Arts & Games
Dice Rolls and Tokens and Cards, Oh My! by Nate Schumann
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July 8 - 21, 2020 • jfp.ms
courtesy Jesse Labbé
hether your idea of a fun Saturday night en- “At the end of the day, it’s a very fluid process, at least and recruit new teammates to accomplish the main mistails braving an expedition through Antarctic here,” Coffey says. “When you are one of the few people sion: saving the players’ souls from a wall of thorny vines. tundra or gallivanting through a land of fantasti- actually coming up with the idea, illustrating the idea, de- In “Dungeons, Dudes, Dames, Danger, Dice and cal beasts to collect bounties with your adven- signing the idea, I don’t have to go to another department Dragons!,” better known as “D6,” participants role-play as turing party, Certifiable Studios, a board-game-centric art and ask, ‘How big should these minis be?’ It’s literally, ‘How characters who are themselves playing a fantasy role-playing studio in Jackson, has you covered. big do you want them to be?’ because you are the one creat- game. The adventuring party works together to fight mon Co-owners Jesse Labbé and Rick Moore founded ing it. So there’s a little more freedom that adds a little more sters and collect bounties. With 100 optional campaign Certifiable Studios about five years ago after the former had flexibility in the design process.” scenarios listed in the rulebook, the game is designed for developed a board game that he wanted to replayability. bring to the next level and presented it to Certifiable Studios’ loyal following Moore, who suggested they start a gaming has formed both a strong online and lostudio themselves. cal community. Backers created a Discord “I’ve been into games forever, and I’ve server where fans discuss the games or help been an illustrator for longer,” Labbé says. “I budding fans learn more about the studio’s think I picked up on games because it was a products. way to interact with my illustrations. Most Pre-COVID, Certifiable would host of the time, you draw something, and you’re open game nights on the first Friday of evjust stuck looking at it. This was a way to ery month at their Ridgeland headquarters, take the characters I was drawing to another which would typically pull in 40 to 50 peosetting where I can now control them in a ple who gather to play games and mingle. gaming environment.” Labbé praised the local community, Marketing expert Opie Cooper joined many of whom would voluntarily bring in Labbé and Moore, who also serves as the snacks like baked goods or pizza for everyCEO of advertising agency Mad Genius, one else or welcome new participants. and the trio set off to work. Shortly after “We had one girl come in by herself ward, Certifiable launched its first game, like, ‘Is this the game night thing?’ And “Endangered Orphans of Condyle Cove,” then everybody (begins enthusiastically saya whimsical survival game where players ing), ‘We have room over here. Come over avoid being captured by the Boogeyman, here,’” Labbé says. “Everybody just opened and the game received more than $300,000 their arms up, and she picked a table, and in backing through Kickstarter. that’s just the kind of community we have “(‘Endangered Orphans’) just blew Certifiable Studios in Ridgeland produces multifaceted board games that here. Everybody is very, ‘Come on, we have everybody away and developed the com- feature original art and a variety of mechanics. Backers both local and from room for you.’” munity that we have since become known around the world have established an open online community so that people First Friday game nights have been who are interested in the creative studio’s products can learn more. for,” says Brent Hearn, the company’s postponed for the time being because of the wordsmith. “A lot of companies create great pandemic, but Certifiable looks forward to products and do a good job with their campaigns, but they Certifiable Studios’ team also includes “half-man, half- being able to host again in the future. don’t necessarily engage to the level that we showed was internet” communications manager Cory Drake, residen- The studio also connects with fans through Twitch possible with that campaign. And that community has just tial videography wiz Nate Hamblin, visual master Dante videos, wherein staff members play-test various board grown since then.” Johnson and do-all-know-all intern Charles Woods. Labbé games, and through its YouTube channel, although video During the game’s launch, Labbé invited Anthony also operates and voices “the officially most annoying mem- frequency has decreased due to COVID-19. Coffey, whom he had met while attending art school in ber of the staff,” Myles “Key” Keyston III, a puppet mascot Presently, Certifiable Studios is working on “EndanDallas, to join Certifiable Studios. The two had previously who appears in many of the studio’s promotional videos. gered Orphans in the House of Rath,” a second edition of worked together on a graphic novel series titled, “Berona’s Since “Endangered Orphans of Condyle Cove,” Cer- the original game that started it all. Announced in March, War,” and Coffey accepted the position and moved to the tifiable Studios has successfully produced four more games: “House of Rath” is the first game that Certifiable is publishJackson area in early 2017. “Who Goes There?,” “Stuffed,” “D6” and “Who Goes ing that was originally submitted as a completed game by A jack-of-all-trades, Coffey serves as an illustrator, There? 2.0.” The games use combinations of dice, tokens, someone outside of the studio. designer and sculptor. Among many other creative respon- cards, miniatures, character sheets and other game pieces “This guy brought us a packaged, boxed game. It sibilities, he uses the 3D printer in his office to fine-tune and mechanics. wasn’t this produced thing. He did it all by himself, but it game-piece prototypes based on printouts from China be- “Who Goes There?” and “2.0” are based on John W. was done. He presented it to us, we checked it out, and we fore they are sent to the factory. Coffey and Labbé illustrate Campbell’s novella of the same name. The science-fiction moved on with it,” Labbé says. the majority of characters within Certifiable’s properties. games follow the premises of the original work’s plot, “We have people who give us ideas, but if it’s too much The initial ideas for Certifiable’s published games wherein researchers travel to Antarctica and discover an work on our end, we don’t have time for that. But if they thus far have come from Labbé, who records them in his alien entity that attempts to infect the players. Players select bring it, and it’s something they’re proud of—they’ve had notebook and then translates them onto concept paper so a character and work collaboratively to escape both the fro- their friends test it and really like it—there’s no reason if we that he and Coffey can world-build and develop the game’s zen terrain and The Thing. like it that we’re not going to do it.” mechanics and “turn it into something much bigger and “Stuffed” is a multiplayer game featuring anthropo- To learn more about Certifiable Studios, visit better,” Labbé says. morphized animals that involves rolling dice to earn coins certifiablestudios.com or find them on Facebook and Twitter.
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