Midwest Game Developer | Stanislav Kordonskiy

About Half a Kingdom Games

I immigrated to the United States in 1997 from Crimea. It is fair to say that board gaming hobby was very under developed in that part of the world. However, I did get some exposure to the board game basics – Risk, Monopoly, some homemade games as well. Upon arrival to this country I discovered the world of games was much bigger than I ever dreamed and my interest in board games grew exponentially. I tinkered with my own ideas for board games for as long as I can remember but I did not turn professional until 2015.

I founded Half-a-Kingdom Games studio after I signed my first game to a publisher. That game was Dice Hospital and getting it published gave me confidence to continue working as a designer. In the same year I signed two more games, Lockup and Rurik.

With each game I expanded my knowledge of board game industry and board game design.

Dice Hospital taught me a lot about working with a publisher and the business side of things. With Rurik and Lockup I was able to work a lot in the development loop and provide art direction assistance.

As I gathered more experience and knowledge I started being involved more in all aspects of game creation. My next project called Margrave was picked up by TMG. The company requested that I did a complete re-theme from medieval to a western theme. The game was released under the title Old West Empresario.

I continued to design new games and next I had my games signed by Daily Magic, Hobby World, 25th Century games, Fantasia and OOMM games. With every project there was work to be done. Re-theming, creating additional content, development, troubleshooting. Whatever the work was I was eager to be involved in it. From developing my own games I naturally transitioned into developing other companies’ games.

I did not have to do everything by myself. Through my work I was fortunate to meet countless people in the industry. Publishers, designers, developers, content creators and play testers. They helped me became more proficient and knowledgeable. In recent years I started working more with other designers who are starting on their game creation journeys. I love sharing my knowledge and experience form the past 6 years of board game design work to help them realize their dreams. As I look to the future, I’m planning to continue designing games, taking on development projects and be involved in spreading awareness about this wonderful hobby.

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