Happy New Year! It’s 2025, and I’ve been pretty silent here so far, so I’d like to take some time to look back on what all we were able to accomplish this past year, and look forward to all that we hope to tackle this coming year.
Let’s start with a retrospective of some projects we got to be a part of that happened outside of the Witchway Games umbrella:
Looney Labs: Hundred Acre Wood FLUXX
What an amazing thing to have been a part of! I got to work with the wonderful people at Looney Labs to help bring the wonderful world of the Hundred Acre Wood to the FLUXX Universe. The Looney Labs team wanted a whimsical, watercolor look to the pieces, and aimed to capture the calm and intimate nature of the original illustrations. The team was awesome to work with, and they even included new rules for this edition of FLUXX that allow you to play against your own Stuffed Animal friends! I think they did an amazing job on this game, and you can find it in game stores all over the US.
You can check out the product on their website using the link below:
Magi:Nation: “Traitor’s Reach” Kickstarter
Magi-Nation is a game that has a special place in my heart. I know I did a previous post about it earlier, and that’s largely because it feels like the first trading card game that I actually played, the first decks that I built with intention, and in some ways the start of my whole design journey. I got to illustrate a number of cards as part of this kickstarter revival campaign that ended up funding by over 2,500%+ and it was just so cool to see the love that still exists for this game that hasn’t seen any new content in about 20 years.
You can learn more about the Kickstarter campaign using the link below:
Rustlands Partnership: IRONFLIGHT and our first Crowd Sale
The Rustlands Partnership (Mark Thomas and myself) has really hit the ground flying with our first game and our first Crowd Sale through The Game Crafter. Mark and I worked on this game for a couple years together, we entered it in a contest where it finished as a finalist, and as of writing this post have sold close to 100 copies of the game. IRONFLIGHT is just the beginning of adventure in the Rustlands, and Mark and I have two other games that we are so excited to begin sharing with you soon, and many more on the back-burner.
You can check out the IRONFLIGHT shop page on The Game Crafter using the link below:
You can also join our Facebook community following the Rustlands Partnership using this link:
Alright! Let’s take a look at some of our in-house work now! Some of these games may seem familiar, but there’s some new ones in there that I’m sure you haven’t gotten a sneak peek of just yet!
MECHROMANCERS
MECHROMANCERS! What a journey 2024 has been for this game. We got the closest we’ve ever been to signing a deal with a publisher, and ultimately determined that it wasn’t quite the right fit. That development resulted in a whole new combo system being developed for the game, a VR build being developed by the team at Table Space (check out the video below for a sneak peek), and the decision to head to a crowdfunding campaign this year in 2025.
We’ve already started getting quotes from manufacturers, distribution centers, and marketing and crowdfunding management groups. There is work to be done, but after attending the Boston Festival of Indie Games this past December and being nominated for “Best In Progress Game”, we know that we have to do to push this game across the finish line and are eager to get this game to your table in the most accessible, polished, and affordable way possible. This game is 5+ years in the making, and I think that 2025 is the year to make this happen.
While we are so excited about the games that we already have for sale (Wandering the Whimdark, Full Moon, and Paper Planes), and the games that we’ve re-introduced to the market (Crow Court got a recent re-mastered version), let’s take a look at some of the games that are coming down the line a little bit further out…
MOTHLIGHT: in this game you play as a duo of moths who are being drawn towards the light in the middle of the board. Every turn you have to lay a tile and then move your moth along the path it creates, but your moth will vanish if it flies into the light. Motes of Light will disrupt your paths and act as moving obstacles every turn, how long will your moths last before they go into the light? Initial prototype being ordered soon!
Haunted Harvest: This two player spacial deckbuilding battler pits you pitchfork to pitchfork against another farmer, where you try to raise haunted crops and then harvest them in order to gain the favor of the Harvest Moon! Plants bloom in different numbers of turns, so plan your timing wisely, and be on the looking for helpful items and harmful pests that can disrupt your patch! Initial prototype is pictured below, the ratio of pests/plants/tools needs to be changed, and figuring out what that looks like without dramatically increasing the cost is going to take some figuring out.
Pains of Glass: We have made it closer and closer with this game year by year. I don’t know if 2025 is the year that we’ll find the exact balancing needed to put this game together, there may need to be some more expensive components that need to be prototyped out before we can really take the game to the next level, and we’re currently in discussions with someone to see what getting something like that set up would look like, so hopefully some more updates soon!
Goblin Throne: We have already made updates since these pictures were taken, but our Yahtzee inspired dueling game is off to a great start! Rolling dice, acquiring goals, and adding members to your Court while unlocking new ways to manipulate your own (or your opponents’) dice has been a blast in this highly thematic and visceral dice chucking and set collection game. Handmade prototype has been playtested several times, POD alpha prototype being ordered for further testing soon.
Fables of Inkwood: A game recently coming back to the development table, in Fables of Inkwood you play as some of your favorite fairytale characters, but this time their story is yours to tell. In this expandable set collection game you will spend pages to complete story arcs of your own design. Gain bonus points for successfully adding a Twists, and mitigate the disruption that Villains bring to your story! Which Fable will gain the most Renown, and which one will see its pages closed for the last time? Initial prototype being ordered very soon!
Princess Pet Parade: This delightful little set collection game was developed between myself and my oldest child. The goal was to make a fun, simple, thematic game focusing on pattern recognition and some simple math to bring a fun, flavorful experience to the table that could be shared with a younger audience. I’ll be posting more about this game in the coming year, and the “spinoff” game Digicatch Creatures was developed as a re-skinned version of the game with an aesthetic and graphic design update that I thought would appeal more to my youngest kiddo. Initial prototypes have been bought and playtested, stay tuned for more information on this game in the near future!
Alright! Let’s talk about some Site Stats! For how little I updated this site I’m so grateful for the attention our work has received. With hundreds of visitors from all over the world checking out our games, and hundreds of downloads of our free “Print and Play” (PnP) games like Full Moon and Crow Court, I continued to be blown away by it all. Thank you so much for sticking with us, and I have high hopes for what the end of year recap for 2025 will look like in 12 months time.
2024 was a momentous year for our game design journey, and I think we’ll see the fruits of all that labor really come to light in 2025. The Rustlands Partnership will debut some new things, I will still be working more with the Duelworks team on future Magi-Nation projects, and as you can see from this post we have plenty of exciting things to share with you (and more we haven’t been able to share just yet), so stick around, grab a coffee or tea, and buckle up for what I sincerely believe will be our most exciting year yet.
Happy new year all, and wishing you all the best from the Witchway Games family.
Sincerely,
Eric
Witchway Games 