Bringing Inscryption to Life With Cryptic Crafter: Interview Part 2

Read the first part of this interview in Issue 46, August 2025!

Written by Bethany

Inscryption's aesthetic is steeped in eerie details. How did you go about choosing materials and designing pieces to preserve that same unsettling atmosphere?

The video game is such a great inspiration; it was easy to know what I was looking for. The tricky thing was finding suppliers who can make these at a high enough quality to do justice to the parts in the video game. I didn't want to just make another board game with cardboard parts and plastic tokens, so I looked for wood and metal parts as much as I could. And because we're still operating at quite a small scale, it can be hard to find people willing to do a small production run with us.

We partnered with a local Australian printer to print the cards on high-quality casino-grade card stock. I sourced some Australian Blackwood for the scales, which we laser cut, stain and finish ourselves. We had to go overseas for some other parts like the brass bells, where we found a brass casting company who could make the bells with an antique finish on a small scale for us. And then we do a final assembly and quality check of everything in our workshop before we ship it out.

For some of our overseas suppliers, I have an independent inspection company who visits them in person to verify the quality of the products and the working conditions of the factory, to make sure we're supporting the right people. 

I was never trying to hit a certain budget for the final product, I just wanted to make the best game I could that feels like it's been ripped straight out of the screen and into the real world. And I think people can feel the love that's gone into this process.

Making an adaptation is always a bit of a tightrope between trying to remain faithful whilst ensuring it works in its new form. Writing on card sleeves for the Death Cards was an absolutely genius design choice. How did you approach these types of challenges, especially when it comes to turning it into a two-player experience?

My priority from the beginning was not to make an exact 1-to-1 replica of the video game. But instead to create a super fun and balanced two-player version that was as fair to both players as possible.

The two-player game takes place over 2 or 3 rounds. Players keep their hands and bones between rounds, so each round has a different feeling. The gameplay and your tactics evolve throughout the game as you pick up more cards and learn how your opponent is playing.

All the cards are chosen out in the open at the start, so both players know what might be coming for them later in the game.

We had to remove many elements from the video game due to complexity or unfairness. It may be fun in the video game to create an overpowered card and defeat Leshy, but when you're playing against your wife and you kill her on the first turn, that's not so fun. Anytime something felt unfair or tedious, I would write it down and improve a little for next time. Playing a Grizzly or Great White card was almost an instant kill, so those cards, along with a few others, were removed from the game (but still printed in case anyone wants to try them out!)

When I felt like I had enough of a structure, I set about writing the rulebook, which was a new challenge in itself.

My best feedback came from my grandparents and other family members who have barely played any board games or video games before. They didn't have any existing game knowledge and made me realise how clear and specific all your language needs to be. A brand new player who has never heard of Inscryption before can sit down and start playing in a few minutes without being overwhelmed by rules.

A lot of knowing what to keep and what to remove from the video game came down to practical reasons. Players needing to keep track of campfire upgrades on individual cards just made the game feel a bit like a spreadsheet simulator, so we removed campfires and other events to really drill down on the essentials of what makes the game fun.

Drawing on card sleeves is another good practical example. I'm not a fan of games with consumables that require you to buy more parts when you run out. But I also wanted players to easily create as many Death Cards as their heart desires. So we chose a standard card sleeve size, so anytime, even 20 years from now, you can head to a local game shop and pick up some new sleeves. I built this game to last a lifetime, and I don't want someone running out of an essential part with no way to get more!

Your blog does a great job of documenting the evolving production process behind the box sets. How did feedback from people shape the final version of the game?

Because we're a small company and do a lot by hand, it takes some time to make each game! So I started an updates mailing list/blog to let people follow along with the process. We make orders in batches at a time, which allows us to be more nimble and adaptable to small changes over time.

Feedback from players is super valuable. I personally read every review and reply to every email, so I get a great idea of how people are playing the game, and any small issues that may occur. There are so many card combinations and interactions, it'd be impossible for me to personally play all of them, so I love it when someone reaches out with an obscure problem I never expected to happen.

A recent change we made was adding four new sigils to the game. A sigil is a printed icon on a card that indicates its special abilities. However, in Inscryption, a few cards have hidden abilities not shown on a sigil (spoilers), like the Long Elk.

The Long Elk drops a vertebrae card behind it as it moves across the board. This happens automatically in the video game, but in real life, we needed a way for players to know how and when to do this. So I initially created a generic 'Check Rules' sigil, instructing players to have a look at the rulebook for a special ability.

After announcing it, I got great feedback that the sigil feels a bit immersion-breaking and doesn't quite fit the theme. So instead, we developed four unique sigils for these kinds of cards, designed to blend in with the existing style. Now, the Long Elk has a new "Bone Shedder" sigil. And for fans who want the original experience, we still include the unmodified card with every order.

If someone unearthed your edition of Inscryption in the woods and you had to appear wearing a mysterious mask, what would your mask look like, and what kind of ominous title would you go by?

I'd love to hide a box set somewhere in the woods, so maybe this question will come to life one day... I'd be Atelís the Scrybe of Relics. I'd create my cards by using antique tools and techniques in a dusty workshop full of forgotten prototypes and broken components, haphazardly attaching them together to form new abominations.