WHERE WORLDS AND GAME COLLIDE
With a shared love for board games, the gaming community, and world-building, Arkus is setting out to immerse players in new worlds through board games. In collaboration with world-renowned talent and those soon to be discovered, Arkus hopes to provide a platform for true creative collaborations across every game.
Arkus Studios was formally founded in Wellington, New Zealand in 2020, by senior concept designer & creative entrepreneur, Paul Tobin and spreadsheet wizard & product manager, Nicola Harrison. In August 2022 they welcomed aboard Shem Phillips as the Director of Game Design & Business Development.
We couldn’t be more excited to begin to share these games, new worlds, and the journey ahead.
See you around the table! :)
- Paul, Nicola and Shem
ARKUS GAMES TEAM
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ARKUS ARTIST & WORLD DESIGN
PAUL TOBIN
@paul_tobin_art
Artstation Portfolio
Paul has spent over two decades working in the entertainment industry as an Art Director and Concept Designer. During his time at Wētā Workshop he worked on film, television and game projects notably; The Hobbit, Avatar, Chronicles of Narnia, Blade Runner 2049, The Expanse, Call of Duty:Vanguard and Shadow of Mordor. After co-creating Wētā Workshop’s Giant Killer Robots board game, Paul co-founded Arkus Games (2019) where he serves as Creative Director on titles such as Shelfie Stacker, Dreadful Meadows and the forthcoming Storm Raiders. -
GAME DESIGN
SHEM PHILLIPS
@garphillgames
This guy has been droppin board games since 2007! Surely you’ve played them, but if not, chances are you’ve probably heard of them.From his smash hit Viking Trilogy “The North Sea”, through to our latest adventures as players into his “West Kingdom” series, Shem Phillips of @garphillgames captures our attention with every release.
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PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT & 3D
NICOLA HARRISON
@nikivade_games
Nicola has spent 12 years in entertainment launching games, worlds, and consumer products for studios such as PikPok and Wētā Workshop. The last 5 years have been spent focused on merging the development of original IP alongside product development. She has helped to raise over $1million on Kickstarter, across two campaigns which were both fully funded in 24 hours. In 2020 she co-founded Arkus Games, a studio with a focus on launching new worlds through boardgames.
GUEST GAME DESIGNERS
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GAME DESIGNER
LUKUS ADAM
@fantasyworkhouse
BGG Portfolio
Lukus Adam is an award-winning Game Designer and publisher based in Auckland, New Zealand. In 2020 he established Fantasy Workhouse and designed, illustrated and published his first game, Galilean Moons, on Kickstarter. The following year it won the “Excellence in Physical Games” award at the PAVS (NZ Game Awards). His latest game design has been published by Wellington-based Arkus Games and is titled, Dreadful Meadows.
ARKUS CREDITS:
Dreadful Meadows
Tricks for Treats (Expansion) -
GAME DESIGNER
BOBBY HILL
@motherlodegames
BGG Portfolio
Gaming has been part of Bobby’s life for as long as he can remember. He designed his first dungeon crawl at the age of 11 for an English class assignment. (The teacher said she liked it, but thought it was 'a bit complicated'.)Thirty odd years later, via writing role-playing adventures, running live action role playing events and producing half a dozen short movies, he’s now found himself back here again, furiously cutting out little pieces of card in the hope to entertain his friends and other gamers. Garphill Games release Bobby’s first game in 2021, Hadrian’s Wall.
ARKUS CREDITS:
Expedition to Darwin IV -
GAME DESIGNER
J CARMICHAEL
@3mbg.bsky.social
BGG Portfolio
3 Minute Board Games
J is probably most well-known for being the voice, and very rarely, the face of the 3 Minute board games channel. Where his unique combination of short format video production and 35 years’ experience in the board game hobby has gained him a large online following.As well as reviewing games, J is the designer of Red Dust Rebellion, an eagerly anticipated futuristic wargame from GMT Games releasing later in 2024.
When not playing, designing or reviewing games, J is at home looking after his daughter, and is loving his dad-designer lifestyle.
ARKUS CREDITS:
Shadow Moon Syndicates -
GAME DESIGNER
S J MACDOALD
BGG PortfolioSam Macdonald is a full-time designer and developer at Garphill Games. Sam's first game, Architects of the West Kingdom, was extremely well received in 2018. In the following year, he designed Circadians: First Light and co-designed Paladins of the West Kingdom, both of which have received praise from players and reviewers alike. Since then Sam has co-designed more games and expansions for the West Kingdom and South Tigris trilogies.
ARKUS CREDITS:
Shadow Moon Syndicates (Game Developer)
GUEST CREATIVES & ARTISTS
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ARTIST & WORLD DESIGN
CLAIRE TOBIN
@foolfire
Artstation Portfolio
Claire has cast her skills into many amazing worlds, helping them come to life. As an Art Director, her talents have been credited to Marvel TV shows such as Avengers Assemble, Guardians of the Galaxy, Spider-Man, and Marvel Rising. From sunrise she can be found conjuring up the talents of up-and-coming artists as a lecturer at Massey University. As the sun sets, the magic continues through her personal projects into the mysterious gothic and terrifying world of folklore.
ARKUS CREDITS:
Shelfie Stacker
Dreadful Meadows
Tricks for Treats (Expansion) -
ARTIST & WORLD DESIGN
DANE MADGWICK
@dane_madgwick
Artstation Portfolio
Dane is an Art Director, Senior Concept Designer, and part-time Senior Tutor at Massey University. Based in Wellington, New Zealand, he works with many local and international clients and studios in the film, entertainment, and tech industries. With over a decade of professional experience that has seen him work with studios such as Wētā Workshop, Dane has contributed to the award-winning visual development of significant films and location-based experiences, most notably; Dune(2021), Blade Runner 2049, Ghost in the Shell(2017), Altered Carbon, Invasion, Flintlock, Call of Duty Vanguard, and many others. Specialising in early pre-production Dane’s passion lies in bringing worlds to life with unique and holistic idea generation across various entertainment platforms.
ARKUS CREDITS:
Storm Raiders
Shadow Moon Syndicates -
ARTIST & WORLD DESIGN
WAYNE BARLOWE
@waynebarlowe_thedarkness
waynebarlowe.com
Wayne Barlowe is an artist, author, screenwriter and producer. He has written two novels, GOD’S DEMON and THE HEART OF HELL and is writing a third, LUCIFER’S SOUL. His art books include BARLOWE’S GUIDES TO EXTRATERRESTRIALS, BARLOWE’S GUIDES TO FANTASY, BARLOWE’s INFERNO, BRUSHFIRE, PSYCHOPOMP and EXPEDITION, a SF/natural history narrative which became the Discovery Channel event, ALIEN PLANET. He has contributed character and creature designs to many films including AVATAR, HELLBOY 1 and 2, PACIFIC RIM and HARRY POTTER 3 and 4. An SF screenplay is currently in development.
ARKUS COLLABORATION:
Expeditin To Dawn IV -
ARTIST
LERI
@pushbakiLeri has been drawing since age 13, finished school then university (for ART). He then took his degree and delivered pizza for 5 years, then moved to Los Angeles with his 'savings', eventually finding work doing web graphics. Then as a hobby he made a video game with his brother and some friends called NEOTOYO ˚ (a HALF-LIFE MOD). Then he moved to NZ and scammed his way into WETA WORKSHOP as a concept artist somehow, working in the film industry for 15 years. Finally sick of that he went back to Norcal, moving back in with his parents to enjoy a full fridge and no responsibilities. He now rides a bicycle every day at 6am to be able to see the last of the nocturnal animals out and about, goes home, makes coffee, and then gets to work doing art/commercial side hustle projects the rest of the day. The end.
ARKUS CREDITS:
Shadow Moon Syndicates -
ARTIST
DREDNORZT
norzt.net
DREDNORZT is an elusive art based entity from Aotearoa. He spends much more time than is healthy on the computer, sifting through the internet landfill & obsessively cataloging golden culture nuggets in an attempt to distil them down into further forms of creative expression.He can make pictures that people will pay money for, but he can’t do his laundry on the reg.
ARKUS CREDITS:
Shadow Moon Syndicates



