What We Do

Bright Sword Studio designs tabletop strategy games. Our mission is to make fun, re-playable, and affordable board games. We especially love adapting history! Our core values are compassion and environmentalism. Parents shouldn’t have to break the bank to given children something special! We believe that battle games don’t need to be violent to be fun! For example, our Hastings title is focused on recreating history rather than reveling in violence. Our products will use recycled material while profits will be used for carbon offsetting.

We have 1 title (Siege Warfare) ready for publication (with 2 extensions in post-production and 2 further extensions in pre-production). We have 2 titles (Titanic, Hastings) in pre-production, with further development depending on the future of our 1st title. All titles are designed on 3 core principals:

1) Data and AI

2) Authenticity

3) Creativity and Fun!

Data and AI:

We use extensive playtesting to ensure our games are fair and balanced. Human play testers are irreplaceable. However, they can be supplemented (never replaced) with AI tools. Our rigorous playtesting system focuses on data driven results (our core catalog is focused on asymmetrical games). We play hundreds of games per update and record all results. Our team uses its strong background in mathematics and computer science to analyze playtest results. We have developed several confidential metrics with advanced mathematics to identify ways to improve balancing.

Our upcoming Siege Warfare game has been tested thousands of times. The use of batch based playtesting has allowed us to pioneer and optimize groundbreaking balance mechanics. Going forward, we are aiming to implement machine learning algorithms and AI player profiles to test over hundreds of thousands of iterations. We hope to combine AI playtesting with continued human playtesting to ensure that all our games have multiple viable strategies and each side has equal win rates.

Authenticity:

Adaptations should respect the source material. Historical games can take us back to the past while resonating with our present experiences. However, this only works if the game is respectful to the history it tells. Our design decisions are made with history in mind first. Data and AI driven balancing can iron out any issues.

For Hastings: Battle of Kings we want to use scans of the real Bayeux Tapestry for character images. Game pieces are designed around the real battle. Harold Godwinson’s Saxon army will begin with a terrain advantage, but will be fatigued from Stamford Bridge. Fyrd troops are prone to charging without orders while housecarls can form a shield-wall. William’s Norman knights will have to a special false retreat ability, while his marksmen snipe through shield-walls. The only way to get a more authentic experience would be to invent a time machine and go back to 1066!

In Titanic: Icy Atlantic we currently intend on using a scan of Thomas Andrews’s real Titanic blueprints for the gameboard. If this proves too large to be practical, we will scale it in an authentic way. Second Officer Charles Lightoller’s game piece will begin Icy Atlantic on the Port side of A-Deck. He will refuse to load male pieces into lifeboats while First Officer Murdoch will be load male pieces provided no women or children are nearby. As turns progress, various sections of the ship will become off-limits to align with the real timeline of Titanic’s sinking.

Creativity and Fun:

Our core belief is simple: if a game is fun to design, it will be fun to play! Our commitment to Data & AI will never interfere with fun. Fun isn’t something you measure, its something you experience! Every single mechanic, game piece, and rule is designed with love and care by a human. Our commitment to historical accuracy comes from a passion for the history and source material we are adapting. Data and AI are used to optimize, not create. Our design follows the same rule as improv: always say yes! We are willing to try any concept, rule, or change out. You can never know what’s going to be fun until you try it out!