Leveling Up Your Passion: How an Alumnus Turned His Hobby Into a Board Game
Josh Horsley ’15 has inspired people to build castles worldwide.
Horsley is the creator of CastleScape, 这是一款纸牌建造棋盘游戏，挑战玩家为国王建造最宏伟的城堡.
“I was working remotely, and I needed a creative outlet,” said Horsley, who majored in Mechanical Engineering. “I play board games a lot with family and friends, and one day, I decided I wanted to try and make one. 我一直想玩一款关于建造城堡的棋盘游戏，我把这个想法付诸实践.”
By day, 霍斯利是通用汽车电气化新市场、软件和控制部门的负责人, a career he doesn’t plan to leave any time soon.
霍斯利在谈到《正规赌博十大网站》时表示:“虽然它还不能支付账单，但它确实是一个有趣的业余爱好. “我希望我最终能把它变成一些东西, but right now, it’s a fun, creative outlet that has some traction.”
他已经卖出了1000多款游戏，还有1000多款游戏准备上市.
Similar to the Clank! and Dominion board games, CastleScape is easy to learn, Horsley said, adding that a typical game lasts one to two hours. 这款游戏需要2到4名玩家，建议14岁以上的玩家玩.
This labor of love didn’t happen overnight. 霍斯利于2016年12月开始设计这款游戏，作为一种创意渠道. 在与其他玩家进行测试后，他于2018年4月创办了自己的公司——禁卫军棋盘游戏公司.
“我的公司名称是罗马精锐卫队的名字，禁卫军. 在我成长的过程中，我喜欢很多以中世纪为背景的游戏, and some of my favorites revolved around ancient Rome,” Horsley said. “我希望它成为一家纪律严明、精明能干的公司, 禁卫军这个名字给我留下了深刻的印象.”
从那时起，他开始组建一个团队来设计所有的材料. He built several game prototypes, starting with materials from home, such as stock paper, 贴纸和标记，并转向3D打印件，并为更专业的原型制作其他件.
In May 2021, 他在Kickstarter上发起了一项活动，为游戏的制作提供资金, which was a significant investment on his part.
“The process has been extremely challenging, but I’ve learned a ton of things, 能参与到我所热爱的事业中是非常值得的,” Horsley said. “I encourage anyone who has a dream to go for it. 即使没有成功，你仍然在学习，你仍然在尝试. 如果你从来没有真正尝试过，你就不知道你是否能成功.”
The game began production in November 2022. People started receiving their games in March 2023.
“It’s very humbling,” Horsley said. “我确实为此付出了很多心血、汗水和眼泪，但也有很多人这么做. I’ve had over 100 play testers play this game, and many of them poured many hours into play testing, trying to break it, 试着找出平衡一切的最佳方法，让它变得有趣. It’s exciting and also humbling.”
他认为凯特林为他创建桌游公司提供了基本技能.
“It gave me the idea to logically think through things, plan out from A to Z, to design a project, develop it, do the art, organize people, 我认为我在凯特林学到的很多东西，以及通过合作项目学到的很多东西，给了我很多做这件事所需的技能,” he said.
霍斯利最近回到凯特林，向学生们讲述了他的旅程，并向他们展示了《正规赌博十大网站》.
“回到凯特林，谈论我过去几年的经历，这是一种超现实的感觉,” he said. “我想激励像我这样的人去做他们热爱的事情，并投入时间和精力让它成功. 我只希望我在那里谈论我的经历能给如何实现它带来一些希望和指导.”
“I think it’s awesome to see the end of this journey,” he said, ，并看到有人把自己的爱好变成了收入来源.”
They said the game was fun, engaging and easy to learn.
“The design was competitive,” Bacheldor said. “这让我想起了《正规的赌博app》的一些游戏功能,’ with building resources in order to complete tasks.”
看到母校的学生玩他设计的游戏是一种“很棒的体验”,” Horsley said.
“分享我倾注了大量精力和爱的东西总是一种可怕的经历，因为你永远不知道别人会怎么接受它,” he said. “That being said, being able to play the game with people like me, 现在坐在我不到十年前坐过的地方的学生, 是什么能给我动力，让我继续追求我所热爱的事情，并最好地与他人分享这些经历.”
Horsley plans to deploy an expansion 通过发布额外的游戏部件和卡牌包, providing new levels and different ways to play. 他说他还有其他处于不同开发阶段的游戏, including a 3D-Tetris space-themed product.
“I took the approach for this as if you don’t go for it, 你可能总是想知道如果你这样做了会是什么样子. 我认为，这是一件非常具有挑战性的事情，需要花费很多时间才能完成, I’ve learned an incredible amount, 我遇到了成千上万的人，他们已经成为我生活的一部分, and I’ve become a part of their lives as well,” he said. “If you don’t go for it, you’re never going to make it. You can think and talk about an idea all day, every day, but if you never put that pen to paper and start it, it’s never going to happen.”
