Your Class Rep: Rediscovering the Joy of Game Manuals

Rediscovering the Joy of Game Manuals

Your Class Rep game Manual!

For me, the manual has always been an important part of the gaming experience. It’s not just instructions; it’s the first real glimpse into the world you’re about to play in. With Your Class Rep, I wanted to capture that feeling again: the excitement of a new game in hand, the car ride home, and the anticipation as you flip through the pages imagining all the possibilities. Feeling the paper between your fingers, exploring the story, and learning about the characters is something tangible that digital instructions can’t replicate. 

Here, let me take you inside...

Your Class Rep: Card Game Packaging Concepts (What I'm doing Differently)

Card Game Packaging Concepts (What I'm doing Differently)

I’ve been working on the packaging for Your Class Rep and I’m finally at a point where the idea feels right. This post is a look at some of the sketch concepts and how the design has evolved so far.

From sketch to finished product!

The packaging is designed like an envelope-style card holder. You can open and close it easily, and it keeps the cards stored right inside. It has one central flap and four smaller flaps that fold in around the cards, all sealed with a small sticker. The goal is to make it functional, minimal, and something you’d actually want to keep instead of tossing aside.

Take a look...

Your Class Rep: Refining the Pitch (Insights from an industry professional)

Refining the Pitch (Insights from an industry professional)

I’ve been refining how I talk about Your Class Rep lately, and a recent conversation in a game design community gave me some great perspective on pitching the game.

Last week I had a great chat on the Pam Walls Game Design Community Discord with Val Kruzhalov, a veteran playtester and producer who’s worked with publishers like Cosmodrome and Hobby World. Val has been playtesting prototypes for almost a decade, often consulting with designers and publishers, so his perspective on how to communicate a game’s hook and core loop really helped me rethink how I describe Your Class Rep.

Here's what I learned...

Metroid Prime 4: Beyond Needs Myles Mackenzie (And Three MacKenzie Pixel Art Pieces)

Why Myles Mackenzie Might Actually Be Exactly What Metroid Needs

When Myles Mackenzie first showed up in the Metroid Prime 4: Beyond previews, my brain did exactly what every lifelong Metroid fan’s brain did:

“Wait. A chatty NPC? In Prime? What are we doing here?”

And as a life long fan of the world famous bounty hunter; our Glorious Queen Samas Aran, I instantly had the same thoughts. Metroid has always hit hardest when it drops you truly alone on a hostile planet with nothing but your wits, your cannon, isolated trying to find your way out. That sense of isolation is practically a second protagonist.

So yeah, I get the concern.

Mackenzie - GB Pixel Art from Metroid Prime 4 Beyond #1

But every Queen needs a King baby! And for Some Reason Myles Mackenzie just really clicked with me! In fact he inspired me to create three pixel art pieces, each inspired by the original game boy hardware (which I’ll show throughout this article). And you know what? The more I looked at him and his design, and reflected on his role in the story, the more I began to think:

Mackenzie is actually a step in the right direction for the Metroid prime series and here is why... 

Your Class Rep: Redrawing My Main Character for a New Era of the Project

Every project has at least one character who quietly becomes “the one”, and for Your Class Rep, that character has always been Michael Lawson.

This week, I finally sat down to redraw him. It didn’t go exactly as planned, but I think you'll enjoy walking through the process with me...