Need help with something, guys

[Nero D. Ace]

So I'm designing a board for a board game we have to submit by the end of the week and I'm kinda ... stuck.

The theme for the class is "Greek Mythology" so I tried making it a "Zeus/Poseidon/Hades" vs. Chronos kind of thing.

Right now, my board looks real crappy, something like this -

Now, I'm trying to add actual tiles along the paths to make it look kinda classier and I'm sorta blocked on that part.

To top it off, it's so annoyingly bad right now that I can't even leave it for later and focus on the actual design.

Can ya guys give me some tips to make it better? I uploaded the PSD file I have so far so you can see the things I've done it -

Untitled-2.psd

Appreciate the help, guys.

[† Emotional Outlet]

So the dashes are placeholders for actual spaces, correct? Right now it's not terribly evident how you're supposed to move about or what your goal is, though I suspect having blocks would make it a bit more obvious. How are you supposed to play the game?

I think knowing how it's meant to be played and what your goal in the game is would help quite a bit in designing it--as someone who plays endless amounts of board games, when it comes to games with actual boards like this, some of my favourite ones that other people like to play as well are generally very clear in what your purpose in the game is. Which isn't to say I don't like games that are less accessible, but that's because I'm kind of a nerd like that.

[Nero D. Ace]

Yeah, basically the dashes represent the blocks.

You start off with pawns on the various starting points i.e. Zeus, Posei, Hades, Cronos.

You then roll die to determine how many places you can move. I don't know the full details since my partner's still working on the final game rules but he's planning on making it a "Reach the Goal" game for the Heroes and a "Tower Defence" game for Chronos.

Basically, Chronos can put obstacles in the paths of the heroes and wear them down while the heroes have to maintain their strength and reach the "fountain" after which something like a "Boss Battle" takes place.

It's still being finalized but the help I need with is making the board look kick ass. I need to put in a minimum of 30 moving blocks between the heroes and the fountain and an equal number of them between Chronos and the side-quest that intersects with that particular hero.

Basically, Chronos can move as well and try to prevent the heroes from getting resources by going on their board field.

Sorry if all that still doesn't make sense. It's all a jumbled mess for us as well right now and we're gonna have to work through the nights to make it awesome.

Hopefully, you'd like to playtest it when it's all done?

[† Emotional Outlet]

Ooh, okay. Reminds me a little of Arkham Horror with the final boss battle bit. That's pretty neat! The little off-shoots make far more sense now as sidequests. And I'd love to playtest it, haha.

Do you have a size limit? You might have to expand your playing area to accommodate the number of spaces you need. It's a bit crowded as it is right now, and having one of Zeus's sidequests loop around like that to Chronos is not very attractive, haha.

I'm sorry I can't be much more help! I'm not a very good visual artist, but I hope you figure something out.