Hear from designers Orlando Sá and André Santos about the behind-the-scenes design process of their new game Ofrenda...

Mechanisms First

There's a question often asked in game design: What comes first, the theme or the mechanisms? For Ofrenda, we began with the mechanisms.

The core idea was simple, yet rich in possibility. Players create a tableau of cards, with each card featuring a color, a symbol, and a scoring condition. Every card placement matters, influencing not just the card itself, but those around it.

The central premise remained unchanged throughout development: Give players the enticing possibility of scoring every single card played, knowing that it will be practically impossible to do so. It is a puzzle of tension, potential, and consequence.

Streamlining the Core

Initially, André and I experimented with different card-selection methods. However, it quickly became clear that the rules needed to stay smooth and simple to let the spatial puzzle shine as the game's "crunchy" centerpiece.

Drawing inspiration from Small World, we used a streamlined card-selection style in which players choose from a row of available cards. Skipping cards means placing your precious resources on them, making those cards more attractive to other players. It's a smooth and intuitive system that fit well with the eventual theme of making offerings.

Babel Was Not the Way

Thematically, our first idea centered on the Tower of Babel. Colors represented different groups of people, and symbols depicted languages. In this version, players built a pyramid of cards, and placing on an upper level required you to have played both cards below it.

This idea had metaphorical weight, but in practice, it became too restrictive and punishing. We therefore decided to set it aside in the "maybe one day" drawer.

An Altar in Brussels

Both of us design games separately and together. With our shared creations, we have come to realize that games need to be placed in the drawer for some period of time to marinate (or to age if you are not a fan of culinary metaphors).

One day, one of us will wake up with a small breakthrough idea for a theme or mechanism, and the sparkle will be reignited so that we restart actively working on the design.

As often happens in life, the breakthrough for this game came unexpectedly. During a Day of the Dead celebration in Brussels, we were moved watching people honor their loved ones – not with grief alone, but with color, warmth, and joy.

Both of us are Portuguese, and the contrast between this celebration and our own was striking. In our culture, All Souls' Day is solemn, quiet, often somber — but in Mexico, despite sharing Catholic roots, Día de los Muertos is a celebration of life and memory. The way people were interacting with the altars, placing objects next to the photos of loved ones who had passed away, lighting candles and decorating everything with marigolds was heartwarming. It was beautiful. It was special.

This image of an altar adorned with portraits, candles, and marigolds sparked a powerful thought: What if the game were about building an ofrenda?

The Ofrenda

This new theme brought renewed energy and fresh mechanisms, like candles and flowers, tied to a redesigned game board. Candles can be picked up when drafting a card, then placed as soon as a candle space is surrounded by three portraits. This added an extra dimension to the gameplay as the portrait-scoring conditions are based on the cards around it, but the candle-scoring conditions are based on the player's entire board.

Also, not having a candle available when you're able to place one is painful because you can do it only at that specific moment, which is also true with marigolds. Late in the game, you'll have situations in which placing one card surrounds several candle and marigold spaces at once, so the lack of candles or marigolds can have a huge impact and the timing of when to surround spaces becomes crucial.

Suddenly, the game clicked. We just needed to refine the scoring mechanism...

A Light in the Darkness

While discussing the new theme, we were also talking about the movie Coco, and its warm and colorful style. One key image from it stood out — lit portraits as a metaphor for remembrance and love — so we wondered, what if our portraits could also light up?

That's when we had our last breakthrough: Cards wouldn't score by default. Only those whose conditions were met would flip to their lit side. Once flipped, they glowed – literally brightening the player's board with color. The more lit cards, the more colorful the player's ofrenda becomes. Lit cards score 2 points for each lit neighbor and 1 point per unlit one. The same applies for candles and marigolds, but they score only for lit cards around them: 2 points for each around a lit candle, and 1 point for each around a marigold. It was simple. It was thematic. It worked.

The Canvas Emerges

Following this shift, we playtested extensively. The new mechanisms worked seamlessly, and the rules felt intuitive. By making the placement of cards free of any restriction on the player board (which was completely different from other versions), players could plan when and how to play their cards in hand.

The game became this blank canvas in which as you add more things to your board, you restrict yourself further. Each later placement in the game becomes either a painful realization that a certain card will not score or a thrilling moment when one or more cards are flipped at the same time.

Fine-tuning the objectives of the cards and candles was key. They needed to be challenging, yet avoid causing unnecessary frustration. We got to a point where we felt that the game was accessible for non-gamers, yet crunchy enough for seasoned players. That delicate tension was what we strived for from the beginning.

A Celebration with Care

After pitching the game, we were thrilled by Osprey Games' enthusiasm. Their development process was collaborative, transparent, and above all, respectful of the culture we were honoring.

Hiring a Mexican cultural consultant and a Mexican illustrator was vital to keeping grounded in the traditions we were depicting. Álex Herrerías took great care creating a different portrait for every card, making each feel like a unique part of the story we are telling as we assemble our ofrenda.

The development team of Osprey wanted Ofrenda to be a genuine tribute to this tradition, not only a background theme for the game. We hope that all these steps taken ensure that Ofrenda treats this beloved tradition with care, respect, and authenticity.

We hope you have as much fun playing the game as we had developing it.

A Personal Offering from Orlando

I received my first copy of the game the day before one very important person in my life passed away. Since the game has already been produced, I want to dedicate this game to that person, whose departure made the world a bit more empty and a bit more sad because her smile is no longer to be seen between us. Tucha, este jogo é dedicado a ti!

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Ofrenda is out now.

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