.Greed of the Wyrm is a short game of scales and strategy designed to be learned and played in fifteen minutes or less. Players assume the role of two dragons terrorizing local villages and competing to amass a larger hoard of gold. They must move from village to village in search of treasure whilst avoiding each other’s destructive dragon breath and blocking each other’s paths. After designing the initial prototype of the game for an introductory game design class at Miami University, I refined the rules and did further playtesting before collaborating with artist Leo Nicholson to create the final print and play version that is now available on itch.io as of December 2023,
The Objectives:
Greed was very much a case of building a game around a theme. The prompt for the assignment the original prototype was answering called for a simple board game that could be learned and played in roughly fifteen minutes, and my mind had lately been captivated with visions of dragons. That initial notion to do “a game about dragons” would serve as the focal point of everything I set out to do with this game.
The Process:
Following on from my notion of theming the game around dragons, I created a list of verbs and active ideas that came to mind when considering the mythical beasts. From this list I narrowed to a few that seemed critical (“hoarding”, “breathing fire”, etc.) and used those as a place of inspiration for the game’s mechanics. The satisfaction of draconic destruction is captured in the “Dragon’s Breath” action that allows players to burn through villages in pursuit of their opponent, and the ability to craft and manipulate blockades showcase the legendary cunning of the beasts. After several rounds of playtesting to refine the rules I brought on friend and frequent collaborator to create the art for the game, working with him to develop the aesthetic and overall visual feel before releasing the final print and play version.