When players get together to play The Blue Way, one of the first things they do is create the world of their story by drawing a map. No two maps look the same, but each one contains common features of the Sathani village as described in character sheets. As the game progresses, the map changes to reflect the presence of Dusia. Though the character-sheet-tearing mechanic often takes center stage when we focus on the mechanics of The Blue Way, the map is the silent star that reflects the game’s events in another visible way.
Recent CMU alum Tak Moran was invited by Central Michigan University Press to create an art piece for promotion (and use) with The Blue Way. (More on that later!) This, again, is just one interpretation of the geography of the game. Take a look at this behind-the-scenes video highlighting his process, then scroll down for a Q&A with the artist!
The Map and the Curriculum Guide
Educators (and others!) who purchase The Blue Way Curriculum Guide will receive a cornucopia of special extras to enhance their discussions about the themes of the core game: a new character sheet, a new game, and several replacement or alternate decks of cards. One of these decks provides players with more opportunities to explore the nuances of the relationship between the Sàthani and Dusians. Colonialism comes in many forms, and focus is often on violence and repression, but historically colonialism is far more complex. This new deck of cards adds the daily lived experiences of the people, portraying the colonialism by including seemingly simple cultural exchanges like food, games, and developing inter-racial relationships between the Sàthani and Dusians. The deck was designed by Dr. Jonathan Truitt, a professor of Latin American history who researches Spanish and Indigenous interactions during Mexico’s colonial period.
This is where Tak’s map comes in! To expedite play and demonstrate the impact of character choices on the broader culture, this second deck includes alternate rules and access to a downloadable pre-drawn map by Tak Moran (optional for game play, but reduces playtime). Players combine part of the core deck and part of this alternate deck to play, enhancing replayability. In standard gameplay, there are consequences when a character resists or rebels, but in this version, players track the impact of acceptance by slowly coloring the map blue every time a character decides not to resist. At the end of the game, the merging of Sàthani and Dusian culture that results through player choices is visible, providing an additional dimension of gameplay and discussion. In his designer Q&A below, Tak references a prototype idea for the map grid — the map you will see when you download The Blue Way Curriculum Guide (OR download when the next crowdfunding stretch goal is made on BackerKit) is a bit different after some revisions. Read on to learn more about how Tak approached his map creation…
Artist Q&A with Tak Moran
Q: How did you get involved in this project?
TM: My class played the game [The Blue Way] and it ended up being extremely fun. My Professor, Jonathan Truitt, talked with me nearing the end of the year and asked if I would like to help with a bit of the game. I, of course, said yes! I found this project to be quite fun and it was very freeing. I was given a large creative opening to try and design a map for the game. Players draw on their map, so it was interesting to try and find ways to allow future players to draw on it while keeping it eligible. The challenge was fun and unique.
Q: How did you develop the look of the map?
TM: I was going for a more Irish, Book of Kells, style to try and attempt a similar look to Sam [Araya]’s main artstyle. I will admit though, this is where I had a lot of trouble and wish I could’ve done better. Sam’s style is more naturalistic whereas I don’t have much experience in the field; I’m also a storyboard artist, so again, not a ton of experience in the concept art field. But I do have experience in D&D, so I went with what I could and tried a ton of new skills for this project. As for the Irish look, I got it from Sam’s character’s tattoos. I really liked the old Irish/Nordic knots, so I wanted to incorporate it into the map. Truitt also provided information on old drawn maps, so I went with an older look to the map, hence the dull colors and splotches. It’s still a bit of a “Modern” look of a map, but I added details that I thought the Sàthani would add to their maps (details like the water and trails). In a way, it’s a clash between both on the map. Just like Sam, I put in a “pop” of modernity into the map. We [CMich Press team] discussed adding a grid of some kind, but they even suggested trying out a connect-the-dots like idea for the grid for players to fill in. So for this, I took Sam’s pop crown idea and tried out the idea. The connect-the-dots didn’t quite work out, so instead I did a more geometric idea and that ended up working pretty well, but I gave the team options to choose from.
Q: What inspired your interpretation of The Blue Way map?
TM: A lot of my inspiration came from Sam’s art. I was trying to keep the map within lines that I thought suited his line of style, though I wish I could’ve gotten a little closer to the style I had wanted but I’m honestly proud of what I was able to still create. I went for a D&D map look because it’s something people can draw on while still making out important landmarks. It allows a player to see everything and make the changes wherever they please. But I also wanted that older look to the map, hence I went more towards the yellow side of the color palette with deep splotches. I also used a ton of photos I had taken while I did my study abroad in Ireland last summer (2025). Mostly my photos of Inisheer, Cliffs of Moher, Dingle, and Ennis ended up being the most helpful. Inisheer was helpful for the island look and cliffs, Cliffs of Moher were useful for
the cliffs around the lands and the ocean, Dingle was useful for the buildings, churches, and the ocean, with Ennis also helping with buildings and churches, but also for the rivers. One last inspiration was my childhood. I grew up living out in the middle of nowhere deep in the woods. Me and my siblings would go walking for miles each day and we would create paths through the woods. This immediately struck me when I was reading one of the players’ cultural stories with the trails and flowers. The paths were one of the harder things to create, but I felt nostalgic once I got them in there.
Q: How does your work for The Blue Way fit into your catalog of other created works?
TM: Honestly, it doesn’t really fit into my other works. As stated before, this map fell out of all my typical art zones. I’m a storyboard/animatic artist so I typically don’t work with much color, nor do I work in clean line art. Now trying a semi naturalistic style definitely threw me a whole new curve to get around, but that’s what I like to do. As a storyboard artist, I’m easily able to adapt into a new style, though naturalism is still one I need to figure out digitally. I only just started drawing digitally once I started college, which means I’ve only practiced for 4 years now. I got good at adapting to styles because of my dad allowing me to help him draw tattoos from a young age. It did fall into a category I enjoy though. It was a challenge. Trying a new style is always a challenge and I love to learn while trying something new, so this map fell right into that category. It was fun, yet difficult, to try to go for something so far out of my league.
Q: What art medium/s did you use to create the game art?
TM: I used physical drawing for the main sketch of the map. Sadly, my art supplies were still packed away because we’re moving, so I borrowed my sister’s twistable colored pencils. After that, I did it digitally in Photoshop. I also used OBS to screen record (although it caused major problems and multiple crashes) and Premiere Pro to compile all of the videos together. And near the end I wanted a more mixed media look like Sam’s, so I used some burnt paper and some coffee poured paper to create some effects.
Q: What does the process of creating art look like for you? Did you try any new techniques or experiment with this process?
TM: Drawing for me is a fun challenge, especially coloring or learning a new style; but I also find it relaxing. I tried a whole bunch of new techniques and experiments. I wanted to try Sam’s technique of mixed media, so I did it near the end. I ended up spending most of my days sketching out details and trying different color theories, palettes, and layer adjustments/effects.
Q: Were there any art ideas that you did not use in your final designs?
TM: There were 2 other original paper sketches I did before the final. I tossed those ideas because I just didn’t like the layout of things. When drawing digitally, I changed and scrapped lots of specific designs like the castle, the first one just looked lacking to me so I went bigger. I had about 5 different color palettes I didn’t use, I also had an idea to make certain spots in the map create the crown when you would connect them (Like the connect-the-dots idea) so it would be hidden in the map and not so easy for the players to notice until they started to fill it in more. This got scrapped because I didn’t have enough focal points, nor would I have had the room to allow players to still see the map properly. The main thing was that it placed things too evenly on the map, so the world didn’t look natural and that didn’t sit right with me.
Q: What was one choice you made while creating the art for The Blue Way?
TM: I tried to keep the map a little less naturalistic because I understand not everyone is an artist (I tend to forget this), so I kept it a little bit simple so that when players draw on the map, their drawings have a better chance of fitting in better.
Q: Is there anything else you would like people to know about the art or how you created it?
TM: Sadly, I don’t have much. The videos capture most of my process and I’ve basically explained most of the “news” I’ve tried in the process. I guess the only things I can think of is that I’m thankful for this opportunity to work on this ongoing project and that I’m excited to see how this continues. That, and I set off my apartment’s fire alarm when burning the paper for the media look!
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Thank you for reading! For more information on The Blue Way, visit https://cmichpress.com/product/the-blue-way/.