Tabletop Games
Tabletop gaming has always been a huge part of my life, from playing board games with my family and growing to making my own board games with my partner in crime and other friends.
Designing tabletop games is an exercise in good UX design, considering the tutorial and onboarding heavily as you can’t rely on a program to guide the player through scripted interactions. While accessibility in tabletop games is even newer than that of video games, there is a lot we can learn from video game accessibility that can be applied to tabletop.
I submitted and moderated a panel on Accessibility in Tabletop for UK Games Expo.
I have won the Moray Game Jam Board Game section in 2016, 2023-2025, and have been runner up in 2018 & 2019.
I co-hosted a video/podcast series with Laura K Buzz called Abletop about tabletop accessibility.
My Tabletop Games
(self published and personal projects)
Trellis
Tabletop Game - Moray Game Jam 2024
A competitive engine building game about nurturing plants.
-
In our 4 person team I helped create the concept for the game and playtest using Tabletop Simulator. I created all the art and layouts for the game, using dual-coding to ensure the game was colour-agnostic and creating a symbol-based language inspired by ‘Fort’ to avoid reliance on reading.
The Monster After Midnight
Tabletop Game - Moray Game Jam 2023
A cooperative resource management game about protecting your hamlet from a night monster.
-
In our 5-person team, I helped with the game design and playtesting, and led the art direction. I created the majority of the assets for the game. The jam theme was “the first line of a book”. We chose the first line of “A Monster Calls” by Patrick Ness; “The monster arrived just after midnight.” The game won the board game category and people’s choice award.
Tableshop
Tabletop Game
A competitive deckbuilding game where players are the owners of fantasy shops.
-
I co-designed this game with my partner. We play tested it remotely using Tabletop Simulator, and then I created all the assets for the game. This game was created over 72 hours for a itch.io game jam.
Communicat
Tabletop Game - Purrposeful Game Jam
Players are challenged to communicate their cat needs to their team using a visual cat-language.
-
I co-designed this game with my partner for the Purrposeful Game Jam presented by Cats Protection and Tentacle Zone Workspace. The game represents the communication between cat and owner, and includes an online companion app to assist gameplay and reduce paper. I created all the art assets for the game.
The Tour of Murder House
Tabletop Game - AGDS Spook Jam 2018
A cooperative dice game where you play as ghosts trying to scare visitors to death!
-
I co-designed this game with my partner and created all the assets for the game. The game was developed at the Spook Jam 2018, hosted by Abertay Game Development Society. The game was designed, tested and produced in 48 hours.
Devoid
Tabletop Game - Moray Game Jam 2019
A strategic narrative game where each player helps to build the story of a characters journey.
-
I co-designed this game with my partner for the Moray Game Jam 2018 in 48 hours. It won Runner Up in the Board Games Category. I was responsible for all the art in the game.
Summit
Tabletop Game - Midsummer Jam 2018
A two player competitive tile-laying game about two bubbles traversing a mountain.
-
My partner and I co-designed this game to the theme of “floating floating”. This game follows the journey of two bubbles floating higher and higher up a mountain. Players use the tiles to build a path using the breeze, and they pop regularly, starting the journey from the bottom again.