At the very start of the project, we came across a blog that recommended making the first prototype as rough as possible. So, taking this very literally, our first prototype was pieces of ripped-up graph paper. This helped to get the theory into practice quickly. This process was amazing. The speed at which we made changes and tried out ideas helped to shape the bones of the game rapidly, and helped fill us with a huge sense of progress. However, the limitations of this way of working soon became clear – “What was that squiggle again?”, “Where did I put that bit of paper?”, “What is this?!”

Moving on to Illustrator, InDesign and Excel. A spreadsheet was created to hold all of the dialogue and card text. A shareable, editable document that lives in a shared folder. Illustrator artboards were linked to an InDesign master file. Any changes made in the Illustrator file are automatically updated in the master file. The spreadsheet is also linked to the master file through a data merge so that any changes can be uploaded all at once. This way of working was probably more complicated than it needed to be initially, but it came into it’s own as the project expanded and more people were working on it.

The 2nd prototype was born! It still has stick figures and some questionable ‘stylised’ imagery, but it’s digital and it’s editable. Having a physical copy is not to be underrated, though. Our most productive testing has come from having a physical copy.

In preparation for UKGE 2024, we got a few copies printed on cardstock and at the actual card size. This was a great way to see how the cards handled, and it made such a difference when laying them out and searching for the right card number. It was also a relief not to have to cut out all the cards by hand.

There have been many more iterations since then, with lots and lots and lots of cutting out. However, we are starting to enter a new, very exciting phase…

Prototype 3. Out with the stick figures and in with some amazing comic book style artwork! It has been amazing to see the characters come to life and really interesting to see how the playtesting was affected by the changes. Having engaging art work has made all the difference to players. It’s also been interesting to see a shift in which characters people are connecting with.

For UKGE 2025, we got our Pilot Episode printed! The full experience of Episode 1 – “Into the Unknown”. These copies showed the art off in all its glory and with the intended play experience, reveals and all! It was amazing to watch these being played at UKGE – exactly how we’d imagined. It has made us super excited to see the full game with all the components and fancy box. For now, we are still cutting and folding (we’ve given up on sticking), as we continue to playtest and refine. However, we get to work with full artwork instead of rubbish stick people, which is infinitely more inspiring.