After successfully completing my engagement with Urbint, I decided to take a strategic pause from freelancing to address burnout and reconnect with my passion for board gaming. This break led to an unexpected but rewarding opportunity when a friend, who designs and publishes board games, approached me about implementing their new abstract 2-player game on BoardGameArena (BGA).

IYE Implementation Project

The BGA platform provides a structured framework that handles most of the core communication and implementation details, allowing developers to focus on three key areas:

• State machine implementation
• User interface development
• Rules and resources implementation

While the platform’s architecture presented some interesting challenges—particularly its reliance on an older version of Dojo toolkit for frontend development and PHP for backend operations—I successfully completed the implementation of IYE. The game is currently in private alpha status, pending licensing procedures.

Gobeklitepe Implementation Project (Ongoing)

Building on this experience, I’m now developing another board game for the BGA platform, designed by another close friend. This project represents a significant increase in complexity, featuring an extensive ruleset and resource management system. The implementation is currently in progress, and I’m enjoying the technical challenges it presents while maintaining my connection to the board gaming community.

This venture has proved to be an ideal bridge between my professional software development skills and my personal interest in board gaming, allowing me to contribute to the digital board gaming ecosystem while taking a measured step back from intensive freelance work.