About Us
Company
The folks around here are like soot-covered coal miners digging down in the dirt to unearth that rare gem of a game or story. We hope our creations will unlock your imagination and help you escape any toil or drudgery that ensnares you.
With any luck, you'll fling your cage door open, flutter towards the heavens, and start singing like a song bird.
Our mission
We endeavor to author fantastical, offbeat—sometimes odd—stories and help them
take flight as tabletop games, card games, digital apps, novellas, comics, animated film, or any other genre that strikes your fancy—even plush toys. (Gasp!)
You see, just like canaries, good stories refuse to be confined. So, we’re setting them free.
Meet the team!
Game authors like Reiner Knizia, Klaus Teuber, Martin Wallace and Andreas Seyfarth inspired Mark to create his first title, Feudum in 2017 — earning worldwide accolades including Most Innovative Game and Game of the Year.
After the stellar Kickstarter success of a 2-volume set of graphic novels called Dani and Ramen: A Nomad’s Tale, Jake is focused on expanding his work into a larger universe that integrates novellas, video games and an upcoming collectible card game.
His distinctive style of populating his art with monsters, reptiles and robots conjures up memories of children's picture books, albeit slightly skewed. Justin explains that he likes to lure viewers in with "superficially charming images," but then reveal something more "heartbreaking" or "daunting" upon closer inspection.
Franz began illustrating and desinging games in 2007. Since then, he has worked on more than 300 games.
Matt is the Owner of Second at Best Press, a freelance Illustrator and Cartoonist, Co-Host of Comics, Inebriated Podcast, and works as the Office Manager and Graphic Designer at Ben Franklin Print Co.
When he’s not designing, Stephen is big into board games and hiking! Once he hiked up a mountain with glaciers and managed to escape from an attacking goat.
In recent years, his focus has shifted entirely toward the board game industry, and his work now centers on the graphic design of board games and also crowdfunding pages.
Selected reviews
Video reviews
Text reviews
Feudum is clearly a labor of love, and it shows. It’s an impeccable first design from Mark Swanson & Odd Bird Games. They should take comfort in knowing that they’ve created a one of a kind game; their crowning achievement, you might say. Not a bad way to start out.
Every game so far has been a rollicking tale of adventure, intrigue, economic shrewdness, exploration, and pageantry. If you like big games that take some time to learn well, with lots of moving parts and clever mechanical interactions, you’ll really like Feudum too.
If you enjoy heavy games, Feudum is a must play and I daresay a must own, for you. Mechanically, the game operates unlike any game I’ve played. The pushing and pulling of economies between each guild is one of the most intriguing design elements I’ve ever seen. The immersive world of Feudum is begging to be explored. As you play, you can feel and see the game come to life.
Feudum is a strong 9 after four plays. It could be a rare, rare 10 for me. I am really amazed at how different Feudum feels from the 100’s of other games I own and have played. If I had to pick a close comparison it would be Vinhos or the Gallerist. By that I mean the way there are several moving parts and when you figure out how they all fit together it is very rewarding.
Awards
