Visual Style + Feedback (2/24-2/28)
This week I’m going to take Dan Brown’s advice and feedback and attempt to use them towards my project. Additionally, I’m continuing my approach on the visual identity of the game.
Advice + Feedback
I talked with Dan Brown, a UX Designer who has a passion for games, on Friday. I learned about his approach on design projects, game design, and card games. I got to see his perspective on games. I told him about my initial concerns about trying to create a game about grief and how it’s hard to make it “fun.” But he told me that it’s okay because games are meant to be engaging and not necessarily fun. We also talked about the intersection between games and storytelling.
He told me about his concerns about a game centered around grief, where people might not want to play or share their personal stories. The beautiful thing about games is that it touches on the human condition even without people directly sharing personal feelings. What some games have done to approach this is to create a fantasy/adventure type game with roles and players touch into their own experiences to make decisions. But again, that depends on the intention of the game and as a designer, what I want to create.
There’s a game called “For the Queen” which is a storytelling based card game. I went on to do more research based on storytelling card games.
I also asked about his thoughts on color in card games. If color conveys information to players in a game, think about accessibility and if there are options (graphics, icon).
I was curious about where to get physical cards printed, so I received the link to where he personally gets playing cards professionally printed. But since it takes a while to get shipped, I really need to get the order in as fast as possible.
There was a lot of other information and advice I got from him such as which games have really good written rules and existing games that focus on the topic of grief. Overall, I did a lot of research after this conversation.
Games about Grief
Dan provided a list of games that are somewhat centered around grief, loss, emotions, and memory.
Four Ways to Die in the Future, by P. H. Lee
Heroic Measures, by Daniel Eison and Sam Zeitlin
The Watch, by Andrew Medeiros
Posthuman Pathways, by Jason Pitre
A Penny for My Thoughts, by Paul Tevis
A Hand Full of Ashes, from Codex: Flame, by David Rothfeder
James Brown’s game Death’s Door
Wraith the Oblivion
Noone lives here anymore
Island in a Sea of Solitude
Seven Wonders game “When the Dark is Gone”
A Flower for Mara
Montsegur 1244
Heaven’s Collapse
A Cool and Lonely Courage
90 Minutes by Matteo Turini
Storytelling Games
I was also inspired to look up more about storytelling games to see how those are formatted.
For the Queen
Once upon a Time
Rory’s Story Cubes
I was feeling inspired by this concept of storytelling games so I tried to ideate a bit on it. However, after attempting to plan out a story telling game around grief and loss, I couldn’t figure out what kind of story to tell. Everyone’s stories around any topic are so personalized and unique; it seems impossible to create a holistic game.
I also looked into ideating a game where maybe players don’t have to tell such personalized stories, maybe they take on roles of the different stages of grief. But even with storytelling and roles, I personally couldn’t think of a good plot that could happen in this type of game.
More Ideation
After considering all the advice and feedback from Dan, I understood where he was coming from where this topic might be a bit too personal for the game, especially since games are usually played among friends and family. Instead I think I’ll rephrase some questions so that players won’t have to tap too deeply into their personal thoughts. I think a good route to take will be around “people you miss” rather than the raw emotions of “grief.”
Ultimately, I want to create a space where people have the ability to talk more about heavier topics like grief, loss, and emotions. If user testing and feedback points to that it’s too personal to only talk about grief, I think I’m still working in the right direction.
Visual Identity
When I didn’t work on game mechanics, I worked on visual identity to both distract myself and be productive. This is what I wanted to get feedback on during the group critique.
Reflection
I’m really happy with the input I got from Dan and I learned a lot. I improved game mechanics from his advice. I didn’t get a chance to update the prompts on the card, but this week I spent a lot of time thinking and ideating.
Next Steps
Next week, I’ll update the card prompts and do some user testing. Hopefully after feedback from group critique, I can also update the visual identity and get it tightened up.