❖ Version History ❖

Summer, 2025
In a classic Ben Seagrave kind of way, I wake up to a very random text one morning with a picture and a silly message reading something to the tune of: “If the worlds of Phoenix Farm & Royal Threadcount could somehow cross over, this is what it would look like”.

In the image, (which is features as the main picture of this post), there is effectively a triptych of illustrations that appear in the ukiyo-e style. The three images each feature a slightly different looking woman figure, some with a pipe, one with a scroll & paintbrush. In the background, sprawled across all three of the images is a gigantic Japanese interpretation of the phoenix. (also, interesting note, the kimonos of the figures above feature the Ume & the Kikko patterns, showing that they are still staple designs for fabric as of 300 years ago!)

When Ben sent this to me, we got to talking a bit about how it would be so cool to include such an image in the game design, but obviously it does not have a great place where it would make sense, as, these two stories definitely do not cross over thematically. But. That doesn’t mean that we can at least pay homage to this incredible piece of art, and luckily for Ben, I was already wondering what I might be putting on the cover design of our rule book…

By combining the facial features of multiple characters from this original & re-arranging how their hand is being used to our advantage, I was really excited to create this ghostly replica of our source material. I wanted it to be a direct reference to this original painting, but also make it something completely unique to the game, so I also made sure to leave their clothes with as little detail as possible, so that the Seigaiha pattern in the background would pass through with the color of the rule book, just like the cards function in the game!

All in all, I was very happy with the result of this character display… but I did have a new problem as well. Now I had a cover for our rule book, but I was not yet ready to functionally design the rest of the pages… And I am sure by now, you know what this means! (time for some doodles to help storyboard the design of the book!)

Over the course of a few days here, I started to compile the most complete list of notes that I can think of to set up the initial designs of the rules guide. I built much of the layout for this book on the same layout as Phoenix Farm had, because the function of that book worked really well for comprehension & helped keep everything as short as possible.

Now… it was time to get to the heavy-lifting side of the equation: Digital Design.
Be sure to check back to the Librarium Games Design Journal soon so that we can go down that rabbit hole together!