You may know of Fertessa Allyse as a contributor on the Girls Game Shelf or as the designer of Wicked and Wise (Weird Giraffe Games) and Book of Villainy (Gold Seal Games), or because of her encyclopedic knowledge of all things Star Trek! When we found out that Fertessa was moving to the Pacific Northwest, we hoped we'd have the opportunity to work together. It took a few years, but in 2023 she joined the Nocturne and Cascadia: Rolling development teams. More recently, however, she co-designed Cascadia Junior (Flatout Games, AEG, KOSMOS), which is now available from your friendly local game stores!
What are some of your favorite games? And why?
I'm a fan of Dune Imperium, Cockroach Poker, and No Thanks. The first because I love deck building and worker placement and that's as elegant a game you can get with that combination. The latter two because they're always fun games to bring out whether it's with casual/lighter gamers or with hobby gamers. They both support a good player count and they're quick to teach.
What games got you into game design?
I got into game design before I got into the hobby, so I suppose you could say my own, Book of Villainy. I had knowledge of very few games when I started designing so my first prototype resembled Monopoly and it evolved from there.
Do you start with theme or mechanics?
I usually start with a question I want to answer. Half the time it has been theme based and half the time it has been mechanic based.
Do you have a favorite theme?
Star Trek, otherwise nope I just wanna be entertained.
Do you have a favorite mechanic?
Worker placement is my favorite followed by deck building.
What is something unusual/cool about you that people might not know?
I've been trying to learn Korean for a ridiculously long time and I have over a four year streak on Duolingo. (You can't be fluent from Duolingo alone btw).
