Ghosts of Ako

Ghosts of Akō is a competitive multi-player memo card game about samurai spirits & incantations. The story is based on the legendary Japanese folk tale of the 47 rōnin. This group of warriors retaliated the unjust execution of their lord and found themselves casted out and finally sentenced to death by their own hands. Since then the 47 rōnin became a synonym for loyalty and integrity in Japanese culture.

GOA Campaign Audio Promo

I wanted to find a real use case for some odd-looking samurai demon characters I generated playing around with an earlier version of Midjourney. Getting into game mechanics and the development of the game itself was a nice side product that happened by a mix of chance and iteration. This added more depth to the overall understanding of the project. I'm not a hardcore board gamer, but I was drawn to the potential of using a game as a medium to combine storytelling and design.

Patience is the sharpest blade

I shelved GOA and stopped working on it primarily because I lacked the passion a game enthusiast would bring to the table. From the get go I approached it solely as a product design practice. If I ever pick this project up again, it will only happen with a team of people who feel more at home in the board game industry.