In why we choose trust I talk about how we are committed to supporting the hobby store and we’ll publish easily fathomable print runs, and plenty of other things which could easily be ChatGPT drivel. You can also look carefully at our cards and figure out our dirty little secret. One could easily dismiss us as AI slop, or a group of hacks. Everyone who wants to sell you something is going to tell you that they have your best interests at heart. But we have your best interests at heart.
Humble Beginnings
Mount Baker Games is a tiny little game design studio in Bellingham Washington. We’ve never published anything before Manifold TCG (although we do have two more games in the pipeline, ask about Farce). We are two guys with a couple friends who were willing to playtest our game and pool enough money for us to make this first print run a reality.
Brad and Adam played the first game of Manifold in December of 2020 with hastily proxied cards stuffed in sleeves over Pokémon decks. The game was Brad’s brainchild, but the thing we played in 2020 only barely resembles the game that we’re publishing. Mostly, Brad had a theory about the distribution of trading card games, and how the big players were cutting out hobby stores in what would culminate in a tragedy of the commons. Adam was an avid game designer who had just gotten off helping Luminary Games publish Ivion, and was desperate for a new project, and wasn’t so interested in that whole marketing mumbo jumbo.
And so we formed a lucky partnership, with Brad as the face that writes the articles and ensures the marketability, and Adam as the genius who designs the games. Normally Brad wouldn’t admit to Adam’s genius like this, but this article was written on Adam’s 31st birthday (Happy Birthday!)
Adam Hockemeyer
Adam graduated from Western Washington University with a BS in Economics. He should have gotten a BS in data science, but that’s neither here nor there. He works as a programmer and database manager for a logistics company, and spends his spare time reading fantasy, and making and playing games. He is capable of unhinged feats of production when he gets a fixation, and his fingerprints are on every Manifold card that makes it to print (especially Animus Golem, blame him.)
He derives his inspiration largely from Magic: the Gathering and Legends of Runeterra, and could talk at length about concepts like ‘the play fantasy’ which he tries to manifest in Manifold. He should probably write an essay or two himself (instead of leaving that all to Brad).
Brad McArtor
Brad has been managing hobby stores for the last 12 years, and has owned his own (Pair o’ Dice Games) for the last 7 years. Magic: the Gathering has been a major part of his career for as long as he has been an adult. If you know a store owner, you know there is no great fortune in it, but his previous jobs left him feeling punished him for providing excellent customer service. Only speed was rewarded. Brad likes to say he opened a hobby store so he could make less than minimum wage, but the reality is ownership gives him the flexibility to see every promise through, and make every customer as happy as possible.
Brad has been making games since his cousin Mike McArtor got him into Dungeons and Dragons around the age of 10. Being a dungeon master allowed you to make your own game, and not be locked into the story being told by JRPGs. He draws heavy inspiration from Final Fantasy (VI, in particular), Age of Empires II, and Starcraft Brood War. He believes that the ancient art of games rewarding you for overcoming struggles has been lost, and that most modern gaming is about cheap rewards.
Our Goal
We both reminisce about the times that we were excited to go to the game store every Friday to see all our friends, and talk about whatever crazy brew we had dreamt up. We never liked to play the meta because being liked and feeling clever was more important to us than winning. We bring that same energy to our game design company: we want to make an impact, we want people to think our game is cool, and we want to make it easier for hobby stores to focus on community, and for that to bring the sales to them.
If you want to see some of the world we’re creating you can Browse our Cards or Check out Tournament Gameplay.
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