A downloadable assignment

Judge a Game By Its Box Art

Prompt: You bought a game from an indie board game store solely based on its unique box art. What was the game in that box?

Your Team is Designing

  • A competitive 4-player board game based on a system 
    • no “roll-and-move” races to the finish
  • Players cannot get “knocked out” before the game ends
  • Play time is a maximum of 30 minutes

"Publishing" Your Game

  • Entire game must be “published” in a box
  • Nicely printed, thorough instructions (can be played without help)
  • Nothing should appear handwritten
    • If you need to draw on the board, use ink or paint or colored pencils
    • Hand-drawn art should be scanned and printed (to keep it from smudging)
  • Every piece needed should be in the box and handed to Dr. S
    • If players need to keep track of something, provide them note sheets and pencils
    • If players need dice, put them in the box
  • The cover of your box should doesn't need to be exactly the Famicase Art you picked but it should evoke that artwork. The game's name should remain the same (or an equivalent English translation)

Other Expectations

  • Design for transparency
  • Pay attention to the grammar of your rules and objects
  • Ensure spatial relationships matter on the board
  • As always: make decisions meaningful and consider balance
    • Make use of pre-luck
  • Everybody’s effort must be equitable and visible
  • You will have specific milestones assigned along the way

All Team Members Are Responsible For

  • Contributing game design suggestions
  • Communicating outside of class
  • Knowing how the game is played
  • Ensuring one another's success

You Need One or Two Team Members Assigned to these Roles

(1) Documenting design sessions, playtests; reporting to Dr. S
(1) Ensure instructions are precise and ironclad
(2) Specifying and elaborating core game rules
(1) Balancing game systems
(2) Crafting materials (art, boards, cards, pieces)
(1) Formalizing the setting and premise through narrative

Due dates are listed on the class schedule and milestone deliverables will either be through Microsoft Forms or Assignment dropboxes on Teams

More information