Hi Caitlin, thanks so much for talking with Player 2! The first thing I’d like to know about; what was the genesis of Exotic Cancer as a brand?
Exotic Cancer began as a personal outlet. I already had a small art business, but felt that I couldn’t share stripper-related content through that channel. The username was a twist on “exotic dancer” and was really just a way for me to process and express my experiences as a stripper. It clearly struck a chord and rapidly grew larger than my original business – over time I expanded from prints and stickers to apparel, keychains, jewellery, tarot decks, and most recently a board game! Exotic Cancer has always focused on uplifting sex workers, as that’s where this all started!
How did the initial idea for Nightshift come about? Did you identify a gap in the market, was it a case of “write what you know” or a bit of both?
I had been gravitating towards more interactive formats (like tarot cards) and making a board game felt like a logical next step. Almost all of the early feedback I received from the board game community suggested that there would be no appetite for this theme, but I’d never seen a game tackle the subject from the worker’s perspective, and I thought that could be really special. It was important to me that the game mirrored the real dynamics of the job, because that would allow it to challenge the negative preconceptions so many people still hold about the industry.
Launching a KickStarter is difficult enough, let alone trying to deal with some of the blowback Nightshift faced from more puritanical factions of the boardgame community – what do you think the greatest challenges were and would you have done anything differently with hindsight?
I genuinely do not think it could’ve been done without the support of my existing following as the stigma is persistent. The vast majority of popular board game influencers refused to review it outright, and one of the few who did, took the opportunity to launch a sensationalist smear campaign during the live Kickstarter, referring to it as a ‘car crash of a game’. The effect was damaging and immediate, to this day I see comments referencing that one video as if it’s definitive and the plethora of positive reviews are fake.
The game was also bombed with 1-star reviews on theme alone (none of these people had played it). There’s a very clear knee-jerk moral rejection that some portion of the tabletop gaming community feel – it’s not enough for them to avoid it, they need it to not exist. For these reasons I don’t think any traditional publisher would have accepted the game, so self-publishing was the only option. I do wish I’d been more mentally prepared for how emotionally taxing the backlash would be, but thankfully the overwhelming support has made it all worthwhile.
How much scoping and scaling was involved in developing Nightshift? Was it ‘fully formed’ as some designers claim or was there a lot of back-and-forth as elements were added and removed?
The game was developed over the span of 3 years, with hundreds of playtests both in person and online via Tabletop Simulator. The core idea was fixed from the beginning (playing as a stripper for a night, moving your figurine around a bird’s-eye view of the club, approaching customers), but refining the functional mechanics took years.
We spent so much time striking a balance between accessibility and complexity – it needed to be easy for first-time gamers to pick up, but have enough for hobbyists to stay engaged. Another key tension was between luck, skill and authenticity. I know many gamers have an aversion to luck-based games, but the truth is even the most skilled strippers can have bad nights and I wanted to reflect that. We’d take detailed surveys after each playtest, tinker with probabilities, and run Monte Carlo simulations (essentially, thousands of computerised game runs) to get the game balance just right. By the time we reached the Kickstarter, it was 99% done.
There are very few creators who pull double duty as both designer and artist, what are the difficulties of juggling both? Are there any advantages you’ve found?
Working both roles meant that I had full creative control – which is a huge advantage for speed and cohesion! But honestly, I couldn’t have done this without my partner, Ash. In hindsight, we were a bit insane to tackle this as a 2-person team! Ash hosted most playtests and was a huge part of the game design, especially the mathematical side. He’s truly a freak in the (spread)sheets, which was amazing for game balance because we could quantify everything – like the relative value of each customer, or more complex ideas like how champagne would impact the value of each room. Our biggest advantage was being able to iterate rapidly; within 5 minutes of a playtest, we could tweak the spreadsheet backend, connect it to InDesign, and export new cards with these changes. For example. it meant we could instantly adjust the loyalty of all customers for the next game.
Of course, there were tough stretches. The sheer amount of artwork sometimes felt overwhelming, and the mountain of notes and fixes from playtesting could burn us out to the point we’d need to step away for a few months. We both really wanted the game to be reliably fun no matter the audience – we’d intensely focus on the energy levels of playtesters and feel really flat when we knew they were disengaged. All in all, being able to bounce ideas off each other at any time, and having full creative freedom, made a huge difference. It also kept costs down significantly! Since this was truly a passion project, we didn’t pay ourselves… if we charged our usual hourly rates for the time spent developing it, we’d probably be in serious trouble!
What, if any, underlying messages do you hope players can take away from playing Nightshift?
I hope players come away with a deeper understanding of the complexity and legitimacy of sex work. It’s not just “getting naked for cash” – it’s a job that requires emotional intelligence, strategic thinking, and the ability to build (convincingly) genuine connections. It can be energetically and emotionally demanding in ways people don’t always recognise. By placing players in the role of a dancer, I want to highlight the nuanced, very human side of the work. At its core, it’s a job, just like any other, and it deserves to be seen and respected as such.
Where would you like to take Exotic Cancer as a brand next – do you have more game designs percolating or are you looking further afield right now?
I’m still weighing up whether Nightshift should stay a standalone experience or evolve further – possibly with expansions aimed at more serious gamers, adding things like character progression or Euro-style mechanics. There’s also scope for a lighter card game in a similar universe, or even a digital version down the line. For now, I’m content to see where the community’s interest leads… whether that’s more games or something totally different.
What advice would you give to aspiring designers who are grappling with avant garde themes and topics that may not find a mainstream publisher?
First, know that you probably will face pushback, but you can use that to your advantage. There’s an audience for authentic stories, especially ones that haven’t been told before. Crowdfunding is your friend, and community support is everything. Find your people early and bring them on the journey. From a practical standpoint: playtest obsessively, understand manufacturing constraints early, and invest in good digital prototyping tools and processes (tabletop simulator). When playtesting, always take your playtesters’ experiences seriously, but treat their suggested ‘fixes’ with healthy scepticism – sometimes the best feedback is about how a game feels, not what needs to change. Above all, stay true to your message. Don’t dilute your story to make it more palatable; that’s the quickest way to lose what makes it special in the first place.