In Guilds of Astra, you play one of seven characters vying for the throne and gain Followers to become the next Emperor of Astra!
But there's a catch - each player is supported by one of the four Guilds (political parties of Astra), which is secret from everyone else.
Gain event cards, steal Followers at markets, place Spies to block other players' paths, earn a hat for your character's pawn, and even change the weather! But make sure to figure out everyone's secret before it's too late!
what game to make?
Starting from the beginning was one of the more challenging parts. I'd never made a board game before!
From the beginning, I had some concepts for the point of this particular game:
Then, I started ideation. I decided to go with a cute, fantasy game: it's a genre I love to play, after all.
I had A LOT of ideas - but quickly narrowed the focus down to one direction. That didn't make the process easier, though.
Character Ideation:
Initially, my idea depended on characters being split into four different "worlds" - Nature characters, Space characters, etc. However, when this idea had to be scrapped, the characters also underwent a large change - many anthropomorphic characters became human.
Now, there are seven characters, and none of them are tied to any world. Instead, each character is assigned a random Guild at the start of every game.
Playtesting
Of course, the most grueling but also the most fun part of the process.
Final Product:
To create my board and box art, I mainly used Adobe Illustrator. For the cards, I used Adobe Indesign, because it helped me organize all the different card options easier. For the characters, I used Procreate on the iPad.
Finding the right materials was challenging. Eventually, I found an old Clue board to tape my final print on and was, fortunately, able to create a professional-looking game board and box art.
