Thank you!

At last, Malediction has finished fulfilling its Gamefound campaign, and I’ve also finally gotten my own game boxes in hand. Having come from a digital games background, holding a finished physical version of a game I made still feels a bit surreal.

Over the last two years, I have had the privilege of helming the game design work following the project’s early foundations, contributing to Malediction’s release while learning an incredible amount about board game design, physical production, and technical writing. As part of that work, I was also entrusted with writing all of the rulebooks and game design documentation for the project, and that responsibility shaped me deeply as a designer.

Still wrapping my head around the fact that I now have these lying on my shelf alongside other awesome games.

This project involved far more people than I can properly thank in a single post, and I know some of you prefer to stay out of the spotlight. Still, I hope you’ll bear with me as I try to express how grateful I am to everyone who helped shape this game into what it has become.

First of all, I want to thank Renato and Alvaro for trusting me with this responsibility and for the passion they bring to their products as founders at Loot Studios. From the start, you have been the creative glue holding the vision together, and it’s only through that kind of passion that creative work can flourish in this industry.

I’m also deeply grateful to some special people I had the privilege of working closely with throughout this journey, and who mean a great deal to me. My mentor and friend, Leo Cunha, originally envisioned the systems and constantly pushed me to take on bigger design challenges. I am very grateful for all the opportunities you've given me. My good friend Steven Kimball taught me so much about technical writing and sparked my curiosity about cognitive load, which led me to write my favorite article on this website. And Nicole, my closest partner throughout this journey, is a creative powerhouse and spreadsheet wizard, whose collaboration helped turn countless ideas into something polished and fun.

Beyond game design itself, bringing Malediction into the physical world took an enormous collective effort. My immensely capable friend Rodrigo Krug made the physical production and events happen, and his work was fundamental to getting this game into people’s hands. And at the forefront of the visual identity of the project is none other than Alvaro Ribeiro himself, who rendered this world to life alongside incredible talents like Beto Menezes, Pedro Carlos, Leandro Pavanelli, Robson Barros, and Caio Augusto.

All my love and gratitude to our incredibly creative lore team, who keep pushing for a rich and innovative setting that is, just as we like it, dark and surprising as it continues to grow. Thank you, my friends: Tiago Bonifácio, Clarice Franca, Luca Piancastelli, and Arthur Montezuma.

And of course, special thanks to Tracy Hickman, whose work laid the foundation for this universe; to George Mann, whose wisdom continues to guide its future; and to Steve Horvath, who introduced us to so many incredible people along the way.

Finally, I want to acknowledge the many other teams involved, from marketing to production to everyone working behind the scenes, and of course, our amazing and passionate community, without whom this game would not exist.

Thank you, everyone!