Hamster Valley
The morning sun rises above the still green and lush valley. The sun rays glimpses through between the mountain peaks to the east, melting the frosty grass along the hillsides. A soft but distinct gnawing noise can be heard, emanating from within the sparse undergrowth. Suddenly, a furry head appears from a small hole in the ground. Isn’t that…a hamster?
She raises her head and sniffs with her nose in the air, possibly checking for threats or intruders. Hamsters are very territorial and will defend their territories fiercely. At first glance, she looks just like any regular cage-biting hamster. However, this particular specie seem to have developed some unique abilities, almost human-like, only confirmed by occasional rumors told in the villages within this remote area. As to confirm the story, the hamster suddenly brings out something resembling a monocle from within her thick fur, holding it in her small paw and then slowly putting it in front of her eye. For a brief moment, she stares at something in front of her and then quickly bends down to collect a few seeds from the ground. She continues down the hill, collecting more seeds as she runs.
It is in the middle of July but at this altitude of almost 5000 meters the mornings are already cold. The hamster picks up her pace. She knows there’s some stressful weeks ahead. Collecting seeds and insects. Defending her territory. Winter is approaching.
Game overview
A deceptive cute tableau builder with teeth – build your engine, fight for territory, and ascend the Temple in a tight 16-round struggle for survival.
1-4 Players 60-90 min 10+ years
Genre/Categories: Tableau Building / Area Control / Resource Management
Hamster Valley blends the satisfying engine construction of a Eurogame with the direct conflict and excitement of an area control game. Don’t let the adorable theme fool you; winter is coming, and only the most strategic hamster will survive with the fullest burrow.
Players take on the role of anthropomorphic hamsters gathering supplies for the approaching winter. Through a unique “Stance” card system, you will manage resources, expand your burrow, and engage in fierce—but forgiving—battles for control of the valley’s territories and the mysterious Temple.
Game Goal
The overall objective is to score the most points by the end of the 16th round (Winter). Points are earned by:
Stockpiling Food: Collecting sets of Food cards in your Burrow.
Temple Ascension: Advancing your Devotion level and unlocking Sacred Recipes in the central Temple.
Collecting Items: Gaining powerful Item cards to boost your Stances in unique ways, while also providing additional points.
What’s Unique
The Evolving Stance System: Forget static worker placement. Players manage a hand of 6 Action Cards, playing one per turn into a specific “Stance” slot. The Stance determines which extra actions trigger. As the game progresses, players collect new abilities to add to their Stances, allowing them to craft a highly customized, asymmetrical action engine unique to their strategy.
Engine Building with Bite: Unlike “multiplayer solitaire” games, Hamster Valley drives inevitable interaction. Players vie for Territory Tiles that provide powerful passive bonuses. While early tiles can be snatched from the board, supplies are limited; once they run out, the only way to expand is to battle other players to steal them.
“Fierce but Forgiving” Combat: The conflict system (driven by Fight Cards with hidden strength) encourages aggression without wrecking the loser’s game state. Winners gain territory control and immediate rewards, but a lost fight never destroys a player’s energy engine. This ensures players can fight fearlessly without being knocked out of the running.
The Temple Race: A central “King of the Hill” mechanic adds a vertical layer of strategy to the horizontal territory war. Players race to defeat the Temple Cat and ascend levels of Enlightenment and unlock sacred recipes for powerful end-game bonuses.
Target Audience
This game is for hobbyist gamers who love the satisfying puzzle of games like Ark Nova or Everdell but crave more of the direct player interaction in games like Blood Rage or Scythe. It bridges the gap between “cute animal games” and “heavy strategy,” appealing to players who want a crunchy mental challenge wrapped in an inviting theme.
Design Goals
1. Tension Through Time Pressure (The “Winter Countdown”)
Goal: Create a tight, efficiency-based puzzle.
Implementation: With a fixed 16-round structure, players cannot stall to build a mega-engine. Players must feel the pressure of the approaching Winter, forcing them to prioritize immediate tactical gains versus long-term investments.
2. Interactive Engine Building (No “Multiplayer Solitaire”)
Goal: To ensure that optimizing your engine requires constant situational awareness, rather than just looking at your own player board.
Implementation: Interaction is driven by scarcity and timing across multiple systems:
Territory Tiles: A specialized strategic path for powerful immediate bonuses. Since tiles are limited, players must time their moves to snatch them before rivals do.
The Temple Race: Competition for a limited pool of Sacred Recipes and the unique rewards for defeating the Temple Cat.
Direct Effects: Specific hamster abilities that directly affect opponents.
Result: Success depends on reading the table state and executing tactical strikes to seize opportunities before they disappear.
3. Player-Created Asymmetry
Goal: Allow players to “design” their own playstyle dynamically.
Implementation: Asymmetry isn’t just handed out at the start; it is built. By combining specific Item Cards, collecting Extra Action Tiles to slot into Stances, and unlocking their Hamster’s one unique latent ability, players craft a custom faction (e.g., a Temple Specialist vs. a Territory Warlord) differently in every game.
4. Positive-Sum Conflict
Goal: High aggression without “feel-bad” destruction.
Implementation: Combat dictates ownership of bonuses, not the destruction of them. The loser gets a consolation reward (a free Fight card) and keeps their core card engine intact. This lowers the barrier for entry into combat for Euro-gamers.
5. Hierarchical Scoring (Thematic Focus)
Goal: To maintain winter survival (Food) as the primary objective, supported by strategic multipliers rather than “point salad” equality.
Implementation: Scoring follows a clear hierarchy:
1. Primary Source (Burrow): Collecting sets of Food is the mathematical backbone of victory.
2. Strategic Multipliers (Recipes): Sacred Recipes are the semi-essential secondary tier. They provide combo scoring and unique end-game objectives. While players have flexibility in how many they pursue (2–6), ignoring them entirely makes victory difficult.
3. Tactical Utility (Items & Devotion): Items are primarily tools for combat strength and action efficiency, offering only minimal VP (1–2). Similarly, increasing Devotion Level is an optional race for advantages, not a mandatory requirement for winning.
6. “Crunchy” Strategic Weight
Goal: A satisfying mental puzzle for experienced gamers.
Implementation: Aiming for a “Medium-Heavy” weight (3.0–3.5/5 complexity). The teach time is roughly 15-20 minutes to cover the nuance of Stance mechanics and card interactions. The focus is on the depth of the decision space rather than simple family accessibility.
Development status and what’s next
I am about halfway through the roadmap to a finished game. I have locked in the core mechanics after several rounds of internal playtesting with friends and family. I have what I believe to be a very strong theme that interacts nicely with the game mechanics. Now enhanced further by the amazing prototype miniatures by woodlandminiatures (Hampus Björk).
Please let me know if you would like to help me playtest! I have a digital version ready on Tabletop Simulator which makes it easy to organize playtests. I will be forever grateful 🙂
- Early design work and playtesting
- Core mechanics
- Overall theme and concept art
- First version of the miniatures – sculpting and 3d-printing
- Develop the stances
- Initial closed playtesting
- Refine digital prototype (TTS)
- Refine the mechanics
- Develop the hamster’s unique abilities
- Open playtesting
- Balancing and further development
- Refine the miniatures
- Rulebook
- Blind playtesting
- Final artwork and components
Prototype images
Dystopolis – The city of infinite greed
Dystopolis is a strategic board game for 2-5 players that takes about 90 minutes to play. The theme of the game is a not-so-distant future where the free market has run amok and resulted in a decadent society. Everyone is busy seeking instant pleasures or mesmerizing power. As a player you belong to the new capitalistic elite in the mega-city Dystopolis. The aim is to outmaneuver your rivals through clever investments and by maximizing the rewards from your companies. The money is used to shamelessly bribe your opponents into obedience. If that fails, you can still try to purge your rivals’ investments or even take over threatening companies – as long as the voting is in your favor!
The game mechanics consists of an interesting mix between area control, stock holding and economic negotiation through bribes and bidding. The strategy is centered around the placement of company tiles and investment tokens.
Status: Design, Art and Development finished. Play-tested. Not in production.
For more info, see dystopolis.se.
Typhoon Tower – Block Stacking
A unique physics-based puzzle game focusing on tower building by stackning blocks. For Android. Available for free on Google Play soon!
Help Jessie catch the evil Carbon dioxide and proceed upwards towards the sky. Are your tower building skills enough to handle the increasingly powerful wind and the crazy popcorn rains?
Learn how to use each building block’s unique characteristics to your advantage. Several different ways to complete the levels. Use as few blocks as possible to earn three stars. Collect diamonds and use these to upgrade your blocks and activate powerful boosters to help you through all the challenging levels.
FEATURES
•Realistic physics. Use the blocks’ different characteristics to your advantage!
•Activate powerful boosters to aid you!
•New challenging levels added regularly!
•Collect diamonds and use them to acquire new boosters!
Status: Finished in 2015 (previously Carbon Tower). Recently ported and tweaked to work on newer Android version. Waiting approval for new listing on Google Play on Android.