Designer Diary: The Yellow River Map by Simone Luciani + Barrage Digital & The Leeghwater Project
6 months ago
– Tue, Oct 14, 2025 at 07:01:47 AM
The Yellow River Designer Diary by Simone Luciani
"When we started working on the new expansion, it was, as always, Tommaso who brought the first ideas to the table. His background in the hydrological field and his work with dams often inspire his design approach, and this time was no exception. His initial proposal was to set the new map in China, a land full of contrasts and challenges related to hydrogeological exploitation, home to some of the world’s largest dams.
The core idea was fascinating: to create a dynamic, interactive map that players could physically alter during the game. No longer a fixed board, but a living landscape that changes shape according to the players’ strategies and actions. From the very beginning, we knew it was an ambitious project, but also a unique opportunity to bring something fresh and unexpected into the game system.
The foundation of the prototype was a modular map composed of tiles, which were placed in specific spots during setup. Players had access to a new construction option through a special tile: instead of building dams or powerhouses, they could use their machinery and engineers to remove a tile from the map. Doing so permanently changed the map’s configuration. Some tiles altered river flows, others added new springs, while some unlocked new construction areas or even new available actions.
To make this mechanism even more engaging, we introduced a reward system. Building such a structure always requires a major investment of resources, so we wanted players to feel a clear incentive to do it. Depending on the geographical area (mountain, hill, or plain) and the cost of the structure (marked by color), players would gain a reward tile, granting an immediate, ongoing, or end-game effect. These tiles turned out to be one of the most exciting aspects of the design, offering new ways to score points and interact with the existing mechanics.
Of course, balancing all this was far from easy. The map was complex, and the initial powers were too diverse and hard to remember. After many playtests, we decided to narrow down the range of effects, making them more consistent and easier to grasp. It was the right call: the final version turned out deep yet manageable, with a steep but rewarding learning curve.
The result is a living map that evolves throughout the game, changing the flow of play every session. Each construction not only provides immediate benefits but can also reshape the landscape and alter opportunities for everyone. Sometimes you gain an advantage, but you might also open unexpected doors for your opponents.
This delicate balance between control and unpredictability convinced us that we were on the right track. The expansion doesn’t just add new rules; it brings life to the map, turning every match into a unique hydrological story waiting to be told."
During this Kickstarter Campaign, Barrage Digital Edition will come back as an add-on.
Purchasing the Deluxe Edition will give you access to our Steam version of Barrage, along with all the additional content that will be released and that we have planned for the future.
In particular, the release of The Leeghwater Project is approaching.
As always, Thank you for your attention and unwavering support.
The Cranio Creations Team
Formerly known as Yuki: Wanghui Lin 林 王慧| Designer Diary – The Yellow River Company
6 months ago
– Thu, Oct 09, 2025 at 08:45:17 AM
Hello everyone,
Before diving into the design details, we want to address an important update based on feedback from our backers. We've carefully considered your input andhave contacted our illustrator to modify the facial features in the cover illustration to better represent the character. Additionally, we changed her name to Wanghui Lin (林 王慧).
From now on, we'll be calling the character by this name as well.
Thank you for your feedback, The Cranio Creations Team
Designer Diary – The Yellow River Company
When we began developing the eighth and final Company, the Chinese one, we wanted it to be strongly tied to the feeling of the new map, The Yellow River. This map introduced high direct interaction: players, through a new type of building, could structurally modify the map, changing the flow of rivers, connections, and action spaces. We wanted the faction to embody this dynamic and interactive spirit as well,but without introducing new components or complex rules. The idea was to keep structures at the center and have them influence the map and how they were used.
Two of the main structures, dams and elevations, had already been explored in various ways in previous factions. In Brazil, for example, we had worked on dams and elevations with an alternative income system. That left conduits and powerhouses, two elements still rich with potential. This became the development direction for the Chinese faction.
Shared Conduits
The core idea was to make conduits more powerful, but permanently: once built, all players who use it would produce more energy. This made the map more alive and interactive: a conduit wasn't just a personal resource, but an element that could change the balance for everyone.
To avoid complexity and maintain clear iconography, the enhancement had to be immediate: enhanced conduits = more efficient production. All had the same bonus, ensuring immediate readability. Additionally, we removed income (except for the final one) and introduced unlockable powers: when other players use your conduits, and at your second and fourth construction. The first power provides money, useful in the early game, while the second gives victory points each time someone exploits your conduits.
This creates an engine of efficiency and income: building many conduits makes you more powerful, but also encourages others to use them, therefore making you grow. This creates constant strategic and psychological tension, where every choice influences everyone.
Customized Powerhouses
In parallel, we wanted to make powerhouses more distinctive as well.
Instead of a universal bonus, each powerhouse has a unique power that applies only to that powerhouse's production, and the player can freely choose which one to build.
Costs are printed on the board and remain standard, but there's no longer a mandatory progression: you can immediately invest in a higher-level powerhouse to gain stronger powers and strategic flexibility.
Level 1 powerhouse remains neutral (no bonus), but the second one already offers +2 to production: a significant advantage, but limited to that single powerhouse. Each power is printed on the board, and powerhouses are visually distinct, so the player can immediately recognize which power they're activating.
This structure maintains the game's readability while introducing a new dimension of tactical choices and planning.
Simone Luciani's Designer Diary | Golem Expansions "Seals & Deals"
6 months ago
– Mon, Oct 06, 2025 at 07:57:58 AM
When we started working on the Golem expansion, Virginio and I brought in Pierpaolo Paoletti to give us a fresh perspective on a complex system we hadn’t touched in a while. Cranio had requested the addition of two independent modules, and that became the starting point of our exploration.
The first module was born from our desire to make a part of the base game that felt a bit too linear (the objectives) more interesting. We wanted to retain their structure but transform them into something that offered asymmetric powers and a more dynamic feel, inspired by the leaders of Lorenzo il Magnifico.
Each player received six cards: one to play immediately, creating a slight asymmetry from the start, and five to keep as future objectives. The cards were divided into three power levels, and to balance them, we introduced a new element: debts.
Taking a powerful card meant accepting a debt, represented by a token showing resources that had to be repaid at the end of the turn. This mechanism not only balanced the cards but also opened up new strategic decisions: whether to take an early risk for a strong advantage or play it safe and plan for the long term.
Over time, debts evolved into a true alternative resource, integrated throughout the game with workshops, characters, and book cards that either exploited or repaid them in different ways. The expansion took time to balance, but its core worked well right from the first test.
The second module required even more work, with many revisions and design turns. The starting idea was to allow Golems to undertake new missions beyond just activating workshops, introducing a more flexible and interactive gameplay mode. We created a set of special cards that enter play during the game and are placed beside the main board. When you activate a Golem, you can now choose to activate either the workshop it stands on or one of these cards, even at a lower level, greatly expanding tactical possibilities.
These cards are unlocked through brass, mechanism, and gear tokens placed along the Master tracks. When a player reaches a token, they remove it, gain victory points, and draw a card matching the Master’s color. This way, players themselves decide which cards enter play and when, actively influencing the game flow.
The cards are expensive, often costing gold, and grant powerful effects while fostering positive interaction: multiple players can contribute cubes to the same card, and once it’s full, everyone involved scores victory points. From the beginning, our goal was to create a system that layered different levels of interaction, and many design choices stemmed from that idea.
Finally, after realizing that players not focused on a Golem-centered strategy were enjoying the expansion less, we added neutral Golems, shared by everyone. They move together at the start of each round and can be used by any player once per turn, by paying an increasing cost. This system enhanced both flexibility and interaction, allowing every player to take advantage of the new Golem options and experience even more varied and dynamic games.
A "private" Designer Diary from Simone Luciani | Rats of Wistar expansions development.
6 months ago
– Fri, Oct 03, 2025 at 07:13:50 AM
When Wistar was released, Danilo and I were very satisfied with the result. From the beginning, we had jotted down notes for possible expansions, but we hadn't developed them. Then the game was very well received and players started asking us insistently: "Will there be an expansion?" So, when Cranio gave us the opportunity to create it, we picked up those ideas again and turned them into a real project.
The publisher's request was clear: create an expansion consisting of two independent modules, playable separately or in combination.
The first module: asymmetric powers and starting positions
The first module came about almost naturally. Wistar has a very symmetrical starting structure: all players begin with the same conditions. We wanted to break this symmetry by introducing asymmetric powers for each player, so as to give more variety and personality to games.
The problem was balance. It's impossible to test every power in all situations, so the risk was having endless discussions about which ones were too strong or too weak. The solution was to create a compensation system that paired the powers with a second variable element: variable starting resources.
So we devised starting tiles that provided even very powerful bonuses (such as starting with a bed already prepared or with a card played immediately). To balance the strength of these effects, we chose to distribute them through a snake draft: whoever chooses last in one round chooses first in the next. Some tiles are deliberately stronger, so as to make the choices even more tense and interesting. If you really like that power, you'll probably get a weak resource tile. The result is a module that increases replayability and makes every game different from the start.
The second module: a new world to explore
If the first module is more "mechanical," the second one instead stems from a thematic idea: reinventing exploration. In the base version it was already an important tactic, but we wanted to make it more narrative.
The story we imagined is simple: after inventing and building on the farm, the rats open a portal to a fantasy world. From this came a new map that replaces the original one, with a different movement system: no longer rooms, but nodes. Each node contains a single element (event, guest, or encounter), so that every step on the board leads to an immediate interaction.
Events are resolved immediately, guests are collected by entering the node, while the old doors have been replaced by encounters. These offer small narrative situations in which players must choose between two options: a simpler one and a more expensive one, to be paid for in exploration points accumulated progressively.
We then added a fantasy touch with the Five Magic Rings, each with a very strong unique power, but which brings corruption and loss of points at the end of the game. Only those who manage to reach the volcano and destroy the ring can avoid its consequences and obtain an extra reward.
Finally, new cards, new guests, and new situations further enrich the experience.
Conclusion
With these two modules, the Wistar expansion offers both more strategic depth, thanks to asymmetric starting positions, and a completely different exploration experience, more dynamic and narrative. It was our opportunity to give players not only new tools, but also a brand new world to discover.
Funded in 30 minutes! A heartfelt thank you to our community
6 months ago
– Thu, Oct 02, 2025 at 08:17:25 AM
Dear Backers,
We're pleased to announce that the campaign reached its funding goal in just thirty minutes after launch. This is an excellent result, and we would like to take a moment to thank everyone who supported the project.
A Strong Start
When we launched this campaign featuring three expansions, we knew we had solid content to offer. The response has been immediate and positive, indicating that these expansions resonate with the community.
It also validates the design choices we've made and the mechanics we've developed for each expansion.
About communication
We know there were some (inevitable) bumps along the road, and your feedback helped us improve in the areas you thought we were a bit lacking. We're committed to maintaining clear communication with backers. We’re trying to be more present both on private messages and under every comment in the comment section.
If you have questions about the expansions, we're here to respond.
Moving Forward
The campaign will continue for the planned duration, and we'll use this time to share more details about the expansions and answer any questions from the community.
Thank you to everyone who backed the campaign in the first thirty minutes and to all those joining us now. Your support makes this project possible, and we truly appreciate your confidence in our work.
