Big and beautiful changes to Ham’per Scamper
June 28th 2026
We are 9 play tests into our Ham’per Scamper journey and have just made a fundamental change to how the game is scored. We were really happy with the results and changes it made to the game-flow, while not affecting the tile-placing/path-building strategy we have cultivated.
We were originally using 3-5 cards of “orders”/“Stashes” with combinations of 4 treats on each card, players tried to gather the treats to fill their “stash order”. First player to return 3 stashes to the center wins. This concept worked but it has some downsides and resulted in a “clockwork” turn style we wanted to break.
For play tests 8 and 9 we decided to forgo the stash cards, and try using a Poker-hand/Yahtzee style scoring system, where set combos are worth static amounts, and we play to a final number.
For this first test it was 24 points, with one final round of turns for the other players after one player achieves 24 points.
We played this way twice in a row, and were very happy with it. The result solved almost all of the issues we were having with the clockwork, and static length of the game. It also shortened the game set-up even more by eliminating dealing out and sorting cards(and the need to print/ship those cards). It also made it harder to instantly know exactly who was “in the lead”, which was the most important improvement.
SO….
This leaves us with some refining and math to do
Hamster Refining and Card Tests/Reformatting
June 9th 2026
Ham’per Scamper news:
We have been busy these past few weeks, play testing Ham’per Scamper, refining some rules and experimenting with minor mechanical tweaks.
We solidified a few things this weekend. We definitely want hexagonal, printed cardboard punch-out tiles most likely, and a count of 30 tiles per player. Next we will test some alternative mechanics to see if it helps fun and the variability of the game play.
Still working on Hamster figures that we can own outright.
Creeping Runes News:
We also did a short play test of our Card/Grid-Tactics game, we felt it needed more movement and faster pace, so we’ve reformatted the cards and the mechanics, hoping to test the new system this upcoming weekend.
Using Dungeons and Dragons terrain and minis for now, and the cards are rudimentary for now, I scribbled some basic “runes” and scratches with sharpies, just wanted them too be easily to sort and distinguish in play.
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Play-tests continue
May 18th 2026
Playtests continue
We’ve just completed our 4th play test, on our 2nd hand-crafted prototype game board. We think it went amazingly well. Both 3-player and 4-player tests have been fun, and varied in complexity.
We have decided on a name change to Ham’per Scamper, we shall see if we stick with that, but we like it better than our other ideas so far.
Working on mock-up box art and experimenting with title fonts
The hamsters are adorable but we don’t own them, so we still need to find a solution to render and manufacture our own. Also still need to see if we prefer cardboard hexes or plastic poker-chip style hexes.
Below is a fast track of play test 4, it was about an hour and 45 minutes, with lots of rule talking and refining, sped up into 12 minutes.
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Hamsters working prototype Teaser
April 22nd 2026
Very excited to share the first pics of our rudimentary prototype, this is not a play test just some concept photos I took while testing proof of concept of what a 4-player game would look like. Play testing should begin Saturday if all goes well.
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Just What Are We Cooking Up, You Ask?
April 20th 2026
Hello gamers,
It’s time we let you all know what exactly we here at Omniverse Gamers are working on bringing to the gaming world. One of the things about board games we wanted to enhance is games that facilitate 6 or more players. Staggeringly few really good games support that many players in a satisfying way, so large game night groups, like ours, have limited options. We aim to solve that to the best of our abilities.
All these titles are works in progress. As are their video game counterparts.
First we have Hamster Stash Scramble, a tile-laying, path-building race of collecting treats and blocking other hamsters from their own paths. 2-6 players.
The concept is Ticket to Ride meets Tron light-cycles, and the Chinese game Go. A whimsical presentation and simple rule set leads to complex battles of movement and territory that is easy enough for children, but deceptively deep enough for tactical players.
Status: We have just finished a prototype to start play testing this game. Updates will be frequent as we intend and hope to be able to Kickstart this game in 2026.
Next we have Tactics of Creeping Doom, A grid-combat, deck-building fantasy game. Players mix classes, sub classes, and prestige classes to engage in tactical grid combat and adventures. 1-8 players can play against the environment in story missions, choice-driven quests, and/or against each other in endless scenarios. This game will support any number of “Hero Players”, “Enemy Players” and/or “Monsters” that can be played by game mechanics, or by a human player.
The concept here is melding Final Fantasy Tactics with Gloomhaven, but with 1/10th the set-up time and cost, and the ability for 8 players to play in any ally/enemy configuration on various terrain and height levels. The modular class structure and game board maps will allow for an extreme amount of variety and strategies for decks and tactics. Future expansions would add more classes and monsters, and obviously new scenarios to play out.
Status: This game is in concept phase, we have working prototypes of a few classes and monsters. Concept and mechanic testing is needed and should begin very soon. Ideally we’d like to Kickstart this game in 2027.
For the future we have Dinosaur, Robot, Zombie, a tile-placing base-building resource management game to unlock creatures, soldiers, technology, and supernatural enhancements to combat each other or the environment in various scenarios and storylines. Aiming at 1-6 players at least.
Early concept. Using tile placing and alignment rules to raise levels in various attributes and capabilities, allowing creation of fighting dinosaurs, robots, and zombies of various combinations and power. Battle the environment or each other.
Status: This game is VERY early concept stage, a lot of complex mechanics have to be worked out to make this game viable and as accessible and fun as possible.
Long-Term:
We also have a concept for a sci-fi version of our tactical card system, possibly with starship combat, but this will depend how the concept and mechanics of Tactics of Creeping Doom turn out.
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Welcome to Omniverse Gamers
April 20th 2026
Hello folks,
Here at Omniverse Gamers we are very excited to go live and welcome you all to our game design journey. We are an extremely small team with grand ambitions and what we think is a solid plan for some super fun and marketable games.
Our main focus is original board game/video game crossovers. We are long-time gamers who want to use and share our experience, and particular talents, to bring some creative, enjoyable new games to as many people as possible. We look forward the work, the fun, the networking, and meeting new people like you that help bring new games to life.
We have several board games, and their video game counterparts, in various stages of development, which we will share in the next entry. We look forward to sharing this process and growing with you together.
Let’s light this fire!
P.S. please excuse our dust as we work on configuring and refining this brand new page.
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