Project Type: Designing Alpha Vidiris
Role: Product Manager, Product Designer
Skills: Fusion360, AutoCAD, Project Management, Product Management, Product Design, A/B Testing
A close friend was going through a hard time, and we wanted to create something meaningful and fun for them. The goal: design a completely original board game that was space-themed, supported at least 4 players, encouraged combat but with multiple paths to victory (technology, expansion, strategy), and offered high replay-ability with balanced factions and mechanics.
The game also needed to:
- Feel fun and engaging every time it was played.
- Be balanced, fair, and strategically deep.
- Have high-quality, usable boards and pieces.
Key challenge: We had to create everything from scratch — mechanics, player boards, game tiles, pieces, and usability features — and make sure it held up to real-world play-testing.
- Started by pulling in mechanics from games we enjoyed, then built original mechanics for combat and replay-ability.
- Iterated constantly through play-testing, adding risk-reward layers so players could exploit mechanics — but at a cost.
- Used hex tiles to encourage exploration and combat.
- Solved the problem of tiles shifting (a common issue in hex-based games) by designing Fusion360 tile holders with embedded magnets so the map stayed together on any table.
- Designed 5 core playable actions (with 2 playable at a time), requiring the board to track actions, resources, and power cubes.
- Introduced player card mechanics mid-way, which required additional board storage features.
- Ran A/B testing with players to refine usability.
- Final design: a 3-piece magnetic player board that self-contained tokens, cubes, and cards — highly usable and received excellent player feedback.
Held 15 test sessions, with an iteration after each one. Adjusted:
- Mechanics (risk/reward, combat balance)
- Faction abilities (ensuring balance and unique play styles)
- Player boards (through usability testing without instructions)
Created Alpha Vidiris, a fully playable, balanced, and replay-able board game.
The game was a hit with friends, receiving high satisfaction scores during testing and strong engagement with the final design.
Solved real design pain points in board gaming (hex map drift, usability of player boards).
Built a product from 0 → 1, using a true product mindset (design, test, feedback, iterate).
- Iterative testing is non-negotiable. Every session revealed insights that fundamentally shaped mechanics, boards, and usability.
- Design for real-world use. Small pain points (like tiles sliding) became major opportunities for innovation.
- Balance is ongoing. Perfecting factions, combat, and strategies took multiple iterations and trade-offs.
- Treat passion projects like products. By approaching this as a product, not just a game, we were able to deliver something polished, scalable, and fun.
