Game & Toy Design

You’ve landed on the most niche page of portfolio, but possibly the thing I’m most proud of in my creative career. For two years I was a professional wooden toy and game maker. I never planned on doing this for a living, but I enjoyed the hell out of it while it lasted. 

It all started with an idea for a board game that I developed with my wife, Molly. We spent months playtesting the idea, experimenting with materials, creating a story, and developing a single handmade wooden prototype. I posted the mockup of Hedge Lord on social media as a fun art project to share with a few friends, and figured that was that. 

Then the orders came rolling in. Demand for Hedge Lord exceeded anything we could have predicted. It became impossible to fulfill orders while holding down a 9 to 5, so I quit my day job, set up a wood shop, and got to work. 

Operating Timbrook Toys was truly an adventure. We hosted tournaments, spoke at schools, and ran demos at indie gaming conventions. Print news, TV, and blogs picked up our story and the coverage resulted in orders from all over the country. As our footprint grew I began developing other handmade toys and products to sell, and we eventually opened a small storefront in our local arts facility.

Like so many small businesses in 2020, COVID-19 put a halt to our plans. In the early weeks of the pandemic we treated the lockdowns as an opportunity to make free, printable home activities for kids. Eventually though, it became clear that things wouldn’t get back to normal any time soon, and running a shop with face-to-face gaming would not be sustainable. We shuttered the storefront and I shifted my focus to working in the film industry. Timbrook Toys died with a whimper, not a bang.

Why feature a defunct business on my portfolio site? Because I think it’s some of my strongest work, despite how things panned out with, you know, the fate of the world. To this day we regularly receive emails from people hoping to get a copy of Hedge Lord, and although I can’t help them now I do plan on revisiting the project eventually. Until then, the story of our little toy company will always be one of my favorites.