My name is Carlos, I am the designer of Subtopia. This is the first game I created that I am publicly self-publishing.
I played a lot of board games, especially before COVID, and one of my favourite things in board games is the team work, making the dream work feeling.
Subtopia was created from scrapping and completely redesigning a tile based tactics game I designed. From that experience a lot was learnt, and in 2024 a completely new game surfaced; where I transformed older ideas into newer ones.
I wanted a game that was quite minimalist and didn’t have too many props, as those are usually the type of games I gravitate towards. The final product using tiles and tokens.
This project was a group effort. With someone else who worked on the the design of the tiles and settling on the suburban theme. With others on the playtests, discussions and refining.
Thank you for having a look at Subtopia! I thoroughly enjoyed working through this project, and I hope you have lots of fun simulating gentrification with fellow players.
Game Designer : Carlos Lam
Game Theme : Evan P. D. Roma
Tile Design : Evan P. D. Roma
Game Illustrations : Giovanni S, Hank L. Marca
Box Cover Illustration : Hank L. Marca
Gameplay Analysis and Refinement : Carlos Lam, Daniel Liang, Evan P. D. Roma
Rules Script and Layout: Carlos Lam
Rulebook Design : Kevin B, Carlos L
Project Coordination : Carlos Lam
Production Coordination : Carlos Lam
Many Thanks to All Playtesters : Charles Lam, Elizabeth Nixon, Daniel Liang, Christopher Pan, Derek L, Evan PD Roma, Tracy S, Pax visitors.
Box Layout : Carlos Lam, Giovanni S
Digital Box : Shrawan G.
Posters : Carlos L, Greg, Tracy S.
Video(s) : WIP
Special Thanks To : Evan P. D. Roma, Christopher Pan, Raymond Liang, Sally L, and Charles L.
Thank you to all that helped bring Subtopia into reality.
I especially want to thank Evan PDR for believing in my aspiration to launch a game from when we met at the end of 2022 and went to great lengths for the project throughout 2023 and 2024. I want to thank him for earnestly trying to urge us to take the project seriously.
I used to hate people, but now I think they are the most interesting thing. Thank you Evan and Chris for opening my eyes to human relations. This is my biggest and ongoing lesson.
