We are Dominik, Francesco and Torben. The core team making NEON HOPE!
All three of us are from northern Germany, and together with a group of amazing people we are bringing to life a game with a uniquely European science-fiction setting. Telling stories about a glitched utopia — where cyberpunk meets solarpunk.
How the Game Came to Be
Dominik and Francesco have been working on NEON HOPE for nearly 4 years now, starting only shortly before the pandemic. We always wanted to make a board game that told more modern stories that are grounded in reality, discussing socially relevant topics and offering players more nuanced choices with real impact. At the same time this game should also offer strategic gameplay similar to the trading and living card games we adored.
After a lot of experimentation and many failed attempts we reached a point in October 2023, when we knew: the game was finally ready! And at the end of the year it became clear that crowdfunding was our best option to realize it. A game of this size and ambition needs the help of a community to become reality.
Around this time, when we started planning our campaign, Torben joined the team. We already knew him well from playtesting the game at local game design community events. From that point on he spearheaded the visual design for the world of NEON HOPE. Sourcing and briefing artists who would bring to life the characters and places of this not so far future of Berlin, which only existed in our heads for such a long time.
Our team grew again shortly after. This time we were joined by Anna, who had championed NEON HOPE already during its early stages, often sharing their own ideas for how the game could be improved. So we brought them on board to do just that. They became our first guest designer, working on the game’s first expansion.
Early 2025 we will go to Kickstarter — we hope you join us!
Yours,
The NEON HOPE team!
Dominik Schönleben (he/him)
Community Manager & Lead Narrative Designer
For the last 5 years I’ve been working as a community manager for a large video game and tech company. Before that I was a journalist, writing about the future of technology. This combination probably inspired many tropes (and jokes) about silicon valley culture that you can recognize in my writing for NEON HOPE. Though I never drift too far to the dystopian side – believing there always will be people standing up to make things better.
I love a good story – especially if it gets told through an interactive medium. Providing the player with hard choices that matter, enabling them to play in their own style, shaping their personal narrative. Among my favorite board games are Arkham Horror: The Card Game, T.I.M.E Stories and Netrunner. These, and more, were inspiring for how I am building the world of NEON HOPE, full of convention breaking characters, unusual places – and a story with difficult choices that leaves interpretation for what is right or wrong.
I’ve been immersed in the gaming community for the last 15+ years. I even run my own community convention once a year: the Lure of Middle-earth. Once a year 200+ people meet at a real medieval castle in Germany to play Lord of the Rings themed card games for a weekend.
You can find me on nearly every social media platform as: nerdmeetsyou.
Francesco Grothe (he/him)
Lead Game Designer & Production Manager
I just recently finished my computer science study program. Now I am working partly as a programmer in robotics and partly as the game designer and production manager for NEON HOPE (finally!). As a programmer – and especially as a gamer – few things excite me more than sophisticated systems and interactions. I love to understand a game’s mechanics at its core and conceptualize the resulting strategies. So it should not be surprising that I have a long history in competitive card games, including Magic: the Gathering, Netrunner, Game of Thrones, Legends of the Five Rings, and recently Star Wars Unlimited.
For NEON HOPE I ensure that the game play is fun, deep, varied, and well balanced. Though this does not mean I’m all numbers: I have the most fun in the design process, when I combine theme and mechanics. It just feels great to find the perfect mechanic that conveys the feeling of an episode, or when I find the perfect ability to convey a character’s particular theme.
For the production side of NEON HOPE, my priority is to make the game as sustainable as possible, while also ensuring that it is stunning to look at and enjoyable for years to come. That means to use eco-friendly materials when possible, and to produce locally in Europe whenever we can.
For me, NEON HOPE represents a warning that the world could take a turn for the worse – but also a promise that everyone of us has a say in what the outcome is.
Torben Ratzlaff (he/him)
Art Director
I have worn many hats in the last 10+ years of my career, working in the video game and tech industry as a freelance designer, artist and developer. In 2021 I shifted my focus to board games and have released three games so far. My biggest success yet is Beacon Patrol which will receive its first expansion in 2024 as well as a digital adaptation early 2025.
In my spare time I organize events for local game developers. This includes the Indie Treff which is a monthly meet-up for 150+ indie developers, celebrating its 10th anniversary this year. I also bring together local board game designers and gaming enthusiasts for playtesting sessions at the Spielwerk. This is also where I met Dominik and Francesco — and played my first game of NEON HOPE.
For the game’s visual design I envision something fresh, which is grounded in today’s technology and design. Taking inspiration from the clarity and boldness but also playfulness of mobile applications and advertisements of contemporary tech companies. Unlike the designs of classical cyberpunk, which are oftentimes overtly dark, grimy and dystopian, the future of NEON HOPE will be more ambiguous; shiny and bright companies with rotten structures on one side and unsightly neighborhoods filled with compassion and community on the other. The struggle between big tech and humanity remains, and it is left to the players to discover who truly stands on which side.
Richi Anna Haarhoff (they/them)
Guest Designer — Character Expansion Pack
I’ve been heavily involved in the Hamburg boardgame design community for over ten years now. Aside from designing board games myself, I also organize local events, and network with the wider board gaming community. In 2018, I was awarded the Spieleautoren-Stipendium, an award for upcoming board game designers, backed by the jury of the prestigious Spiel des Jahres award. Two of my games have been published thus far: Memorinth (2020) and Space Dragons (2021).
When I first met Dominik at one of our local board game design meetups, initially I was a little skeptical of NEON HOPE. As a teenager, I had been a big fan of cyberpunk, but since then, the dystopian vision of a world dominated by tech corporations accountable to nobody has become a bit “too real” for me to enjoy. But as I soon found out, NEON HOPE offers a much more engaging narrative, a world filled with not only the potential for a brighter future, but also people willing to fight for it. I quickly became a frequent playtester for NEON HOPE, and I was delighted when the team offered me the chance to design the Character Expansion Pack.
I hope you will enjoy playing the 4 new playable characters as much as I enjoyed designing them!
Artists
We are committed to a 100% AI free game. All 400+ cards in NEON HOPE will be illustrated by talented artists, who bring our world to life. The following artists are contributors: