Isletopia
Board Game | 2025 | Urban Planning | Strategy
Isletopia is a competitive city-building board game set across a charming archipelago of islands. Each player takes the role of a specialized agency tasked with developing a thriving urban district. Through careful planning, negotiation, and strategic expansion, players aim to build the most prosperous, wellconnected, and influential city. Isletopia blends luck, strategy, and urban creativity, offering a playful and engaging experience for 3 to 6 players.
Urban Planning Inspiration
Urban planning approaches vary widely across regions, shaped by history, land availability, governance, and cultural priorities. Around the world, regions grow and organize themselves in dramatically different ways. These contrasting approaches reveal how urban form is shaped by history, policy, culture, and resource availability. Some cities prioritize public services as anchors of growth, while others rely on transportation networks or housing demand to drive expansion.
Prototype and Playtests
Map
In this version the larger map base are printed using plotter. Not yet edible.
Land Tokens
Land tokens are made using laser cutters in dFab lab. It was using chip board and later hand stick with different colored prints.
Buidling Tokens
Building tokens are lasercutted with acrylic.
Printed cards and notes
Card used in prototypes are evolved from text only to additions of small UI elements. It turns out that the minimal of decoration elements added is cohesive with overall aesthetic.
The first play-test was short and mainly focusing on the game play of land talking and event systems. Modifications upon the first playtest include variation of the building and assign the buildings to roles, and adding different ways of map composition.
Final play-test introduce more game-play with buildings and the bank. The players subjectively tried to collaborate by trading building blocks and try to make full use of the bonus systems with negotiation and maximize the communal revenue.
Ellen, Game Designer
“The event cards add nice unpredictability, though a few feel too punishing compared to the benefits.”
Jay, Urban Planning student
“I love how district specialization emerges naturally, but the dice sometimes limit long-term planning.”
Steve, Board Game Specialist
“The adjacency bonuses feel rewarding, some buildings like stadium still feel hard to place strategically.”
Card Design
Role Cards
Role cards determine the three kinds of buildings players construct and a special skill that affects land expansion. The roles are designed to simulate the tension and collaboration of different land use between different occupiers. Real life strategies are borrowed in this game through balancing agencies between the six roles.
Event Cards
In order to add more fun to the game, events systems are added to make the game more interesting and engaging. The system mimics the incidences of real life that are not controllable by urban planners and merchants. In game play, this largely generate randomness in the game and relates the game to real life.
Final Outcome
Island Board
The island board are printed metal boards customized in factories. They are designed to be in 6 different pieces so that players can create and compose their own map. The metal board makes the pieces easily attached to the island board base, making the whole thing steady on table.
Land and Building Tokens
All tokens are printed or etched acrylics. The land tokens have the magnetic layers at their back so that they can easily attached to the base boards. Building tokens are etched with names with minimal aesthetic. The etches are hard to tell so more colors are added manually afterwards.
Cards
Cards are printed with 3.5 * 2.5 inch standard American playing card size and material.
Rule book
The rule book is printed in local printing workshop. The rule books is printed in pamphlet format so that information is most handy for players.
