Type: Group
Project Length: 3 Months
Skills:
Tools:
What was the goal?
This was a semester-long design project, in which we were placed into a random group of 4 and had to design an 18-card wallet game of our choice.
What was the output?
For my team’s game, we decided to create a Norse mythology card game where you and an opposing player are gods, racing to rebuild Asgard after the events of Ragnarok. The deck is separated into items, gods, and pieces of the new world. Facing each other, players would take turns drawing cards and placing them between each other. The items were required to craft the pieces of the new world, but the cards had two items each on each end. This meant that when the player places down an item, the one facing them was one they had access to, while the one facing the other player was an item they now had access to.
Players had to be strategic about which items they give the other player, as it could mean they were being given an advantage. Additionally, the god cards also required items as a sacrifice in order to gain a powerful boon, after which they would deactivate and would require items to be given to them again to be reactivated. The pieces of the new world also offered their own boons, which meant that players had to be especially thoughtful and strategic when placing down item cards.
After numerous playtesting sessions of adjusting the rules and card mechanics, this was the final product we landed on. My main role in this project was doing the item art and designs, as well as writing the rulebook and creating all the required diagrams for it, designing both the rulebook and the card layouts.
Takeaways
This was my first time creating a tabletop game of this extent, as well as one of the first big team projects I’ve been a part of, and I found it to be a really big learning experience. As a team, we utilized a lot of good practices, like Kanban boards and communication, which I still carry to group projects today. I also learned a lot about tabletop game design and what makes a fun card game, especially competitive ones and ways to add more rivalry between players. Overall, this project was an extremely helpful one to take part in, and I’m really proud of our final product! Our game was so successful with the class and professor, that it was chosen to be one of the games displayed on a board in the school’s hallways.
