by toni dadaist Hello everyone, my name is Toni López, and I'm the designer of Medang. I came up with the idea for Medang in 2019. At that moment, I had been playtesting a lot of heavy games, so...

by toni dadaist

Hello everyone, my name is Toni López, and I'm the designer of Medang.

I came up with the idea for Medang in 2019. At that moment, I had been playtesting a lot of heavy games, so I needed to work on something easier, but with a bit of strategic depth. I love all area-majority games, from classics like El Grande, Tikal, and Tribuno to more complex ones like Nippon or Calimala, so I decided to create an easy-to-explain game with some kind of area-majority mechanism.

From the beginning, I knew I wanted to work with a playing area in which players lay tiles of a certain value (between 1 and 5) that would be activated at the end of the game when completing said area. Based on its position, each tile would produce points for the corresponding player. From the start, tiles were divided into five professions, but there were only four dynasties — that is, colors of tiles — so only four people would be able to play.

During the testing phase, we saw the need to introduce a fifth dynasty because there were instances in which towards the end of the game players had to play with a very small number of tiles.

Medang hasn't changed much since its conception. We had to add and modify a couple of details during testing, but even the scoring method — horizontally and vertically — was part of the original idea.

Coincidentally, that is one of my favorite things about the game. I love that the tile has gravity by being placed at the bottom of the play area, making it the foundation upon which to build upwards; additionally, each tiles scores in two different ways at the end of the game. My intention was that the decision of which tile to play in each turn would not be trivial.

From Egypt to the Java Island

Initially, Medang was set in Ancient Egypt and had a fixed board with the image of a pyramid. Nevertheless, after signing with TCG Factory, they suggested looking into other possible themes to make the game a touch more original. I really liked that idea because it matched an idea I had been mulling over for the last few months.


At the first stages of testing when the design still had an Egyptian theme, one of the players told me that they loved the game, but would change the format to cards instead of tiles. That way it would be an easier game to edit, and I would find a publisher in no time. This person is a designer who I've known for a while, and although I don't always take their ideas into consideration, this time I decided to listen. I made a prototype with mini-euro-sized cards, and even though the game was more manageable with cards, it didn't look right on the table. It wasn't thematic enough, and the pyramid looked ugly and wonky.

I was still thinking about the original format with tiles, but I showed TCG Factory the card version since that's what I had. After our first game, which was thrilling and fun, they said they loved the design, but thought that it would look much better with tiles. Ha, I knew it!

We also discarded the initial idea of having a static board in favor of building the temple only with tiles — then I realized that the configuration didn't have to be the same pyramid or a temple, so I started testing different temple profiles. The result was really good, and this change opened the door to infinite temple configurations with just a handful of numbered tiles. Everything was fitting into place.

The only thing left to do was find the best time and place to set the new format of the game. I started researching the most beautiful buildings in ancient times and discovered the Borobudur temple, which was built by a short-lived civilization that inhabited the Java Island between the 7th and 8th centuries. This culture was the Medang kingdom, and they built incredibly beautiful Buddhist temples with rich and diverse shapes. It was an instant match.

With the new setting in Medang's kingdom, we could start playing with the temple's configuration and creating new "boards" in each game. Besides, we weren't limited to the shape options given in the rulebook; players could imagine their own unique temples and build them.


Testing, the Ultimate Litmus Test

When the game was in its early stages but playable, I started testing it with my family. It was an instant hit. We enjoyed it from the beginning, the gameplay flowed nicely, and we were able to finish the game from the get-go, which is always a good omen.

All test runs were quite successful, and most of the players that tried the design enjoyed it — and they pointed out that they especially loved the interactivity, the hidden dynasty, and the surprises when tallying the final score.

Testing was helpful to refine scoring. For example, initially each tile scored for every tile of another dynasty and with a lower number below it. However, this made for very low scores.

It was also during testing when the hidden roles appeared. In Medang, each player is assigned a dynasty at random, which is revealed only at the end of the game. All the players lay tiles from every dynasty, so a little bit of bluffing is added to the game, which was something I always thought to include.


But the thing that gave me the most work was the professions' powers. They had to be simple, but also have enough effect to alter the scores at the end of the game. Balancing them so that they weren't too powerful or too weak was the aspect I had to test the most. For example, initially the Leader (5) didn't have any effect because it was the highest number. However, I felt it would be more coherent if all professions had a power, so I kept trying ideas until I came up with its current power: Discard all the tiles in your hand and get four new ones, or replace the tiles in the market with six new ones.

I also had to decide which tile number to associate with which profession, giving lower numbers powers that are more interesting to use. The 1, for example, doesn’t score too many points, but it's useful since it lets you place another tile, chaining one turn after another.


I'm pleased with the end result as the professions' powers are well-balanced with the number of times they appear in the game. Regarding playability, Medang is true to my original idea as it's easy to learn and play, and it's open to almost all ages.

In terms of graphics, I want to emphasize the incredible work of José Soto, who beautifully interpreted the idea of the game and showcased it in his illustrations. Both of us, along with the development team from TCG Factory, worked hard to reach the final product. Now I hope lots of gamers can enjoy Medang.

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