About Orbitfall

Orbitfall began before it had a name.

For as long as I have been a father to my two daughters, storytelling has been a constant part of our lives. From long-running worlds of our friends in Zoo to entirely spontaneous adventures in Flight Academy, stories filled our home with imagination, curiosity, and shared moments that mattered. They weren’t just tales being told; they were worlds being built together.

That instinct followed me into my hobbies as well. For over 20 years, I wrote and designed shows for marching bands, drum corps, and other performance ensembles, where storytelling was not only essential but communal. What I love most is that those performances were never just my stories. The shows I wrote served as frameworks that enabled others to tell their own stories, express themselves, find meaning through performance, and create their own moments. I loved watching others make these shows greater stories than I could alone.

After stepping away from that world, I discovered a new way to express my creativity. Trading card games introduced me to a different kind of storytelling, one rooted in systems, strategy, choices, and lore. Playing these games in person revealed something I had been missing. The table became the stage, and each match told a story shaped by the players, their decisions, and their creativity, rather than predetermined outcomes. I also found these environments to be incredibly inclusive. The local game store is a place where everyone, with their unique perspective and personality, is welcomed and celebrated. Like being on a football field with the marching band, attending these events at my LGS felt like home.

Around the same time, I saw firsthand that creating a game from scratch was not only possible but also deeply personal. Meeting an independent game designer and learning about his passion, process, and how he practically brought his game to life was an eye-opening experience for me. That realization opened the door to a new world. I began imagining what a strategy game would look like if it combined the elements I love most: science fiction, astronomy, physics, mythology, and, most importantly, stories interconnected in a new universe with distinct races, characters, storylines, and lore.

Orbitfall emerged at that crossroads. It became a space where creativity and analysis, structure and imagination, strategy and play could coexist (in superposition, for my quantum-mechanical friends). More than anything I have created, Orbitfall embodies how I think and work. Creative and analytical, structured yet imaginative, technical yet deeply human. It is not just a game; it is a world unto itself and, more importantly, a framework for shared storytelling.

Orbitfall is designed to be easy to play yet challenging and rewarding to master, shaped by the meaningful choices players make. It aims to be a universe that celebrates each player’s unique perspective and approach, much like the local game store that inspired it.

This is where Orbitfall truly begins. Through gameplay, its stories come alive. Epic battles, pivotal moments, crushing setbacks, and remarkable victories build the story of Orbitfall with each game. Its lore will keep evolving thanks to the players who bring it to life.

I look forward to seeing how the Orbitfall universe unfolds.