It’s been a busy stretch, full of rule-writing, world-building, balancing headaches, and the occasional breakthrough moment where everything suddenly clicks. I thought it would be nice to sit down and share what’s been happening behind the scenes — the games that have moved forward, the ones that surprised me, and the ideas that are beginning to take shape.
Below is a breakdown of each project — where it stands now, what challenges I’ve hit, and what’s coming next.
“Some projects are almost at their final form — others have grown bigger than I ever expected.”
The racing game — closing in on the finish line
“These rules are very close to feeling like a full, finished game.”
“This is where rules become real — tokens, cards, print sheets, the playable package.”
This one is very close to being complete now. The main rulebook is essentially finished, and it already plays fast, chaotic and tactical. The last stretch is mostly production work:
- Finalising tokens and card layouts
- Compiling the Print-Out-Section
- Making sure everything is clear, readable and game-ready
This phase is surprisingly satisfying — it’s the moment where a game stops being a collection of rules and starts becoming something people can actually hold, print, play and share.
You could insert here: token design preview / card layout screenshot / track mock-ups
I’m especially proud of how movement ended up feeling with a new mechanism or two — sometimes nice and easy, but often risky, a little too much speed and things turn bad really quickly.
Once the last components are slotted into place, it shouldn’t take long to get it ready for release.
Crystalline Wars — magic, summoning, and a much bigger game
“Nine Colleges of Magic now exist — each with their own spells and summonable creatures.”
“Adding troops is tough, but it might transform Crystalline Wars into something far bigger.”
This project grew arms, legs, wings, and possibly a few extra bits of an unknown origin…
The expanded edition now contains nine complete Colleges of Magic, each with its own identity, spell style and summonable creatures. Some magic is destructive, some subtle, some dangerously unstable — but all of it aims to create a wizard skirmish game full of tactical trickery and unpredictable moments.
Alongside that, I’ve been experimenting with something new: regular troops. Adding soldiers to a wizard skirmish dice-less game is proving much harder than I ever expected. They need to matter without overshadowing the wizards, and they need clear battlefield roles that complement magic rather than drown in it and all done without using dice!!
It’s a design puzzle that is causing me a few problems — but it is fun.
I think once that balance is cracked, Crystalline Wars will feel like a truly expansive battle-magic system. A few more iterations should get it there.
Fantasy Rules — ten factions and counting
“What began as three factions has grown into ten fully developed armies.”
“The spell and faction work is huge — but the world finally feels alive.”
Originally the plan was simple: a fantasy rule set with two or three starter factions. But as often happens… ideas snowballed. Hard.
There are now ten fully-developed factions, each with their own flavour, unit options, spell lists and magical items. Some are martial and straightforward, some are tricksy or monstrous, some revolve more around magic rather than steel. It’s been a joy watching them evolve into distinct factions.
The main rules are at a point where I’m happy not to push them too much further without a lot more playtesting. Instead, most of my time is going into building out:
- Spell libraries
- Unit cards
- Magic items and artefacts
- Special abilities for each faction
There’s a lot to write, tweak and refine here — but the framework is strong, and the world is starting to feel alive.
Zombie Rules — the undead return from the drawer
“The Zombie Rules project has finally come to life — messy, hungry, exciting.”
“The campaign section is exploding in size… this may become huge.”
This one is an older project that refused to die. Every so often I’d poke at it, add notes, rewrite a mechanic or two — never quite finishing, but never totally forgetting about it.
Now it’s finally taking shape.
The core rule system is solid, simple, fast to learn, and (to my amusement) surprisingly brutal if you get cornered. The heart of development right now is the scenario and campaign section, and it’s ballooning in size — in the best way (I hope)
I’m building:
- Linked missions / scenarios
- Between mission events that can have dramatic impact on the characters or just simply give them a new mission to attempt
- Resource mechanics
- Campaign rules to keep the characters involved and making each game a way to survive
It’s turning into a proper survival narrative experience rather than a simple skirmish set — and I’m really excited about it.
Hostile Actions – new ideas sparking a possible fresh expansion
“Player suggestions have kicked Hostile Actions back into development.”
“A new expansion is forming — part community ideas, part long-stored concepts.”
This one has quietly gathered momentum thanks to player suggestions. A few people have already shared unit concepts, vehicle ideas and even a scenario pitch — and those contributions have been the perfect fuel to kickstart something new.
I’m now exploring the possibility of a new expansion for Hostile Actions, built from a mix of community proposals and my own notes that never quite made it into the original release.
The main thing will be introducing “aliens” to the game, a new race or two for the GRF and the UEF to fight against, these will have new weapons, new vehicles and even new ways of fighting!
There’s no set shape yet, but the foundations are starting to form:
- Possible new units and vehicles to widen tactical choices
- Scenario ideas that break from standard engagements
- Experimental mechanics that may (or may not!) survive testing
- And of course the aliens!
It’s early days — but very promising.
Want to help shape any of these? I’d love your ideas.
If something sparks your imagination — whether that’s a faction concept, a weird spell idea, a zombie variant or scenario idea, a racer upgrade card or a Crystalline summon — drop it in the comments or come on over to my Discord server (the link is under the Community tab)
Sometimes a single suggestion can open up an entire new route of design.
Thanks for following along — more updates soon, and I’ll share previews, sample pages as each project gets closer to a publishable state.
