Uploaded August 2026 | Updated September 2026, 3 hours ago
In this video, I sit down with designers Fabio Lopiano and Mandela Fernandez-Grandon to explore the history behind Ayar: Children of the Sun, their 2025 release from Osprey Games. The game draws on the Inca origin myth of the Ayar siblings, who journey through the Andes before the foundation of Tawantinsuyu, the Inca Empire.
Rather than focusing only on how the game plays, we dig into the research and design process behind it: how Fabio and Mandela approached Inca history and mythology, how historical material was translated into mechanisms, what had to be abstracted or adapted, and how they navigated the challenge of representing a culture that is still too rarely explored in board games. We also discuss the relationship between theme and mechanics, and what they wanted players to understand (or at least become curious about) after playing Ayar.
Support Homo Ludens and join our Discord community:
ko-fi.com/homoludens1871
In this video, I sit down with designers Fabio Lopiano and Mandela Fernandez-Grandon to explore the history behind Ayar: Children of the Sun, their 2025 release from Osprey Games. The game draws on the Inca origin myth of the Ayar siblings, who journey through the Andes before the foundation of Tawantinsuyu, the Inca Empire.
Rather than focusing only on how the game plays, we dig into the research and design process behind it: how Fabio and Mandela approached Inca history and mythology, how historical material was translated into mechanisms, what had to be abstracted or adapted, and how they navigated the challenge of representing a culture that is still too rarely explored in board games. We also discuss the relationship between theme and mechanics, and what they wanted players to understand (or at least become curious about) after playing Ayar.
Support Homo Ludens and join our Discord community:
ko-fi.com/homoludens1871
