It's always been a dream of mine to design and develop my own games. As a writer, the whole creative process and world building appeals hugely to me. When I heard that a local games designer was running a workshop on the process, I couldn't sign up quickly enough. This is my journey so far, utilising the methods outlined by Kedric Winks.

I already had an aesthetic in mind, and creating a concept around it came naturally. I love the whole creepy-cute thing, that kind of Tim Burton-esque feel, and I knew I wanted the players to be skeletons. For this stage in the project, I've simply used images available on Canva to create a working prototype, with a plan to get the game properly designed and finessed before a Kickstarter launch. I found the kind of images I was looking for and set about getting started.

First, I had to decide what the objective would be, and how it would be achieved. What mechanics did I want to employ? I sat down and thought about what I wanted to create and what I liked and disliked about other games. I knew I wanted a game where the players had to create a map as they went, thus making every game different and unpredictable. I also knew I wanted to include cards to give opportunity for more player interaction. Slowly, ideas were beginning to form. I decided the objective of the game would be to explore a town and collect body parts and gold coins, and that it would be player v player rather than a co-op. I was poised on the brink of creative brilliance. . .

And then.

Disaster struck.

I was sidelined with salmonella poisoning for a whole week. Instead of actually resting and concentrating on getting well, I harnessed the power of the fever dream and designed every single location tile and card I needed. Somehow, they came out pretty well.

As soon as I was well again, I got myself back into the shop to tweak things, laminate things, and give myself blisters cutting things out (seriously, scissor blisters hurt!). Within a day, I had a workable prototype, and the first draft of the rules. I'm moving on to the test play stage now, and after the first few games, I've already got a really useful list of little tweaks to make. If you're reading this and thinking it sounds fun, get in touch and come and test play it! I'd really love your input and I'll even give you coffee and biscuits if you do. Plus, anyone who does volunteer their time to test play will be entered into a draw to win a free copy of the game once its been produced.

- Bex