Viking otters on the hunt for rare gems? The key to an immersive board game is art

When game objectives and mechanics meet captivating visuals, players can be transported into an immersive experience. Designing a board game is a creative and collaborative process, and no one knows that better than Roberto Panetta.

Panetta is the founder of the Montreal-based publishing company Rock, Stone & Dice Games and creator of The Gems of Iridescia, a board game that takes players on a journey through a post-apocalyptic world where you mine gems and unearth ancient relics while earning points. 

And while "post-apocalyptic" may stir up images of desolation and darkness, Panetta's vision was of a bright and whimsical land inhabited by otters, robots and rhino creatures as playable meeples. Luckily, he was able to find just the right artist to bring that colourful quirkiness into his game.

CBC Arts spoke with Panetta at Breakout 2025, a tabletop game and RPG convention in Toronto, where we talked about how he made his way into the game design world, the artwork that brought his concept to life and how working with artist  Sarah "Freedz" Conlon helped build the world of The Gems of Iridescia.

In a former life, Panetta was a graphic designer for a commercial refrigeration company for 17 years where he also gained experience in sales and marketing — skills that would eventually serve him well in his next career: designing games. But it took a little while to get there as Panetta struggled with poor mental health after 15 years at the company.

"The reason why I was depressed is because I was a creative person who wanted to be creative," Panetta shares. "My therapist helped rebuild my confidence and gave me the push to bet on myself and just [design games] full time."

Rock, Stone & Dice Games was launched in 2023 and The Gems of Iridescia is his first ever board game, which found over 1,200 backers on Kickstarter and raised $121,000 in funding. And while his expertise as a graphic designer helped build all the elements and moving parts of his game, such as cards and collectible gem icons, Panetta needed something that would help his game stand out. In a flooded market where more than 5,000 games are released each year, he believed his game not only had to be good but it also had to have great table presence.

The game features artwork by Conlon, a board game illustrator based in Vermont, whose style caught Panetta's eye as he searched The Board Game Geek forums for collaborators. Panetta then reached out to her and asked if she could draw "Viking otters on an airship collecting gems," and boy, did Conlon deliver.

Her hand-drawn style and his "steam-punk meets solar-punk" theme seemed to be the perfect match for the board game.

"What truly captivated me was his unique vision," Conlon explains in an email. She says Panetta felt she could bring "happiness and humor to the project."

When it comes to marrying art and design, Panetta and Conlon are a solid team with Conlon's illustrations covering every inch of the game box, including the inside lining. According to Panetta, they were messaging each other every day and bouncing ideas around. "I can't draw, but I had a lot of experience in graphic design," he says when pointing out some of the graphical elements such as coins, gems and pickaxes, which he adapted to match Conlon's style. 

There's something magical about knowing people are not just looking at my art, but engaging with it as they play.- Sarah Conlon

Conlon, who specializes in board game art, said games are the most rewarding medium for her as an artist. "Board game art demands a unique approach to visual storytelling," she says. "The illustrations need to be functional while creating an immersive world. They must communicate game concepts clearly while still being visually captivating. There's something magical about knowing people are not just looking at my art, but engaging with it as they play."

And with the use of AI being a hot topic these days, especially when it comes to art, Panetta has this to say: "I couldn't imagine anyone wanting to use AI art in their game because for me, the funnest part of the process was watching [Conlon] bring my ideas to life."

The Gems of Iridescia is scheduled for release in July 2025 and is available for pre-order now.