Type: Group
Project Length: 4 Days
Skills:
Tools:
What was the goal?
This game was created for the Sheridan Fall 2025 Design Week! I was placed in a random group of 6 people, and we were tasked to create an analogue version of a chosen game from a set of options. As a group, we ended up with A Short Hike by Adam Robinson-Yu.
What was the output?
We decided that our analogue version of this game would be a board game! After we all played through the game, we were drawn to one aspect where another character would challenge you to a race. That, combined with the goal of the game being to reach the top of the mountain, gave us the idea of a two-player game where each player was trying to reach the peak of the mountain first.
The players would either play as the game’s main character, or as the character who challenges them to a race. We ended up with a board game design that had hexagonal tiles, allowing players to move between spaces freely given their limited range. The tiles either had items, coins, quests, or Feathers. The Feathers were based on the Golden Feathers present in the digital game, allowing the same upgrade of being able to traverse to higher areas of the map. We had our map divided into different height sections, with specific Feather requirements in order to reach them.
The quests were also directly tied to already present quests in the digital version, which rewarded the player with coins or items that allowed them to eventually unlock more Feathers. By the end of the game, one player would have unlocked enough Feathers to reach the summit first! In order to communicate all this to the player, I helped consolidate all the information into an easy to read rulebook. I was also responsible for designing the quest cards and board tiles.
Takeaways
This was my first time making a proper board game, and I enjoyed it much more than I thought! The challenge of translating an already existing game into a physical one was really interesting as well, and it was nice to see players catch on to all the tie-ins to the original game. As with all design week projects, this also helped me further enhance my team work soft skills, and this was one of the best group dynamics I can say that I’ve had! By the end of the week, I think we had a really solid showcase display.
