2021: Eastern Empires

Authors: Flo de Haan, Gerart de Haan, John Rodriguez
Developers: Flo de Haan, Gerart de Haan
Illustrator: Franz Vohwinkel
Publisher: 999 Games

2021: Eastern Empires

Authors: Flo de Haan, Gerart de Haan, John Rodriguez
Developers: Flo de Haan, Gerart de Haan
Illustrator: Franz Vohwinkel
Publisher: 999 Games

Only a few months after Western Empires was released in late 2019, COVID-19 struck the world and people were not allowed to come together, no conventions were held… Well… You must have read something about the situation in the world….

This also proved a big struggle for the promotion of our game, which has a minimum number of 5 players, but preferably is played by the full 9 players. This situation lasted at least 2 years, in which our game could hardly be played when following the Covid restrictions. It remained invisible for a long time due to this…

We decided to postpone our 2020 release of the follow-up and keystone Eastern Empires and took our time to develop new features. The number one request of the worldwide fanbase that love the game, but not always has 5 players available is: Make the game accessible to a smaller player count. 

So we worked hard on the additions that support 3 and 4 players as a minimum for both editions. Since our game was always developed to support larger groups, and the game system is based on geopolitics, we had to invent new rule adjustments as a variation. We have spent a large part of 2020 to do so, with a strong online testing team, which came from all players sitting at home due to lockdowns. Dozens of players worldwide helped us test the new features. 

This resulted in a nice feature that can be implemented in both versions. The two piece Western/Eastern Empires was concluded with the release of Eastern Empires in 2021 through a very successful Kickstarter Campaign where we achieved 500% of the eventual goal. Funded in 2 hours.

Summary Made by Flo: design, Project management, development, creation of testable prototype, testing, writing the rulebook, editing the rulebook, theme development, art direction, production briefing.

Read the full designer’s story on BoardGameGeek.

Mega Empires - packshot - Design and development by Flo de Haan - Gerart de Haan - John Rodriguez

Western Empires and Eastern Empires