A game 10 years in the making

Thu Jun 19 2025

A game 10 years in the making, started from Hunter Killer (CKY's game) in 2016, then my version in 2022. Then I themed it differently and called it "Bulge", and built it for the 2022 GMTK game jam with dice instead of cards. Now it's a dice placement game instead.

Early prototype here

Inspired by Sagrada aesthetically. Also, LLMs have really grown by leaps and bounds, incredible

Prevailing Winds

A strategic dice placement game

In the toxic skies above a poisoned world, airship captains have developed a peculiar tradition. When negotiations fail and direct conflict seems inevitable, they settle disputes through an ancient game of dice and grid. The game itself is simple - place dice, score patterns - but how one plays reveals everything about their faction's soul.

The tradition emerged from necessity. In the early days after the Collapse, when every faction was desperate and trigger-happy, actual combat threatened to destroy what little of humanity remained. The game became a way to resolve disputes without bloodshed - though the outcomes often determined trade routes, salvage rights, or even the fate of captured ships. What began as pragmatic conflict resolution evolved into something deeper: a ritual that reveals the philosophical core of each faction.

Every captain knows that their opponents will judge not just their final score, but how they achieved it. Every placement echoes a fundamental answer to survival: Do you scatter and adapt like the Outcasts, refusing all authority even as stronger leaders emerge? Do you build unified foundations like the Settlers, perfecting humanity through controlled breeding? Do you heal the world like the Growers, engineering nature back to life? Do you impose order like the Military, wielding pre-Collapse might in a lawless sky? Do you gather knowledge like the Seekers, preparing humanity's escape to the stars? Or do you accumulate power like the Merchants, treating the apocalypse as a business opportunity?

Victory in Prevailing Winds isn't just about points - it's about proving your way of life superior. Each captain carries their faction's honor into every placement, every calculated risk. The dice don't lie, and neither does the philosophy they reveal.

Equipment

36 dice (6 colors, 6 dice per color)
Dice bag (opaque)
Scoring card deck
Captain cards
3 Zone coasters (numbered I, II, III)
6x6 grid board

Setup

Choose Captains: Each player selects a captain card, revealing their signature scoring pattern and ability.
Draft Scoring Cards:
- Deal 5 scoring cards to each player
- Each player chooses 4 cards to keep, discards 1
- Each player reveals 2 cards of their choice, keeps 2 hidden
- Players now have: 1 signature pattern (captain) + 2 revealed cards + 2 hidden cards
Prepare Zones:
- Put all dice in the bag and shake
- Draw one die, roll it, place on Zone I coaster
- Repeat for Zones II and III

Gameplay

Players alternate turns. On your turn:

Choose a Zone: Starting with Zone I, decide whether to take the dice from this zone
- Zone I & II: Optional - you may choose to skip and move to the next zone
  - If you skip: Draw one die from the bag, roll it, and add it to the skipped zone
- Zone III: Mandatory - you must take these dice
Deploy Dice: If you take dice from a zone, place all of them on empty squares of the shared 6x6 atmospheric grid
- All dice become neutral once deployed - no captain ownership
Refill Zone: Draw one die from the bag, roll it, and place it on the zone you just emptied
Captain Ability: You may use your captain's once-per-engagement ability at the appropriate timing

End Game & Scoring

The game ends when the grid is completely filled (36 dice placed).

Each captain scores points from:

Their signature pattern
Their 4 drafted scoring cards (both revealed and hidden)

The captain with the highest total score claims victory.

Key Mechanics

Shared Grid: Both captains place dice on the same grid, but dice have no owner once placed
Asymmetric Scoring: Captains score the same final grid using completely different patterns
Zone Risk/Reward: Earlier zones are optional but later zones are mandatory
Information Warfare: Hidden scoring cards create uncertainty about opponent's objectives
Philosophical Expression: Each captain's approach to play reveals their faction's worldview

Faction Captains

Captain "Red" Vasquez (The Outcasts)

Signature Pattern: "Exile's Domain": 2 points for each red die on an edge, 4 points for each red die in a corner
Ability: Once per game, instead of taking dice from a Zone, you may take up to 1 die from each Zone. Then replenish each Zone you took from. Then take your turn as normal.
Style: "Live free or die."

Comrade Chen (The Settlers)

Signature Pattern: "Genetic Purity": 10 points for each 2x2 square of white dice.
Ability: Once per game, instead of taking dice from a Zone, draw 3 dice from the bag. Choose any one die, set it to your desired face, then place it on the board. Return the dice you didn't choose back to the bag.
Style: "Unity is strength."

Engineer Mika "Bolts" Tanaka (The Growers)

Signature Pattern: "Natural Progression": For each sequence of consecutive green dice starting from 1, score points equal to the sum of those numbers. Multiple sequences can exist simultaneously.
- (Example: One 1-2-3 sequence scores 6 points, plus one 1-2 sequence scores 3 points, for 9 total)
Ability: Once per game, before taking your turn, you may swap any number of dice from any of the Zones. The number of dice in each Zone must be the same after your swaps. Then take your turn as normal.
Style: "Natura non facit saltus."

Captain Susan Bates (The Military)

Signature Pattern: "Maximum Firepower": 3 points for each black die that shows 6
Ability: Once per game, before taking your turn, you may reroll all dice across all Zones that show 1s or 2s. Then take your turn as normal.
Style: "Overwhelming force, decisively concentrated."

Prof. Gennady Mitrichev (The Seekers)

Signature Pattern: "Intelligence Hub": 3 points for each blue die where all adjacent dice show different colors and different numbers
Ability: Once per game, before taking your turn, draw three dice from the dice bag. Roll them and place one in each zone (your choice). Then take your turn as normal.
Style: "Knowledge is power."

Outer Prince Wangxian (The Merchants)

Signature Pattern: "Profitable Arbitrage": 3 points for each purple die that's adjacent to both a 1 and a 6.
Ability: Once per game, after any player's turn, you may swap any die on the board with any die from any Zone.
Style: "浑水摸鱼"

Scoring Cards

High Roller: 1 point for each die showing 6
Edge Control: 1 point for each die on the border that has the same number as an adjacent border die
Twins: 2 points for each pair of identical adjacent dice (e.g. both red 1s)
($COLOUR) Corners: 1 point for each corner occupied by $COLOUR.
Spread Out: 3 points for each color that appears in all four quadrants of the board
Four Corners: 8 points if all corners are 4s.
Straight: 10 points for each row, column, or diagonal that shows 1-2-3-4-5-6
Rainbow Road: 10 points for each row, column, or diagonal that shows R-O-Y-G-B-P
Colour Purity: 12 points for each 3×2 rectangle that contains only one color
Red Tide: 15 points if any border row or column is all red.
Perfect Twos: 15 points if the center 2x2 square contains all 2s
Six Sixes: 25 points if exactly 6 dice show the number 6
Perfect Balance: 30 points if each number appears exactly 6 times

Faction Histories & Motivations

The Six Powers of the Toxic Skies

In the aftermath of the Collapse, when the surface world became a poisoned wasteland and humanity fled to the skies, six distinct philosophies emerged. Each faction represents not just a survival strategy, but a fundamental answer to the question: "What does it mean to be human when the world has ended?"

The Outcasts (Red)

"Freedom or death - we bow to no one."

History: The Outcasts aren't a true faction so much as everyone who couldn't or wouldn't fit into the others. Exiles, rebels, free spirits, and those who simply wanted to chart their own course. They rejected the safety of large colony ships for the freedom of small, fast vessels and the open sky.

Motivation: Fierce individualism and anarchist ideals. They believe that centralized authority was what caused the Collapse in the first place, and that true freedom comes from rejecting all forms of institutional control. Every captain is sovereign over their own ship.

Fleet Philosophy: Small, fast, self-sufficient vessels. Hit-and-run tactics. Survival through adaptability and improvisation.

Fundamental Contradictions: While they embrace libertarian anarchy and radical individualism, the harsh realities of survival inevitably lead to stronger leaders consolidating power. A growing coalition under a charismatic strongman threatens their core values - but their anarchist principles make it nearly impossible to organize effective resistance.

The Settlers (White)

"Strong bodies, pure purpose, solid foundations."

History: Descendants of survivalists and physical fitness enthusiasts who believed human enhancement was the key to reclaiming the world. They've spent generations perfecting the human form through selective breeding, genetic engineering, and intensive physical training.

Motivation: To resettle the poisoned surface world using genetically enhanced humans in environmental suits. They believe that with enough physical and mental conditioning, humanity can adapt to survive anywhere - even a toxic wasteland.

Fleet Philosophy: Large sailing ships with white and red colors. Defensive tactics focused on endurance and outlasting enemies rather than quick victories.

Fundamental Contradictions: They preach the sanctity of the human body while practicing eugenics and forced sterilization. They claim to value mental development and diverse thinking while being deeply intolerant of dissenting viewpoints. Their pursuit of human perfection has made them profoundly inhuman.

The Growers (Green)

"Heal the world, don't abandon it."

History: Originally part of the Knowledge faction, they split over a fundamental disagreement about humanity's future. While the Blues wanted to escape to the stars, the Greens believed in healing and terraforming the damaged world.

Motivation: Develop biological solutions to purify the toxic atmosphere and rehabilitate the surface. They're breeding extremophile organisms and engineering algae to metabolize the poisonous gases, working toward a day when the surface blooms again.

Fleet Philosophy: Bio-integrated ships that blur the line between vessel and organism. Patient, defensive strategies focused on long-term growth over short-term gains.

Fundamental Contradictions: They preach organic, natural growth and spiritual harmony while simultaneously engineering organisms at the genetic level and manipulating nature through advanced biotechnology. Their emphasis on individual spiritual enlightenment (often aided by psychedelics) conflicts with the massive coordinated effort their terraforming project requires.

The Military (Black)

"Order from chaos. Authority through strength."

History: The remnants of pre-Collapse military forces who maintained their command structure and discipline even as the world ended. They possess the most powerful warships - massive pre-Collapse vessels that they struggle to maintain.

Motivation: Restore law and order in the post-apocalyptic world by establishing their monopoly on legitimate force. They see themselves as the inheritors of proper government and the only hope for returning civilization to the skies.

Fleet Philosophy: Overwhelming firepower and shock tactics. Use superior technology and concentrated force to end conflicts quickly and decisively.

Fundamental Contradictions: Their irreplaceable ships are slowly failing and they can't agree whether to abandon their technological advantage or desperately search for ways to maintain it. They claim to protect civilization, but the governments they served no longer exist - they may just be preserving the forms of authority without any legitimate purpose.

The Seekers (Blue)

"Through hardships to the stars."

History: Born from universities, research institutions, and tech companies that survived the Collapse. They split from the Greens over whether to fix the world or transcend it, choosing the path of technological advancement and eventual escape.

Motivation: Salvage lost knowledge, develop advanced technology, and escape to another world. They believe Earth is beyond saving and that humanity's future lies among the stars.

Fleet Philosophy: High-tech vessels with advanced sensors and AI. Information warfare - know your enemy completely before engaging.

Fundamental Contradictions: They pride themselves on egalitarianism yet their austere lifestyle only attracts intellectual misfits, accidentally creating an elite caste. They're dedicated to preserving human knowledge while planning to abandon the world that created it. They claim rational problem-solving as their strength, yet their core strategy is escapism rather than solutions. Their utilitarian efficiency may suppress the very creativity and human diversity that drives innovation.

The Merchants (Purple)

"Blood, gold, and power - the eternal currencies."

History: Built around the flying harem palace of a pre-Collapse trillionaire. Now his descendants rule a hierarchical monarchy where everyone claims blood relation to the founder, creating brutal dynastic power struggles.

Motivation: Maintain their decadent empire through trade and exploitation. They view all non-royals as barbarians to be used for labor or breeding. The most beautiful women around are "collected" for the inner palace and never seen again. Outer princes eke out a living, usually as merchants; inner princes live lives of decadent luxury but fight brutal dynastic battles behind the scenes.

Fleet Philosophy: Opulent vessels that display wealth and power. Slow, grinding economic warfare positions for long-term advantage rather than direct confrontation.

Fundamental Contradictions: Their rhetoric of family obligation and noble blood conflicts with the brutal internal power struggles and dynastic backstabbing. They practice slavery, forced marriage, and sexual exploitation while claiming to honor familial bonds. Their isolationist xenophobia conflicts with their need for trade and fresh victims.

Each faction's approach to the dice grid reveals their deepest beliefs about survival, society, and the future of humanity. In Prevailing Winds, you don't just play a strategy - you embody a philosophy.