Jared Ciano
KISS Tour
Project Owner & Manager:
- Systems Design
- Content Design
- Writing Rules
- Testing Management
- Working with Licences
Project Description:
Travel across the United States with the rock band KISS! Drive the open road, earn money, and play concerts in all 8 major cities to win!
Development:
In 2021, I was brought on to join NMR Aquarius as their specialized board game designer. Being a company that primarily focused on licensed products, my first task was to create a board game on the band KISS.
In addition to the theme, I was also given a number of features that they wanted to be included:
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Include a board with branching pathways
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Have players draw event cards when they land on certain spaces
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Players need to play concerts to win
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Design it so it can be reskinned with other music bands
Since my primary specialty at this point was “Card Games”, this was a new experience for me. So, I researched a plethora of other games that matched the vibe my new employers wanted: Monopoly, Life, etc. I then took what I liked from those games, and added some “Quality of Life” improvements so it would be more appealing to all ages.
Making the Game:
I settled early on having players needing to reach specific city spaces to collect different Guitar Picks to win. From this key point, I added other mechanics to expand on this.
I made it so players need to pay money to draw a Concert Card. That card would then reward the player with the Guitar Pick and/or an additional effect. This way the game became more than the luckiest roll wins. I then scattered the cities and varied their prices so players would place a bit more thought into which paths to take.
From there, it was mainly adding other features to liven up gameplay between cities, and improve “Quality of Life”.
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I made it so that returning to a city you’ve already got the Guitar Pick from, rewards you with money. This way, the board doesn’t become increasingly dead space as the game progresses.
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I added airport spaces so players could pay money to instantly visit cities instead of constantly missing their destination with dice rolls.
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I added Pit Stops to the board so players can earn money outside of chance cards.
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I included “Hold Cards” to the chance cards, so players have more elements of choice on their turn.
The Release & Future:
KISS Tour launched in 2022,
and you can now buy it in various retail stores and online!
oVER
sOLD
2500
On Reflection:
With KISS Tour being my first ever published board game, I learned a ton of details that college just never could.
- Always be ready to redo a ton of elements due to unknowable changes
- A professional proof-reader and writer is always worth the investment
- Design the game with multiple licenses as early as possible
