Olympus (2020)

Summary

Role: Designer, programmer, 3D artist

Team size: 2

Time span: 2 months

Tools:

Unity

Links:

Code

Build

Rules (Czech)

Olympus is a digital board game for 4-7 players, set in ancient Greece. Players take on the roles of mortals striving to reach Mount Olympus, while one player, Zeus, secretly chooses a Chosen Mortal to aid. Zeus manipulates the game through divine blessings and global events, while mortals gather resources, battle each other, and navigate mythological challenges. The game blends strategy, social deduction, and tactical combat, making every playthrough a unique and unpredictable mythic adventure.

The mountains tremble, waves crash against the shore, and a dark red sky looms over ancient Greece. The gates of Olympus, the home of the gods, stand open once more.
Gather your courage, for your journey begins now. You are not alone—other mortals seek the riches of Olympus as well. They may become your allies or, perhaps, your greatest rivals. From atop his mountain throne, Zeus, the king of gods, watches. But while mortals race toward the heavens, his divine gaze falls upon only one of them…
Could it be you?

Olympus is a digital board game for 4 to 7 players, set in a world inspired by ancient Greek mythology.

One player assumes the role of Zeus, while the rest play as mortals, competing to reach the summit of Mount Olympus. However, Zeus secretly chooses one mortal as his Chosen, guiding them toward victory through divine blessings and powerful global events. But the gods work in mysterious ways—if the other mortals uncover Zeus’s champion, they may band together to eliminate them.

Features

🏛️ Hexagonal game board with dynamic terrain and mythological locations.
🎴 Over 250 unique cards featuring equipment, followers, encounters, and events.
⚔️ Tactical dice-based combat between mortals.
🕵️ Social deduction mechanics—Zeus must subtly guide his Chosen without revealing their identity.

Rule summary

Before the beginning of the game, one player is selected to figure as Zeus, while all other players will play as Mortals and place their figure on one of the starting points on a hexagon board. In the middle of the board is the Mount Olympus, a goal for all mortals to reach.

At the beginning of the game, Zeus will secretly and randomly pick one Mortal, who will be their Chosen. Players then take turns: Mortals move about the hexagon map completing encounters, collecting equipment, artifacts and fame, even battling other Mortals, should they choose. Zeus does not partake directly on the map, but has the ability to influence the game board, the encounters and help or harm the Mortals.

The game ends when either:

One of the Mortals succesfully reaches the top of Mount Olympus. Beware, that only the worthy may reach the peak; one must either gather enough artifacts, amass enough fame to their name, or stand Zeus’s trial and demonstrate their combat prowess. The first Mortal to reach the top is victorious, and if the Mortal is also revealed to be Zeus’s Chosen, then also Zeus is victorious.
Zeus’s Chosen is killed by another. In such case, all other Mortals are victorious.

The complete set of rules in czech is included.

What I learned

This was the first time I worked with networking in games, and it surprised me just how different it. On the design part, I also learned how to playtest, and how important playtesting is in general.

Unity networking with Mirror package.
How to properly playtest, organize large amount of data (cards, their effect, …)

Purpose

This project serves as a tool for rapid prototyping and playtesting the Olympus board game, developed as part of the Game Design I course at FI MUNI.
The goal was to create a board game only. However, during COVID, there was no easy way to playtest with others, and so the project turned into a desktop game.

Team members and contributors

Kateřina Klímková (2D art)