Michael Burrowes
We are excited to be welcoming Michael Burrowes to this year’s Designer Alley at #G2S2024!
A little bit about Michael, written in his own words.
I am a relatively new board game designer based in Brookline, MA. I work at a video game studio called Naughty Dog, best known for titles like The Last of Us and Uncharted. My professional experience has really been top-to-bottom music-oriented, from writing music, to mixing and engineering, to most recently programming the systems that generate sound in video games. I've loved board games for a long time, but last year I decided to apply my familiarity with video game design concepts to the board game world. Starfarer is the third board game I've designed, and the first I'll be releasing!
THREE RANDOM FACTS ABOUT MICHAEL:
He used to act in and write stage plays.
His favorite board games are Dominion and Lords of Waterdeep.
He released an album of progressive-metal music in 2022. You can find him as "Celestial City Symphony Orchestra" on all major streaming platforms.
Michael will be showing off his game Starfarer in Designer Alley at #G2S2024
Starfarer is an abstract strategy game for 2 players. You and your opponent will take turns sighting stars in the night sky to form larger constellations. When you match the shape on an available constellation, you may claim it to earn points. On one hand, claiming a constellation immediately when you make the shape has benefits: having a score lead effectively prevents your opponent from passing their turn, and gives you some of your star pieces back to reuse in different locations. On the other hand, there are advantages to waiting before claiming the constellation: doing so fills the sky with neutral stars, and if your opponent is well-prepared, they may gain control of tthem! Despite only having 1 random element, the positions in the game vary immensely; each match feels unique. Players have compared Starfarer to games like Othello, Go, and Chess.
Starfarer will be self-published by my new company, AUTOMA GARDEN. Art is being done by the marvelous Megan McAvoy of Moon Candy. We're currently aiming to Kickstart around July/August!
If you are interested in updates, please join our mailing list: https://mailchi.mp/5b1492fdd595/starfarer
We will send out links to our social media and websites via this mailing list once they're stood up!
