How We Know Sylvan Tactics is Resonating: Key Metrics You Should Use Too

When designing a game, one critical question keeps coming up: "Is our game idea resonating with players?" We've found some reliable ways to objectively measure resonance even at an early stage of development. Here are three methods we've used—and why you might want to consider them too.

1. Instagram Ads

Social media advertising can be daunting, but Instagram has given us clear and helpful metrics. Currently, we're averaging around $0.40 per new follower and $0.25 per profile visit. According to industry averages, these figures are excellent—most similar campaigns tend to hover between $0.50 to $2.00 per follower. These promising numbers suggest that our anthropomorphic woodland art and the unique concept of blending chess mechanics with strategic card play are connecting strongly with our audience.

Of course, ad quality matters greatly. Crisp, attractive visuals and clear messaging are key. But even accounting for ad quality, these low-cost, high-engagement metrics are a good sign that Sylvan Tactics' aesthetic and gameplay pitch are hitting the mark with board game enthusiasts.

2. Reddit Posts

Sometimes the simplest outreach can yield surprising insights. We recently made a straightforward post on the /r/boardgamedesign subreddit seeking feedback on our card designs—and the response blew us away. It rapidly became one of the top three posts in the subreddit for the entire year, nearly reaching the second spot overall.

While hitting the top three isn't necessary to demonstrate success (and achieving high Reddit visibility doesn't guarantee success), it can be very insightful to use similar posts as a benchmark. By examining the number of upvotes and the nature of comments other comparable games have received, you can better gauge potential reception for your own release. Our post’s high ranking indicated that our game concept and art resonated deeply with the community, even among many other impressive projects.

The feedback itself was overwhelmingly positive, with comments such as:

  • "Amazing! Very red wall and Bloomburrow-y in the best ways."

  • "The art is phenomenal!… The board design looks really nice too. I’d love to follow the Kickstarter when it’s live."

  • "These look great! I love this theme so much! Where can I find out more?"

This enthusiastic reaction from a knowledgeable community validated that our core idea—bringing new life to classic chess through tactical cards—was not only interesting but genuinely exciting to potential players.

3. Post-Playtest Surveys

Playtest surveys offer invaluable qualitative feedback, even if they can sometimes lack objectivity, particularly when testing with friends and family. However, what matters most in these early surveys isn't necessarily strict objectivity but rather the overall direction of the feedback.

Thus far, responses have been highly encouraging. Players consistently highlight enjoyment and strategic depth, and most suggestions are minor tweaks or balance adjustments rather than fundamental criticisms. Perhaps even more tellingly, multiple playtesters have proactively asked for another play session or requested to introduce Sylvan Tactics to their friends. This eagerness to revisit the game signals strong initial resonance.

Metrics for the Future

At this stage, Instagram engagement, Reddit response, and playtest feedback have been our most useful metrics. As development progresses, we'll begin to incorporate additional objective measures, such as community growth rates, conversion rates from ads to Kickstarter sign-ups, and deeper analysis of repeat play frequency.

For now, these early metrics are invaluable indicators that we're moving in the right direction. If you're developing a game yourself, consider tracking similar data points. They'll give you early insights into what's working, what's connecting, and where to focus your efforts next.

Ready to join us on our journey? Follow Sylvan Tactics on Bluesky, Instagram, and Discord to stay updated on our Kickstarter launch and future design insights!




Sylvan Tactics: Official Rules Reveal and Card Gallery Preview

It’s time! Over the past few months, we’ve shared behind-the-scenes looks at how we combined classic chess mechanics with a card-battling twist, teased our approach to sustainability, and showcased some of our prototype artwork. Now, at last, we’re thrilled to share the full rules of Sylvan Tactics with you. This post will give a quick overview of the gameplay experience and then direct you to our newly released rules document and a fresh gallery of card previews.

A Quick Introduction to the Rules

Sylvan Tactics uses a standard chess board and pieces, but every piece is represented by a card that bestows additional stats and abilities. You’ll still see Knights moving in L-shapes, Bishops sweeping diagonally, and Rooks charging in straight lines, but each piece has a distinct power set defined by the card you assign to it.

Resource Management with Sigils

In addition to moving and attacking with your units, you’ll manage resources called Sigils to power up your card-driven abilities. Sigils work almost like a “mana” system in other card games, except they come straight from your hand - any card can become a Sigil. Use them carefully, because the number of actions and plays you can make each turn depends on how many Sigils you can pay.

Units and Combat

  • Pawns: The backbone of your army. Pawns can advance steadily, just like chess, and even promote to powerful Mercenary units if they reach the far side of the board.

  • Mercenaries: These are your specialized pieces (Rook, Bishop, Knight) with unique cards that govern their stats and skills.

  • Queen & King: Each retains their iconic chess movement, but their health system adds a new layer of strategy. Especially the King, whose defeat means you lose the game.

Combat is straightforward but tactical: if your attacker’s Strength is at least as high as the defender’s, the defender is defeated. Otherwise, the defender becomes “wounded,” which sets them up for a finishing blow in the next attack.

Card-Battling Meets Board Control

While positioning on the board is crucial (just like in chess), you also have to consider card synergy, Sigil costs, and surprise plays. Will you spend Sigils on big, game-changing Mercenaries, or swarm with cheaper Pawns? Should you gamble on drawing a powerful card from the deck, or pick a known (but possibly less exciting) option from the face-up draft row? The interplay of these decisions keeps the tension high and the outcome uncertain in the best possible way.

Explore the Full Rules Document

Ready to dig in? We’ve made our full rules accessible in an online document that we’re also opening to community comments. We’d love to hear your feedback:

Sylvan Tactics Rules

Whether you’re curious about the finer points of placing your units, the exact mechanics behind Mercenary partnerships, or how morale damage works, this document covers it all. It’s a living rulebook, so if something isn’t crystal-clear, feel free to leave a comment. We’re excited to continue refining Sylvan Tactics with the help of our early followers and playtesters.

Browse Our New Card Preview Gallery

We’ve also put together a new online gallery of all the card designs we’ve shared on social media so far. This is your chance to get a closer look at the anthropomorphic woodland creatures and the game-changing abilities they possess:

Sylvan Tactics Card Previews

Expect even more reveals in the weeks ahead, including more card art and abilities every week. We hope these previews spark your imagination for the strategic possibilities at play and give you additional context to help understand the rules document.

What’s Next?

1. Crowdfunding Launch
It’s going to be a while before we are ready, but the end goal here will be to get you a finished copy of the game. Follow us on our journey!

2. Playtest Opportunities
We’ll be hosting online and in-person playtests. Follow us on social media or join our Discord so you don’t miss your chance to try Sylvan Tactics before it launches.

3. Community Feedback
The Sylvan Tactics community has been instrumental in shaping the game so far. If you have questions, comments, or brilliant ideas, share them in the rules document comments, on Discord, or via social media.

Join the Conversation

We can’t wait to see your armies take shape on the board as you experiment with different strategies, combos, and card synergies. Thank you for coming along on this journey with us. Dive into the new rulebook and card gallery, and let us know what you think!

Physical vs. Digital Playtesting: Our Experience with Sylvan Tactics on Tabletopia

We've been hard at work refining Sylvan Tactics over the past few months. One of our most recent developments has been creating a digital version of the game on Tabletopia for virtual playtesting. This has been an eye-opening experience that has fundamentally changed our development process, and today I want to share some insights about the differences between physical and digital playtesting.

Why We Chose Tabletopia

After exploring several virtual tabletop platforms, we settled on Tabletopia for a few key reasons:

  • Completely free for our needs

    • Already includes chess boards and chess pieces as standard components

    • No need for a paid game setup or custom 3D component designs at this stage

  • Accessibility for playtesters

    • Works directly in a browser with a simple URL link

    • Playtesters don't need to create accounts—they can simply enter a guest username when joining a game room

  • Functionality that fits our game

    • The interface is intuitive enough for our playtesters to learn quickly

    • Custom zones and component snapping features support our unique mechanics like the Sigil system

While platforms like Tabletop Simulator offer more extensive scripting capabilities, we found that Tabletopia's simpler approach was actually better suited for Sylvan Tactics. The game's hybrid nature—combining chess pieces with card mechanics—fits neatly within Tabletopia's component system without requiring complex automation.

The current iteration of Sylvan Tactics in digital form.

Physical vs. Digital: The Unexpected Tradeoffs

What We Gained from Digital Testing

After a couple of weeks of virtual playtesting, we've noticed several significant advantages:

  • Geographic flexibility

    • We've run tests with players who are separated by large distances who would never have been able to join a physical session

    • This has diversified our feedback and helped identify blind spots in our design

  • Iteration speed

    • Card updates that previously required printing, cutting, and sleeving can now be implemented in minutes

    • We can test small changes immediately rather than batching them for the next physical prototype

  • Scheduling convenience

    • Virtual sessions are easier to set up and require less commitment from playtesters

    • We can run more frequent, shorter sessions that focus on specific mechanics

  • Systematic feedback

    • Screen recording during sessions helps us revisit exactly what happened during crucial moments

    • Playtesters can easily take screenshots to highlight issues or interesting situations

What We Miss from Physical Testing

Despite these advantages, digital playtesting doesn't completely replace the physical experience:

  • Tactile feedback is missing

    • The satisfying feel of moving a chess piece to capture an opponent's unit

    • The physical act of rotating cards to invoke them

  • Social dynamics are different

    • Table talk is more constrained in a digital environment

    • Body language and emotional reactions are harder to read

  • Interface limitations

    • Some actions that are intuitive in physical play require additional clicks or menus

    • Players sometimes struggle with the physics system when performing simple actions like stacking cards

Making Digital Playtesting Work: Our Tabletopia Setup

To overcome some of the limitations of digital playtesting, we've developed several techniques specific to Tabletopia:

Magnetic Maps: The Secret Weapon

The component snapping and rotating features with Magnetic Maps have been essential. While technically you could play the entire game without them, relying on physics and mouse controls would make the experience frustratingly fiddly.

This was especially important for our “invoke” mechanic. In the physical game, you turn cards sideways to indicate being invoked. Without a Magnetic Map, players would need to use the right-click menu and select the 90-degree rotate option—a tedious process for an action performed multiple times per turn.

Our solution was to create invoking zones for each card slot, positioned just above the card and marked with a rotated card outline. When players drag a card into these zones, it automatically rotates sideways. We've also set magnetic zones to automatically flip cards face up or down for our Sigil creation mechanic and draft row. All of this is done with image files and requires no coding at all.

Here’s what a Magnetic Map file looks like.

Tabletopia Tips from Our Experience

If you're considering using Tabletopia for your own game, here are some practical tips we've learned:

  • For free game setups, use multiple smaller game boards

    • Image resolution limitations make larger boards difficult to read

    • We initially made this mistake, and while our board is functional, it doesn't look great

    • We plan to split it into sections for better visual clarity in future iterations

  • Create custom reference cards for digital-specific controls

    • We added cards explaining how to perform common actions

    • This significantly reduced the learning curve for new playtesters

  • Use color-coding for magnetic zones when possible

    • Subtle visual cues help players understand where components should go

    • This reduces the need for lengthy explanations about the interface

  • Set up your pieces to minimize scrolling

    • Arrange your game board and player areas to fit comfortably on a standard screen

    • Excessive scrolling creates friction that doesn't exist in physical play

Tabletopia Limitations We've Encountered

No platform is perfect, and we've hit a few frustrating limitations with Tabletopia:

  • Updating card backs is tedious

    • While you can create an entire deck with the same card back initially, updating that back later requires changing each card individually

    • With our ~100 card deck, this was extremely time-consuming

  • Limited component placement tools in the editor

    • There's no grid snapping or alignment tools

    • Our workaround was to make a temporary magnetic map just to place components in the editor, lock them, and then remove the map

  • Physics glitches can disrupt play

    • Occasionally cards or pieces will behave unexpectedly

    • We've had to design our magnetic maps to minimize these issues

The Hybrid Approach: Getting the Best of Both Worlds

Rather than choosing between physical and digital playtesting, we've found that a hybrid approach offers the greatest benefits:

  • Start physical, move digital

    • Initial concept testing works best in person where you can be certain that the core mechanics are viable in a physical setting

    • Once the core system is stable, move to digital to refine balance and test edge cases

  • Use digital for quantity, physical for quality

    • Digital tests can give you more data points across more players

    • Physical tests provide deeper insights into player engagement and emotional response

  • Alternate between environments

    • Digital testing might reveal an issue that's best addressed with hands-on physical testing

    • Physical observations can inform how you structure your digital implementation

Join Our Playtesting Community

We're continuing to refine Sylvan Tactics through both physical and digital playtesting, and we'd love for you to be part of that process. If you're interested in participating in our Tabletopia sessions, join our Discord server where we announce upcoming playtesting opportunities.

The game has evolved significantly thanks to player feedback, and every test brings us closer to the perfect balance of depth and accessibility we're aiming for.

Have you participated in digital playtesting for other games? What was your experience like? Let us know in the comments, or join the conversation on Bluesky or Instagram!

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A New Pace for Sylvan Tactics: Why We Lowered the King's Health

One of the biggest challenges in designing a tactical board game is balancing depth with pacing. A game that offers strategic decision-making but takes too long to reach a conclusion can lose its sense of urgency, leading to drawn-out, repetitive late-game turns.

We recently encountered this issue in Sylvan Tactics. Originally, the King had 20 health, a number inspired by Magic: The Gathering’s standard life total. The idea was to give players room to maneuver, recover from setbacks, and engage in a battle of endurance. However, after extensive playtesting, we realized that this system was creating unintended problems. Games were dragging on, sometimes reaching three-hour playtimes, and late-game turns started feeling repetitive.

So, we made a bold change. We reduced the King’s health from 20 to 12.

This single tweak has had a dramatic impact on pacing, tension, and the overall feel of the game. Let’s explore why.

The Problem: A Game That Stretched Too Long

At first, we thought the primary culprit of long games was the number of choices available per turn. Sylvan Tactics allows for deep strategic planning, and we knew we had to streamline the decision-making process to keep things moving. Our solution? We introduced a 6-Sigil cap—a hard limit on the number of Sigils a player could have at any time. This ensured that turns didn’t snowball into analysis paralysis with too many options.

The 6-Sigil cap worked. Turns became snappier. Players took actions more quickly, and downtime was reduced.

But something unexpected happened. Even though individual turns felt faster, games still took too long to finish.

Why?

Because Sylvan Tactics lacked a natural power progression curve.

A Lesson from Magic: The Gathering

When comparing Sylvan Tactics to other strategic card games, one glaring difference stood out: the way resources scale over time.

In Magic: The Gathering, you can continue playing lands indefinitely. This means that as the game progresses, players naturally start playing bigger and more impactful spells. Even though the first few turns involve small, incremental plays, the game always builds towards an explosive climax.

But with Sylvan Tactics we capped Sigils at 6.

This meant that players peaked early in terms of their available actions. After reaching 6 Sigils, there were no new resource surges or massive plays—just consistent, even-paced turns until the game ended. The tension plateaued. The final turns lacked the kind of high-stakes drama that makes for an exciting conclusion.

We realized we needed to shorten the arc of the game so that players weren’t spending a prolonged period "maxed out" at full power.

Our original 20 health for the King was inspired directly by Magic: The Gathering. It was a good starting point, but we quickly discovered it wasn’t right for Sylvan Tactics.

The Solution: Lowering the King's Health to 12

The most direct way to speed up the late game was to make the King easier to kill. Reducing its health from 20 to 12 made every point of damage feel more meaningful and brought the game’s conclusion into sharper focus.

With this change, players no longer spend an excessive number of turns attacking a King that feels like a damage sponge. Instead, victory feels within reach much earlier, leading to a more natural build-up and climax.

More importantly, the pacing of the game now mirrors its strategic progression. The first few turns are about establishing a position, the mid-game is about controlling the board, and the late game is about executing finishing moves. Instead of lingering in a stagnant final phase, the game builds towards an inevitable and exciting conclusion. Play times are now down to around 1 hour and sometimes as quick as 45 minutes.

Other Game Design Lessons from This Change

Lowering the King’s health had ripple effects across multiple design aspects:

  • Combat feels deadlier. Every attack against the King carries more weight, increasing tension.

  • Players make more aggressive plays. Knowing the game is shorter, players are more likely to take risks.

  • Unit synergy matters more. With fewer turns available, setting up strong board control early is even more important.

  • Endgame is no longer a slog. The final turns are now more varied and impactful, rather than repetitive.

Ultimately, Sylvan Tactics now feels punchier, tighter, and more engaging from start to finish.

Game Balance Is an Ongoing Process

This experience reinforced an important lesson: game balance isn’t just about numbers—it’s about the emotional pacing of play.

By reducing the King’s health, we didn’t just make the game shorter—we reshaped the flow of the entire experience. Every decision now matters more, and the game delivers a sharper, more dramatic arc that keeps players engaged.

If you're a game designer, here’s our takeaway: don’t be afraid to revisit core assumptions about your game. Small tweaks—like adjusting a health value—can have outsized effects on everything from pacing to player psychology.

We’ll continue refining Sylvan Tactics based on feedback and testing, and we’d love to hear from you. Have you encountered similar balance challenges in your own designs? What changes have helped improve pacing in your games?

Let us know in the comments or join the conversation on Bluesky and Instagram!

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The Perfect Balance: How Sylvan Tactics Combines Depth and Accessibility

One of the biggest challenges in game design is striking the right balance between strategic depth and approachability. A game that’s too complex can feel intimidating to new players, while an overly simplified game might lack the replayability that keeps experienced players engaged.

With Sylvan Tactics, we wanted to create a game that’s easy to learn but deeply strategic, ensuring that every decision matters while keeping gameplay smooth and intuitive. The secret? A “complexity of choice” rather than a “complexity of action.”

Our recently completed Tabletopia virtual playtest version is helping us refine the game quickly and efficiently.

What Does “Complexity of Choice” Mean?

Many games build complexity through intricate rules, exceptions, and multi-step actions. This is complexity of action. The results of your choices are tedious, complicated, or confusing. But in Sylvan Tactics, we focused on giving players a limited number of simple actions with a vast number of meaningful choices.

Take chess (the game that Sylvan Tactics uses as a foundation) as an example. A knight’s movement pattern is easy to remember, but deciding where to move that knight is an entirely different challenge. Every move you make has dozens of potential implications, and high-level play emerges from recognizing opportunities, threats, and long-term strategy.

Sylvan Tactics follows the same philosophy:

  • Every unit moves according to standard chess rules.

  • The core actions—moving, attacking, and playing cards—are intuitive.

  • The way you combine those actions leads to an incredibly deep strategy.

The result is a game you can hold in your mind. You don’t have to constantly reference the rulebook or struggle with edge-case interactions that are rarely encountered. The complexity is in how you choose to express your preferred strategy. The game is called Sylvan Tactics after all.

Preventing “Analysis Paralysis” with Resource Restrictions

One of the biggest challenges in strategy games is analysis paralysis—when players feel overwhelmed by too many possible actions and struggle to make a choice.

To combat this, Sylvan Tactics introduces Sigils, a resource system of cards that are played face down that limit the number of actions you can take on your turn. The number of Sigils you have available to you grows each turn, so your options at the beginning of the game are more limited and easier to plan. But unlike Magic: The Gathering and Lorcana, where you can continuously ramp up resources and cast bigger and bigger spells, Sylvan Tactics caps your resource pool at six Sigils max.

This means:

  • Your choices are meaningful but manageable. Instead of sorting through 10+ potential actions, you’ll usually have 2-3 critical actions to consider each turn.

  • Players stay engaged. Turns don’t drag on as players debate endless possibilities, keeping the game flowing smoothly.

  • Decision-making stays clear and impactful. Every action is a trade-off, forcing you to prioritize your best plays rather than trying to do everything at once.

This creates natural tension—you can’t take every action you want, so you need to think ahead and plan carefully. But you’ll never feel completely helpless, as you’ll always have options that matter.

The Learning Curve: Intuitive First, Deeper Later

We designed Sylvan Tactics so that new players can quickly grasp the basics:

  • “Oh, I recognize this chess board!”

  • “I move my units like in chess, but their strength comes from cards.”

  • “I can summon units with Sigils and attack my opponent’s King.”

From there, layers of strategy emerge organically as players explore:

  • How to manage Sigils efficiently.

  • How to combine card abilities for tactical advantages.

  • How to control space on the board while anticipating your opponent’s moves.

By keeping the core mechanics simple and actions easy to remember, Sylvan Tactics makes it easy for players to jump in and start playing, while offering a rich world of strategy to explore over time.

Meta Game Knowledge: Strategy Without the Homework

One of the most daunting aspects of collectible card games like Magic: The Gathering and Lorcana is the meta-game knowledge required to play at a high level. These games have thousands of cards, with new expansions released constantly. Competitive players must study the evolving meta, predict which cards their opponents might include in their decks, and stay up-to-date with card synergies, counters, and combos.

This is a thrilling challenge for some—but for others, it can feel like a homework assignment before every game night.

With Sylvan Tactics, we’ve removed that barrier while keeping the depth.

  • There are only about 100 cards, and both players pull from the same pool.

  • You don’t need to memorize hundreds of unique deck lists—instead, you can focus on playing the game in front of you.

  • Within just a few play sessions, you’ll develop a strong understanding of every card’s potential, allowing you to strategize with confidence.

But does limiting the card pool make Sylvan Tactics less strategic? Not at all.
Instead of complexity coming from an ever-expanding catalog of cards, it comes from what happens on the board.

With Sylvan Tactics, you’re not just thinking about which card your opponent might have—you’re also considering their board position, their available Sigils, their possible attacks, and their long-term strategy. The depth of play is rooted in positioning, timing, and tactical decisions, rather than an encyclopedic knowledge of thousands of potential card interactions.

A Game That Grows With You

Some games are fun once or twice but lose their appeal once you “figure them out.” Others have so much complexity upfront that only a fraction of players ever stick around long enough to enjoy them.

Sylvan Tactics was designed to be replayable and rewarding at all skill levels.

  • Beginners can focus on learning movement and card effects while experiencing the joy of discovering certain cards for the first time.

  • Intermediate players start recognizing synergies and planning a few moves ahead.

  • Veterans develop long-term strategies, anticipating enemy plays and manipulating the board with high-level tactics.

It’s a game that evolves with you, ensuring that every match feels fresh, exciting, and full of new discoveries.

Ready to Test Your Tactical Mind?

If you love games that reward strategic thinking without overwhelming rules, Sylvan Tactics is designed for you. It’s easy to learn, fun to master, and endlessly replayable—all in a compact game that fits inside a single deck of cards.

Follow us on Bluesky, Instagram, or Discord for updates on our Kickstarter launch, game previews, and behind-the-scenes design insights!

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Are you ready to master the battlefield? Join us in the world of Sylvan Tactics!

Luck vs. Skill in Game Design: How to Strike a Balance

There’s a constant debate in the gaming world: should games be all about skill, or is a little bit of luck a good thing? Chess is the ultimate test of pure strategy—there’s no randomness, just you and your opponent thinking several moves ahead. But let’s be honest, that can make it really frustrating if you’re playing against someone who’s way better than you. If you're new to chess, you’re probably going to lose. A lot. And if you're playing against the same people over and over (like your friends or family), the outcome can start to feel pretty predictable. That’s not much fun for either player.

With Sylvan Tactics, we wanted to shake things up a bit. We took the deep, strategic core of chess and mixed in some extra layers—like a card system and multiple-move turns—to keep every game feeling fresh while still rewarding smart play.

Breaking Free from Chess Fatigue

Since Sylvan Tactics is played on a chessboard, it still has that familiar tactical feel. But unlike regular chess, you’re not just stuck following the same opening strategies and memorized play patterns. The introduction of cards means that every match unfolds a little differently, and experienced players can’t just rely on memorization of optimal strategies to dominate every game. Even if you’re playing against a chess master, a well-timed card play or an unexpected tactical move can completely change the flow of the game. This helps level the playing field while still encouraging strategic thinking.

The Role of Controlled Randomness

Now, don’t worry—we didn’t just throw in a bunch of random dice rolls to shake things up. We wanted to introduce just enough randomness to make things exciting, without taking away from the importance of skill. That’s why we designed our card system with a few key features:

  • The Draft Row – Instead of being stuck with whatever card you blindly draw, you get to choose from a selection of 5 face up cards that form the draft row. If none of the options in the draft row fit your current strategy you can instead draw from the randomized draw deck. This makes drawing a random card a gamble. “Will I draw something better than the available 5 cards in the draft row?” If you take that gamble and get a “bad” card, now you feel like you made a poor strategic choice rather than feeling like the game is just punishing you randomly.

  • Mulligans – Nobody likes getting stuck with a terrible starting hand. That’s why you can redo your opening draw once for free, so you never feel like you lost before the game even started.

  • Alternate Uses – Every card in your hand has value. If you don’t like a particular card’s effect, you can turn it into a Sigil (a resource) to power up other plays. No dead draws. No wasted turns.

  • Non-Card Actions – Every action in the game costs the same resource (Sigils), so if you don’t feel like you have the right cards to play during your turn, you can instead use your resources to move, attack, or play a new Pawn to the board. Then you can hope for a better card draw (or pick something from the draft row) during your next turn. Your resources are never wasted.

These mechanics keep the game engaging without making it feel unfair. You still need to plan ahead, but you’re not completely doomed by bad luck.

Dynamic Decision-Making: More Than Just One Move at a Time

Another way Sylvan Tactics keeps things interesting is by letting you make multiple moves per turn—a huge departure from classic chess. This means you can chain together actions, reposition pieces in unexpected ways, and create big momentum swings that keep both players engaged.

For experienced players, this means more opportunities for clever plays and mind games. For newer players, it provides more ways to turn the tide of battle, even against a stronger opponent. The result? A game where both players are constantly thinking on their feet, instead of just watching a slow, inevitable defeat play out.

Of course this is balanced by the resource system. Since moves and attacks cost the same resource as playing new cards, you will have less to spend on powerful cards during your turn if you choose to move and attack aggressively.

A Game That Stays Fresh

At its core, Sylvan Tactics is about keeping strategy exciting. Chess purists can still enjoy the familiar movement rules, while fans of card games will love the ever-changing possibilities introduced by the deck. In our playtesting we usually only get through about half of the 90+ unique cards, so you might play some games without seeing the same cards twice. The mix of skill and controlled randomness means every match feels different, and no one is locked into a predetermined outcome before the game even starts.

So, whether you're a tactical mastermind or just someone who wants a more engaging way to play on a chessboard, Sylvan Tactics was designed for you.

Want to see how it plays for yourself? Follow us on Bluesky, Instagram, and Discord for updates, development insights, and upcoming opportunities to try out Sylvan Tactics!

Board Game Rapid Prototyping with Dynamic Playing Card Templates

Let’s be real: designing physical games is not always smooth sailing. If your game relies on custom cards, the process of making, remaking, and tweaking those cards can feel like an endless chore. That’s where dynamic card templates make the difference. There are many tools that let you focus on making your game fun rather than spending hours updating stats or layouts by hand.

Early on in the development of Sylvan Tactics I leaned heavily on Photoshop’s scripting tools to generate my cards dynamically. It was a lifesaver for someone who’s both a perfectionist and on a tight timeline. But I get it—Photoshop isn’t everyone’s jam. I have a degree in graphic design and I’m now a professional software programmer, so it’s just what I know. I have almost 20 years of experience with Photoshop and with my scripting skills I can get it to automate almost anything. If you don’t have that level of comfort with Photoshop, thankfully there are plenty of other options out there that don’t cost a dime (or close to it), and they’re perfect for game designers at any level.

Why Speed Matters in Prototyping

Quick prototyping isn’t just about saving time—it’s about unlocking creativity and improving your game. The faster you can create a playable version, the sooner you can test mechanics, tweak balance, and refine your ideas. Games don’t get better by sitting in your head or your notebook; they get better through feedback and iteration. Dynamic templates streamline that process, letting you adjust card stats, abilities, or even visuals on the fly. This way, you can focus on the stuff that really matters: making your game fun and engaging.

Tools to Make Prototyping a Breeze

There’s no one-size-fits-all solution for every designer, but here are some tools that have the most widespread adoption and support within the community. Whether you’re a coding wizard or prefer drag-and-drop simplicity, there’s something here for you.

1. Photoshop (With Scripting)

  • URL: Photoshop

  • Why It’s Great: Photoshop gives you total control over every pixel, and with scripting, you can automate the tedious parts. Need to generate 50 cards with different stats? Done in minutes.

  • Downsides: It’s subscription-based and can feel intimidating if you’re new to it.

  • Who It’s For: Designers who are already comfortable with Adobe tools and want pro-level output.

2. Card Maker

  • URL: Card Maker on GitHub

  • Why It’s Great: Free, open-source, and lightweight. It reads from spreadsheets or text files, so you can quickly plug in your data and crank out cards.

  • Downsides: The interface is bare-bones, so it might feel a bit clunky.

  • Who It’s For: Indie creators or hobbyists looking for a no-cost, no-frills option.

3. NanDeck

  • URL: NanDeck

  • Why It’s Great: It’s free and lets you script your card layouts in a way that’s highly customizable. Plus, it’s built specifically for card games.

  • Downsides: Learning the scripting language takes time, and there’s no GUI to fall back on.

  • Who It’s For: Designers who don’t mind rolling up their sleeves and learning a bit of code.

4. Component Studio 2

  • URL: Component Studio 2

  • Why It’s Great: It’s web-based and super user-friendly. You can drag and drop elements, link your designs to a Google Sheet, and see updates in real time.

  • Downsides: It’s subscription-based, so there’s a recurring cost.

  • Who It’s For: Designers who want a polished interface and don’t mind paying for convenience.

5. GIMP (With Plugins)

  • URL: GIMP

  • Why It’s Great: Free and open-source. With plugins, you can automate certain tasks and create dynamic designs.

  • Downsides: It’s not as robust as Photoshop, and the interface can feel a bit dated.

  • Who It’s For: Budget-conscious designers who need a Photoshop alternative.

6. Squib

  • URL: Squib on GitHub

  • Why It’s Great: A Ruby-based framework that’s perfect for programmatically generating cards. It’s open-source and endlessly customizable.

  • Downsides: You need to know Ruby (or be willing to learn it).

  • Who It’s For: Coders who want maximum flexibility and don’t need a graphical interface.

Pro Tips for Prototyping

  1. Start Simple: Don’t get caught up in making your first prototype pretty. Placeholder art and simple layouts are fine in the early stages—what matters most is testing your mechanics.

  2. Use a Spreadsheet: Link your card generator to a spreadsheet for easy updates. This lets you tweak values or text in one place and instantly apply changes across all your cards.

  3. Get Feedback Fast: The sooner you can test your game with real players, the faster you’ll spot what works and what doesn’t. Rapid prototyping tools make this much easier.

  4. Leverage Community Resources: Many tools have active user communities where you can find templates, tutorials, and advice. Don’t be afraid to ask for help or inspiration.

My Workflow for Sylvan Tactics

For Sylvan Tactics, I used Photoshop scripts to automate my card designs. It was a literal game-changer. Whenever I needed to tweak stats or adjust layouts, I could update my data file and let the script handle the rest. This meant I could spend less time fiddling with design details and more time playtesting. I actually spend more time cutting out the printed cards to slip into sleeves than I do editing them for printing.

That said, no single tool is perfect for everyone. Whether you go with a free option like NanDeck or splurge on something like Component Studio 2, the key is finding a tool that fits your workflow and lets you iterate quickly.

Tips and Tricks

Here are some things that really helped us to streamline the process and prevent errors.

Create an ID number for each card

You don’t want your cards to be identified solely by their name or title, because those things will change over time as you iterate through your design. ID numbers allow you to track changes to a card over time and if you prefix your filenames with the ID numbers it’s easier to see if anything was missed in the export.

Use text replacement signifiers

Let’s say you have a mechanic in your game called “Use” and it’s referenced on several cards in your game. Then, two months down the road you decide to change the mechanic’s name to “Deplete”. Well, now you have to find every instance of the word on your cards and replace it with the new term. Instead, when using special terms on your cards surround them with brackets like {Use} or [Use] and then have your script replace those terms with a constant value across all cards. You can also use this to insert the card’s name into the rules text on the card. For our game, Sylvan Tactics, we have used this technique to allow for name changes seamlessly during development. The card rule text in our original spreadsheet for the card below reads as: “Shadow Sneak - As long as {Name} is not invoked, it cannot be targeted by attacks while standing on a black space.”

Save yourself trouble and headaches with {bracketed} text replacement. No one wants to type “Swiftpaw Scavenger” multiple times…

Final Thoughts

Prototyping is the heart of great game design. The faster and easier it is to make changes, the more room you have to experiment, iterate, and discover the magic that makes your game special. So pick a tool, dive in, and start turning your ideas into something playable. Who knows? Your next prototype might just be the next big hit at game night.

Follow us on Bluesky or Instagram to learn more about our upcoming chess card battling game, Sylvan Tactics.

Addressing Sustainability in the Tabletop and Board Gaming Community

The tabletop and board gaming community is thriving, with an ever-growing library of beautifully designed games that boast intricate components, stunning artwork, and sprawling play spaces. However, there’s a problem that surprisingly few are willing to address… It’s becoming increasingly clear that our community has a sustainability problem.

Oh no…

A significant driver of this issue is the “collector” mentality. Many players build massive collections of bespoke games, each housed in large, elaborately designed boxes. Yet, for all the excitement a new game generates, many of these boxes end up gathering dust after just a few play sessions. There’s always another shiny, new game on the horizon, and the cycle of consumption continues.

This trend not only impacts the environment through the manufacturing and shipping of heavy, resource-intensive products but also creates a lack of focus on replayability. The question we should be asking is: how can we as a community embrace sustainable practices while still fostering innovation and creativity in game design? When this topic does come up a lot of focus is put on “green” manufacturing processes and shipping efficiencies, but perhaps there’s another way…

A Shift Toward Reusable Components

One potential solution lies in designing games that make use of shared, reusable components. Dice, for example, are a staple in many games and don’t need to be unique to a single game to be effective or enjoyable. Expanding this idea could lead to a new wave of game designs that focus on modularity and reusability.

Imagine reusing the board from a classic game like chess. Chess is one of the oldest and most widely recognized games in the world, and its simple grid layout and versatile pieces offer endless design opportunities. By leveraging existing components, designers could create entirely new gaming experiences without the need for large, specialized production runs.

Exploring the Possibilities

What could this look like in practice? Let’s consider the potential for creating games that incorporate existing components in innovative ways. By reimagining how these components interact, we could design games that:

  1. Encourage Replayability: Players could engage with the same set of components in different ways depending on the rules or scenarios introduced.

  2. Reduce Environmental Impact: Fewer bespoke components mean less material waste and smaller carbon footprints.

  3. Lower Costs: Games designed to use widely available or generic components could be sold at a lower price point, making tabletop gaming more accessible to a wider audience.

  4. Save Space: Both on retail shelves and in our homes, board games take up a substantial amount of space. Smaller box sizes would allow us to be more efficient with our storage.

A Practical Example: Sylvan Tactics

This concept is at the heart of our game, Sylvan Tactics. It uses a standard chess board and all its pieces but transforms them into a new gaming experience with the addition of a small custom deck of cards.

In Sylvan Tactics, players utilize the familiar chess pieces as units in a strategic, card-driven battle. The game layers additional complexity and tactical decision-making onto the straightforward movement rules of chess. Each piece retains its iconic movement patterns, but their roles and abilities are determined by the cards players choose to play. This allows for deep, engaging gameplay without the need for expansive new components.

A box size comparison between a modern classic and a prototype of our game, Sylvan Tactics. Of course it’s not a completely fair comparison, because Sylvan Tactics also requires a chess board and pieces. But imagine if more games utilized shared components to save space and materials.

The result is a game that’s easy to learn yet rich in strategy, compact enough to fit into a small box, and inherently sustainable. By using the chess board and pieces many players already own, the game significantly reduces its environmental footprint while still offering a fresh and exciting experience.

Moving Toward a Sustainable Future

If we want the tabletop gaming community to thrive for generations to come, we need to rethink how games are designed, produced, and consumed. By focusing on shared components, modularity, and replayability, we can create a more sustainable future for our hobby.

Imagine a gaming ecosystem where a single set of components can unlock a world of possibilities. Let’s move away from the collector mentality and toward a culture of creativity, innovation, and sustainability. Sylvan Tactics is just one step in this direction—what steps will you take?

Together, we can build a future where every new game is not just another box on the shelf but a meaningful addition to the games we already love.

Follow us on Bluesky or Instagram to learn more about our upcoming game designed for sustainability, Sylvan Tactics.

Embracing Constraints: Designing Tabletop Games with Limitations

Game design is an art that thrives on creativity, and one of the most effective ways to foster that creativity is by imposing limitations. These restrictions can be an incredibly powerful tool for generating innovative ideas and will often push you to “find the fun” within a condensed play space. Recently, we’ve taken on the challenge to design a series of tabletop games that only involve adding a deck of cards to existing classic games like chess or dominoes. Here’s how and why embracing limitations has transformed our approach.

The Value of Constraints in Game Design

Limitations force you to focus. When you’re working within a smaller set of resources or rules, your creative energy is channeled into making the most of what you have. Instead of being overwhelmed by infinite possibilities, you’re given a clear framework within which to innovate. Constraints can also:

  • Encourage Resourcefulness: When you’re restricted in the materials, mechanics, or themes you can use, you’re compelled to think outside the box.

  • Streamline Development: Limitations provide boundaries that help keep scope manageable, making it easier to prototype, iterate, and test.

  • Drive Innovation: By narrowing the field, you’re more likely to come up with novel ideas that wouldn’t arise in a completely open-ended process.

  • Build Unique Experiences: Games designed under constraints often feel distinct and memorable because they’re shaped by unusual combinations of elements.

Designing Games Around Classic Boards

One of our current projects involves creating a series of games that add a custom deck of cards to classic board games, transforming them into entirely new experiences. (And yes, we are still developing video games. Go check out the Steam page for LIMYN.) For example, we are reimagining chess with a card-battling twist in a game called Sylvan Tactics: each piece on the board represents a unit with unique abilities and stats derived from its corresponding card.

A prototype card for our board game, Sylvan Tactics, which is limited to a chess board, chess pieces, and a single deck of custom cards.

This approach leverages the familiarity of classic games while adding fresh layers of strategy and depth. By limiting ourselves to using existing boards and pieces, we can focus our energy on crafting mechanics and card interactions that feel both intuitive and innovative. These limitations also make the games more accessible, as players already understand the base rules of the classic board game and likely already have access to the board and pieces. All that is needed is a small deck of cards to transform the play experience.

As a side effect, this also makes playtesting and iteration extremely simple. We know there are some components of our game that are immovable. We can’t change the board or pieces of chess, but in many ways that is a positive thing for playtesting. We only ever need to change the text or symbols on a limited set of playing cards that we can print at home. Everything else can sit in a box ready for the next round of playtesting.

Types of Constraints to Consider

When designing a board or card game with limitations, you can define constraints in several ways:

  1. Component-Based: Limit yourself to a specific set of physical components, such as a standard deck of cards, a chess board, or a handful of dice. For our series, this means focusing on the classic boards and augmenting them with a deck of cards.

  2. Theme-Based: Choose a narrowly defined theme and build your mechanics around it. For instance, designing a game where players role-play as woodland animals in a tactical battle forces you to align mechanics with thematic storytelling. (This is part of the theming for our remix of chess that we will cover in a future post).

  3. Mechanic-Based: Focus on a particular type of interaction, such as area control, deck building, or resource management, and explore it in depth.

  4. Time-Based: Create a game with a strict time limit for development or gameplay, such as a game that can be played in 15 minutes or one designed in 48 hours. This one helps a lot in getting you to playtesting faster. Testing and iteration are key to finding the fun. You want to “fail fast”.

  5. Audience-Based: Design for a specific audience or player group, such as children, educators, or hardcore strategists. This narrows the tone, complexity, and accessibility of your game.

Case Study: Chess with Cards

Let’s dive a little deeper into some examples from Sylvan Tactics.

One of the earliest challenges we ran into was with health tracking. Sylvan Tactics shares some general mechanics with games like Magic the Gathering where players have to track their health and the status of several other cards that are in play. Dice, counters, and tokens are very common in Magic. If we wanted our game to have player health, how could we do that without dice or resorting to pen and paper? Cards, of course! If you are familiar with card games like Regime or Star Realms you might have seen a similar solution.

Point trackers in Regime

Point trackers in Star Realms

We don’t have a finalized design for what our card health trackers will look like, but they will likely be similar to the solutions found in these games.

But what about card states or damage to individual cards? Again, similar to Magic, we can use rotation/position of the cards. Either 90 degrees, 180 degrees, or even face down to indicate specific states.

We also have the chess pieces themselves to work with. In Sylvan Tactics you place Rooks, Bishops, or Knights in pairs. One of those piece types is placed on the chess board, and the other matching piece is placed directly on the card that it represents. Now, the position of the piece on the card can be used to represent state or we can even lay the piece down sideways to make the state easier to identify. In my case, a piece laying sideways on a card indicates a “wounded” character.

With these limited mechanics we are able to create a fairly large possibility space without complicated extra components or a cluttered game board.

Tips for Designing with Limitations

The first prototype for Sylvan Tactics

  1. Start Small: Begin with a simple, well-defined limitation and expand only if necessary.

  2. Prototype Quickly: Use paper, pencils, and other simple tools to test ideas without committing to expensive or time-consuming components. Our first few playtests were with hand-cut cards from cardstock.

  3. Iterate Often: Playtest frequently to see how your ideas work within the constraints and refine based on feedback.

  4. Embrace Imperfection: Not every idea will work, but every failure is a chance to learn and improve.

  5. Think Thematically: Align your mechanics with the limitations to create a cohesive and immersive experience.

What are you waiting for?

Designing games with limitations is not just a creative exercise—it’s a powerful method for advancing your skills as a designer. By working within constraints, you’re forced to make deliberate, meaningful choices that can lead to innovative and elegant mechanics. If you’re looking for inspiration, consider taking on the challenge of reimagining a classic game by adding a custom deck of cards. Or even just changing the rules. No new components or cards required! What will you come up with?

In the coming months we will be sharing more insights into our design process for our chess card-battling game, Sylvan Tactics. Follow us on Bluesky or Instagram.

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Lacuna Passage - Devlog #84 - The Power System Rework Update

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v0.61 focuses on a complete update of the power management system for exterior habitat modules, but a bunch of bug fixes are included as well. Check the change log below.

Change Log

  • Fixed incorrect east hab map marker location.
  • Fixed datapad UI navigation issue that would discard inputs that were entered too quickly.
  • Fixed bug that prevented you from strafing while auto-walking.
  • Fixed bug that caused dust storm effects to be visible and charging with portable solar panel to be possible while inside east hab airlock.
  • Made change to WayStat discovery view colliders so that they hopefully trigger more reliably.
  • Made change to mouse sensitivity range (this may require you to adjust your sensitivity in the control options menu).
  • Fixed bug causing the minimum solar charge during a dust storm to go lower than intended.
  • Game performance should be slightly improved after doing a recent optimization pass of several game systems.
  • Reworked the entire power supply system for the habitat exterior modules. Read below for details.

If you want a TL;DR of the new power system: We have moved from power percentages to power units. As long as you maintain 100 power units worth of solar panels/RTGs connected to each exterior module you should see very little difference to how the system worked previously. If you want a more in-depth rundown of the new system then keep reading.

Here’s how the new power units are generated with RTGs and solar panels:

RTGs generate 50 units, day and night (used to be 100% power).
Large Solar Panels generate 50 units during the day (used to be 50% power).
Small Solar Panels generate 30 units during the day.
Portable Solar Panels generate 20 units during the day.

There are still only the 5 solar panel slots and one RTG slot for each module, but now they all contribute directly to the reserve battery so long as the electrical module is operational. However, now there is a maximum of 100 charge units from any set of module slots. That means the most you can generate during the day would be 400 units from all four modules.

Then, all the modules also incur a general cost that pulls from the reserve battery in order to operate.

Water Reclaimer

  • 50 unit cost to produce water.
  • 40 unit cost to keep water running if tanks are full.
  • If at least 50 units are being supplied by solar panels/RTG directly connected to this module then water production is more efficient.

Reoxygenator

  • 50 unit cost to produce oxygen.
  • 40 unit cost to keep running if tanks are full.
  • If at least 50 units are being supplied by solar panels/RTG directly connected to this module then oxygen production is more efficient.

Heater

  • 50 unit cost to heat up interior to normal temp.
  • 40 unit cost to keep running if at stable temp.
  • If at least 50 units are being supplied by solar panels/RTG directly connected to this module then temp will increase faster if below normal temp.

Electrical

  • 25 unit cost to keep all electrical systems running (lights, crafting, etc).

From the above requirements, the highest possible unit cost to keep all systems running would be 175 units, but if all oxygen and water tanks are full and the interior temp is stable then the cost would only be 145 units. This means that you should be banking between 225 and 255 units if you have the full 400 units of solar panels connected to your modules during the day. That banked amount should then be more than enough to cover the cost of all modules over the night and leave you with extra to transfer to your EVA suit when you go out to explore.

Because of this new system, all modules now produce at the same rate during the night as they do during the day. This is a change from before when the Reoxygenator and Water Reclaimer would produce at a drastically reduced rate at night. To balance for the increased amount being produced around the clock, both of these modules now produce at about 60% of their previous maximum production rate.

Many of these changes were prioritized based on feedback provided by players on our Feedback Forum[lacunapassage.userecho.com]. Help me determine future development priorities by posting your ideas, suggestions, and bug reports there. A special thanks to Mr. Fusion on the feedback forum for all his help and suggestions related to the power system rework.