Star Wars Galactic Racer's devs tested its roguelite progression system by turning it into a board game

Years ago, I read that Jake Solomon prototyped the Firaxis reboot of XCOM by making a simple board game version. Something rudimentary that could be played in the office on scrap paper to get ideas across and figure out where the fun would be, without having to commit. But it's surprising to hear the same idea being used for a game as different from XCOM's turn-based tactics as Star Wars Galactic Racer.

As Fuse Games' creative director Kieran Crimmins told Eurogamer, "You can't know if you can feel the system until you can play the system." And so the early prototype of this high-speed arcade racing game was indeed a board game.

"You know, modern engines are so capable that you can do a lot of it in-software," CEO Matt Webster said, "but there's still something [about that which is] not as fast as getting a written idea down. …