About the Designers
Everyone involved in the making of this game is originally from the North Shore of Massachusetts - a place known for its nautical contributions to the world. In fact, it is the birthplace of the American Navy and is still home to the famous "Old Ironsides". So exploration and appreciation of the ocean, along with the dangers it brings is baked into our DNA. So this game is a natural extention of what we all grew up learning about in school, and experiencing on a first hand basis. We are very proud of the details we have included in this game, but we promise that we didn't let our intimate knowledge of these things make the game unapproachable for those without that upbringing!
Alex MacLeod - Cameron MacLeod - Nick Steglich - Lucretia Seabrook
Here is a little about each of us, with some examples of games we like and some of our influences:
Alex Macleod
Like the rest of the team, I was raised and still live in Essex County of Massachusetts. Much of the county is in many ways defined by its connections to the sea. Woodman’s famous fried clams, and New England clam chowder are among the delicacies that can be enjoyed. And my personal connection to the is not merely as a landsman, experienced from the shore, but also out on the ocean. Many of my earliest and favorite childhood memories are of summers spent on my father’s boat, a cabin cruiser by Bayliner christened “Skye High,” after the MacLeod clan’s ancestral Isle of Skye in the inner Hebrides of Scotland. My father likes to reminisce that he has taken that boat “from Martha’s Vineyard to Boothbay Harbor, and everywhere in between.” From the time I was an infant, I was part of the crew on many of those trips, but the ones I remember most fondly are of exploring mysterious islands off of Cape Ann with my younger brother Cameron, and going into harbors along the way for Captain Dusty’s Ice Cream in Manchester, or to tour the shops along Bearskin Neck in Rockport. From the shore, the family also had many beautiful local beaches to choose from, the favorite of ours being Crane Beach in Ipswich. When I became an obsessive cyclist as a teenager, I gained access to even more isolated beaches to explore where there was no public parking.
Many of my other hobbies have played a part in preparing me for the creative details of this game. My love of art, wildlife, nature, and hiking have all influenced my development of the thematic and aesthetic content of Sea Commander™. Years of backpacking experience around the country have strengthened my familiarity with map design, which has aided in the design of the map based game board. As an avid birdwatcher and banjo picker, I pride myself on having an acute attention to detail, which I have tried to make use of in all aspects of the design and production of Sea Commander ™. This game has been a dream of mine for many years, and I want the very best for this project. Every detail must be perfect. This extends to my selection of members of the Sea Commander™ team.
Of course, as a co-designer of the original game, my brother Cameron would be a member of the team. Once work on the revised version of the game had begun, it became immediately apparent what a valuable and truly gifted member of the design team Cameron was and is! Well versed in the intricacies of a variety of tabletop strategy games, Cameron has been the source of a wealth of ingenious ideas for improving even some of the most basic mechanics of the game. He had the experience of a multitude of other tabletop games behind him when he challenged even an assumed staple of six-sided dice and predicted the benefits of swapping to eight-sided dice instead. Such a simple change made a surprisingly significant and noticeable improvement in almost all aspects of game play. He also made brilliant adjustments to how the ships are used in the game. This not only solved several earlier problems, but also allowed it to break away from a fairly straightforward treasure hunt with battles and suddenly emerge as an advanced and varied strategy game. Any time something wasn’t working well, Cameron came up with a handful of potential solutions to test. During the time we have been working on the revision, Cameron has largely been responsible for taking what I had initially created (a good game) and making it what it is today (a great game.)
But even early on I recognized that the ability to create even the most brilliant game concept, however well designed, might not be enough to bring us to the next level of serious recognition. We also would need the resources and ability to create a great physical product, starting with an impressive series of prototypes. I could think of no one better suited to the task than Nick Steglich. Nick is an amazing and accomplished graphic designer whom I had previously worked with within the band the Tree House Charlatans. My experience with him showed him to be none other than a diligent and dedicated worker, reflecting my own attention to detail and the good-old-fashioned value to produce, first-and-foremost, a great product that we could be proud of. I also know Nick to have a good head for marketing. Early on, Nick was suggesting that we reinvent the game to allow up to 6 players to boost the games potential in the long run. In choosing to add Nick to the original MacLeod duo, I was considering that he was talented, capable, and more importantly, a friend.
Our product is a game, not some new piece of technology, or miracle health supplement. The point is to have fun, and share time with friends and family. As such, I think the kind of product we are working on is better created among friends and family than in a group of unfamiliar business partners. This game was truly created, and first tested, by exactly the type of people who we envisioned would be\ buying and enjoying this game in the future. That, I think, has made all the difference, in evolving a game that will exceed expectations, and fill a need in the\ tabletop game community.
Games Alex likes:
Alex’s influences/list of books and movies that fans of the game might enjoy
Books:
Movies:
Cameron MacLeod
Games Cameron Likes:
Nick Steglich
Nick was added to the mix after becoming friends with Alex through mutual friends, musical endeavors such as The Tree House Charlatans, and then because of a mutual love of gaming and creating fun and exciting products. Nick is an artist, designer, sign maker, project manager, animator, web guru, photographer and lover of all things that fall somewhere between computers and artwork. So he has been responsible for a lot of the packaging design, board graphics, card layouts, prototyping, and marketing materials, including this here website. Yeah, its me.. talking in the third person. Anywho, Nick hails from Marblehead, MA originally. Marblehead boasts the "best sailing harbor in the United States", and now he lives in Gloucester, MA which is of course the home of "Wicked Tuna" and Gorton's Seafood. You really can't get closer to the ocean than this without actually living on a boat. And having been an artist all of his life, he has a lot of ideas about how it all should look. Nick was also a teacher for a while, for a 3D Modeling and Animation class at UMass Amherst, where he learned (and taught) designing in 3D, which in turn has lent itself to the design and 3D printing of our pieces. At that time, he was also working at a small design firm, and has typeset several books and designed a wide range of layouts for various products, making him the obvious choice to do all of the layout for the game. And he currently works for a sign shop, designing, fabricating and installing vinyl graphics on various substrates, which has allowed him to print early working versions of the board and tokens, bringing a finished-product feel to the otherwise infant game.
In his other life, Nick spends his time working on his house, building useful items, making art, playing music, and spending as much time with his daughters, Cora and Kiera, his girlfriend, Amber, and all of his friends and family that are within reach. As aforementioned, Nick is also a lover of board and card games, and has designed his own versions of Monopoly and The Settlers of Catan in the past, but never had a chance to work on an original game before. So this project is particularly exciting for him. To get a sense of his influences and what you might find in the game, here are a few things that Nick loves:
Board/Card Games:
- The Settlers of Catan
- Dixit
- Carcasonne
- Sushi GO!
- Exploding Kittens
- Dutch Blitz
- Phase 10
- Tikal
Lucretia Seabrook
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