The three-dimensional tile placement game Builders of Sylvan Dale has recently released. In the game, two to four players may design a woodland realm high in the trees, constructing dwellings, bridges, and hanging courtyards. Learn more about the creation of Builders of Sylvan Dale in this article by the game designer Peter Ridgeway.

Builders of Sylvan Dale: an unique three-dimensional tile placement game.

"When you sit down to play Builders of Sylvan Dale, the first thing you notice about this tile-placement game is that it doesn’t lay flat on the table: the action takes place in three-dimensional space. Trees of varying heights rise from the landscape of Sylvan Dale, with colorful dwellings and bridges resting in the branches of the trees. The players are the architects of this magical woodland city, and with each new tile placement, they experience the satisfaction of seeing the enchanted tree-city grow ever taller.

But the charm of the game isn’t just its beautiful, eye-catching components and three-dimensional gameplay. Players will also discover that Builders of Sylvan Dale is a challenging strategy contest that offers interesting decisions and plenty of intense player interaction. The game integrates all three dimensions of space into its core area-control mechanics. Where you place a tile on a tree, the height of the tree, and the location of the tree on the gameboard are all important factors of players’ decisions.

Builders of Sylvan Dale was pre-released at Spiel Essen in October 2024, but it has been in the making for nearly a decade. Indeed, the idea of a 3D tile-placement game came to me when I was still a new, inexperienced game designer. As an avid fan of tile-placement games, I began to wonder if two-dimensional cardboard tiles could be used to create a three-dimensional game. At first it was just a whimsical thought, but it soon became a design challenge that obsessed me. I created several prototypes with differing design solutions. An early prototype involved using plastic clips to connect tiles together in a vertical arrangement. This prototype was shown to several game publishers, but in the end, the plastic clips proved to be too expensive to produce.

Undeterred, I kept searching for a more cost-effective solution. Inspiration came in the form of a cardboard display that I saw at a department store. Slits had been cut into pieces of cardboard, and the cardboard was fitted together at right angles to create the free-standing vertical display. Could slits be cut into game tiles so they could fit together in a similar fashion? I began to experiment with new prototypes. It didn’t take long to develop tiles that could be stacked on top of each other, creating the possibility of a game that involved vertical tile placement.

A view of the trees with stackable tiles of Builders of Sylvan Dale.

So, I had stackable tiles that offered many new design possibilities, but I still didn’t have a complete game. The next step was to consider game mechanics and themes that made sense with the stackable tiles. The first game concept that emerged was a tower-building game. Each player used stackable tiles to create their own tower, which often reached more than two feet high. As impressive as these towers were, the gameplay itself didn’t offer much player interaction or interesting strategic decisions.

To create a more satisfying experience, I integrated the stackable tiles with area-control and set-collection mechanisms. Early playtests of the concept convinced me that I was truly on to something. The gameplay was rife with tension and direct player interaction. Now that I had the basic mechanics of a 3D tile-placement strategy game, I needed a meaningful theme that players could immerse themselves in. Because of the vertical nature of the stackable tiles, there were two themes that seemed obvious—towers and trees. While a tower theme certainly could have worked, I felt that a tree theme offered more interesting possibilities and would be more visually appealing. And instead of just ordinary trees, I opted for a fantasy theme with elven tree dwellings.

Sylvan Dale was extensively playtested for more than a year at conventions, game designer groups, and game cafes. And then COVID-19 happened. In fact, the final playtesting of the game was taking place at a Protospiel in Denver just as schools and businesses were shutting down. The pandemic posed many challenges for publishing the game. In the early days of the pandemic, it was impossible to meet with publishers to pitch the game. And when I was finally able to schedule pitch meetings via Zoom, most publishers were reluctant to take on new games because of the uncertainty that all businesses were dealing with at that time.

People playing the game at Spiel Essen 2024.

Sylvan Dale was eventually licensed by Ares Games. As the world began to recover from COVID, the development of the game progressed, and the publisher decided to adjust the game’s theme from forest elves to woodland creatures. Cute anthropomorphic animals appeal to a broader audience and provide opportunities for more interesting artwork, the publishers believed. The artist duo Ann & Seb were commissioned to create the artwork, and their creativity and talent truly brought the world of Sylvan Dale to life.

After nearly a decade in the making, Builders of Sylvan Dale is literally taking tile-placement games to a new level. Will it inspire the creation of other three-dimensional tile-placement games? Time will tell."

As a game designer, Peter Ridgeway enjoys pushing the envelope of what a strategy game can be. His games such as "Builders of Sylvan Dale" and "Wildstyle" combine game elements and genres in innovative and unique ways.

This article was originally published on Game Trade Magazine issue 298 (December 2024).

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