Projects 2025

1st Quarter: Generations

What started as a boardgame about the World Heritage city of Karlskrona for a scholarship developed into a joint project with fellow designer Anton Skott and result was the game Generations. It was accepted for the first Swedish design contest SAGA at the game convention LinCon.

2nd Quarter: WODC

For the sixth consecutive year, Nova Suecia Games enters the World Original Design Contest of Board Game. This year's WODC has a family orientation so the family game The Mara and the nine cards game Cheese Chase, a simplified version of the eighteen cards game Comrade, will represent us.

In The Mara is a family game set in the national reserve of Maasai Mara. It combines child-friendly mechanics like deduction, memory and pick-up and delivery with a healthy dose of randomness to provide a fun experience for the entire family.

Cheese Chase still has Comrade's mechanic of social deduction and shifting roles but with a more streamlined gameplay (players take turns to switch cards) and a family theme (cats and mice instead of informers and dissidents).

3rd Quarter: Tabletop Game Expo

We will host playtesting sessions at Tabletop Game Expo.

Let us know if you will be there and want to test any of our games.

4th Quarter: 19XX

18XX has been a black hole in the Nova Suecia Games collection but not any more. This respected genre has seen many novelties already but we have finally found an idea of our own to pursue. This idea is a "reversed 18XX", where the map is already filled by a big National Railway and where the players' small companies only have license to run shorter tracks. However, the rail market is about to be deregulated and the players compete to carve out the most profitable tracks for themselves. Other novelties include a public track company, which the players may manipulate to improve the tracks, as well as mergers, which will eventually end up with a new but privately owned National Railway.

Abandoned projects

Social Tourist

Social Tourist is a satirical game where the players take on the roles of politicians aiming at reducing immigration. The game was designed as a reaction to the ongoing real "game" where European politicians compete with each other to introduce obstacles for immigrants. The name derives from a statement by Swedish Prime Minister Göran Persson in 2004, where he argued for regulations against workers from new EU member countries.

The game uses a double auction system, similar to Fair Trade, where players have to balance money and victory points by bidding to buy the lowest immigration cards and then selling them to each other.

Unfortunately the game turned out to be too blatant both for satirical publishers like Vildhallon and for innovatie contests like Fastaval so the game is not likely to ever be produced.

Navigare Necesse Est

Navigare Necesse Est is an extension of the Foundation core mechanic of bumping own workers and converting resources into higher levels by adding an area majority mechanic as well. As the name indicates, the game is set in the Ancient Mediterranean World.

Unfortunately the game did not make it to Fastaval so for now I'll focus on the simpler Foundation.

Ongoing projects

Reviews

Nova Suecia Games will continue reviewing other games in The Quest for the Perfect Game. Is there a particular game that you would like us to review next? Please let us know!

External tests

Nova Suecia Games tested games like Britannia, Chicago Mobsters (the new version of Britannia), Crusader Kings and Tales from the Loop during the past years. Is there a particular game that you would like us to test next? Please let us know!

Future ideas

Le Morte d'Arthur

Le Morte d'Arthur has the ambition of becoming an epic game. The word "epic" does not mean a long or a complex game but rather a game that conveys a feeling to the players, a feeling of a story being told and of characters rising and falling as the story evolves. The game would have to be a combination of a board game and a role playing, rich enough for an epic feeling but smooth and simple enough for a game play of less than 2 hours. Le Morte d'Arthur is still only an idea but the following elements are considered:

Theme: Le Morte d'Arthur used as "bible" for game components, aiming at using as much as possible from the book
Story: Events are randomized to build a story of wars and quests that the players will have to respond to
Characters: Knights and damosels gain arms/craft and virtues/skills that make them stronger
Realm: Knights and damosels gain land to develop in terms of economy and military
Simulation: Enemies and quests are simulated to to create a common goal
Motives: Players are rewarded with positive courtesy points and punished with negative courtesy points that eventually will cause a split between good and evil
Rotating roles: Rotating roles assume "game master" functions so that game secrets may be kept (such as how much each player is rewarded)
Cooperation: Player cooperate to accomplish wars and quests and are rewarded (or punished) based on their contribution and may even marry to increase power
Competition: Players may challenge each other and even wage wars against each other
Final judgement: Good and evil players fight a final battle to determine the winner

Le Morte d'Arthur will mainly be an extension of Knights & Damosels (theme, story, characters, rotating roles, final judgement) but also include elements from Nova Suecia (realm), Tre Kronor Infernum (simulation), Vasa Regalis (cooperation) and Bellum se ipsum alet (competition). Feedback from the old games will be collected and used in the development of this new game. Just like the game session is supposed to evolve slowly, the game design will evolve slowly until all parts are tuned to fit and the whole is mature.

Further ideas

Do you have a game idea that you would like to see realized? Contact us at nicholas.hjelmberg@gmail.com for a discussion!

Please leave a comment on the games or contact me directly at nicholas.hjelmberg@gmail.com.