{"id":997,"date":"2026-10-08T15:08:43","date_gmt":"2026-10-08T15:08:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.purpleinkgames.com\/?page_id=997"},"modified":"2026-10-13T13:06:43","modified_gmt":"2026-10-13T13:06:43","slug":"diario-di-sviluppo","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.purpleinkgames.com\/en\/diario-di-sviluppo\/","title":{"rendered":"Designer\u2019s Diary"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Designer\u2019s Diary
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How does a card game come to life? In this designer\u2019s diary for Crystal Echoes<\/strong><\/a>, I share the journey my co-designer Leonardo and I have taken: from the initial idea to the first prototypes, from playtesting to creating the world of Crystalvale. A journey through mechanics, illustrations, and graphic design choices, revealing how our game took shape.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Where It All Began
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Crystal Echoes<\/em>, originally called Fantasy Combo<\/em>, was born out of a real need.\nAs for me, Angelo, I often play with large groups of friends, often more than eight<\/strong>, and finding the right game is always a challenge: easy to set up, quick to explain, yet offering a satisfying dose of strategy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Of course, there are board games designed for large groups, but most fall into the party game<\/strong> category: light games involving hidden roles or wordplay that rarely offer a truly engaging challenge.\nI was looking for something different: a streamlined yet deep experience, accessible but rewarding.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That desire is where it all began. A simple need<\/strong> became the drive to create something of our own.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Of course, none of this would have been possible without my dear friend Leonardo. Like me, he is passionate about board games and had long dreamed of designing one of his own. And so our adventure began.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But Let\u2019s Start with the Basics
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The need<\/strong> and the ambition<\/strong> were there. All we needed were the right building blocks to bring our game to life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The first step was to consider which mechanics<\/strong> could become the heart of the experience. We needed mechanics that were simple<\/strong>, intuitive<\/strong>, and suitable for very large groups<\/strong>, with one essential condition: no downtime between turns<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The first idea came almost immediately.\nAs a big fan of card drafting games<\/strong>, I immediately thought of this mechanic. Drafting creates meaningful interaction between players, even indirectly<\/strong>, keeping the pace brisk without frustrating periods of inactivity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At that point, the direction was clear: we wanted to create a card game<\/strong>.\nIt was the perfect choice to keep the design simple<\/strong>, easy to produce<\/strong>, and compact to package<\/strong>, with low production costs and an affordable retail price<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So we had:<\/p>\n\n\n\n