Dunedin resident Charlie O’Mannin said "Saints" had been two years in the making.
While surfing the internet he found himself reading about a few Catholic saints and came across some whose backstories blew him away, Mr O’Mannin said.
Before long, he was scouring medieval-era texts, which revealed many details that were absent from the internet or many modern books.
There were more than 10,000 Catholic saints, each of whom had been approved by a panel of adjudicators and the Pope, Mr O’Mannin said.
The game had skipped over the big names in favour of 50 niche saints with bizarre backstories — including St Nicholas of Tolentino, who was said to have resurrected more than 100 children, including some who had drowned in a shipwreck; and St Muirgen, who was said to have lived for a year in an underwater grotto with her dog for company.
It had been interesting to learn about the saints some Dunedin establishments had been named after, such as St Francis Xavier after whom St Francis Xavier School in Mornington is named.
It was said he was associated with a large crab which rescued his crucifix from the sea when it was lost in a storm, Mr O’Mannin said.
An "absurd amount" of testing had gone into the game, including several matches between professional gamers, who stress-tested the game to an incredible degree, Mr O’Mannin said.
The game tended towards the more complex side, meaning it was endlessly replayable and several of the testers had been so enthusiastic about it they had gone out and bought items of clothing and jewellery based on their favourite saints, Mr O’Mannin said.
The game cards feature hand-drawn artwork by Dunedin artists, including Lucy Hunter, Saskia Rushton-Green and Daniel Blackball.
Mr O’Mannin said "Saints" had just become available for pre-order through Kickstarter, and cards were set to be shipped out by July next year at the latest. However, he was optimistic the cards would be in the hands of players long before then, barring any upsets with global supply chains.
Prints of the illustrations were available for higher-tier backers of the Kickstarter campaign.
Ultimately, he hoped people would learn more about the backstories of the Catholic pantheon of saints.
"They’re just so weird and so interesting," Mr O’Mannin said.
