Fate Quest — Mitchell Bell

Fate Quest is a family weight tabletop RPG / board game hybrid set in the world of Greek myth.

Roll: Game Designer, Graphic Designer, Creative Director, Producer, Copywriter

Tools: InDesign, Photoshop, Illustrator, Google Workspace

Illustrations by Marc J. Palm

Box mockup I created in Photoshop (not a template) in a environment featuring art from the game.

Here are a selection of images of components from the game

The two main boards in the game. Creating a clear UI with reminder symbols so that the Rulebook doesn’t need to be referred to after the first reading is important to keep gameplay flowing smoothly.

Example of the player boards. Each player gets a unique character archetype board and an experience tracker board that is the same for each player. These are dual layer boards so that each square space is recessed and holds the tracker cubes in place for better usability.

Full bleed Encounter Card faces. These are the main attraction of the game—what gets players immersed in the world.

Attribute Cards that get paired with the Encounter Cards. They are dual use in that they can be Spells as well.

Reminder cards to help players remember the order of a game round and the rewards of the Boon phase.

Some die lines I work within. Some the manufacturer generates based on my specifications and others I have to make myself for custom sized tokens.

The challenge in making a board game is creating an interactive system that is engaging and provides a fun, memorable experience for multiple players. It’s not enough that it just “works.” It needs to entice people into playing, keep them engaged and deliver on the promise that they’re going to have a great time.

DESIGNING A BOARD GAME IS A HIGHLY ITERATIVE PROCESS.

It’s important to get it on the table in front of people as soon as possible. Pencil and paper prototypes are great for this since they’re not precious and easily editable. Every time a group of players interacts with the game something breaks; an interaction, math doesn’t work or someone gets bored or confused. Each time I take notes on questions, pain points and most importantly moments of delight. Then a revision and the cycle continues until the game plays smoothly from when players open the box to the end and you hear “I can’t wait to play again!”