A low-skill strategy push-your-luck game played with 12 cards and a d12.
The winner of the 2023 Volition Design Award for Galactic Excellence
Roles: Team Lead, Creative Director, System Designer
Led team in creative decisions
Helped design the River System
Iterated on gameplay such as the Harvest Ghost System
Game was originally made for the BoardGameGeek 9-Card Game Contest
Exhibited at Bradley's 2023 FUSE: https://bradleyinteractive.com/2023/exhibits/the-levees-were-dry/
The River System mandates how cards will flip to be face up to display a point value, while at the same time making players who are standing on those spaces into Harvest Ghosts
Initially was only vertical or horizontal, and was determined by the roll of two d6, where one die was the row and the other was the column
Issues encountered:
Games would end too fast and the spaces flipped felt too arbitrary
Players would stand in the center of the "board" for the entire game because there was no reason not to
How I worked to fix these issues:
Changed the board to be bigger, using 12 cards instead of 9, and a d12 instead of 2 d6. This made games longer, but also accommodated more players
Added overflow system, so if a space has already flipped, the next one after it flips. This prevents players from standing in the center the whole game
How the River System works currently.
Harvest Ghosts.
When a card a player is on gets flooded by the River System, a player becomes a Harvest Ghost
Initially, Harvest Ghosts could only move to a flooded space adjacent to them, but could gain points by standing next to players who might become Harvest Ghosts the following turn as a comeback mechanic
Issues encountered:
Playtesters got frustrated they could not move anywhere on the board
Because movement was so restricted, this "comeback" mechanic was severely underwhelming
How I worked to fix these issues:
Allowed Harvest Ghosts to move anywhere that was flooded
Made it so Harvest Ghosts don't have to share their points with other ghosts, whereas other players do