In post-apocalyptic America, society on the surface is being reestablished by the bravest of survivors who have left the safety of underground vaults to search the wasteland for vital resources. The people need a leader. Will you rule the wasteland? Or will you die?
Toxicity is a two to four player strategy board game. All game design, graphic design, and illustration produced by Garrett Dobbs.
|| Overview
A compelling narrative, engaging art, fast-paced gameplay, and complex strategies drive Toxicity's entertainment value. The introduction to the game is written from the perspective of the former leader of Nuketon, the only surviving surface town in the greater part of the American Southwest. The town is crumbling under its own weight, and the leader has been assassinated. You take on the role of a prominent character in Nuketon, and come into possession of the former leader's journal. His final plea urges you to take control of a chaotic wasteland by convincing enough followers to join your cause.
The design is a combination of cold war era American aesthetics and modern cartoonish humor, drawing inspiration from titles like Mad Max and Fallout. The game allows for a variety of winning and repeatable strategies, but with enough randomness in the gameplay to ensure that no player ever has the same game experience twice.
|| Game Assets
Everything in Toxicity is designed to immerse you in a fantasy post-apocalyptic setting. The game comes in a worn metal toolbox, like something you could imagine stumbling across in the wasteland. The instruction booklet is written in first-person from the perspective of a fellow survivor. Reading through the instructions is like reading his journal; it teaches how to play the game while drawing the player further into the world.
The game has five wooden character pieces, fifteen wooden building discs, resource cards representing food, water, and tradable trinkets, five character cards, sixty-four land tiles, thirty-two item cards, sixteen follower cards, six epic item cards, and three dice.
“Everything in Toxicity is designed to immerse you in a fantasy post-apocalyptic setting”
|| Game Artwork
There are over one-hundred unique illustrations in the game of Toxicity. Every item and follower card features a different illustration and game effect. This ensures that each player will have a different experience in every game. Like the wasteland in which the game takes place, there is a persistent element of chaos.
Though the game is for two to four players, there are five unique characters to choose from. Every player will always have a choice of character, and will never have to play as the same character in back-to-back games.
“Like the wasteland in which the game takes place, there is a persistent element of chaos”
|| Process
Prototyping
Toxicity began as a tank-based game and went through eight playable iterations before the current version
From left: Item and follower cards with placeholder artwork from an early prototype, Land tiles from the same prototype, Designing final packaging after trying six different boxes
Feedback Groups
Feedback groups were invaluable from the first day, and some players tested the game in every iteration
From left: Co-design group Rahul and Joe test the first playable prototype, Rahul and Joe with the second prototype, Derek and Kurt play a later prototype
Reviews
““I loved how many paths of strategy you can choose to take in this game. You can explore the terrain to expand your territory, buy items which really come in handy, raise your diplomacy, upgrade your weapons and armor, or maybe you just want to horde resources from farming. There are just so many possibilities you can really never have the same game twice.””
““The world is full of a humorous and diverse cast of characters that really bring Toxicity to life.””
““Toxicity is enjoyably unpredictable. The exploration mechanism is one of the most unique and interesting aspects, it really makes you feel as though you’re exploring uncharted territory.””
