Skybound Games

Conventions, Baking, and a Whole Lot of Magic

By Brianna Nivinski, Skybound Tabletop Skybound Tabletop is a division of Skybound Entertainment focused on developing games that feature immersive stories, innovative gameplay, and exceptional artistry.

As the return of conventions and the release of Kim-Joy’s Magic Bakery both approach, we look forward to more magical convention moments like the one that led to our latest game.

THE MAGIC OF CONVENTIONS

One of our favorite things as a team is going out to conventions and being a part of the community. It’s a wonderful way to meet new people who love tabletop like we do, reconnect with friends from across the industry, and discover new and exciting games while sharing our own. And sometimes that convention magic hits and the stars align just right, and a brand-new idea is born.

That couldn’t be truer than with Skybound Tabletop’s experience at San Diego Comic-Con in 2019. When we learned Kim-Joy of The Great British Bake Off fame was also running a booth at SDCC, our designers swung by to introduce themselves as fans. A tabletop gamer herself, Kim-Joy was excited to talk with us, and after SDCC, the team scheduled a follow-up meeting with KimJoy in London on their way to Essen 2019. There, we got to discuss the similarities between baking and gaming, and the magic of how both can bring people closer as friends. When designer Ben Kepner pitched his concept for a new game based on Kim-Joy’s delightful brand of nerdy positivity mixed with baking, Kim-Joy was on board!

COLLABORATING WITH KIM-JOY

Kim-Joy was super excited for the game, and she has been a pleasure to work with at every step of the process. On the creative side, she provided all the recipes that are in the game! So, for people that are paying attention, the recipes should all be accurate to how you would bake each treat in real life. This was super helpful since no one on our team has nearly the baking expertise that she does! For the game’s illustrations, we are working with Linda van den Berg. Linda is a Dutch artist that has worked with Kim-Joy previously on the art for all of her cookbooks. Her hand-drawn pencil art style really gives the game an adorable and homey feel that reflects Kim-Joy and her personality. Linda was also wonderful to work with and did quite a bit of original character design. Typically, we would give her a list of bakes and what kind of animals we wanted to see as characters, and she would come back with adorable art that was perfect and brought the magical bakery to life, no adjustments necessary.

KIM-JOY’S MAGIC BAKERY

We had originally planned to launch the game in 2020, but like so many other things, the pandemic had us reshuffle our schedule. On the upside, this delay allowed us to buckle down and really focus on fine-tuning the game’s development. Looking forward, we’re so excited to work with Kim-Joy to promote the game. As Bake Off fans ourselves, it’s exciting to be reaching out to that audience and building a bridge to that world through hobby gaming. As Ben and Kim-Joy discussed, food and games can both bring people closer together, and isn’t that magical?

You can follow Kim-Joy across social media @KimJoysKitchen and keep up with the latest news on Kim-Joy’s Magic Bakery on the Skybound Tabletop social channels.