It started when I was in Junior High School and read the book Interstellar Pig by William Sleator. I loved the plot. In the book, aliens fight to possess an artifact that will allow them to survive the imminent destruction of the universe. I wanted to play the game mentioned in the book, but it didn’t exist. I sat down with a hole punch and a piece of black poster board. I had trails of stars that you could move from planet to planet by rolling a die. Once on the planet, you could search through the envelope of cards hoping to find some beneficial piece of equipment or the Interstellar Pig itself.

Combat took place on graph paper with more rolling and moving. You had to keep track of damage. We tried all kinds of mechanisms to keep track of time. We actually used digital timers at one point.

In past renditions of the game, I had planets move every turn. There were multiple boards at one point. Sometimes there were resources to manage. Victory points and money. I have played a lot of games. Table top gaming has come a long way in the past 30 years. I knew that I wanted a game that was approachable and easy to learn.

Five years ago began the final genesis of this project. My wife had bought me the hardback version of the book for Christmas. After I reread the book I fell in love with it again. It was time to dust off the project and finish it!

I felt like there were so many directions I could go. Maybe I should make a game involving deckbuilding, endless piles of dice, and zombies? Nah The biggest problem was making the game fun! I felt like the envelopes with the cards were important, but that they also took away from the game. Would I make a gameboard with

flaps to place cards under the planets? I was riding my bike home from work with my wife when I had an epiphany.

If the planets were cards, I could put the items directly underneath them! When the universe began to unravel, I could actually remove the cards from the table! I was so inspired! I knew that I had stumbled across the kernel that could make my game great!

Luckily for me Kickstarter had been gaining momentum. I researched how much it would cost to produce the game. I made prototypes so people wouldn’t see my game on index cards. I asked friends of mine who had launched successful (and unsuccessful) projects so I could learn from them. I thought I was ready.

That was TWO YEARS ago! They say that the three rules of game design are playtest, playtest, and playtest. I think that there are six rules of game design and they are playtest, playtest, playtest, playtest, playtest, and finally playtest!

The game has evolved so much! I think it is a great game and most people will enjoy playing it. Even your non-gamer friends! It is light-hearted and fun. It plays quickly and is different every time. I’m not offended if you call it filler or a beer and pretzels game. Those aren’t bad words.

I am proud of this.

– Bryan Corbett