Nosedive exists at the intersection of strategy and art. Players maneuver through the skies by drawing the location and movement of their planes straight onto the board. At the end of the game they have created a permanent record of their game, which they can both review for its tactical lessons and enjoy as an aesthetically appealing record of play.

I was fortunate to work with an amazing team on Nosedive, including Christopher Chung, Sean Heron, Seth S. Scott, Missy Senteio, Sam Von Ehren, Burgess Voshell, and Zijian “Zed” Zhou. We set out to design a successor to current games of maneuver, and created something that’s unique both mechanically and as a player experience.

Innovating in those two different areas meant double the iteration. We had to refine both the tactical aspects of the game–the distribution of terrain on the map, for example–and Nosedive‘s unusual components. Creating tools that were both easy to use and led to great play was quite difficult; I’m happy to say that after many versions and attempts, the final result is stellar.

Nosedive has been positively received by playtesters, those new to the tactical maneuver genre, experienced wargamers, and industry veterans. I’m especially proud to say that Nosedive was an IndieCade 2016 Table Games Selection.