My name is Channing Jones. I was born in 1966 and live in Kleve, Germany.

Childhood Aspiration

As a kid I loved playing board games. Since we could not afford to buy as many as I wanted I started hand-copying games and then creating my own ideas. It then became my greatest wish to become a game developer when I grew up.

A Project too Large

After studying mathematics and computer science at university I started working as a freelance programmer. At the same time (1996) I also started a project called “Mysticora”, a fantasy strategy/RPG PBEM computer game. I spent many years developing it together with a group of friends. The game was so complex and enormous though that people struggled to play it. So I stopped development in 2003.

My lesson from that was, that I need to develop something I could finish more quickly and easily. This would allow me to learn more quickly from the feedback. So I decided to pick up developing board games again.

My Spiritual Awakening

In early 2006, I then had a great shift in my worldview.  I changed my mind on various topics such as: paranormal phenomena, UFOs, spirituality, the nature of consciousness and others. In my view, there is a lot of evidence that goes against the mainstream view of reality, which have not been properly investigated by the legacy media and the scientific community.

For a long time afterwards, I continued researching these topics, sometimes for hours each day. I published some of my results and conclusions regarding spirituality in my now former blog www.spiritualcosmos.com.

Note: I accept and respect that everyone can have their own perspective and beliefs.

Politically Active Years

This also led to several years of me joining the esoteric community and becoming somewhat active politically. I participated in various protests and events, for example a presentation at the European parliament in Brussels in 2008 showing evidence to support a new investigation into a certain event.

event at EU parliament in 2008

me at 2008 event in EU Parliament

One of the most fascinating events I participated in was a UFO watching seminar by Steven Greer where I went to Mount Shasta, California and watched UFOs in the night sky as well as seeing a bright orb of light in the trees and experiencing many unusual synchronicities. It was very nice to actually experience these unusual phenomena firsthand.

me at 2008 Mt. Shasta UFO seminar by Dr. Greer

Alternative Living at the Farm

To get out of the rat race and live true to my ideals, I finally decided to join an alternative, organic community farm called Vlierhof in 2009, where I live to this day. The intention was to help build an example of a better way of living for the world. I like living here because it is a beautiful place with like-minded people and I enjoy more freedom than with a normal job. Still, it is not a perfect place and we also have our problems, they are just different.

Vlierhof 2009

Politically, I started doing less traveling now, but I still was active online, supporting presidential campaigns in 2008 and 2012.

Becoming a Game Author

After several years of developing board games (I now have about 15 prototypes), I am also now getting more involved in that space by participating in game author seminars and fairs. For a while, I also took up a part-time online job doing marketing for a game parts company.

In some of my prototypes, I have used what I have researched for an unusual theme or backstory, which is not necessary to know in order to play or enjoy the game though.

Creating great and enjoyable games is still my primary intention in any case.

me at Ratingen game fair 2015 explaining my prototype

My first published game is Babylon Tower Builders. It is a 3-dimensional building game by Mücke Spiele.

My second game to come out by another publisher (Fobs Games) is Gnomic Parliament, set be released in October 2025. This game is a cheerful voting game, where you vote on changing the rules of the game.

Self-Publishing

In 2019, I started a games company, Seajay Games, to self-publish my boardgame Galactic Era, which is a space empire builder. The game was published in October 2021.

My next self-published game will be Era of Atlantis with the crowdfunding campaign happening on Gamefound in September/October 2025.