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AUTOMA GARDEN

@automagarden.com
92 followers 341 following 144 posts

AUTOMA GARDEN is a new board game development initiative started by Michael Burrowes. www.starlinehill.com

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AUTOMA GARDEN @automagarden.com · 13/04/2025
When the Sky becomes full, one or both players are often left without any legal moves. If we assume Red has a higher Point total than Yellow, it would be to their benefit to not claim Etana. If they did so, it would open up lines for Yellow to Claim Hevonen, swinging the game in their favor.
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AUTOMA GARDEN @automagarden.com · 12/04/2025
In this example of a central opening, Red found a strong first Claim of Etana on the periphery of the active board – Yellow can’t immediately Draw a Line over the Neutral Stars that are left behind. Link in bio to back our Kickstarter project!
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AUTOMA GARDEN @automagarden.com · 11/04/2025
Some players prefer to open by placing their Stars next to each other, typically in the center. This leads to a more combative early-game, where finding a Claim that can’t be capitalized on by your opponent is key.
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AUTOMA GARDEN @automagarden.com · 10/04/2025
Some players prefer to open by placing their Stars far apart from each other – the outcome of this playstyle usually tends to be more ‘random,’ – without interference, the Constellation cards that are drawn have a significant impact on which player will be able to score faster.
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AUTOMA GARDEN @automagarden.com · 09/04/2025
Though 3-Point Constellations are the least efficient in terms of Points-per-Star, they are effective in the middle- to late-game for ‘evacuating’ awkwardly placed Stars to replenish your supply!
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AUTOMA GARDEN @automagarden.com · 08/04/2025
Your Stars are a limited resource; you will need to carefully manage the ebb and flow of your supply as you Draw Lines and Claim Constellations. In this position, Yellow has found a good time to claim Kristalli, as Red does not have enough Stars remaining to capitalize on their threat!
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AUTOMA GARDEN @automagarden.com · 07/04/2025
Edge spaces tend to be a bit more flexible than corners, while still offering some of their defensive benefits. Use these spaces effectively in the mid-game to dominate a region of the Sky! Reminder that our Kickstarter is still live with 16 days left! www.kickstarter.com/projects/aut...
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AUTOMA GARDEN @automagarden.com · 06/04/2025
Corner spaces are very defensive – they cannot be surrounded by your opponent’s Stars, so they are often effective as anchors. Remember, once a corner is used in a Claim, it becomes dead! Make sure to back our Kickstarter project today! www.kickstarter.com/projects/aut...
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AUTOMA GARDEN @automagarden.com · 05/04/2025
Stars in the center of the Sky board make it easy to build out Constellation patterns in any direction and create more opportunities for Line Draws in any direction. Your Stars in the center can be a long-term investment, so think carefully before using them in a Claim!
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AUTOMA GARDEN @automagarden.com · 05/04/2025
Hi folks! Sending you a reminder our project, Starline Hill, is still live on Kickstarter with 19 days to go! www.kickstarter.com/projects/aut... Here are some of the exclusives we’re offering!
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AUTOMA GARDEN @automagarden.com · 03/04/2025
When designing a box, everything must be exactly the right size; you need to consider things like logo placement and folds in the design – we wanted a box where the box illustration wrapped around the box top, which added even more complexity. Our illustrator, Ellen Zhang, handled it all in stride!
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AUTOMA GARDEN @automagarden.com · 02/04/2025
After Michael put together an initial mood board, he and Megan took to a pretty thorough dissection of a number of visual references to determine precisely which aspects to carry over. Early references included art from Hollow Knight, Ghibli films, and Disney’s Atlantis, among others.
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AUTOMA GARDEN @automagarden.com · 01/04/2025
Once we had a more firm idea of how our constellation patterns would look on the cards, we needed to make sure our font choices, shading, and alignment added to the look without interfering with readability. Link in our bio to back our Kickstarter for Starline Hill!
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AUTOMA GARDEN @automagarden.com · 31/03/2025
In our first prototype of Starline Hill, the constellations were simple shapes on dry-erase cards. Since cards are critical to our gameplay, our priority was to make sure the constellation pattern information was conveyed in a readable way on top of the more contextual thematic art on the card.
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AUTOMA GARDEN @automagarden.com · 30/03/2025
Because of the mechanics of Drawing Lines, corners and adjacent edges that become Neutral Stars can never be Drawn over, and thus become ‘dead’ for the remainder of the game. After Yellow’s claim in this example, 8 spaces in the bottom-right corner are made dead.
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AUTOMA GARDEN @automagarden.com · 29/03/2025
Drawing a Line over 5 or more Neutral Stars at once is very tempting! Watch out, however, for the ‘big line trap.’ Highly linear positions aren’t often conducive to claiming many Constellations – there may be better ways to utilize your limited supply of Stars.
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AUTOMA GARDEN @automagarden.com · 28/03/2025
We're also showing off a little more strategy around the game! Yellow’s position is somewhat poisoned here, but with a well-placed Line Draw, they can claim Rapu without opening their position to Red’s attacks, at least as much as they would have otherwise.
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AUTOMA GARDEN @automagarden.com · 27/03/2025
We also have a BONUS animation evolution video collab with @prosanic.bsky.social! We absolutely love it.
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AUTOMA GARDEN @automagarden.com · 26/03/2025
We're also back with a livestream tomorrow, Thursday March 27th at 8pm EDT! Tune in to watch Michael (@michaelburrowes.bsky.social) play Starline Hill live.
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AUTOMA GARDEN @automagarden.com · 24/03/2025
Our project, Starline Hill, is launching tomorrow on Kickstarter at 10am EDT / 7am PDT! We have spent the better part of a year playtesting and building this game, and we're so happy to finally see it go live! Follow along until tomorrow! www.kickstarter.com/projects/aut...
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AUTOMA GARDEN @automagarden.com · 23/03/2025
Our project for Starline Hill launches on Tuesday! We’re highlighting some of our Kickstarter exclusives which will be offered in some of our tiers in anticipation of our launch, so make sure to follow along in our bio!
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AUTOMA GARDEN @automagarden.com · 22/03/2025
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AUTOMA GARDEN @automagarden.com · 22/03/2025
We’re at BOINGA today in downtown Boston!
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AUTOMA GARDEN @automagarden.com · 21/03/2025
Michael fills up the board in his match against Travis, triggering the endgame state! Can Travis bring it back?
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AUTOMA GARDEN @automagarden.com · 20/03/2025
Michael shares his thoughts on score differentials – even if you’re behind a full constellation’s worth of points, you can still make a comeback! We have almost 300 people on our Kickstarter pre-launch before our March 25th launch next week! Click the link in our bio to follow along!
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AUTOMA GARDEN @automagarden.com · 19/03/2025
Yellow’s position is somewhat poisoned here, but with a well-placed Line Draw, they can claim Rapu without opening their position to Red’s attacks, at least as much as they would have otherwise.
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AUTOMA GARDEN @automagarden.com · 18/03/2025
An announcement from us!! Starline Hill will be coming to BOINGA Spring this Saturday, 3/22 in downtown Boston! This will be our last in-person event before our Kickstarter campaign launches on Tuesday, 3/25. Tickets are still available for this all-day festival of indie board games!
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AUTOMA GARDEN @automagarden.com · 17/03/2025
More highlights from our Twitch streams! Every game of Starline Hill feels entirely different – even after only a few constellation claims! And don't forget to click the link in our bio to follow our upcoming Kickstarter!
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AUTOMA GARDEN @automagarden.com · 15/03/2025
Michael gives up control of the center early, accounting for Travis’s limited options after recapturing it! Make sure you follow our Kickstarter prelaunch before our March 25th launch! We're so close to 300 followers, let's reach that goal before our launch. www.kickstarter.com/projects/aut...
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AUTOMA GARDEN @automagarden.com · 14/03/2025
More strategy info! Yellow has a lot of control in this position, but that doesn’t mean Red can’t find ways to interfere. By placing here, two of Yellow’s more central Stars have become ‘poisoned’ – if they’re used in a Claim, Red is threatening to Draw a Line and cut off Yellow’s position.
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AUTOMA GARDEN @automagarden.com · 13/03/2025
As Michael sometimes says, the opening of a match is often ‘vibes-based’... We'll be streaming Starline Hill again TONIGHT at 9pm ET on our Twitch channel! twitch.tv/automagarden
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AUTOMA GARDEN @automagarden.com · 12/03/2025
By placing in this corner this turn, Red has created a ‘farm’, a region of the board in which Red will easily be able to Claim and re-Draw lines to quickly earn a lot of points without interference. Keep an eye out for opportunities to form farms, and prevent your opponent from doing so!
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AUTOMA GARDEN @automagarden.com · 11/03/2025
Hi everyone, we'll be streaming again this coming Thursday, March 13th at 9pm ET on our Twitch channel! Make sure to follow us at twitch.tv/automagarden to see Michael play Starline Hill before our Kickstarter launch on March 25th!
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AUTOMA GARDEN @automagarden.com · 10/03/2025
Joshua sneaks a late-game 13-point Constellation, swinging the game in his favor!
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AUTOMA GARDEN @automagarden.com · 08/03/2025
We're at the Granite Game Summit in Nashua, NH today! Make sure to stop by Designer Alley from 2pm-4pm and play Starline Hill before our Kickstarter launch on March 25th!
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AUTOMA GARDEN @automagarden.com · 07/03/2025
Joshua discovers an effective way to Claim an 8-point Constellation. Remember to sign up for our Kickstarter prelaunch page via the link in our bio!
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AUTOMA GARDEN @automagarden.com · 06/03/2025
ROYAL ASTRONOMER’S LOG – RAPU “Rapu is widely recognized as the first instance of a Constellation designated in the Age of Exploration. Stories have it that a long-term fishing voyage down the Western Coast was capsized, leaving all of its crew to die at sea. All except one." 1/8
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AUTOMA GARDEN @automagarden.com · 05/03/2025
Hi everyone! We are excited to announce an in person opportunity to play Starline Hill this Saturday, March 8th! We'll be at the Granite Game Summit in Nashua, NH, most of Saturday, definitely at Designer Alley from 2pm-4pm. Stop by, play Starline Hill, and click the link in our bio!
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AUTOMA GARDEN @automagarden.com · 04/03/2025
In this clip, Red had matched the pattern of Paloihme already before this turn, but they’ve ensured they have ‘anchors’ surrounding the shape – on their next turn, they’ll be able to Draw a Line to repossess a great deal of their lost position.
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AUTOMA GARDEN @automagarden.com · 03/03/2025
We stream Starline Hill from time to time so we’re sharing clips! Michael discusses the importance of controlling the edges of the board in this clip. Remember to follow the Kickstarter pre-launch link in our profile to be notified when Starline Hill launches.
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AUTOMA GARDEN @automagarden.com · 28/02/2025
Finishing out our strategy week! Yellow can claim Kauha here, but it might be best to wait – Red will be able to gain a significant positional advantage in the center using Line Draws once Yellow’s Stars are gone. Perhaps Yellow can find a different orientation at which to claim Kauha?
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AUTOMA GARDEN @automagarden.com · 27/02/2025
Continuing with our gameplay strategy posts for the week, if you can deduce where an opponent wants to Claim a Constellation, consider using turns to surround their position so after they Claim, you can Draw a Line over the Neural Stars they leave behind!
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AUTOMA GARDEN @automagarden.com · 25/02/2025
Michael will be streaming Starline Hill again today at 8pm ET on Twitch! Here is a clip from the last stream where Michael demonstrates the utility of passing early, despite the option to pass usually only being employed in the endgame. www.twitch.tv/automagarden
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AUTOMA GARDEN @automagarden.com · 25/02/2025
Hey folks! Michael will be playing Starline Hill on our Twitch channel tomorrow, 2/25 at 8pm ET! Make sure to tune in. twitch.tv/automagarden
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AUTOMA GARDEN @automagarden.com · 24/02/2025
We're highlighting Starline Hill gameplay features this week in anticipation of our upcoming Kickstarter! (Link in our bio for our pre-launch page.) Description below. 👇
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AUTOMA GARDEN @automagarden.com · 20/02/2025
Michael recently streamed Starline Hill and we'll be sharing clips leading up to our Kickstarter launch! Here, he analyzes his opponent’s position in the early-mid game. Make sure to click the Kickstarter link in our bio to follow along before our project launches on March 25th!
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AUTOMA GARDEN @automagarden.com · 17/02/2025
We're looking back at how far we've come from early play-tests to just last month at Captain Con! We're very excited for our upcoming Kickstarter on March 25th, and we can't wait to show you more.
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AUTOMA GARDEN @automagarden.com · 04/02/2025
Thank you to everyone who stopped by to play Starline Hill this past weekend at Captain Con! As a reminder, we're still growing our Kickstarter pre-launch page, so please sign up before our March 25th launch! www.kickstarter.com/projects/aut...
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AUTOMA GARDEN @automagarden.com · 30/01/2025
Hi everyone, we’re very excited to show you a more accurate prototype for Starline Hill! We will be at CaptainCon starting tomorrow through Sunday, so make sure to come find us! (D3 and V5 on the floor)
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AUTOMA GARDEN @automagarden.com · 29/01/2025
A memory from last December at Boston FIG, people coming by to play test Starline Hill! Our first con attendance for 2025 is this weekend at CaptainCon in Warwick, RI. If you're attending, please stop by D3 and V5 at the con to demo Starline Hill with us.
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