Let’s talk about a mysterious enchanted forest, with a curious cat wandering the shadowy paths and shy wisps faintly lighting its way through the undergrowth. 

Let’s talk about Wispwood! 

It’s an upcoming CGE title — a tile-laying game, with a satisfying progression and a clever twist, that instantly captured our hearts with its laid-back elegance and charm. It works beautifully as a family game with its simple ruleset, yet enough depth to engage everyone around the table. You play as a cat that entered the enchanted forest and discovered its strange inhabitants. But to befriend these whimsical lights, one needs to understand their nature and fulfill their wishes. 

You may have read the Designer’s Diary, summarizing the evolution of the game mechanics, but here we’ll look at the game from another angle: how did the visual elements evolve after the game entered development? 

Let’s hear this from Štěpán Drašťák, a talented illustrator who already worked on CGEs’ other titles like Deal with the Devil and Little Alchemists.
This time, he is the one who made the wisps emerge from the shadows and lured the cats out of hiding – just to trap them all in this magical forest!

Štěpán, you were very enthusiastic about the project from the start – what drew you towards the game?

I think it was a combination of several things, but mainly it was how easily you can jump into the game. You don't have to spend too much time on the rules, and you can play within minutes. It’s very swift, so you can try different strategies one after another, and the cat theme – well, that was just a cherry on the top. I think I was never hooked on a game so fast.

Was this the first time you were in charge of the complete visuals of a game?

Yes, that's right. I already took over a big chunk of the Little Alchemists last year, but I wasn't in charge of the art direction, and I had to stick closer to the style of David Cochard. I didn’t plan on becoming my own art director on Wispwood, but apart from occasional feedback, everyone else was busy with other CGE games. To be honest, I felt an enormous pressure inside of me, because as usual, I wanted to deliver the best to the players – but this time, there was no safety net behind me, so to speak.

So, did you have a clear vision from the beginning? Or did it slowly evolve as you worked on it?

I'm more of a type of creator who's experimenting before everything clicks together. One thing I knew for sure was that the player should not be able to say when the game takes place – whether it's today, in the past, or even in the future. That's why you won't find any human-made objects in the game, which would prevent you from embracing the mysticism.

As for the art style, originally I wanted to go a bit darker, with crooked trees, weird shapes, and overall traces of German expressionism. 

But I was quickly told by a colleague that this probably wouldn't fly with the intended audience, so I had to come back down to earth. You can still see some remnants of this in the final game, though, mostly the art-deco shape of the “Long Boi” cat from the cover.

But what I knew from the beginning was that I didn't want the wisps to have a face. I wanted people to treat them more seriously, like mystical entities, more than cutesy characters from a Pixar movie. That way, they won't be clashing with the cats and will make the game more mature, because make no mistake – this is not a kid's game, it’s made with every age group in mind. When designing the wisps, I came up with a simple philosophy – the shape you see, no matter whether it’s a heart, a pumpkin, or a hat, is just an outer projection around the mysterious entity in the core. That’s why each and every one of them has this glowing centre. Another part of their look was deep-sea inspiration. When I was looking for an interesting way to depict a creature of light, I remembered how beautiful glowing jellyfish can be. Even if the original idea got buried a bit, as I was tweaking the game visuals for better readability, it was an important part of the process.

When I started working on the cats, I didn’t want to just draw random animals, but to create distinctive characters. Because let’s face it, that's what cats are in real life – each and every one of them has a different personality. They can be smart, dumb, mischievous, kind, timid, or jolly. All of that had to be depicted in the game, as well as a variety of colors and sizes. Together with Reed, the author of the game, we wanted players to be like: “Oh, look, this one looks like a cat we have at home, I'm gonna play with it!”. That way, the game could become more personal. Although there were around 40 different designs made for the game, we were unable to depict a black cat in a way that would work on dark tiles, for which I apologize to everyone owning a black cat. 

Can you tell us which parts of the design were the most challenging to visualize?

I think it was the tree tiles. The original Wispwood prototype used pictograms on a dark blue background, which makes building a forest quite an easy task. But when creating fully shaded tiles, you have to strike the right balance between a nice-looking illustration and a functional, user-friendly component. Many times, we had a lovely sketch of a diverse grove, but when we shrunk it, it became like a noise. Or a glowing tree that was just wonderful on its own, yet once stacked next to the wisps, it became too distracting. There were also some attempts to make the illustrations blend into each other for a seamless look, but I just couldn’t make it work.

After many variations, I have decided to return to pictograms, so I could find the right composition on its own. During that time, I got contacted by Mín (one of the creators of Arnak), who told me there's this one particular tree on the box cover that she would like me to use as a basis. That got me thinking: “What if I just apply this idea to the composition I'm working on right now?” And that’s how we got the final product. The search for the right forest was long, and in the end, I had to sacrifice the diversity of flora I was trying to retain for all costs, but it was my striving for variety that kept me from optimal results. Maybe sometimes the simplest solution is the best.

Was there something you were looking forward to?

Not gonna lie, I was really looking forward to designing all the different lookin' cats, with the intention of them not being primarily cute, so even people who don't like cutesy stuff could enjoy the game. Don't get me wrong, I wanted the cats to be charming and nice, but not too „schmaltzy“. Yet I didn't expect so many people inside of CGE to have so many different visions from my own. Someone felt the cats should be cuter, another thought they should be more serious and realistic. And I had to find a way to balance these opinions. I had to go back to the drawing board for some additional cat designs. That's where I think I have spent most of the time, but I hope it's all gonna be worth it and people will like what we came up with.

Did anything surprise you while working on the illustrations?

I think it was how many people in the company were interested in seeing the final product. I don't remember CGE employees being this thrilled to make a game. Everybody loves this game, so as I already said, I felt the inner pressure to deliver the best work possible.

Was there something you learned during the process?

Of course, I think there's something new to learn on every project. For example, before this, I didn't draw many cats. After Wispwood, I think I could draw one in my sleep. Also, it was an amazing training on how to work with light in order to make the night game look inviting. I was unable to use glowing flowers to make the forest more magical because they would clash with the wisps, so I had to look for different ways. Sometimes it is a swarm of fireflies, the other time a tree that just looks like it's about to dance.

Do you have a favorite illustration in the game?

I'm not sure; it would be very hard to pick one. For example, I like the heavy-metal design of the heart-shaped wisp. It might not seem that way in the final iteration, but with all the flames around, we were jokin' in the office how it could make for a great lookin’ tattoo. But I'm also quite fond of the blonde, chonky cat. Call me a big, old pile of sentimental mush, but I like the positive energy he's bringing into the forest. He's just so happy to have his pile of blueberries, and I can't help but smile every time I see him.

Time for the final and most fun question: Are there any real-life inspirations worked into the game? Or are there any easter eggs hidden somewhere?

Oh, there are plenty. Mostly, I was inspired by my own cat. You can't find him 1:1 in the base game (the closest thing to his caricature could be found in the promo set), but the old, wise cat has his face, and the tabby little bugger who's destroying a flower in front of him wears his „coat„. 

Other than that, there are nods to the Wispwood dev team on the cover, in the form of plants and other things that sound like their name. Here’s every one of them: Our lead developer’s nickname is Mr.Kew, which sounds like ”Mrkev”. And “mrkev” in Czech means “carrot” – so I have drawn one in the bush. Our project manager’s name, Zvoníček, which means bell, has a lovely bell flower right under the cat, while developers Havířová (Miner) and Uhlík (Coal) have a tiny mine/hole with a glowing coal representing them. There's also a hidden picture of the Idol from Arnak on the bark of one of the trees (for Elwen & Mín who were also part of the development team). 

Other than that, I didn't want to bash people over the head with references that would break immersion, because I feel the proper reference should be unnoticeable, unless you know the source material. That's why, outside of some four turtles with a rat, standing near the odd, green glow, you won't find any. *wink wink*

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You can also read the article on BGG. Thank you to Mín, who prepared the article for us in collaboration with Štěpán.