Origame

We have rarely seen a person as passionate about games as Daryl. He regularly participates in game get-togethers, either to come up with new game ideas or to improve his prototypes. In the meantime, he has released many games, each of which is spectacular. A testament to this are his successful crowd-funding campaigns.

When we met Daryl, we knew we had to find a way to bring his games from Singapore to Germany – it would be too bad if we couldn’t do it.

Now we offer his first game, Plantopia in our store, and soon with an online translation in German. We are very happy that Daryl will continue to enrich us with his new games.

If you are looking for special games that are a lot of fun, Darly’s games are for you.

For those who are interested. Daryl is in the picture the person with the bald head, and the founder of Origames.

Why have you decided to create your own game?

At Origame, we create games that tell stories that are meaningful to us. Our slogan is „Modern Asian Board Games“, because we use modern and innovative game mechanics to bring Asian stories and culture to life. We believe in creating games that are part of people’s consciousness.

What interest you the most about developing games/ and what not?

The mental challenge of creating a game infrastructure from scratch is what keeps me going every day. I have worked at many professions, including lecturing and researching at universities, but designing and developing games is the only thing that really challenges my brain. I treat game design as my craft and I try to get better at it every single day.

If you had to play only three games for the rest of your life, which games would these be?

Hard to answer, since it’s impossible to imagine living in a world without games. If I really had to choose, it would be bridge, since I played it for many years before I played board games. It has all of the hallmarks of modern board games – the social aspect, mental challenges, and really tough decisions.

What makes your game/games unique?

Origame games tell stories from our culture and from around Asia, from our perspective. In addition, we design mechanics and theme hand-in-hand, so all of our games have a strong link between theme and mechanics. The games also punch very much above their weight – they are simple to learn and have very few components but all carry very interesting and complex decisions.

What was the best moment you had as a game developer?

There have been countless moments of validation since I switched careers, but one stands out. At Tokyo Game Market, I went up to one of my favourite game designers, Saashi, to say that I was a big fan of his games. When I said my name, he asked if I designed the game Overbooked. It turns out that he was a big fan of the game and wanted to contact me to work together. We ended up co-designing a game that won the prestigious Beeple award, which is surreal. Recently here in Singapore I’ve also noticed that in some 7-11s, our games are the very first product you see in the store before even stepping in – that is still unbelievable to me.

You want to sell your games in Germany. Why do you think Germans will like your game in particular?

Just before I became a full time game designer, in 2018 when I went to Essen Spiel I had an autograph session for one of my games, Overbooked. I wasn’t expecting anyone to come but when I went on stage there was a very long line of German kids, many of whom didn’t even speak English, but who still wanted to get my autograph. The fact that I can influence the lives of German kids all the way around the world humbles me, and I want to keep working at making even better games for German kids and adults!

Games sold: Plantopia; Wok and Roll; Rainforest City;