Launch title board game releasing early 2024
Inyo is an abstract board game being published through gamecrafter. Inyo is the launch title for Reach Out Games, a company started by a friend and I to make and self publish board games. My primary role on the game was in illustration, graphic design and manufacturing, but offered consultancy in game design as well. Players use dice as their feet in a game about martial arts footwork where the goal is to either push an opponent out of the ring or used advanced submission techniques for a victory.
Figure 1: first test print example
Figure 2: first test print
INYO AND RULES/TUTORIAL CARDS
Inyo has a unique movement style and resolution order when playing the game. Despite being fairly rules-light the focus on a small number of complex mechanics related to win conditions and their deep ties to turn resolution meant that teaching the game was a crucial challenge to tackle. We opted initially for a non-linear format to learn the game, using cards, indexed and colour-coded with clearly highlighted terms that refer to other, specific cards. The idea was that players could easily cross-reference whenever a terminology-related question arose and to give players a bit of agency in the way they taught themselves the game. Later we moved to a more linear system but keeping the cards, colour-coding and cross referencing as we found players benefited from this greatly in playtesting, but with a bit more guidance for a definitive start and a clear example of play.
Critical to this whole process was the diagram design, colour coding style, and theming within the cards themselves. This underwent many iterations before arriving at the final editions for print.
sample of final card designs before setup for final print
initial draft of rules cards and proposed direction of cards as boards
lineup of rules cards mockups
early generic card design and multi-sided reference card ideation
initial diagram design ideation
second iteration of diagrams
FIRST HANDMADE MANUFACTURING RUN AND COMPONENT DESIGN
The game went through multiple iterations - a initial handmade version was produced in a limited run of 20 copies for sale at conventions and art shows. I was responsible as the manufacturing lead for the initial version, which was produced primarily using pyrography/wood burning and fabric block printing techniques for a travel ready version of the game. This iteration of the game also featured a dice cover (handsewn with faux leather) for the first player to act to make hidden moves. This mechanic was later determined out of scope due to manufacturing concerns when expanding from the handmade version.
The original handmade version featured the board block printed on the cotton bag used to keep all the components but when moving to the gamecrafter for printing, we moved toward a more standard box and board format initially. This underwent multiple iterations in attempts to keep production costs low and ensure a good play experience. A point of contention was hit with balancing box size vs board size and physical space taken up by the blocks and the board design was pivoted to one built out of small square chits, with the added bonus of letting players build their own boards. This was later discarded after test prints as the chits were found to be too light and unstable and the direction was pivoted back to a larger board design.
Initial rendered version of board, later scrapped due to shift in component direction
final design for dice faces
Early exploration of ink grid board
early pitch design for dice face direction
early board variation combining direction of more representational board with ink texture direction
early texture test exploring more representational board designs
VISUAL IDENTITY AND ICONOGRAPHY
The initial visual direction was determined by the game designer, Ian Czajczyc and the illustration and graphic design process was focused on production to match the game designer’s vision. A great deal of iteration was undergone for key features like the logo, cover design etc. in order to settle on the clearest direction and thoroughly explore the subject matter. The subject was decided upon by the game designer as an appreciation of modern shotokan karate practices and culture, with the game’s visual identity shaped by the central concept from shotokan karate, the inyo symbol, representing a balance of offense and defense. Further exploration of the visual identity was explored through the pattern of unrolling the faces of the dice into a collapsing rhythm and a paper texture background to combine with the ink texture of the diagrams and board to sell the feeling of an older game.
initial lineup of logo designs
second round lineup of logo designs
initial lineup of box cover designs
finalized front cover design
finalized back cover design for chits variation
finalized large variation of logo
finalized small variation of logo
Handmade copies Inyo were available for sale at Anime North 2023 in Artist’s Alley, and The Gamecrafter edition of Inyo was entered into the Dice Mitigation Challenge and placed 12th in community polls as a semi-finalist. Inyo will be releasing in Q1 2023 via crowd sale on The Gamecrafter with a permanent make-to-order edition available shortly afterwards.