Hi!
My name is Max Moody and I thought I'd introduce myself!
I'm an industrial designer by trade. My daytime job as an industrial designer has had me designing things ranging from playground equipment to checkout desks for Lowe's stores! I also design and sell modern furniture as a side gig! (www.instagram.com/maxmoodydesign/).
I got into gaming after college when I wanted a similar experience to video gaming, but where I could sit down with friends and actually be able to drink a beer and talk while we play. I always saw the board games in places like Barnes & Nobel and wondered what that was all about. I finally purchased Ghost Stories and shortly after Descent 2nd ed and it spiraled out of control from there!
With my creative/design background, any hobby I get into I always end up deciding that I want to make something that is my own, so of course, I got the itch and decided to design board games...
I'm currently working on two games.
I started with a dungeon crawler that uses Yahtzee style dice mechanics called "Spiral Bound" that's generic fantasy but entirely takes place on the notebooks of an unknown author (the art all handdrawn on notebook paper, etc). I got pretty far into designing the mechanics and made some sample quests. I was very surprised at how fun it was, even early. I playtested with multiple groups and every single time there was constant table talk, stand up moments, high fiving and cheering! One thing I realized though, was the sheer scale and scope of the game would be massive and I began to get nervous about this being my first project, especially since I want it to be successful...
I had another idea pestering me for a while that I was putting off. I happened to listen to a podcast episode that mentioned it might be a good idea to start smaller with your first game. I thought this seemed like a good idea, especially with figuring out the publishing side of things. So I finally allowed myself to start thinking about my other game "Command Strike".
Command Strike is a deckbuilder game with basebuilding and battling themed as a Retro PC Strategy Game (think Command & Conquer). This is currently my active project and the reason I wanted to join this forum (to get advice!). I do think I'll also continue to work on Spiral Bound on the side, but am focusing on Command Strike.
You can track my progress for both games!
www.instagram.com/commandstrikegame
https://boardgamegeek.com/thread/2362263/wip-command-strike-old-school-r...
www.instagram.com/spiralboundgame
https://boardgamegeek.com/thread/2333497/wip-spiral-bound-co-op-dungeon-...
(I do realize i'm getting ahead of myself with the art graphic and instagrams for these, but it's something that I can actively work on while i'm at my day job so...)
Thanks! Looking forward to asking questions, contributing, and getting feedback!
-Max
The backdrop is currently just as an artholder and the tracks and explosions aren't part of the game. I have a brief rule summary I've been writing out it Google docs, although it is constantly changing at this point in the game as I playtest. The actual unit images are purchased from an asset site and then pixelated them to make them look like an old school PC game. The card layouts and graphic design I did.