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Since I’ve had maps on the mind, I figured I’d talk through it more from a graphics and usability standpoint! We’ve not gone through usability testing for written components (mainly the rulebook) yet, however there is heavy consideration of component usability throughout the development process of our games.
A large concern that I had as the maps had gone through different iterations was the clarity of all the information we were trying to convey. Even without the art, the voice in the back of my mind was saying, “There’s so much green inherently in a backyard. How do we make these tiles colorblind friendly?”
Talking through it with our artist, Kyle Armstrong, and our graphic designer, Jody Henning, we were met with a few options.
So, how do you win?
It’s a weirdly complicated question. A pure race where the first player to cross the finish line always wins is very true to real-life races, but in a multiplayer game, players quickly get disengaged as they slide into last place with no hope of catching up. So how do you balance a very strong reward for winning, while finding adequate and balanced ways to reward other forms of good play?
Hi everyone! I’m Andrea Francisco, lead developer on Kart. Just wanted to introduce myself and share a little history of the development and development process of Kart’s maps.
Very early on, the game started off with traditional hexes on a path that wound through the streets and backyards of a neighborhood.
Early January 2026, Nick Brachmann told me about a game concept that had been tossed around a while ago of a Fort inspired racing game. Something with scrappy kids, card based propulsion, customizable karts, and a crowd to impress. The next day I had a very ugly prototype on the table. At the time, I joked that it would be incredibly funny if this game somehow became our 2027 Gen Con release. Who knew where things would end up!
We're excited to announce our next Leder release: Kart!
Kart will be coming to Kickstarter in September. Follow the campaign here to be notified on launch, and stay tuned for more details, to be revealed soon!
Eight years ago I walked through the doors of a converted warehouse on the edge of Saint Paul and made my way through a back staircase to the still unfinished second floor. I wandered around a bit before I got to a set of doors with a single sheet of paper taped to the door with the words “Leder Games” printed on it. Inside the bare office, there were four desks facing each other. I hauled in my home computer and a few books and set up camp on Patrick’s right side. Though the office didn’t inspire much confidence, I couldn’t believe my luck. I had somehow found my way into a position at one of the most exciting studios in tabletop.
Hey everyone! Josh here, designer of the Homeland Expansion. We’re getting close to the end of development, so I wanted to release another Print and Play. This will be the last one before release. This one is content-complete—it includes everything in the Homeland Expansion, the Squires & Disciples Deck, and the Homeland Hirelings Pack.
Compared to the previous Print and Play, it now includes The Gorge Map, Marsh Map, new Landmarks, and new Vagabonds. That said, it’s still missing some art, and there’s a touch of development left to do, which I’ll talk about later in this diary. Notably, even though the art on the Gorge Map looks done, it’s not—it’s still the original placeholder art from when Sam was developing it. Kyle is working on it right now.
So with that, let’s dig into the state of the factions!