Bringing Games to Life: The Design Challenge

In the second chapter of the Gambit design diary, veteran designer Fletch (with 15+ years of experience designing games like Magic: The Gathering, Harry Potter: Hogwarts Battle, and Disney Lorcana) breaks down the creative process behind blending iconic tabletop IPs into a single, unified gameplay experience. Want to know more about his design philosophy? Join the discussion on Discord and ask away!

• A Designer with Deep Roots:
  Fletch’s resume spans major collectible games and licensed properties—bringing experience translating beloved characters and worlds into tight, emotional gameplay.

• The Unique Challenge of Gambit:
  Instead of adapting a movie or TV show into a game, Gambit requires adapting entire board games—like Champions of Midgard and Wingspan—into cohesive characters with motivations, attitudes, and mechanics.

• Translating Essence into Play:
  The key is capturing the emotional experience of the original game: what it feels like to play it, and how to preserve that feeling even within an entirely different rule set.

• Tabletop Face-Offs With a Twist:
  What happens when two wildly different games operate under one shared system? What happens when modern board games go up against a legendary classic like chess? These are the kinds of questions driving the design.

• What’s Next:
  Fletch teases deeper dives into Gambit’s mechanics in future diaries—how the team builds a framework flexible enough to serve diverse gameplay identities, while still being fast, fun, and strategic.