Gosh… I think similar to books, I’ll give you multiple answers. I’ll separate this into two parts, that is Tabletop Games and then Video Games.

Tabletop Games

Eric M. Lang’s games brought me into the realm of Board Games. I didn’t play a lot of Board Games, limiting myself to good ol’ TCGs. That changed when I played Bloodborne: The Card Game (which later on inspires me to make Legions of Kadmon) and Blood Rage. He opened the gates for me to embrace this completely new world.

Mark Rosewater brought Magic the Gathering (and obviously it’s my favourite TCG) to greater heights. He also wrote a wonderful article about Game Design which I kind of use as my “bible” today.

David Goh from Hyperlixir is a special pick for me. Seeing David’s success in publishing Mercurial (2023) convinces me that it is possible to publish very fantastical games in South East Asia. He was kind of like that ray of hope that gets me to keep pushing myself to get Legions published.

Video Games

It’s really hard to pinpoint Video Game designers because of its scale. Usually it’s a collaborative effort and often, the credits go to the studio. But I think I have one:

Yoko Taro is a really good storyteller and someone who pushes the boundaries of what games are capable of. NieR: Automata, for instance, exemplifies the need to be different which makes the game uniquely distinct from a lot in its genre.

~ Joshua Dharmawan, 24 November 2025