Our Team

JAMES NAYLOR - CEO & Game Designer

James has always loved games that ooze with evocative themes and stories while also stretching his brain. He can still vividly remember opening Monopoly, Kingmaker and Warhammer boxes as a child, giddily excited to become filthy rich, rewrite British history or rule the entire galaxy in the name of the Chaos Gods. But as he got older, James found those games no longer quite delivered on the promises their boxes made. Thinking about how he could change this planted the seed in his mind that became Naylor Games!

Before founding the company, James ran the engineering & product departments of a multi-national online advertising firm. At Naylor Games he uses his extensive product management experience to craft great games that delight their players and, he hopes, be treasured forever. His knowledge of systems and process allows him to make sure the massive amount of other work that goes to brining games to market is managed effectively and efficiently. 

JAYA BALDWIN - Lead Game Developer & Game Designer

You could probably tell Jaya was going to be a game designer when, age 10, he used hand drawn grid maps, some dice and his entire trading card collection to create a full-scale tabletop version of Pokemon Blue. These days, Jaya loves finding depth and opportunities for mastery in games, particularly in co-operative adventure games and tight ,competitive duelling games. (Though he’ll still eagerly play anything that gives him an excuse to do a funny voice!)

 Jaya's primary role at Naylor Games is to refine and draw out the full potential of our ideas. He uses his background in theatre to really delve into what a gameplay experience feels like for a player and lets that guide the changes and refinements we make next.

DINA RAMSE - Marketing Manager

In her teens, Dina was a massive fan of TTRPGs. But, like when any first love comes to an end, she discovered her true passion: board games. This coincided nicely with her becoming a mom and no longer having the time for the usual 8+ hour RPG sessions. Dina set out in the world to become a librarian but instead ended up creating her library at home, one filled with games.

Dina has turned her hands to a huge range of gaming industry roles. An expert in social media and marketing as well as running demos, editing rulebooks, planning conventions and much, much more. Jumping into games with both feet, she started her marketing company: DinaSaidSoStudio to help game designers and publishers with all the things involved in connecting games to their audience.

At Naylor Games she keeps the pipeline of social media content coming, supports a wide array of marketing activities and acts as an advisor on driving engagement.

LIAM KIRKMAN - Project Coordinator & Developer

Liam’s first foray into was games via Warhammer. From there he started dabbling in lighter gateways before moving quickly to deep (and complex) space with Twilight Imperium and Eclipse.

Liam started his tabletop career as Community Manager for Hawk Wargames and hasn’t stopped moving since! He subsequently became Art Director and Lead Developer at East Street Games (Where he has joined us from!) while also working at the Ludoquist board game cafe. Here he discovered what are now his favourite games: medium-heavy euros of the tableau, deck or bag building variety (bonus points if he can place workers too).

 At Naylor Games, Liam takes the lead running conventions and also heads up various projects. The project he’s most proud of in his time working with us is designing the 3d models that are now the buildings in Magnate!

LOUIS DOWNS - Advisor

Louis has been playing games with his family since an early age. At school he discovered wargames and CCGs and from there his passion for games only grew - extending further into models and scenery. With his keen interest in design, Louis has always been fascinated not only by making models but understanding how they are moulded and constructed.

In 2012, after a number of years running other businesses, Louis moved into a wargames publishing company: his first professional experience in tabletop. In 2016 he took over the reins of a long established manufacturing business. There he takes great pleasure and pride in making very high quality items for a wide range of clients in the arts and hobby sectors.

Louis uses his considerable expertise and experience across print, graphic design and manufacturing to advise Naylor Games on the unique physical production and logistical issues that boardgames face.