About American Collapse
A game about the oldest question in preparedness: when the crisis hits, what does your family actually do?
Why this game
Plenty of survival games are about wastelands and lone heroes. This one is about a household. Water runs short before food does. A storm, a power failure, or an empty pharmacy shelf matters more than any villain. The interesting decisions are the ordinary ones made under pressure: what to spend, who to trust, and what you are not willing to give up.
The game takes no political side. The threats are weather, outages, shortages, and what people do when they are frightened. The way through is planning and cooperation, and sometimes a hard choice.
Who makes it
American Collapse is designed, written, and art-directed by Ryan Byrd, an independent game designer. There is no publisher and no studio, just one designer, a rules engine, and a growing list of people who want to play.
Where it stands
- The browser game is live and free. Solo against an automated rival, and Pass & Play for 2 to 6 on one device. It is a simplified adaptation of the board game and a work in progress. Online play with private links is not open yet.
- The boxed edition is a Founder’s Edition prototype. So far the rules have been tested in the designer’s own hand-played games and in thousands of simulated games. Playtests with outside groups come next. Player count, play time, and components will be settled by those tests, and there is no price or release date yet.
Want to help? Join the list for a playtest invite.
How the art is made
Illustrations created with AI image tools under the art direction of Ryan Byrd. Every image was briefed, selected, and placed by the designer against a written art bible. We say so plainly because you deserve to know what you are looking at. The art on this site is prototype art, and art for the boxed edition is not final.
A game, not a guide
Seventy-five of the hundred crisis cards are grounded in real preparedness thinking, and the other twenty-five are deliberate speculative fiction. None of it is advice. For a real household plan, start with Ready.gov and your local emergency management office.
Credits
- Game design, rules, and writing: Ryan Byrd
- Illustrations: created with AI image tools under the art direction of Ryan Byrd
- Typefaces: Anton by Vernon Adams and Archivo by Omnibus-Type, both under the SIL Open Font License
- Interface icons: Phosphor Icons (MIT License)
- Epigraph: Alfred Henry Lewis, 1906 (public domain)
Contact
Questions, playtest offers, or press: hello@americancollapsegame.com. Writers will find images and a fact sheet in the press kit.