Skills
Branding
Logo Design
Creative Direction
Project Management
Product Launch
Packaging
Web Design
Art
Illustration
Layout
Copywriting
Accessible Design
Slide decks
Photography
Overview
Context
Lunar Base is a 2–6 player strategy card game where players compete to build the most formidable moon base. Starting from your base station, players expand by connecting module cards with matching orb halves. Win the space race by achieving one of four victory conditions: growing your colony, advancing scientific research, amassing lunar credits, or gaining influence. With high replayability, easy setup, adjustable difficulty, and quick playtime, Lunar Base packs satisfying depth into a compact, portable game box—creating an easy to learn yet challenging to master experience.
Problem
At Plepic Games we were a new team launching our first-ever board game into a highly competitive market. With no prior experience in game publishing, we had to navigate everything from crowdfunding and community building to branding, marketing strategy, print production, distribution, and getting into retail—learning the entire industry as we went.
Solution
Delivered an end-to-end solution across all visual aspects of the game—designing the brand identity, game assets, web presence, and marketing materials. Ran a successful Kickstarter campaign in 2020 to secure funding, and oversaw the full print production process. Delivered the finished game to over 2,000 backers worldwide and seeing continued success through retail sales.
Challenges
The Plepic Games team was new to the board game world, and the scale of work was unlike anything we had tackled before. Our core challenges included:
Goals
To bring Lunar Base from concept to launch, we set design, production, and community-building goals that would guide us through every phase of the project:
My Role
Lead Designer & Artist
I joined Lunar Base as a graphic designer and artist to create all the visual assets for the game. I led design from concept to production across the full range of physical and digital materials. As a passion project, Lunar Base gave me the opportunity to expand my role beyond design—into marketing strategy, community building, crowdfunding, and hands-on game testing and QA.
What began in late 2018 as a side project has evolved into a space-mission-worthy journey. Over the core three years of development, I dedicated 550+ hours to bringing the game to life—and continue to support it today as it reaches new players in retail.
🌙
Designed the full visual identity – logo, color palette, typography, visual style and art style
🃏
Created all game components – cards, rulebook, counters, box
👁️
Built an iconography system for shorthand communication on game components
✍️
Developed the brand voice across all written materials
📆
Set up a project management system for managing design feedback loops
👍
Collaborated on crafting a social media plan and posting schedule
📰
Wrote and designed press kits, sell sheets, and presentations for events and retailers
🌐
Designed the marketing website for pre-Kickstarter launch visibility
🖨️
Delivered press-ready files for mass production
📦
Packaging design for the game box—dimensions, closure, and interior/exterior artwork using dielines.
🚧
Reviewed print samples and worked with our manufacturer to troubleshoot issues
🎁
Selected materials, finishes, bindings for all print assets
📸
Shot and edited product photos for promotional materials
🎥
Contributed to script writing for promo videos
💸
Owned Kickstarter design and content — visuals, page layout, copy, and updates
🖼️
Designed visual assets for all social media platforms
Team
Game Development
Video/Sound/3D
Admin & Operations
Art & Graphic Design
Rule Book Copywriting
Research
As a designer, working in an unfamiliar industry or with new subject matter isn't a blocker—it's part of the project brief. I immersed myself in the board game space through research and hands-on play to understand our audience, our product, and how to bring it to market.
🌛
Understanding Lunar Base
Thoroughly familiarising myself with Lunar Base through multiple playthroughs at different player counts
Actively taking part in the game development and testing process.
Taking notes and giving feedback to the team when I noticed unclear mechanics or rules, edge cases, or opportunities for improvements.
🖼️
Game Design Landscape
Playtesting games with similar mechanics, themes, or formats.
Studying layout patterns, iconography and readability in other card games.
Exploring how other games handle compact packaging and portability.
Researched material choices and print finishes used in other games.
💰
Crowdfunding Campaigns
Analyzing successful Kickstarter campaigns in the tabletop games category
Understanding common pitfalls behind failed Kickstarter campaigns
👍
Best Practices
Reading articles / blogs and watching videos by industry leaders such as Stonemaier Games.
What started as hobby idea between friends grew into a fully realized project over the next three years. That journey culminated in one giant leap for our game—launching Lunar Base on Kickstarter.
We didn’t have all the answers at the start, but we were able to learn, adapt, and steadily move from concept to prototype.
November
Game Idea
Gathering of friends in Estonia led to setting the goal of creating a portable card game together.
December
First DIY Prototype
Created the first hand drawn sketch of the game. It wasn't very fun at this point and lacked interesting mechanics.
Jan - June
Early Game Development
Exploring game mechanics, themes, and iterating with DIY digital prototypes done in google draw.
July - Oct
Early Playtesting
Unleashed homemade prototype on any and all willing friends, family and co-workers.
Nov
Design Pitch
I joined the team and created the first rough design proposal exploring the visual direction and style for the game.
Jan - June
Iterations
Continued developing the game in parallel to iterating on the designs.
July
First Design Prototype
First fully designed deck of cards and credit counters went to print to kick off the next round of game testing. Game rules were still just an A4 sheet and we had no game box yet.
August
Video Production
Assembled a video / sound / 3D effects team to create a series of videos in preparation for the crowdfunding campaign.
Winter
Internal Testing
During the holidays our team put the game through its paces. Steamlining the deck from 120 down to 80 cards, and testing its portability and ease of use.
External Testing
Countless rounds of external testing at our respective work offices, friend circles, and board game cafes. To understand how people learned the game, what worked, what people struggled with, and what we needed to improve to create a better user experience.
Jan-July
Final Stretch
Preparation for the Kickstarter campaign: website, social media, Kickstarter page, reaching out to influencers.
Print Sample
Small prototype print run of the full game. Cards, credit counters, and rulebook were in a designed MVP state. The box was a temporary solution due to the limitations of local small-run print options.
August
August 4th 2020 our target date for launching a 30-day crowdfunding campaign on Kickstarter.
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Kickstarter Teaser Video - note the game components were still in a prototype stage at this point. Art and design assets were finalized after the Kickstarter campaign.
Iterations
A behind-the-scenes look at where design met manufacturing reality—exploring alternative directions, pivots, and the prototyping process that shaped the final product. I worked closely with our print manufacturer, LongPack Games, through multiple rounds of samples to select materials, print finishes, and game box construction—while troubleshooting a range of production challenges along the way.
Project Management
I set up Asana as our internal project management tool to streamline feedback cycles and version control. For the game cards alone, we tracked over 90 tasks with 5–8 design iterations each.
Card Design Development
First DIY card deck - created in Google Draw by the team during early development, before I joined the project.
First designed card deck - I established a visual system—building templates, layout rules, icon placement, and hierarchy for each card type.
Placeholder Art - I used placeholder artwork to quickly output a full playable deck—enabling the team to run external playtesting while I continued developing the art and design in parallel.
Card Design Timelapse - visual walkthrough of the entire design development cycle for each card type, showing how their design direction, templates, artwork, and elements evolved from initial drafts to final designs.
Packaging Troubleshooting - one of the print samples arrived with severely curved cards. After investigating with our manufacturer, we traced the issue to overly tight plastic wrap. LongPack Games adjusted the packaging process to resolve it for the final production run.
Color Troubleshooting - another print sample revealed color discrepancies in the blue card backs. I flagged the issue, and LongPack Games implemented additional quality checks to ensure color consistency in the final print run.
Credit Counter Development
Version 1 - initial DIY credit counters created in Google Draw by the team for early prototyping and playtesting.
Version 2 - first designed version I created, using DIY printing and assembly to improve the external playtesting experience.
Version 3 - printed with proper cardboard backing, but the glossy finish cheapened the look and made rotation difficult. The layout also didn’t fit well with the binding.
Final Version - I overhauled the design with a larger cutout for better number visibility and switched to a smooth matte finish for improved rotation and feel in hand.
Rulebook Development
Research - referenced rulebooks from other games to inform our own rulebook’s size, format, and binding.
Scale vs. Cards - chose to base the rulebook dimensions on 2 side-by-side game cards for consistency and portability.
Binding Quality Control - (bottom) early print sample with poor saddle stitching vs. (top) final version with improved binding quality.
Before vs. After -(top) initial print sample prone to tearing vs. (bottom) final version with heavier paper stock and improved coating finish.
Game Box Development
Planning - Measured all game components (cards, rulebook, counters) to define box dimensions, aiming to keep the game as compact as possible.
Insert Troubleshooting - The first insert was made of plastic and stacked all the cards on one side and counters on the other, taking up too much of our limited space.
Structural Challenge - The insert was too bulky and tall, which meant the rulebook couldn't fit. I had to rethink the insert structure to avoid increasing the box size.
Space-Efficient Solution - The redesigned insert, made of black card, fit the split card deck and stacked counters while taking up less overall space.
Finalized Insert - The new insert was made intentionally shorter than the box height to provide level support for the rulebook resting on top of the components.
Foil Print Samples - Reviewed several samples to pick the best foil finish for the box. We selected the middle one for its eye-catching holographic effect.
Troubleshooting Magnetic Lid - worked with our manufacturer to fix a box closure issue I encountered on one of the print samples. The left box shows the intended satisfying snap of the magnetic lid vs. the right shows the lid hanging propped open.
It's all coming together…
Final Print Sample - LongPack Games (our manufacturing partner) delivered the last polished print sample for us to check before commencing mass production.
Design Decisions
Designing Lunar Base was never a solo mission—my design decisions were informed by real-world constraints, feedback, and iteration. From defining the brand identity to designing gameplay visuals within tight production specs, nothing was created in a vacuum. Every choice was pressure-tested through team reviews, external playtesting, and input from our community on social media and Kickstarter—ensuring we were building the right thing, not just making it look good.
Developing the Brand
One of my first tasks after joining the Plepic Games team was to create the branding and visual identity for Lunar Base. This section showcases the development of the logo, color palette, typography, tone of voice, and overall visual style that shaped the game's personality.
Thematic Logo - The movement in the logo reminiscent of a rocket trail visually hints at the moon colonization theme. Leading the eye from the base of the "n" to the circular moon poised on the crescent outline of the earth.
Visual Style
The signature look of Lunar Base comes through its cosmic gradients reminiscent of space nebulas, with white contrasting strongly on it and fitting the moon theme well when used on larger backgrounds with moon crater textures.
Typography
The type treatment throughout the game and related assets is a mix of visually stylized futuristic font(with slightly abstracted letters) used more sparingly for titles, paired with a simple sans serif for the majority of text for easy readability.
Artwork
Game Art - The art style carries through the space gradient look through abstract visuals, giving it a painting-like feel. The art and iconography also comprises of line art graphics to stand out vs the abstract backgrounds. The line art style lends itself well to conveying the humorous theme of the game, while the abstract art visuals maintain the beautiful mysterious feel of space.
Icon System
Iconography - With limited space on each card, every design element had to be intentional—communicating as much as possible with as little as possible. I designed a comprehensive icon system to reduce text while keeping cards self-explanatory (minimizing rulebook lookups). The icons cover everything from card types and conditions to actions and targeting.
Visual Card Anatomy
This section breaks down the visual anatomy of Lunar Base cards and the design decisions made to balance gameplay mechanics with project constraints.
Used visual patterns and iconography to help players quickly identify and differentiate card types
Communicated complex information within a very small format (50mm × 100mm) using concise, minimal design language
Prioritized legibility by scaling text and icons for the small card size and typical player viewing angles and distances
Designed for low-light environments (bars, cafés, evening play) with high contrast and strong readability
Established clear visual hierarchy and spacing to guide the eye and avoid visual clutter
Influence Cards stand out with their full-color orange/teal backgrounds and unique layout—intentionally distinct from all other card types due to their unique gameplay function.
Station Cards feature a dark blue top background, signaling they’re 'main action' cards. As the core of a player’s base, they require connected orb halves to attach new modules.
Agent Cards have one-time effects and are discarded once played. Their all-white design makes them easy to spot.
Module Cards (Main Action) mirror the dark blue top background used on Station cards, signaling they’re also 'main action' cards. Modules expand your base by connecting to compatible orb halves.
Module Cards (Other) without main actions have a white top half—a visual nod to Agent cards, reflecting their effect properties. This design helps distinguish them from 'main action' modules
Community Interaction
Involved our community in designing game cards and voting on box art to build engagement and excitement during the Kickstarter campaign.
Built community engagement into our crowdfunding goals. For example at reaching 30 000 and 40 000 EUROS (see below)
Community Designs - "we design, you vote" and " you vote, we design" collaborative design goals. This resulted in the two cards (on the right) that were added into the base game.
Cover Art Vote - engaged our community through social media channels, one successful campaign we ran was getting our people to vote on the new box art for the game.
Final Outcome
After months of iteration, fine-tuning, and rounds of sample prints, everything finally came together. But getting there wasn’t without its hurdles—we faced a wave of production and fulfillment challenges in the final stretch:
The Best-Laid Plans
😷
The Covid-19 pandemic was affecting our team, our business partners, our world.
🐉
Additional sample testing to resolve quality control issues caused delays, compounded by our print schedule coinciding with Chinese New Year.
🚢
The Suez Canal blockage happened just as we were preparing to ship the game to our distribution center.
🗨️
Gave our backers tough but necessary updates—explaining the delays, staying transparent, maintaining consistent communication, and sharing revised timelines.
📦
Worked with our fulfillment provider to find the right packaging materials to safely ship the game to backers, while remaining within budget.
💪
Conducted drop tests and packaging QA to ensure the game and all components would withstand long-distance transit.
Mass Print Production
Printing & Fulfillment - (1) dieline of game box (2 & 3) printing in progress at LongPack Games (4) pallets of Lunar Base prepared for freight from China to our distribution warehouse.
Final Product
Product Photography (front / back / inside) - I shot product photos for promoting the game on our online shop, social media, distributors and retailers.
Inside the Box - Lunar Base includes 90 cards across four types (Stations, Modules, Agents, and Influences) and 6 credit counters, all housed in a compact, travel-friendly box.
Social Media Platforms
Grew an online following for Lunar Base across Instagram, Facebook, X/Twitter and YouTube. Leveraged social media for communicating with followers, running polls, competitions, and giveaways.
Marketing Site
Lunar Base marketing site in the form on a landing page. Giving an overview of the game, directing people to the Kickstarter campaign and web shop.
Official Webshop
Lunar Base is available through our official webshop, where players can purchase the game post-Kickstarter.
Results
Lunar Base was a crash course in adapting to a new industry, designing across multiple disciplines, and building a product and brand from scratch. We successfully launched Lunar Base on Kickstarter, reaching our funding goal within two hours and delivering the game to over 2000 backers. And by 2024 reached an international retail presence.
Overview
🎉
Accomplished our goal to design, launch, and produce the game 100% independently as first-time game creators
🚀
Successfully funded on Kickstarter within 2 hours and surpassed our goal by 4606%
📦
Delivered to 2,000+ backers across the world
🤝
Grew a dedicated community through outreach, social media, and events
✅
Rated 7.1/10 on BoardGameGeek, backed by positive reviews from players and influencers
🛒
Launched in retail through boardgame cafe sales, online retailers, and distributors
Kickstarter Crowdfunding
Launch
4 Aug, 2020
End
3 Sep, 2020
Backer Survey - Results of the feedback survey of our Kickstarter Backers sent out upon completing the fulfillment (delivery) phase of the project.
Project followers
Converted followers
Conversion rate
Project followers are people who opted-in to be reminded about the Kickstarter campaign before it ends. Converted followers are the number of those people who backed the project. The Conversion rate is the percentage of followers who became backers.
Print-Your-Own
Print your own edition of Lunar Base.
INCLUDES
PnP files of Lunar Base
41 backers raising:
3,075 DKK
Lunar Base
The base game and all unlocked stretch goals.
INCLUDES
1 x Lunar Base
1835 backers raising:
381,136 DKK
Lunar Base 2-pack
Split the shipping costs and pledge with a friend!
INCLUDES
2 x Lunar Base
113 backers raising:
41,159 DKK
Collector's Bundle
For true Lunarfleet Captains!
INCLUDES
1 x Signed edition
1 x Lunar Base
your name in the rulebook
38 backers raising:
32,986 DKK
Tabletopia
We used Tabletopia—a browser-based platform for digital board games—for playtesting and a “try-before-you-buy” option during our Kickstarter campaign. Lunar Base reached 1200 hours of online playtime!
Press Pack
Press Package - Created a press pack of materials for Quartermaster Distribution and retailers.
Going into Retail
Retail Distribution - Partnered with Quartermaster Distribution in 2024 to reach retailers world wide, selling hundreds of copies during the winter 2024 holiday season. Designed a sales sheet (aboe) for pitching the game to retailers.
Press & Reviews
From launch to retail, Lunar Base has received praise from players, reviewers, and content creators in the board game community. The game was featured at events like AireCon UK, highlighted in video roundups and review blogs, and earned a 7.1/10 rating on BoardGameGeek based on 420+ player reviews.
7.1 / 10 Rating on BGG
Board Game Geek - Lunar Base is listed on BoardGameGeek—the largest online board game community and database. Lunar Base holds a 7.1/10 rating based on 420 player reviews.
