The Flag Break Story
The Inventor
My name is James, I live in Seattle, and I am 10 years old.
I am the inventor of Flag Break!
I love drama, reading, football, karate, chess and other games, the ocean, swimming, fishing, journalism, and more!
The Idea
I got inspired to make Flag Break during a Game Making camp in 2022 and have worked on it ever since.
I love the strategy of chess and the thrill of capture the flag, so I combined both to create Flag Break!
You can see that the game was first called Jail Mania! (Then it went to Flag Mania and then Flag Break!)
Flag Break was originally a luck game with dice!
Initial Sketches
Here is an early sketch for the game board. It has come a long way!
Here is an early sketch of the box cover. I ended up getting rid of the people in the jail to keep it simpler.
Here is an early sketch of the Character Sheet.
You can see how certain rules have been adjusted over time. For example, Ninja was originally called Keys and was the only piece who got everyone out of jail, originally the Shield could go through brambles (but it was too strong of a defender this way), and the Diver couldn’t stop in the water.
It is fun to look back at some of the early concepts.
Here was a sketch of the game board as it really started coming together.
More brambles have been added since this time and small adjustments to placement of water, but you can easily recognize the game here.
The Rules
I am proud of how the rules came out. My dad and I have played Flag Break SO many times, each time tweaking the rules slightly to make it better and better.
You never realize how much time goes into getting the rules just right to make the game exciting, take the right amount of time, and to have it be interesting and different game after game so that people want to keep playing it.
There are a number of great websites on the internet that give great advice on how to make a new game that were very helpful.
Hiring an artist
I looked at and interviewed several artists on the website Fiverr and chose a woman in Greece named Anna. It took 2.5 months and over 100 messages with her to get the designs just right.
For example, here is the very first design copy I got back. As you can see, there was a LONG way to go.
For fun, here is the 2nd design I got back. You can see how this process takes a long time. It is important to be really clear about exactly what needed to be changed and to keep sticking with it to make it perfect.
I am appreciative for Anna's patience and help!
Here is the final game board so that you can see how far it has come!
As you can see, we kept the jail design from the original copy.
Choosing the Non-profit
I wanted to use my game to make an impact on the world. I have always loved the oceans and each year when my parents give my siblings and I some money to donate to a cause of our choice, I put it toward either saving the oceans or endangered animals.
I researched different non-profits related to these causes and Ocean Conservancy is doing great work.
95% of all profits generated by Flag Break in 2024 will be donated to Ocean Conservancy! I am hoping this is $5,000 or more.
Launching!
After more than a year of working on this game, it is finally time to launch!
I bought the www.flagbreak.com URL (it was available and only $11/year), put together this website, and created a Kickstarter campaign (at www.kickstarter.com/projects/flagbreak/flag-break )
Kickstarter is helpful because it is very expensive to produce the game if there are a small number of copies. If I can get over 200 copies of the game sold, the price to produce each game comes down a lot!
If you like the game and what I am trying to do, please do tell your friends. I know it is hard to spread the word, but I really do think this is a game that could be a hit. And if it is, we can all be a part of helping to save the world and our oceans in a small way.
Kickstarter Success!
After:
Lots of emails to supporters, getting advice from a big board game company CEO (thanks!), learning how to create Facebook advertisements, making new packages to sell on Kickstarter, and getting interviewed for a story, we got the support needed to bring Flag Break to life!!!
With 3 hours to go, we crossed over the $10,000 goal when my math teacher at school bought a copy when I checked to see how close we were. (I was jumping with joy when we hit it!)
To all who have supported me: a BIG THANKS!
Now on to the next phase: manufacturing and delivery.