The Refuge: Terror from the Deep

About The Refuge:

The Refuge: Terror from the Deep, designed by Floyd Lu and John Brieger and published by B&B Games Studios, takes you into treacherous waters with a 2-6 player competitive dive and a 1-4 player solo and cooperative dive. Compete with rival divers in a frantic race to the escape pods, or work together in a story-driven experience to defeat the kraken!

Project Overview:

by John Brieger

The Refuge: Terror from the Deep is a standalone sequel to B&B Games' 2016 release The Refuge: A Race for Survival. I worked closely with the original designer and publisher, Floyd Lu, to bring the gameplay to new depths. Together, we focused on enhancing the immersion of players into the theme of the game, and developing a rich story and world to drive art direction.

I was responsible for the end-to-end design of the game's Solo & Cooperative play, where players dive into a tense, story-driven experience where they work together deep under the sea. Floyd and I worked together closely on creating Kickstarter exclusive content, stretch goal planning, and running the marketing and press campaigns for the Kickstarter.

"John Brieger brought a lot value on the table because he has several skill sets that apply to the field. He is an awesome team player, razor focused, and made a big difference in the project." — Floyd Lu, B&B Games


Services Provided:


Case Study: Kickstarter Content

From Day 1 of development, Terror from the Deep was a Kickstarter product. We built stretch goals and planning into our design and development process, and Brieger Creative suggested new SKUs and Kickstarter exclusives that brought in additional backers and revenue. Refuge: Terror from the Deep's Kickstarter campaign finished in July of 2019 and raised $106,945 from 1457 backers, making it B&B Games' largest campaign to date.

In addition to gameplay, Brieger Creative was responsible for the creation of 100s of assets as part of the marketing and advertising campaigns, spanning written updates, web advertising, social media content, and Kickstarter page content.


Praise for The Refuge: Terror from the Deep

"Very challenging, we were very tense the entire game — it's very satisfying!" — Kira Peavley, Man vs Meeple

"We are getting our @%$ kicked but this game is fun as hell... abyss deck is brutal." — Jeremy Howard, Jambalaya Plays Games