I’ve been mentioning over the past month how I’ve been working on a large board game project for a client in Helsinki, and now I’m finally ready to share a sampling of the work that’s been monopolizing most of my time over the past six weeks or so. This is another board game for the same client I’ve done 3 other projects for over the past few years, a sort of ‘companion piece’ to the ‘Epäillyt’ Helsinki mystery game that I did last year. Also set in the same city (but around 1950 during a time when the Olympics were held there), but this one features a ‘marketplace’ theme where you try to set up different booths in the public square and compete for customers. Above is the box layout with the front cover and sides (you can click on the image above to see a larger more detailed version), and below is what the board looks like (again, you can click on the image to see a larger version).

In addition to the board and box, there were also many cards and tiles to develop, and I’ve posted a small sampling of these below. There were 6 different color coded ‘booths’ and various cards and tiles related to gameplay.

Since around mid-July I’ve been working on a board game project for a client in Helsinki. This was similar to a game I did earlier in the year, but retooled for the German market. Where the previous project was set in Helsinki around 1934, this one was set in Dresden around 1930. Many of the basic concepts and designs were the same, aside from some different characters, buildings, borders, details and color schemes. There will no doubt be some revisions to this before it gets to the finish line, but most of the work has been done. You can click on the images of the cover and board to see larger versions of each.

And, like the previous board game, there were the additional bits and pieces. Game tokens, starting place cards (each with a picture of a particular Dresden landmark), character cards, and a rules/story booklet with 6 illustrations of scenes from the ‘mystery’ (2 of which are pictured above).

From what I hear, the original game took 3rd place at the ‘game of the year’ competition in Finland.

There are now rumors that this may continue in other markets in Europe, so I may be doing a few more of these next spring for a couple other cities. (ADDENDUM: these rumors didn’t pan out)
 

Received the printed sample of the board game that I worked on earlier this year in the mail. And thanks to the designer in Helsinki who emailed me a link to some english language rules so that we give the game a test drive. I’m currently in the middle of working on a German version of this game, set in Dresden, and will post samples sometime in the coming month.

For most of the past month and a half I’ve been working on a large ‘board game’ project for a client overseas. Aside from a few tweaks and finishing touches, most of it has been completed, and I’m posting a sampling of some of the project elements here. The game is a ‘murder mystery’ set in Helsinki back in the 30s. Above is the box cover layout including the four sides (click on the image above to see a slightly larger version). The bulk of the work for this project was in the gameboard (below, again, click on the image to see a larger version). This was an overhead view of the city as it would appear in the year 1934, and the game designer put an amazing amount of work and research into each and every building and city block on the board. Also included in the board were several ‘stops’ and ‘paths’ and locations for each of the characters in the game. Below the complete board image, I have also included a close up detail image of one portion of the map.


In addition to the board and box design, I also worked on a number of additional ‘game elements’. 12 individual ‘character’ tiles, 12 ‘locations’ (close ups of various important buildings on the board), some ‘action tiles’, and 6 large illustrations for the booklet outlining the storyline and featuring all of the main characters. Rather than post all of the material, I’ve chosen a few samples of each (pictured below).