Tuesday, April 07, 2026

The List - April 2026

It's been a few months since I checked in with The List, and I think I have some updates since then. Let's take a look at how things are going...

Published Games:

- Terra Prime (BGG)
- Eminent Domain (BGG) [new edition coming 2024 from a new publisher!]
- Eminent Domain: Escalation (BGG) (expansion) [new edition coming 2024 from a new publisher!]
- Eminent Domain: Exotica (BGG) (expansion) [new edition coming 2024 or 2025 from a new publisher!]
- Eminent Domain: Oblivion (BGG) (expansion) [new edition coming 2024 or 2025 from a new publisher!]
- Eminent Domain: Microcosm (BGG) [theoretically signed by a publisher!]
- Isle of Trains (Co-Design with Dan Keltner) (BGG)
- Isle of Trains: All Aboard (Co-Design with Dan Keltner) [New edition from Dranda Games with included expansion]
- Crusaders: Thy Will Be Done (BGG) [now available from Renegade!]
- Crusaders: Divine Influence (BGG) (expansion) [now available from Renegade!]
- Dungeon Roll: Winter Heroes (BGG)
- Gold West: Bandits promo (BGG)
- Gold West: Trading Post promo (BGG)
- Yokohama: Achievements & Free Agents promo (BGG)
- Brainfreeze

Nothing new just yet... I moved The Sixth Realm down to Finished But Unpublished. 

Development Projects - Games I've done freelance development on
- Amun-Re expansion [Alley Cat Games 20th Anniversary edition] - Heavy Development
- Harvest (BGG) [by Trey Chambers from Keymaster Games] - Heavy Development
- Holiday In Rome (add BGG link) [by Cory Andalora from Pandasaurus Games - coming soon!] - Heavy Development
- Expeditions (BGG) [by Jamey Stegmaier from Stonemaier Games] - Consultation
- Fled (BGG) [by Mark Swanson, coming 2024 from Odd Bird Games] - Consultation
- Forelords (BGG) [by Mark Swanson, coming 2025 from Odd Bird Games] - Consultation

Still no new development projects, at least not paid ones. I haven't been doing any consulting or development lately, but I have been helping a couple of my friends/playtesters with their games...

Unofficial Development Projects - Games I've done unofficial development on
- Henge [by Rick Holzgrafe]
- Forbidden Art [by Steven Carleson]

I've known both Rick and Steve for many, many years, and they are my most consistent and frequent playtesters. As a matter of fact, I've got a co-design with each of them currently signed by a publisher! Rick and Steve are each currently working on a rondel game, and I'm pretty fond of both of them.

Henge is a shared-pawn rondel game about building a henge and attracting druids to check it out. We've been testing it at my playtest sessions, and I really like the game it's come to be! I hope he finds a publisher that likes the game as much as I do.

Forbidden Art is a necromancy themed rondel game where you command undead minions to power up your actions -- in a way it's like Crusaders, but the minions don't automatically move around your personal rondel. In the game you pillage artifacts, and use them to bind demons, and I think it's pretty cool how it all comes together. This one's a little less finished than Henge, but in both cases I feel like I've been able to offer helpful ideas to improve the games.

Signed Games - in line to be published:
- Usurpers (FKA Apotheosis) (Co-Design with Rick Holzgrafe) [signed by a publisher!]
- Taiko Kiri (co-design with Steve Carleson) [signed by a publisher!]

Not much news about Steam Kingdom (FKA Taiko Kiri) (co-design with Steve), but the publisher has started getting some art done -- I've only seen the cover image and some tile art so far, but it looks cool! 

It's been several years since Usurpers was signed, and I've been skeptical it'll ever actually come out, but I recently saw some potential movement on the publisher's Basecamp thingy, so that made me a little hopeful again. I guess we'll see if any further progress is made on it.

Currently Pitching Games - "actively" looking for a publisher (though I haven't actively been doing much of anything lately!):
- Sails & Sorcery (Co-Design with Michael Mindes) [pitching to publishers]
- Riders of the Pony Express (BGG) [pitching to publishers]
- Exhibit (BGG) [pitching to publishers]
- Keeping Up with the Joneses [pitching to publishers]
- All For One (BGG) (Co-Design with David Brain) [pitching to publishers]
- Alter Ego (BGG) [pitching to publishers]
- Dice Works (BGG) [pitching to publishers]
- Suburban Sprawl [pitching to publishers]
- Balloonatics [pitching to publishers]
- Politica Galactica (FKA "Revampsterdam") [pitching to publishers]
- Division of Labor (FKA "I-Cut-You-Choose Worker Placement") [pitching to publishers]

Not much progress, but I have had some pitch meetings recently that may be promising. In a few cases I met with a publisher and ran down my Pitch List, and in some of those cases it seemed to generate at least a little interest. I had a playtest of Sails and Sorcery scheduled last month with one publisher, but had to reschedule at the very last minute due to a conflict with a work meeting (should be able to have that meeting soon). And I have a different publisher wanting to try Division of Labor.

I'll note that my wife came up with a much better title for Let's Go Balloon Racing, and you can see it above: Balloonatics. In other Balloonatics news, I got Claude AI to create a web-playable version, and it works! I've tried to get it to do Keeping Up with the Joneses and Dynasty as well, with some success (still working out the kinks on those)

"Finished" But Unpublished Games - abandoned or backburnered designs that are "done":
- Crusaders: Crimson Knight (expansion) [not coming soon from Renegade :(]
- Crusaders: Amber Knight (expansion) [not coming soon from Renegade :(]
- Eminent Domain Origins [Ready to print] [trying to find a home]
- Eminent Domain: Chaos Theory (dice game) [Ready for art] [trying to find a home]
- Worker Placement Microgame (KBGames 18 card game jam idea, July 2022)
- Press-Your-Luck Microgame (KBGames 18 card game jam entry, July 2022)
- Wizard's Tower (BGG) [Abandoned]
- Watch It Played [Abandoned]
- Now Boarding [Abandoned]
- Rolling Realms: Jaffee Realms (for Jamey Stegmaier's Rolling Realms)
[- The Sixth Realm (FKA Deities & Demigods) (BGG) (Co-Design with Matthew Dunstan) [Final Frontier Games]]

It still hurts to have Crusaders expansions and EmDo games in this category, but I'm still hopeful they'll find new homes some day. I have a lead for Crusaders, but unfortunately all my leads for EmDo have dried up.

Current Active Designs - these are the games I'm actively testing or working on:
- Dynasty [Risen from the dead!]

The only game of my own I've really been working on lately is simultaneously a new one and one of my oldest... Dynasty: The Spread of Culture in Ancient China is a design that's legitimately 20 years old, and I've finally gotten around to making a fully playable prototype... and I'm happy to report that it works! In fact, I rather enjoy it. I mentioned it in a recent post, but I probably ought to do an in-depth post about that  game. 

Backburnered Designs - I kid myself into thinking that I'm still working on these:
- Eminent Domain: Coalition [solo mode]
- Isle Of Trains: The Board Game (Co-Design with Dan Keltner)
- Kingdom Realms (KBGames 3-lane game jam entry, Nov 2022)
- 18-card Point Salad (KBGames 18-card game jam entry, July 2024)
- Isle of Adventure (Co-Design with Dan Keltner)
- Truck, Boat, Plane
- Peanuts & Crackerjacks

I have moved Truck, Boat, Plane (the game I made with Corbin) and Peanuts & Crackerjacks to this category because they're not games I've really been working on, and I don't really see getting back to them anytime soon.

Promising Recent Ideas:
- Worker-ception [with David Short]
- False Prophet [Mancala/Worker Placement]
- Come And Play [Sesame Street memory/rondel game]
- Candyland Game [Candyland/No Thanks mashup]
- Press Your Luck Candyland [Candyland variant]
- Hanabi Wonders [Hanabi/7 Wonders mashup]
- Stable Genius ["Wingspan of Horses"]
- Eminent Domain: Legacy [campaign mode]
- Which Witch is Which

I've added a new title to this category, which at this point is merely a glimmer of an idea... Which Witch is Which is a simple, maybe kid's level deduction game about a coven of witches, where players will be dealt cards showing different unique witches (some have pointy hats, some don't, some have cats, some have ravens, some have cauldrons, some have jack-o-lanterns, etc), and will have to deduce stuff, like in In the Name of the Rose, or Clue. I'm not sure how they'll go about doing that, but probably some mix of asking questions and passing cards around.

Old Standbys - games which have been around, 1/2 done and untouched, for years:
- 8/7 Central [Abandoned]
- Hot & Fresh [Abandoned]
- Odysseus: Winds of Fate (BGG) [Abandoned]
- Reading Railroad [Abandoned]
- Moctezuma's Revenge [Abandoned]
- Kilauea [a designer showed interest in co-designing, but that didn't go anywhere] [Abandoned]
- Automatown [with Michael Brown] [Abandoned]

Notable that Dynasty moved up to Current Active Designs!

Misc and Really Old Stuff - most of this I'll probably never get back to, but I like keeping it around just in case:
- 9-Ball
- Blockade Runner
- Roman Emperors (my version of someone else's game)
- Admirals of the Spanish Main (my version of someone else's game)
- Scourge of the High Seas [deckbuilding game with 2 center rows]

So sayeth Seth Jaffee around 12:16 AM

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