Discover Nature - Episode #3: Size is Power
In Nature Jurassic, size is power, and the bigger your species, the more untouchable you'll feel. Yet, no matter how big you are in Nature, no species is immune to hunger.
Discover Nature - Episode #2: Creating a Modular Game System
The Nature board game takes place over hundreds of millions of years as species adapt to a continually changing environment. It isn’t easy to relate to such a vast expanse of time, so I have a theory that most people internalize the story as taking place over a lifetime.
Discover Nature - Episode #1: Evolution has Evolved
Nature combines lessons from my days as a pro-Magic player and everything I’ve learned from 12 years as lead designer of the award-winning Evolution series.
A Short History of the NorthStar Studio
I found myself with a tough decision: declare bankruptcy or pour my entire life savings into rebuilding North Star Games based on everything I’d learned...
The final game in the Evolution series
Nature is Calling In the wilds of Nepal, animals flock to the nearest watering hole... While these lands offer abundance for the species that visit, dangers lurk in the shadows… From the publishers of the award-winning Evolution series comes a brand new expandable game system, Nature, where players create and adapt...
5 Great Co-op Board Games for Puzzle Fans
5 Great Co-op Board Games for Puzzle Fans To celebrate the launch of Paint the Roses, our new cooperative puzzle board game set in the world of Alice in Wonderland, we’ve put together a list of 5 great co-op puzzle games for you to try at your next game night....
Rebranding NorthStar - Worlds to Explore
NorthStar announces a new direction After 20 years of publishing board games, we’re sharpening our focus and updating our look. We will no longer publish party games for the mass market, kid games for toy stores, or digital versions of our hobby games. Our entire focus will be on hobby games that are...
3 key lessons learned designing my first board game and how they could apply to yours
I’m Ben Goldman, designer of Paint the Roses. I’ve been developing board games at NorthStar for 6 years, working on Climate, Most Wanted, and Oceans but this was the first time I’d had nearly complete creative control over the design and I learned a lot through the process. After years...
Reimagining the art in Alice in Wonderland
Our latest title, Paint the Roses, is a brand new cooperative puzzle board game headed to Kickstarter on Oct 12th. Set in the world of Alice in Wonderland the game features brand new art and illustrations reimagining its characters. Today I’m joined by Jacqui Davis the illustrator of Paint the Roses. Jacqui is...
From board game photography to scuba diving, get to know our new marketing manager Ross!
You might have noticed a few little changes beginning to occur around our social media and website. We've got big plans for the future so I’m very excited about our new hire, Ross Connell, who joins the NorthStar team as our Community and Marketing manager. His passion for board games,...
North Star Games is Transforming in a Big Way
We're Becoming Laser Focused We used to create games for several vastly different types of customers; for moms & dads too busy to read rules while trying to raising kids, for families with tweens, and for hobby gamers who want an immersive experience. The needs of each of these segments...
Oceans: Legends of the Deep
Oceans is a journey into the unknown, where you discover powerful traits that hardly seem possible in the realm of biology, and yet they turn out to be real. But coming next summer, you will be able to discover things beyond the realm of science...
Memorial to Satish Pillalamarri
My business partner of 17 years, Satish Pillalamarri, recently lost a battle to cancer. His passing has left a big hole in my life. This is a photo memorial to him.
Diversity Statement - mentorship details coming soon
North Star Games strongly supports the voice of black people, who have been systematically targeted by our police, the judicial system, and continually short-thrifted in all aspects of our socio-political system. On May 25th, George Floyd was murdered by a policeman while 3 other officers stood by. This type of...
Two key factors that allowed me to become a game designer with a career in the board game industry (Paint the Roses #6)
This is the sixth post in a series about our upcoming game Paint the Roses, written by the game’s designer, Ben Goldman. I went to art school for graphic design, where I spent as much time designing board games as graphics. Games were how I slacked off. It turned out to...
A new way to visualize game rules, as a network of ideas (Paint the Roses #5)
This is the fifth post in a series about our upcoming game Paint the Roses, written by the game’s designer, Ben Goldman. Nothing keeps people from playing games more than having to learn rules. Imagine how many fewer movies we’d watch if we had to read an instruction manual before watching...
What can dictators teach us about game design? (Paint the Roses #4)
This is the fourth post in a series about our upcoming Alice-in-Wonderland-themed game Paint the Roses. The Dictator's Handbook, by Alastair Smith and Bruce Bueno de Mesquita, has a simple proposition: a ruler’s position determines his behavior more than you’d think. What looks like bad behavior from the outside is...
Feedback wanted for a key component in our next game (Paint the Roses #3)
This is the third post in a series about our upcoming Alice-in-Wonderland-themed game Paint the Roses.As we design components for Paint the Roses, we hope readers can help us get one key component right: a sculpted Queen of Hearts who spends the game trying to behead you. We want to...
How to fix the biggest problem in cooperative games (Paint the Roses #2)
This is the second post in a series about our upcoming game Paint the Roses, written by the game’s designer, Ben Goldman. Ask any gamer what the biggest problem with cooperative games is, and they’ll tell you it’s quarterbacking. Quarterbacking is when one player who knows the game well tells...
Why I designed a logic game set in the illogical world of Alice in Wonderland (Paint the Roses #1)
Prototype box art for Paint the Roses This is the first post in a series about our upcoming game Paint the Roses, written by the game’s designer, Ben Goldman. Why has Alice’s Adventure in Wonderland endured? It was published in 1865, the year the American Civil War ended. But we’re...
