What We Do

Bright Sword Studio designs tabletop strategy games. Our mission is to make fun, re-playable, and affordable board games. We especially love adapting history! Our core values are compassion and environmentalism. Parents shouldn’t have to break the bank to given children something special! We believe that battle games don’t need to be violent to be fun! For example, our Hastings title is focused on recreating history rather than reveling in violence. Our products will use recycled material while profits will be used for carbon offsetting.

We have 1 title (Siege Warfare) ready for publication (with 2 extensions in post-production and 2 further extensions in pre-production). We have 2 titles (Titanic, Hastings) in pre-production, with further development depending on the future of our 1st title. All titles are designed on 3 core principals:

1) Data and AI

2) Authenticity

3) Creativity and Fun!

Data and AI:

We use extensive playtesting to ensure our games are fair and balanced. Human play testers are irreplaceable, but their efforts can be supplemented (never replaced) with AI tools. Our rigorous playtesting system is grounded in data driven analysis. We play hundreds of games per update. Our team leverages deep expertise in mathematics, computer science, and artificial intelligence to analyze results. We have developed confidential metrics and use advanced statistical models to optimize balance.

Siege Warfare has undergone thousands of human playtests. Our play testers have pioneered and optimized groundbreaking balance mechanics. Our AI players can simulate hundreds of thousands of games in seconds. We’ve built machine learning and deep learning models on the data to both train human play testers and verify balance.

By combining human playtesting with advanced AI, we strive to ensure our games offer multiple viable strategies and balanced win rates across unique armies.

Authenticity:

Adaptations should respect the source material. Historical games can take us back to the past while resonating with present experiences. This only works if the game is respectful to the history it tells. Our design process puts historical accuracy first. Data and AI driven balancing fine-tune gameplay without sacrificing authenticity.

Hastings: Battle of Kings will use scans of the original Bayeux Tapestry for character images. Game pieces are designed around the real battle. Harold Godwinson’s Saxon army begins with a terrain advantage, but is fatigued from Stamford Bridge. Fyrd troops may recklessly charge without orders while housecarls can form a disciplined shield-wall. William’s Norman knights will have to a special “false retreat” ability, while his marksmen can snipe through shield-walls. The only way to get a more authentic experience would be to invent a time machine and go back to 1066!

In Titanic: Icy Atlantic we intend on using a scan of Thomas Andrews’s real Titanic blueprints for the gameboard. If the full scale proves impractical, we will adjust dimensions in an authentic way. Second Officer Charles Lightoller’s game piece begins on the Port side of A-Deck. He refuses to load male pieces into lifeboats while First Officer Murdoch will be load male pieces provided no women or children are nearby. As turns progress, various sections of the ship will become off-limits, mirroring the real timeline of Titanic’s sinking.

Creativity and Fun:

Our core belief is simple: if a game is fun to design, it will be fun to play! Our commitment to Data & AI will never interfere with fun. Fun isn’t something you measure, its something you experience! Every single mechanic, game piece, and rule is designed with love and care by a human. Our commitment to historical accuracy comes from a passion for the history and source material we are adapting. Data and AI are used to optimize, not create. Our design follows the same rule as improv: always say yes! We are willing to try any concept, rule, or change out. You can never know what’s going to be fun until you try it out!