Game Design Showcase: 29 November 2021
Join us for our live-streamed Game Design Showcase on Monday 29th of November 2021, from 12:30 - 2:20pm
On Monday 29th of November 2021, students from my Foundations of Game Design course (IAT 312) will showcase their final game design projects where they were tasked to design a (digital) boardgame that is not only fun to play (addresssing what Lazzaro calls “People Fun”), but also “transformative” or “purposeful” (aka “Transformative Fun”, what Lazzaro refers to as fostering altered states): That is, apart from being fun to play, the game should also be meaningful/purposeful or add value by somehow transforming the user, e.g., by providing a novel/meaningful user experience, different perspectives/viewpoints, altered states etc. To this end, students reflected on topics that they care deeply about that could help create a better world, and are worth designing a purposeful game out of it.
How to participate?
To participate in our showcase, join us at 12:30 pm Pacific Time using this Zoom link
Schedule: [draft]
12:35–12:40: Introductions from Instructor and TA, overview of the course and the projects in the showcase.
12:40 — 14:20: Game Showcase & team interviews: Each team will be showcased for about 12min (10-15min), starting with the short project video pitch/trailer of their game (using zoom screen sharing), followed by Bernhard interviewing team members and TA screensharing live gameplay footage (if all goes well with the technology…).
14:20: Closing: Final Q&A, audience questions, closing
If you missed the showcase, you can watch the recording below (unfortunately the video only includes the slide view — somehow the room camera didn’t get recorded neither locally nor on zoom, sorry… ):
Want to try out Games from prior classes?
type “IAT312” into the search field on the Tabletop Simulator site on Steam or through this direct link
Project posters
Details about the Game Projects:
Addiction: Overcome or Succumb
Overcome Addiction, Live a Better Life
Razor: Substance abuse is a pitfall that many fall into, and not many can get out of. Overcome the addiction while ensuring survival throughout the game. Can you be the help of others and yourself?
Our game is a turn-based, collaborative board game in which players cooperate with each other to overcome the struggles of drug addiction within a certain period of time. Players are set in a town with a fictional character that is in a difficult situation. It will not be a walk in the park so work together and find new ways to recover from drug addiction.
1 minute game trailer:
project video:
Veiled memoir
Find your way, find yourself
Razor: Embark on a spiritual adventure in the mental world of an Alzheimer’s patient, work with your teammates, collect resources, overcome challenges and find back your forgotten memories.
Veiled memoir is a cooperative-adventure game in which each player will take on a basic ability (physical or mental) to explore the map that symbolizes the mental world of an Alzheimer’s patient named Racheal, where players need to collect supplies and ultimately help Racheal retrieve forgotten memories. The player’s main goal is to find certain items hidden throughout the map, which contain Recheal’s memory fragment, to unlock four important forgotten memories. However, during the game, players will encounter various challenges representing Alzheimer’s symptoms, such as monsters caused by hallucinations, and disorientation caused by memory incoherence, etc. Players need to cooperate with each other to overcome challenges in order to win the game.
1 minute game trailer:
project video:
Re-Educate
Don't let your identity wash away
Razor: You must save the mind and memories of someone who is going through conversion therapy.
You and the other players are each given an emotion that you will play inside the mind of an individual who is going through conversion therapy. You must save their mind and memories from being brainwashed or they will forever lose their sense of self.
The mind is made up of tiles that as the game progresses will slowly be lost to being brainwashed and as the tiles are lost so are precious memories so it is everyone’s job to work together to save this person.
1 minute game trailer:
project video:
Climatic Crisis
Manage your Worth, Together go Forth, Save the Earth
Razor: Ensure the main enemy (Climate Change) is threatening enough to make players want to cooperate to take it down while ensuring that there are enough incentives to tempt them to sometimes act in their own interests as well.
‘Climatic Crisis’ is a cooperative-strategic game in which players will have to manage their own assets and make decisions in conjunction with other player’s actions to prevent the Earth from perishing due to climate change while trying to defeat a common enemy. Each player will represent an industry or corporation (energy utility company) on Earth, and their choices will impact the Earth’s well-being, which is calculated in the form of green tiles on the board. The Earth’s land and the player’s own land serves as a global health point for all the players, so they will have to manage and make decisions wisely based upon each other’s actions to prevent climate change or else they will lose the game.
1 minute game trailer:
project video:
Don't Carry The Weight
"It’s okay to be stressed, but we can't expect to carry it alone either. Let's share the load and reach the end together!"
Razor: ‘Don’t Carry The Weight’ is a cooperative game where players work together to cope with different stresses in life. 
Every player embodies a character susceptible to stress. Players team up to help each other navigate through the stressed filled rooms and find a way out of the clouds of stress. With the help of encountering positive events, players can maintain their mental health and find inner peace.
1 minute game trailer:
project video:
Once I heard someone got rich by NFT
You wouldn’t buy the receipt to a JPG and sell it to others for insane amounts of money at the cost of the planet, would you?
Razor: Buy and sell NFTs, cause natural disasters, make profit in a way that doesn’t make sense. 
“Once I heard someone got rich by NFT” is a simulation game in which four players compete against each other to become the richest through buying and selling NFTs. Each player roleplays as a person who recently began investing in NFTs. Players move around the board and encounter opportunities to buy or sell NFT at fluctuating prices, events that alter the market, or surprise living expenses. While players are trying to maximize profits from dealing with NFTs, they must also be cautious of the negative environmental impact they are contributing to. Every transaction consumes an increasingly large amount of electricity. If the players exceed the electric grid capacity, major determinants for the players will occur.
1 minute game trailer:
project video:
