Glasshouse Games’ Sean Fosse on the company’s debut title, Whisker Wars

Sean, it’s great to connect. How did Glasshouse Games come about?
To make a short story long, Mike and I met and were working long hours on the set of a television show when we started pitching mechanics for a D&D-esque board game as a mental exercise to pass the time… Throughout this process, Mike kept interrupting all my great ideas to say: “Wait… We should actually make this game!” Before we knew it, we had a prototype for a very heavy, very slow, open-world fantasy monster-hunting game. Now, that game was far from complete – and it still is! – but it showed us just how much we loved the process of stitching together fantastical themes and clean game mechanics. Creating and playtesting our games also gave us another reason to bring our friends together and meet new people. However, once we realised we would have to start a company to make any game a reality, we knew we needed help.

Soon thereafter, Mike introduced us to Logan. I cannot begin to explain what an asset Logan was to the process of organising our trajectory and actually founding a company. A few months later – as co-founders – the three of us LLC’d Glasshouse Games, and we hit the ground running.

So, to make a long story short, we started with one game and it spurred the realization that we could actually bring our ideas to life and work in an industry we love, and every step since then has been pursuing that dream.

Lovely! Your debut title is Whisker Wars – how would you pitch the game?
Our professional elevator pitch goes like this: “Enter the whimsical yet fierce world of Whisker Wars, where cunning factions clash for supremacy in the Kingdom of Supetra. Assemble your animal warriors, but beware – everything hinges on timing, risk and a turn system as unpredictable as the battlefield itself! Quick to pick up but rich with endless combinations, Whisker Wars delivers non-stop excitement in the Ultimate Battle for the Crown.”

And your non-professional pitch?
Well, our personal pitch to a friend is: “Want to play a super fast-paced, easy to learn, fun fantasy themed, endless combo, bing bang boom brawl, with Bearzerkers, Mousenaries, and other puns?” Or something like that!

Both do the trick!
Ha! So far, pitching Whisker Wars hasn’t been a hard sell, but that might be due to our own enthusiasm for the game. We love it!

Where did the idea come from?
Whisker Wars was the result of a few practical decisions and one long car ride. During our drive from NYC to PAXU 2023, we made it our goal to have the bones of a game that would be our debut title by the time we reached Philly. All we knew was that we wanted to create a game that was:

– Mechanically clean and engaging, but easy to pick up.

– Light from a components standpoint, as we wanted our first dive into manufacturing to be as straightforward as possible.

– Thematically timeless and accessible.

Speaking of theme, what came first, theme or mechanics?
Mechanics came first. We started with a push your luck, king of the hill dice roller, where shared dice on the table activated abilities of characters in your hand. Immediately problems arose… The loudest of which was the not so fun necessity that players had to be eliminated from the game for it to end. Sitting and waiting is never fun.

Using this as a case study, we placed speed and engagement as a requirement for the mechanics themselves. We ditched player elimination, embraced instant-style cards, almost entirely eliminated player turns and quickly galloped towards the game that is now the first true version of Whisker Wars. The loop was solid. From there, theme, lore, puns… The rest was candy!

The art looks terrific. What steered the look and feel of the game?
Thank you! We love our art – our artist, Vittoria Pompolani (IG @bondedustuff) – is beyond talented. Going in, we knew the art needed to match our theme. It was so important to us to achieve a whimsically serious art style that is “cool” and conveys a deep story without deterring more casual gamers.

To find an artist, we walked around PaxU 2023, looking at all the amazing artwork and making note of artists we loved, until we saw one of Vittoria’s works on a 10’x10′. We pointed and said: “That’s our artist!” When we interviewed Vittoria for the job, after describing what we wanted on the call, she got back to us a day later with, “Do you mean, like this?” and emailed us a sketch of our beloved ‘Mousenary.’ We hired her on the spot and use that same piece of art for our Mousenary today. The rest is history.

The game launches later this year on Kickstarter. Why opt for this route?
For us, crowdfunding is more about the crowd and less about the funding. We entered this business because of the undeniably amazing community surrounding tabletop games, something that is still a driving force for us today. If we can be a publisher that helps foster more of that community, then we’ll have achieved our goals.

A crowdfunding platform was a no-brainer for simultaneously raising what we need to launch our first game and bringing together a community around said game. Like, if the launching of the game itself is a mode for the community to begin with, what more could you ask for? We just wanted to play awesome games with our friends; we know that feeling very well. So that’s the feeling we want to help create for others. Funding is necessary; it’s what makes this all possible, there’s no denying that – but at the end of the day, it’s the connections we see between people while playing that drives our love for making games.

Is Whisker Wars indicative of the style of game Glasshouse will focus on moving forward?
We’ve thought a lot about this question recently, and I think, in short… Yes. At its core, our playstyle and the kind of fun we like to have while creating games is a wonderfully controlled chaos. We find it’s in these kinds of environments, around these kinds of tables, that the highest emotional highs exist.

We love making games that elicit feelings and strong emotional responses. And as much as I love playing crunchy, heavy, quiet, Euro, space operas, it’s when I hear a table erupt in cries or cheers, oooohs and aaaahs, that I want to see what they’re playing. We love those games because of the fantastic reactions they spark in the players. Players are the most important ‘component’ of any game, and players are an element shared by every game. So, I’d say our style is player-focused… Player-fun focused.

That said, our mechanics and themes will evolve. For example, we’re currently building a co-op, push-your-luck adventure series, which is very different from Whisker Wars. But no matter the game, we’ll always prioritise eliciting strong feelings from our players, clean mechanics, tight rules, immersive lore and stunning art.

And if I may take a brief tangent…

Do!
Art is a cornerstone for us. It was a nice moment when we all simultaneously agreed that, while the style may vary, the quality will never suffer. This is all leading to the point that, as games become increasingly more popular and as home shelves fill, we always want our games to stand out for their beauty and quality. Games are works of art, and their visuals should reflect the care and dedication that go into creating them.

Absolutely. I have one last question! What fuels your creativity?
Oh, gosh! I’m gonna say coffee. But once I’ve had coffee, I think our creative engine comes from two places. First, we never say no to a pitch. We always hear each other’s pitches; no matter how we feel about the theme, the mechanics, or the inspiration – nothing will stop us from listening to each other’s ideas because they are often far better than our own. Once we hear something we like, we pinball counter-pitch after counter-pitch until we’ve honed the idea into the direction we all support.

This leads me to point two. There are three of us. We lean on each other for ideas and inspiration, and we know what each of us loves in games and themes. For me, it’s mechs; we’ll get there, one day… maybe! And let each other run with specific ideas – hopefully mechs – and reign in the ones that need work. I never have to worry if one of my ideas is too over the top because I know Mike or Logan will immediately pull me back to Earth. And then, to take that in the other direction, when an idea is good, we support each other’s vision as best we can. It’s a really great system. I think we’re really lucky.

If you’re creating a game, please, please don’t think you have to do it alone. In fact, reach out – we’d love to hear what you’re cooking and help where we can!

Sean, a huge thanks again. And good luck with the launch of Whisker Wars!

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