
Welcome to issue 64 in my series sharing the stories behind board game art. With all of the tech scandals of the last few years, the idea that a secret evil is lurking behind the scenes, pulling the strings, seems less like fiction every day. Techlandia is a board game that takes the premise of Silicon Valley corporations and spreads supernatural horror on top like a thick Lovecraftian marmite. Enjoy this glimpse into its dark reality.
For more great insights into board game art, be sure to check out the interview archive.
Today I'm joined on the site by Dan Ackerman. Thanks for stopping by! For our readers who aren't aware of your work could you tell us a bit about yourself and what you do?
I'm probably best known as a tech journalist, and I've been with CNET, the technology news and reviews publication, for about 14 years, covering everything from social media and hacking to laptops and games. I'm also a pretty regular TV news talking head, mostly on CBS This Morning, and even found time to write a book. Naturally, it was game-related. The Tetris Effect is the nonfiction real-life story of the classic game Tetris, which was created in the Soviet Union during the Cold War and eventually escaped to the West. Fun fact -- not only am I a New Yorker, I'm a native one at that -- born and raised here.
Dan Ackerman - photo by Sarah Tew
You've got a brand new tabletop game on Kickstarter called Techlandia. Now before we get into the game itself, after years as a journalist covering tech and videogames, why make your own board game?
Over the past several years, I've seen a lot of innovation and interesting storytelling coming out of the tabletop community. It reminds me a lot of the late '90s and early 2000s in the indie video game scene. So, when I had an idea for a story I wanted to tell in an experiential, interactive way, my first thought was: "This should be a video game." About five minutes later, I thought, "Wait, this should be a board game!" Precisely because it was about technology and technophobia and high-tech gear, I loved the idea of presenting it in a very analog way, with cards and map tiles. It made for a very interesting juxtaposition, high tech and low tech at the same time.
Alright, elevator pitch time, what is Techlandia and what's interesting about it?
Techlandia combines some of my favorite things about board games with some of my wish-list must haves. It tells a dramatic narrative story with some Douglas Adams satire vibe, it has cool characters on a hex-based map, some exploration, some combat, and the two big things that were key for me -- it fully supports solo play (or up to 4 players), and it'll fit on a normal, human-sized table. As an apartment-dwelling New Yorker, I'll tell you that's a big plus.
It's a modern-day dungeon crawl, where as heroic (but unknown) tech bloggers, you have to sneak into the massive headquarters of Techlandia, the world's biggest tech company. Their CEO is announcing a brand new smartphone on stage in a few hours, and you suspect he's going to use the power of millions of connected new phones to open a portal to another dimension and summon various Eldritch horrors. I pitch it as "Silicon Valley meets Lovecraft."
Techlandia - Light Side
Just to put on your journalistic hat for a second, tabletop gaming has seen amazing growth over the last decade or so. Why do you think board games and RPGs have seen such a rise in popularity and do you think this will continue?
Part of the rise, or re-rise of tabletop gaming has to do with people being burned out on digital. From non-stop news to the negative effects of social media, to harmful "blue light" from laptops and phones, it's become trendy to take time away from screens, and recapture some real-world interactions. The ongoing popularity of vinyl records confirms this, and physical book sales are outpacing digital books again. For games, do many video games are big-budget cookie-cutter affairs that lack any real imagination or originality. They're like blockbuster movies -- all focus group and no inspiration. Tabletop is in a unique position right now where it's big enough to be sustainable and have a decent economic footprint, but still small enough for auteurs and indies to compete .
First time designers often find projects change more than anticipated during their development. Thinking back to your first concepts for the game, how has it changed since then?
If anything, my concept became larger and more in-depth as I went along. The entire thing started as an idle thought after a particularly grueling tech industry press conference. "This should be a video game!" And I brainstormed briefly on the idea of an 8-bit-style narrative adventure. Then, like lightening it hit me: "This should be a board game!" I had been playing a lot of Mansions of Madness and similar games, and a dungeon crawl to escape a terrible tech company was such an amazing idea, I got to work sketching it out on hex paper immediately. It really started to come together when I flipped the narrative -- instead of escaping the tech company, you were trying to break in.
Techlandia - Night Concept Art
Techlandia - Dark Side
I've got to say, it's a great narrative concept. So how did you look to marry that theme to the art?
Techlandia is a satire, in the mode of Douglas Adams or Brazil. But satire works best for me when everyone involved plays it totally straight. The art for the game box, the hex tiles, the various cards and the characters all play it close to the vest. Dark, foreboding, creepy. But when you combine that with the text and the scenario, the humor comes out. The key for me was not to just have a guy in a suit with a Cthulhu head, but to have the guy in a suit with a Cthulhu head be just another cog in the corporate wheel. The ridiculousness and the horror work hand-in-hand, and frankly, except for the actual evil magic stuff, it's not that divorced from the real tech industry.
Techlandia - Concept Art
Where did you find your artist(s) for Techlandia and were there any challenges in communicating your vision for how the game should look?
I've worked on print magazines and websites for many, many years, often very closely with designers, so I brought a pretty solid mainstream media understanding of design to this project. That comes along with respectable skills in Photoshop, Illustrator, InDesign and the like (I mean, back in my print days, it was all Quark...). For Techlandia, I used three main artists, although I had preliminary discussions with many more, though the Board Game Geek forums, Fiverr and ArtStation. One artists did background and environmental art, another did all the characters, and a third did a single concept piece I had in my head and really wanted to include.
Techlandia - Pinboard of early game board sketches, which eventually transitioned into a hex tile map.
How long did you spend playtesting the game and at what stage of the project's development did you begin?
For me, development, playtesting and even art and design are all part of an organic whole, and you can't separate them. So, I was designing, testing, and sketching concept art from day one. For a narrative game like this, so much of the story is told visually, so if that doesn't work, the entire idea falls flat. One of the very first elements I designed was the player dashboard, which looks like a life-size iPhone. It's something I put together in one afternoon in Illustrator, and it's remained almost exactly the same ever since. Other elements change constantly, including all-new character design reasonably late in the game, when I wanted to shift gears a bit.
Techlandia - Early Prototype
Playtesting is often where board games graphic design elements are pulled into focus and refined. Did you find this was the case with Techlandia and what did playtesting make you more mindful of?
I'm not much of an artist, in that I provided original very rough sketches for a lot of the art, but they were really just pencil roughs. However, my long media career has given me many opportunities to work on page layout, UI and information design, so I'm a bit of a nut for that stuff. After the illustrations were ready, I laid out everything from the box to the rule book to the cards to the online ads. My design philosophy is all about clarity, purpose and narrative. Is the meaning of each design element clear? Does it serve a purpose? Does it advance the story?
Techlandia - Full game layout
Through playtesting, that led me to eliminate gameplay and design elements that did not advance those goals. By doing so, the writing became tighter and more focused, fiddly busywork elements were eliminated, and the visual design hewed towards minimalism wherever possible.
What are some non-game related creations (books, music, movies, etc) that you’re currently enjoying?
I'm a big reader, as many writers are. Some recent reads I'd highly recommend include Lovecraft Country by Matt Ruff and Fall by Neal Stephenson. I'm really into authors like Walter Mosley, Richard Price, and Elmore Leonard. But I also love hitting up used book stores for classic mid-century sci-fi and always look for stuff by Frederik Pohl, J.G. Ballard, etc.
The Tetris Effect - Dan Ackerman
Do you have any recent projects, or upcoming that you’d like (or are able) to tell us about?
Before Techlandia, my big project was The Tetris Effect, a non-fiction book from Hachette/Public Affairs. It's a real-life high-tech thriller about how the video game Tetris was created by a Soviet computer scientists in the 1980s, then essentially stolen by western software companies, leading to a huge international battle for the rights to the game. You can find it on Amazon or anywhere books are sold, and it even got reviewed by the New York Times.
Finally, if we’d like to see more of you and your work, where can we find you?
I am very easy to find. ;) You'll see my work on CNET just about any day of the week, where I've been reviewing gadgets and giving tech advice for the past 14 years. I'm on Twitter as @Dan Ackerman Instagram as @danack and I keep track of all my various projects at danackerman.com. Oh, and I do a semi-regular podcast where I interview authors, called CNET Book Club , and that's here:
And before I forget, the Kickstarter page for Techlandia is right here!
All images supplied by Dan Ackerman
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Untamed - Feral Factions: Art in Board Games #60
I think that the downfall of a lot of high fantasy themed media is that you either love it or you're indifferent to it at best. However, everybody knows what a Tiger, a Panda or Rabbit is and a lot of people have some sort of connection with animals. I think this automatically lowers the barrier of entry and allows people to actually look further than the theme…
Welcome to Issue 60 in my series sharing the stories behind board game art. I’m a big fan of board games with anthropomorphic art. When I saw Untamed: Feral Factions on social media, I was reminded of my favorite cartoons growing up. I had to know more. I hope you enjoy this conversation.
For more great insights into board game art, be sure to check out the interview archive.
Hello there Jeremy Falger, thanks for joining me! For our readers who aren't aware of your work could you tell us a bit about yourself and what you do?
Hi Ross, thanks for having me! I'm a game designer living Utrecht, one of the bigger cities in the Netherlands. If you ever have to chance to visit, Utrecht is great place for board game lovers, as we have 4 board game shops within 50m of each other! I also work in one of the aforementioned shops part time. After my bachelor degree in History I realised that what I really wanted to do was make games. I had been designing games since I was about 14 years old, and though I had put it on the backburner during my studies it came back in full force a few years ago. That led me to pursue a master's degree in Game Design at the University of Amsterdam and this is also where I met some of the guys with whom I eventually started our company: Grumpy Owl Games. Within Grumpy Owl Games I'm (obviously) involved with the game design side of things, alongside our other designer: Milan Lefferts. Additionally I'm responsible for the art direction and visual design side of things.
As my master degree also focused on applied (or 'serious') game design, before I became a Grumpy Owl, I worked on games focused on children's healthcare and wellbeing, at the University of Turku, in Finland. And while we've always been working on our title, Untamed: Feral Factions, for the general, tabletop entertainment market, Grumpy Owl Games also continues to develop games as training tools for the healthcare and educational market. Aside and not ever sleeping because I'm always thinking about games, I enjoy riding my road bike (sorta) fast, spinning obscure funky house tracks as a DJ and checking out traditional tattoo flash.
Can you describe your Kickstarter game to us and what makes it interesting?
So Untamed: Feral Factions is a card battle game, think Magic: The Gathering or Hearthstone. There's lots of games out there in that genre and I love the genre. However a lot of them require a significant buy-in, in the shape of time, or money, or both. I just wanted a game that's quick to setup and dive into, but still offers a level of agency as you choose your deck and your play style. Additionally I wanted a fairly balanced experience. In my opinion the shuffle-building mechanic is a perfect fit to accomplish this.
I don't claim to have reinvented to wheel together with my co-designer Milan Lefferts, but I think we took familiar elements and combined them in a package just feels really nice to play. There's a bunch of small mechanics that improve quality of life (or play?) I think. In addition to these smaller elements I also feel the 'bigger' Support mechanic adds a nice new twist to the genre by introducing a second, finite resource. It adds depth to the design without adding a bunch of extra 'stuff'. You're essentially using components you already have anyway and turn that into a second resource which you'll have to manage to get the most out of your cards and abilities. Furthermore I think the theme, artwork and graphic design is different from a lot of other games in the genre.
How long have you been working on this game? What made you launch the campaign now?
Work on the game started in early 2017. We hadn't set many limitations on ourselves except that we wanted to make a card battle game that was quick to set up and didn't have the traditional style of (fun yet time-consuming) deckbuilding. Still, this left us with a wide range of options.Thus we started experimenting with a wide range of mechanics and frameworks, most of which didn't work out in the end.
After realising we needed to set clear limitations and design goals, the design process actually progressed fairly quickly. We received loads of great feedback at Spiel 2018 and other playtest events and we kept tweaking and streamlining the design until we felt we couldn't streamline it any further. That's was when we felt confident enough to start prepping the Kickstarter.
What were some of the main design changes that took place?
We had a totally different resource system for the longest time which the whole turn structure and deck construction was built around. It was pretty novel with two sided resource cards but in the end it proved to be too limiting so we scrapped it and opted for a different combat system. I think we were actually pretty good in killing our darlings. I wrote down all mechanics we ever came up with, for future reference, but I was never really married to one particular idea, though I do love multi-use cards, so I tried to put that in anywhere possible. That's also what I enjoyed in designing together with Milan, I have a tendency to make big sweeping changes and Milan is way more conservative, so that balanced each other out nicely.
The art in Untamed: Feral Factions is anthropomorphic in style, why this theme and at what point in the process did this develop?
While we didn't really have any limits to the mechanics, we did commit to the art style and the theme early on. We felt that for a game in this genre, but without traditional deckbuilding, a different look would help distinguish itself and help communicate that this was intended to be a bit more of a casual affair yet still pique the interest of veterans of the genre. A fair amount of thought went into the theming as we wanted it to be recognisable and something that people could identify with.
I think that the downfall of a lot of high fantasy themed media is that you either love it or you're indifferent to it at best. However, everybody knows what a Tiger, a Panda or Rabbit is and a lot of people have some sort of connection with animals. I think this automatically lowers the barrier of entry and allows people to actually look further than the theme. Additionally I'm just naturally drawn to bright and vibrant artwork, so it was a natural choice to pursue this for the art style for the game.
You worked with a variety of artists on this game so how challenging was it to keep the style consistent throughout?
It was a challenge at some points, but I do think that careful selection before hand helped a lot. I spent a lot of time looking at portfolio's as well as creating a mood board up front. This made it easier to refer to what I had in mind. Also a lot of artists I worked with had the same 'artist idols' (e.g. Jesper Ejsing, Paul Mafayon) as I had, so that made everything a lot easier as well. And as soon as you have an established body of work for the game, it's easy to just refer to that for new artists coming aboard with regards to color palette and styling etc. Though I also think that it helped that we had different factions in the game, so it's okay if there's a little difference between the factions themselves, it just helps set each faction apart.
Where did the concepts for the card art come from and how much of that came from you and Milan, and how much came from collaboration?
All in all, it was a pretty organic process. Practically speaking I probably wrote the majority of the briefs but Milan and myself bounced ideas off each other, sometimes based on the name of the card or the mechanics we were doing for that faction. Other times we'd try to figure out what aesthetic would logically fit with this particular animal by looking at how a certain animal is perceived in popular culture.
Foxes for example are often seen as sneaky and sly in many (western) children's tales, therefore it just made a lot of sense to portray them as thieves and spies in Untamed, as that naturally connects with many people's expectations. After the concept for the card, the first piece I'd commission to an artist usually had a pretty detailed brief. However if we'd already done some pieces then sometimes we'd also have a bit more of a back and forth which was really fun as well.
It's safe to say clear graphic design is a must to keep any card battle game flowing. Were there any games you took inspiration from and how did the graphic design evolve during your playtesting?
For sure, during testing at Essen for example we saw people putting their Power and Support cards in all sorts of different places. We wanted to streamline that and facilitate an easy to read play area, so we added 2 little icons within an arrow shape on the Stronghold cards to help organise the player's playing area by having the Power cards always on the left, and the Support always on the right. These icons double as reminders to help players understand the iconography in the text box (mainly the paw symbol we chose to symbolise support). We also added the hexagonal icon to the back of each card to help players realise that each card can be played face down as a Power resource.
For the card frame we took a look at all the other card battle games out there. We saw a small trend towards the card frames and graphic design becoming cleaner and more simple (a trend found in every other industry as well). While the first drafts of the card frame for example had a very '3D stone skeuomorphism' vibe to them, in the end we settled for the much cleaner, more modern look we have now. It's not only easier to read, it gave us more space for text as well as providing the art with as much real estate as possible.
What made you choose Kickstarter and how did you prepare for your campaign?
As a small company and for our first game Kickstarter just made the most sense. We feel like it's a good way to gauge interest in the product and to get a community going as well as help with production costs. We analysed countless kickstarter pages of similar (and completely different) games and made an overview of what we should absolutely include and do (and not do). Additionally we also read loads of articles and blogs on how to run a successful kickstarter campaign, for example Jamey Stegmaier's blog proved to be super helpful (thanks Jamey!).
What are some non-game related creations (books, music, movies, etc) that you’re currently enjoying?
I've recently finished reading Brandon Sanderson's Mistborn trilogy, which I really loved. Looking to get started with his Stormlight Archive series during my holiday. I'm also halfway through Steven Erikson's Malazan Book of Fallen series, though I suspect it will take me a few more years to finish it due to the sheer volume, not only of the books, but also due to the huge amount of characters introduced and which I keep forgetting about.
I mostly read fantasy nowadays, though I also try to read some literature every now and then, most recently I finished Vonnegut's Breakfast of Champions, which was interesting. Music wise I listen to a lot electronic music, mostly funky house and melodic techno (Jesper Ryom for example) but I have pretty varied taste, so I also love me some American Sharks (really sweet punk rock) or Foals (indie). I haven't seen that many movies recently, though I'm looking forward to Jim Jarmusch's zombie movie The Dead Don't Die, I'm also really excited to binge watch Stranger Things season 3!
Finally, if we want to find the game and more of your work online, how can we find you?
There's a BGG page for the game here. The Kickstarter can be found here. You can also play on Tabletopia here or on Tabletop Simulator here.
I'm on Twitter (@CardbConspiracy)sometimes and I scroll through a lot of Instagram , though I don't necessarily post a lot (I just always forget to take pictures of stuff), the Grumpy Owl Games Instagram feed is a lot livelier though. If I ever have time in the future I want to start posting some more stuff on UX design in board game design, but that's still up in the air.
(All images copyright of Grumpy Owl Games)
If you’re new to the site, why not stick around a while? There are interviews with some of the best artists in the industry and if you’d like to read more you can them by heading over to the Interview Archive!
Wingspan Board Game Art - How the Hit Board Game was Made - Interview with Elizabeth Hargrave, Jamey Stegmaier, and Natalia Rojas (Issue #52)
Birds are the perfect subject to learn how to draw and to practice. There are so many species, different looking, so many colors, textures, etc and that’s why I enjoy it. Every bird illustration offers new challenges and more learning opportunities…
Welcome to Issue 52 in my series sharing the stories behind board game art.
The Wingspan board game is a global hit, selling millions of copies and being talked about everywhere from The New York Times to your local game store. In this interview, I speak to publisher Jamey Stegmaier, artist Natalia Rojas, and game designer Elizabeth Hargrave about creating the game. Enjoy!
Check out the interview archive for more great insights into board game art.
Thanks for joining me! For our readers who aren't aware of your work could you tell us a bit about yourself and what you do?
Jamey: I’m Jamey Stegmaier, and for the last 6 years, I’ve run a board game publishing company called Stonemaier Games. I run this company full time from my home office in St. Louis, Missouri, which is a fairly large midwestern city. In addition to designing games, playing games, and doing a lot of business-related stuff, I love to cook and try new food (and old favorites) at local restaurants, watch movies, read fiction, and play/watch soccer. I have 2 cats that demand quite a bit of time and attention as well.
Natalia: Thank you for having me. I am a 33-year old artist from Medellin, Colombia, currently living St. Louis, MO. I’ve been married for 13 years and we have two daughters (ages 7 and 4) and a cute puppy named Pinto. I’m a dedicated mother and work around their schedules as I don’t want to miss out in their childhood.
I have a curious mind and like to learn about everything, so I read a lot and jump from one hobby to another. I do jewelry, watercolor painting, yoga, gym, and of course color pencil drawing. My family and my art are the most important things in my life. I do commission art work and Wingspan is my first big gig as a freelancer illustrator.
Elizabeth: I'm Elizabeth Hargrave, and I live in the Maryland suburbs of Washington DC. I moved here to work for the federal government, but now I'm a freelance consultant, which gives me some flexibility to do game design work and also to travel. In addition to birding I'm an all around nature geek: I'm on the board of the local mushroom club and I help my spouse with his landscape design work.
Photograph of Wingspan board game - Instagram @MoreGamesPlease
Natalia, as a self-taught illustrator, when did you start drawing?
N: Drawing has always been something so natural to me that I never saw it as something special. I’ve always done it, but the first time someone mentioned how good I was at it was my kindergarten teacher. Drawing was something I did just to pass the time or to take my mind away from places. I’m an avid reader and I used to get in trouble during my scholar years for drawing and/or reading instead of doing classwork. I wasn’t very academic and used to get in trouble because my mind was always busy with drawing stuff or reading books (I love Stephen King, Ken Follett, and other authors who write historic novels).
Natalia’s art studio
I never really set my mind to learn how to draw, I would just try to copy an image I liked such as book covers or Dragon ball notebooks, people from magazines, or anything I could find. After graduating from high school I didn’t consider art as a career, I guess because my passion for books was bigger than my passion for art. So, I wanted to study philology but was discouraged by my parents because, like with art, it’s hard to make a living out of books. I tried three different careers including business administration and journalism and dropped them all. I’ve also had normal jobs, too; I’ve done customer support, finance, procurement, etc. However, some years ago I finally came to the realization that I’m a natural artist and that’s what brings me joy. It took me many years and several jobs to take art seriously but when I did, I found my calling. It’s a funny to think how art was always there and I kept ignoring it.
Natalia’s art studio
After my epiphany I decided to try to get better at drawing and I just knew I needed to take my time and work slow to get the level of detail I like. I started to follow some great artists like Jay Depalma and Ileana Hunter on social media. Sometimes they’d share tools and materials that I would get and use on my next little project. After moving to United States in 2012 I started going to an amazing art studio for painting nights and got more involved in the artistic community.
Even though I say I’m self-taught I’m thankful to have received great advice from other artists like Ana Martinez with whom I partnered to create the illustrations for Wingspan, and my husband who is always a tough critic, in a good way. He helps me see where I need to improve. I like to do research, and I use every available tool like books and videos but what has really worked for me is the practice and the patience to take my time in every piece.
I don’t really know how to explain it other than there’s a great connection between what I see and my ability to transfer it on paper.
Bird illustration by Natalia Rojas
Wingspan’s theme feels unique. What inspired you to make a game about bird enthusiasts? What came first, theme or mechanics?
E: It was definitely theme first, and in direct reaction to the fact that I'm not particularly excited about any of the themes that show up most frequently on board games.
J: When she (Elizabeth) pitched it to me, I was entranced by the idea of collecting different combinations of beautiful birds that each had different mechanical impacts on my strategy. So the theme itself was never a question—it was birds from start to finish. As much as I loved the theme and thought it would capture peoples’ attention after they played it, I wasn’t sure how quickly it would catch on. So I went with a fairly conservative number of games for our first print run (10,000 is conservative for us), which has turned out to be far too low.
Photo of Wingspan board game
Can you describe Wingspan to us and what makes it interesting?
J: Wingspan is a bird-collection, card-driven, engine-building game for 1-5 players. It features 170 unique bird cards, each with its own art and unique abilities. You’ll use these bird cards to enhance the core abilities of your habitats while also continually comboing the abilities of cards you’ve played in each of those habitats.
What makes Wingspan interesting to me is the wide variety of birds, which leads to every game feeling different. I like that there are a number of paths to victory, but even if I don’t win, I have a strong sense of satisfaction from my birds and what they’ve done over the course of the game.
How did you try to evoke the theme of birds more in the production?
J: This is where the artwork and components came into play. I wanted an Audubon look to the game, as I thought that would best trigger that “collectors” aspect that originally drew me to the theme. Fortunately, Natalia’s style and attention to detail was a perfect match for this style.
N: From the very beginning I knew they were looking for realism art and Jamey mentioned Audubon so I started to research him, and I offered Jamey a colored pencil drawing of a bird so they could decide if I was a good fit for the project (I was competing with other artists I think).
J: As for the components, I like to publish products that have a special, tactile, and attractive table presence. I want component hooks, basically. Elizabeth thought of the birdfeeder dice tower, and I pursued the egg miniatures, the fancy insert, chunky wooden dice, and large, journal-like player mats.
Image of Wingspan board game - image cred Kim Euker (supplied by Jamey Stegmaier)
Natalia, what inspires you when illustrating birds, and what do you look for in each drawing?
N: Accuracy is key when doing scientific illustration. I do my research of the bird and the differences according to genre, season, location, age, etc. Ana and I always look for the image that best represents the bird’s characteristics. However, we also wanted to include images that would present a challenge so we can continue to learn and grow artistically.
Elizabeth was a great coach and helped us learn about birds for this project. To be able to accurately illustrate birds we got in touch with wonderful wildlife photographers and we got permissions to draw from their pictures. Nevertheless, when we couldn’t find the perfect image we had to use several pictures and a lot of imagination to guarantee an unique illustration that would represent the bird as if it was alive.
Birds are the perfect subject to learn how to draw and to practice. There are so many species, different looking, so many colors, textures, etc and that’s why I enjoy it. Every bird illustration offers new challenges and more learning opportunities.
Illustrations by Natalia Rojas and Ana Maria Martinez Jaramillo, featured in the board game – Wingspan are available to purchase via Natalia’s shop
Playtesting is the real litmus test for how close a game is to being ready. How long did Wingspan spend in this phase, and how did it change during its development?
E: I worked on the game for a couple of years before pitching it to Jamey, and then I went back and forth with him on development for another year or so before sending it out for blind playtests. It got heavier over that time, but kept the streamlined feel of those simple base actions at its core.
I tweaked the layout of my prototype cards a lot over that whole process, to make them as clear and user friendly as possible, based on what people had trouble with in playtests. That definitely helped from a UI perspective -- and Christine (the graphic designer) left a lot of things in the same positions they were in on my prototype after all those iterations. But then she made everything prettier and gave it a more cohesive feel.
Image of Wingspan board game - courtesy of Instagram @ellalovesboardgames
J: I’ll speak specifically to the blind playtesting part of the process, as local playtesting (mostly by Elizabeth, some by me) is very different than having a bunch of people around the world playing the game all at once. The blind playtest process for Wingspan actually only took about 3 months (1 month per wave), as the game was in good shape by that point. It was really all about fine-tuning it, testing different paths to victory, and making sure the rules and the text on the birds and bonus cards was as clear as possible.
Natalia was working on the bird illustrations throughout the design and playtest process—we knew which birds were going to be in the game, so playtesting had no impact on the art (and vice versa). Even the player mat, which Beth Sobel illustrated, was firmly established before blind playtesting began, though we tweaked some of the graphic design elements of it as the result of blind playtesting.
N: I learned that creating a board game is a creative and complex process that requires great attention to detail and coordination in many different areas. When I started working on the illustrations I knew this project was a big jump in my career and I gave my best to make sure the art in Wingspan was a good representation of my work.
In all honesty, I knew very little about board games from my childhood but it was a big surprise to learn how big the gamer community is. I just learned how to play wingspan a few days ago and it makes me very happy that not only I did part of the art but that is the first board game I ever played. It makes it extra special.
Working with Stonemaier has taught me great lessons about managing my time in a more efficient manner and to keep clear communication with my clients to set timelines and expectations.
Wingspan illustrations - Natalia Rojas
Do you have any other projects underway, or coming up that you’d like (or are able) to tell us about?
J: Natalia is currently working on the art for a Wingspan expansion (for which we have not announced details), and spring/summer Stonemaier Games releases include an expansion for Euphoria and a modular board for Scythe.
N: I’m currently working on the first expansion for Wingspan and already have a waiting list for a few portraits. People, dogs and more birds are on my list. I’m super excited because I’m having great exposure thanks to Wingspan and I’m making a living out of art which is not easy.
E: I'm working on a Wingspan expansion. I have an 18-card game called Tussie-Mussie that will come out around May from Button Shy, which is based on the Victorian fad of flower language. I have high hopes that it will also be beautiful, just in a much smaller package!
What are you currently reading, listening to or looking at to fuel your work?
J: I find thematic inspiration in the variety of forms of fiction I consume; right now I’m reading the Broken Earth trilogy. I find mechanical inspiration in the games I’m playing (recent plays include Dice Throne, Aeon’s End Legacy, and AuZtralia). And I find business inspiration in certain podcasts and YouTube videos, like a recent Daniel Pink talk I listened to and the Masters of Scale podcast.
E: I try to keep taking in a lot of information about the world, and I use that to keep a running list of things that might make good board games. I love the podcasts Radiolab, Curiosity Daily, and Outside/In. When I worked on Capitol Hill, a speechwriter once told me the Washington Post obituary page was a source of great stories, and it's true -- there are many fascinating things that have happened in the world, and a lot of them end up there.
N: I’m studying a book about birds but can’t say the title without spoiling the expansion. I’m following a lot of artists and photographers in Instagram because I’m constantly looking for images to use as references for the drawings, but the main source of inspiration these days is my bird feeders and daily walks around the neighborhood. Wingspan not only gave me an opportunity to grow as an artist, but it gave me the love for birds and nature. Before starting working on this project I didn’t know anything about birds and never cared but now I’m full into bird watching and the whole family loves it to the point that my daughters dressed up as a Quail and a Blue Jay for Halloween. Is great to sit by the window with a coffee to watch all the different birds that visit the backyard.
Illustrations by Natalia Rojas and Ana Maria Martinez Jaramillo, featured in the board game – Wingspan are available to purchase via Natalia’s shop
Finally, if we’d like to see more of your work, where can we find you?
J: The hub for all things Stonemaier is www.stonemaiergames.com.
N: My websites is www.nataliarojasart.com or you can find me on Facebook and Instagram.
E: I’m active on BlueSky as @elizhargrave.
Thanks to Ella Loves Boardgames for sharing some images of Wingspan with me. You can find her on Instagram over here! (All other images are courtesy of Natalia, Jamey, and if no note given, myself)
If this is your first time visiting the site then why not stick around a while! I’d really recommend checking out the communities Top 10 Best Art of 2018 to see some absolutely gorgeous games and then head to my interview archive for a wealth of wonderful stories.
Ryan Laukat: Art in Board Games #45
There's an inner child in me that guides almost everything I work on. The sense of wonder I had when experiencing new worlds when I was young is one of my biggest reasons for creating games and settings.
Welcome to Issue 45 in my series sharing the stories behind board game art.
There are a few artists whose work inspired me to start this website. Ryan is one of them. His work features in a number of board games in my collection, and whenever I play them, I feel immediately drawn into worlds that feel magical and inviting. Enjoy our chat!
Check out the interview archive for more great insights into board game art.
Hi Ryan, thanks for joining me! For our readers who aren't aware of your work could you tell us a bit about yourself and what you do?
Hello! I'm a board game designer and illustrator. I've been lucky enough to work in this industry for around ten years. I started as an illustrator and then founded Red Raven Games so that I could publish my own designs. Some of my games include Above and Below, Near and Far, and Eight-Minute Empire. I live with my wife, Malorie, in Salt Lake City, Utah, right up against some beautiful, snowy mountains, and within two miles of where I grew up! We have a daughter and two sons.
Red Raven Games has become synonymous in the industry for combining great art with captivating worlds and stories. When you're creating a game what is your general thought process? Where do you start?
My obsession with creating games started when I began inventing tabletop role-playing games as a teenager. I loved to create worlds to explore and creatures to inhabit them. So naturally, that influences how I approach most of my board game designs today. When creating a game, my motivation is usually to build a world and use the game mechanisms to allow players to explore it and experience it. I think about who the players will get to be in the game, and where they will go, and start there. I think it helps create a more immersive experience.
Last year you successfully kickstarted Empires of the Void 2 the follow up the 2012 original. What can you remember about that time (2012) and what made you want to return to this project?
I'd wanted to revisit the game for many years. I actually made many redesigns of the original game but never published any of them. I wanted another shot at the setting because I felt my skills as an illustrator and game designer had improved. Of course, Empires of the Void was my first published game. I'm proud of what I accomplished, but there certainly were things that I didn't do quite right. The rule book in that first game was not sufficiently clear and left too many things unexplained. The trading did not pan out as well as I had hoped. Some players left the game with a frustrated feeling because of a multiplayer direct conflict problem where two players can gang up against a third, leaving no way to catch up. I wanted to solve these and many other problems, and so I attempted it in Empires of the Void II.
In terms of the illustration, when you worked on Empires of the Void 2, how did you aim to develop the originals aesthetics into this sequel? What have you learned about graphic design and art since the original and how did that impact your choices?
My goal this time around was to create something a little more on the realistic side when compared with, say, Near and Far, and indeed, the original Empires of the Void. I wanted to make a beautiful space map like the original had, and of course many of the of the original aliens and planets, but with an updated vision that I felt would be more immersive. I looked at a lot of hard sci-fi art, especially the covers of books from the 60s and 70s. This meant painting with more subdued tones than usual and experimenting with new brushes.
You are arguably best known for your work on Above and Below and it's sequel, Near and Far. So starting with the original, how did you create this world and was there any inspiration you drew from in developing it?
When creating Above and Below, I actually sketched the cover before I even designed the game. That sketch worked as a compass for me, and I designed the rest of the look and the game mechanics around it. I was trying to pin down the feelings and memories that I had playing Super Nintendo games as a child, and that helped me build the friendly, colorful setting. At the time I was also very interested in making my games look as natural as possible, letting the art easily incorporate symbols or information, rather than have obvious graphic design boxes to keep art and information separate.
So thinking about that first sketch of the box cover, how did you get from that initial idea to the game we see today?
I took that sketch and taped it to my computer monitor, hoping to get the same sort of feeling that was in the sketch. Sometimes it's hard to replicate the feeling that is present in a thumbnail or sketch, and it can be pretty frustrating. Thankfully, this time, I threw down the colors quickly and it was like a seed sprouting into a huge, blossoming tree. The Above and Below cover took around four hours, and it didn't change too much after that. Sometimes I repaint the covers for my games multiple times (like with Near and Far), but this time, it felt right pretty much from the get-go.
I used a lot of blue and green, especially on the box, as a message to players that the game is pleasant and inviting. Just as important is the chalky brushwork and painterly style, which is meant to remind the viewer of a children's book. It says, "There's a story in this game."
I paint using a Wacom tablet, but I've learned to watch the monitor so I don't have to use the tablet's screen (it's much faster and more efficient for me if I don't have my hand in the way of the painting). My method has changed over time, but it's been pretty consistent for the past five years, besides updated brushes and the way I choose colors. I paint exclusively with Photoshop, and I'm pretty particular about having the right brushes, shortcut keys, and layout.
When you came to work on Near and Far, how did you aim to base it in the same world (as Above and Below) yet still take the player new places?
I made sure to keep the painterly style and chalky brushwork, but the yellow and orange tones are more associated with risk, exploration, and adventure. Western movies and art were a big influence on the look of the game. At the same time, people need to know that this is in the same universe, so animal races play a big part in the setting! I also decided to include some inked drawings instead of detailed renders on some components, such as the World Cards and the Treasure Cards. I feel like this matches the "wild frontier" feel I was going for.
You talked about nostalgia towards childhood games, so how important has it been when illustrating your games to create worlds that are inviting for all ages?
There's an inner child in me that guides almost everything I work on. The sense of wonder I had when experiencing new worlds when I was young is one of my biggest reasons for creating games and settings. And with my kids, it's like I get to experience that sense of wonder all over again as they dive into books and games. A common inner thought I have is: Would 10-year-old me get excited about this?
As someone who has experience working in all areas of a games production what advice do you have for designers, publishers and illustrators to help them successfully collaborate?
Good illustrators are in this business not only because of their skill with a brush and their time spent honing their craft, but also because of their imagination and ideas. A good publisher and designer will give some creative liberty to the illustrator and not be too picky about how every little thing should look. Of course, for me as an illustrator, I want tons of creative freedom and it's hard for me to get interested in a project if I don't have it. Any good collaboration is going to require some give and take on everybody's part though. One thing I'm still learning is that I need to listen to all suggestions and know how to look through another person's eyes to see the project in a different light. What I might prefer personally might not be the best thing for the game.
Upcoming release from Red Raven Games, Megaland, is the first to have your partner Malorie as co-designer with yourself. Can you tell us a bit more about how this came about and what effect that had on the creation of the game?
It was a lot of fun designing a game together, but truth be told, Malorie has always been very involved in my game design projects, so it was only a slight change in dynamic. It didn't start out as a co-design. I was trying to design a light, push-your-luck game, but nothing was really working out. Malorie helped me solve mechanical problems with new ideas. We both have strong opinions about what works and what we like, so there were moments when we had some strong disagreements about this design. But I think that kind of thing is the forge fire that gets the design where it needs to be. I'm sure we'll do another co-design in the future.
What are you currently reading, listening to or looking at to fuel your work?
I've been reading Homer's Odyssey and The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas. Reading the Odyssey has been especially eye-opening and enlightening. It has an amazingly timeless quality. I've also been playing Pillars of Eternity, an excellent successor to the Infinity Engine games I enjoyed so much as a teenager.
Finally, if we’d like to see more of you and your work, where can we find you?
You can follow me on Twitter @ryanlaukat. We also post lots of photos of our games on Instagram @redravengames.
(All images provided by and copyright of Ryan Laukat and Red Raven Games)