Tales of the Arabian Nights
Jun 12
Board & Miniatures Games Tales of the Arabian Nights 12 Comments
Over a year has passed since I began work on it, and a couple of hundred hours, several hundred dollars worth of book research, and over 400 emails later, I finally have a copy of Tales of the Arabian Nights in my hands, direct from the printers. It should be in the shops early to mid-July.
So my readers can experience the joy of opening one of these big heavy boxes (about 3 and a half kilos!) for themselves, I made this little sequence of photos documenting the process. Sorry I can’t hook up the ‘fresh from the printers’ smell for you as well.
Opening the box
[click image to enlarge]
I’ve been designing for a couple of decades, and there are only a few jobs in that time that have demanded as much hard work, creativity and dedication as this one. The printers did a great job; the matt-finished cover with gloss UV-varnished logo and illustrations looks wonderful, and René Bull’s stunning 1912 illustrations look better than they have in print for many years, which I hope is a tribute to the man’s talent. It was with a great sense of relief that I opened the box to find all the game components as high quality as I’d hoped. Best of all, the whole design hangs together beautifully and gives the game a distinctive ‘feel’, that I hope is something quite different from the usual run of games being published these days.
[click image to enlarge]
Sure, there’s a few little things I’d like to tweak, and I’ll hopefully get a chance to do so in future print runs. But now, it’s finally time to let this baby go out into the world! Tales of the Arabian Nights is published by Z-Man Games, and I’m really hoping it’s a big success for them. Quite apart from the work I put into it, it’s a very fun and thematic game. There’s a 300-page book in there, chock-full of adventures in the old ‘Choose-Your-Own-Adventure’ style. For gamers who love a story, this is a real treat.
Cards
[click image to enlarge]
Thankyou to Dan Harding for his excellent illustrations, Eric Goldberg and the other writers for creating such an amazing game, and Zev Shlasinger of Z-Man Games for the opportunity to redesign it. I hope people all over the world enjoy playing this game, and for at least a little while forget all their cares and worries and disappear with their friends into the glamourous, fun, exciting world of the Arabian Nights …
Jun 12, 2009 @ 14:15:49
Great job Peter! This looks absolutely wonderful! It is one of the games I have been looking forward to in great anticipation.
Wonderful job!
Cheers,
Giles.
Jun 12, 2009 @ 14:46:41
UH, is there an RSS feed for this site?
Jun 12, 2009 @ 19:54:16
Congrats on finishing this great looking game!
Jun 12, 2009 @ 22:40:26
Been a big fan of your work for a few years now, UH, starting with those Arkham Horror Mythos card redesigns – remember them?!
And this looks like yet another triumph in a long line of clever design accomplishments, so congratulations – really looking forward to this game . . .
Jun 13, 2009 @ 02:42:30
Looks gorgeous, as have all the work-in-progress pictures you’ve posted. I’m really excited about this and will probably pre-order it to make sure I get a copy; and I usually never pre-order games!
Jun 13, 2009 @ 03:40:59
Wow. The whole package looks fantastic. As they say in the movie business, the money (and hard work) is all up there on the screen. I hope it’s a big success for all concerned.
Jun 15, 2009 @ 10:41:43
Sorry, no RSS feed at the moment. The site is done in MovableType, which I’m completely fed up with and don’t really want to fiddle with anymore – I plan to redo it all when Expression Engine 2 is released.
Jul 01, 2009 @ 00:54:36
Love this. Look forward to picking it up.
Jul 01, 2009 @ 10:07:44
Hi mate, glad you’re still around. Love your new site!
Jul 23, 2009 @ 13:25:50
Looks fantastic!
I can’t wait to read the reviews, and hopefully get a copy. As someone who aspire to design games, and really appreciates when good visual design goes into them, this looks awesome!
FYI: I just discovered your site recently through BGG and have really appreciate a couple of your cheat sheets.
Aug 07, 2009 @ 23:43:40
Thank you for the beautiful game. Stunningly designed. So much fun so far. It was not just your art that convinced me to buy, but the words you spoke about it. Oh and tahnks for all the great free stuff here.
Nov 08, 2009 @ 07:53:33
Thanks folks!