Thunder Rolls Launch Day is Fast Approaching! Today we have a very special guest joining us to share his own design notes out his latest game, Thunder Rolls. I have a special vested interest in this game as I’ve helped develop and I will be running the Kickstarter for it later this month! Exciting times for sure! So without further ado: So what did you do during the lockdown of…
Read MoreDesign Diary 005 – Thunder Rolls
Status Report and an Introduction Welcome back to Taran’s design diary and intermittent blog post ramblings. As always, I get to post here far less frequently than I want to and, as always, I’m hoping to change that. There is always just so much going on! That said, I do have some exciting news about a new game project! “Wait – what?” You might be inclined to ask, “Why are…
Read MoreThe Blameless
By Matt DiBiasio “It shouldn’t be this dark” Too stubborn to turn on a light, Brody inched his way across the living room, the contours of the furniture just visible enough for him to make it to the terrarium. Simon’s heat lamp had gone out, two days after he bought it. With a few sharp,frustrated shakes, thankfully, it turned back on. “Look,” Brody addressed the iguana “We can’t afford a…
Read MoreDesign Diary 004 – Helionox Art
Let’s try something new! Somewhere over the last year or two, I decided that I’m not only a game designer and graphic designer but also an illustrator… Too many hats?! Yes – but what’s a boy to do? I just want to do everything! It started something like this: “I need an artistic outlet for my creative mind. I liked drawing and painting when I was younger, maybe I’ll give…
Read MoreDesign Diary 003 – Game Mechanics in Helionox
Part 1 of ? Hello and welcome back. I’ve been meaning to get into to some of the nitty gritty on the game mechanics in Helionox: Chronicles for quite some time now so let’s dive right in. I’ve added a bunch of the different mechanics to the Chronicles BoardGameGeek page. You can see the listing here: Helionox: Chronicles on BoardGameGeek. I’ve linked the mechanics descriptions from BGG below and will…
Read MoreDesign Diary 002 – Inspiration
Inspiration from Leaders in the Board Game Industry Hard at work play testing, working on art, trying to build a brand and a game company – sometimes you have to come up for air. When I have time, I love to read other bloggers, watch videos on how to play games, and generally be involved in the board gaming community. I take so much inspiration from others who are doing…
Read MoreDesign Diary 001 – Intro to Helionox: Chronicles
A New Day – A New Game! Welcome to the first ZG Design Diary! As usual, I have big hopes for how this may work in the future but as a fledgling blogger, I’m just going to keep it short and simple so I’ll actually do it on a somewhat regular basis. Baby steps, right?! My hope for this series of design diary blog posts is that I’ll have a…
Read MoreThe Tears of Icarus- Part Seven
Helionox: Tales from the Systems End – The Tears of Icarus Part 7: A New Dawn By T M Romanelli Lysirah dreamed. They had been told about the strange imagery encountered in cryosleep, an effect of altered cortical processes during suspended animation. She found herself moving effortlessly through a deep blue ocean, awash with specks of bioluminescence that were the stars carried on a cosmic current. The horizon was endless,…
Read MoreThe Tears of Icarus- Part Six
Helionox: Tales from the Systems End – The Tears of Icarus Part 6: Deus Aestiva By T M Romanelli The oculus opened and closed so fast that the cycle could hardly be said to have occurred at all, and the superluminal conduit formed by the displacement drive immediately collapsed behind the vessel. The reentry into normal space was violent, dispersing the particles that had accumulated on the leading edge of…
Read MoreThe Tears of Icarus- Part Five
Helionox: Tales from the Systems End – The Tears of Icarus Part 5: Dark Endeavor By T M Romanelli Lysirah quickly led the group through the empty annex and back to the runabout. When everyone was aboard, she stowed the equipment cases and lowered the mesh crew seats from the cabin wall, making sure the team had secured their harnesses properly. Magda sat at the copilot station so she could…
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