Rules

High School

Rules:

To Start:

1. 1. Every player needs a sheet of paper and a pencil for a “Resume” 
   2. Something to mark the players on the board
   3. Two Dice

• DO NOT LOOK AT CARDS

Game Play:

1. 1. First everyone roles to find there GPA and SAT:
      1. To role for GPA you role both dice, you begin with a baseline of 2.8 and multiply your role by 0.1 and add that to the 2.8 (a 10 would be 2.8 + 0.1×10 = 3.8)
      2. SAT has a baseline of 1000 and you multiply 50 times the dice role and add it (a 10 would be 1000 + 50×10 = 1500)
      3. You write both your GPA and SAT on your resume
   2. After certain squares on the board there are circles, you stop at these circles no matter what your role is and re-role and continue on your next turn
   3. Role to see the number of spaces you move, if you land on a square write it down on your resume and do nothing until the end of the game unless stated below

• The only squares you do anything on in game are:

1. 1. 1. SAT and GPA
      2. Fail class, Senioritis, Get In a Fight:
         1. On these squares you immediately role, if you roll doubles or an odd number you get minus 1 full GPA point if not nothing happens
      3. How many apps: You simply roll both die and whatever you get is the number of schools you applied to, write it down

• Change GPA or SAT: You can choose to re-roll for your GPA and SAT if you land on these squares, this is done the same way as before

1. 1. Get in ED: Skip to the end

End of Game:

1. 1. Flip over cards corresponding to what you landed on, if you roll even it comes true if you roll odd it does not.
      1. These cards have points that can change your GPA, Happiness, and your “Application Score” tally these up they will all affect what school you go to

• Only when everyone is done with can you finally reveal the finish card, do as it says to find out your college

Authors Note

For my fourth and final artwork, I decided to recreate one of the most stressful experiences I have been through, and one that any college student can relate to…college applications. My board game which is simply called Senior Years does its best to depict the decisions, choices, and opportunities you have while in your Senior Year. A few of the squares you can land on are definitely far fetched, such as “Cure Cancer,” but these are just to add to the intentionally dramatic and infuriating ending. The game works by giving each player a resume. Throughout the game players will add things to their resumes like their GPAs, SAT scores, and potential extracurricular activities. What all of these are is completely decided by luck, you also may land on something and not end up getting it. There are both positive and negative things that can happen, you can become valedictorian or fail a class, in theory you could do both in the same game. At the end of the game you find out your “results” by adding up the scores measured based on your decisions. The methods of scoring are GPA, SAT, and arbitrary scoring methods called “Happiness Points” and “Application Points.” Some outcomes can have both negative and positive impacts for example if you go to a party your GPA may decrease but your happiness goes up. What players do not know while playing the game is that everything is entirely pointless.

I feel very fortunate to have gotten into Northeastern. While I had good grades, a very good ACT score, and fairly impressive extracurriculars (this is not me boasting just a reference) colleges often seem to just pick whomever they want sometimes at random. Some of my best friends back home who are much more impressive than me on paper never got into the schools they wanted. This is not to say they went to bad schools, just schools that were below their academic potential. While they all love their schools now, when decisions first came out so many people were upset over unexpected results. I wanted my game to mimic this. When you come to the end you find out it was all completely random and you have a process of rolling the dice to figure out where you end up. Obviously this is satirical and not how the admissions process works, but to a high school senior getting rejected from their dream school it seems that way.

While this was an experience project I used two main pieces of appropriation in my work. The first was a pizza box. My entire game was designed to be stored in and be made on a pizza box. This I stole from Allan Kaprow and one of our first lessons in a way. I wanted to make something out of a found object to add a little bit of creativity into it. The lesson I am referring to is the outdoor lesson we did where we made scores and games out of random objects people had brought. This was an aspect I had not yet incorporated into one of my artworks, and so I did. The other thing I appropriated was The Game of Life. This was less intentional. I wanted to make a board game, I decided that when I settled on using a found object to make the board. At the time I had a loose idea about wanting to make it about college applications but could not think of how to do that. I thought about various board games that I had played, and I eventually realized that the timeline way that The Game of Life is played would be perfect to portray applying to and hearing back from colleges. The board game aspect allowed me a little bit extra artistic license with the look which was mildly scary so I kept it simple enough to wear it looked nice, but did not do too much extra in fear of messing it up. Overall I am proud of the concept and production of my final artwork.

In a world filled with superficial interactions and digital distractions, I created an avant-garde card game Quintessence which offers a refreshing opportunity for profound human connection. This innovative game combines simple mechanics with thought-provoking prompts to facilitate deep conversations and foster empathy between players.

The card game Quintessence and Yoko Ono’s Grapefruit share a focus on fostering human connection and encouraging introspection through simplicity and creativity. Both create opportunities to break free from the distractions of everyday life and engage in meaningful experiences. Quintessence uses its deck of cards to guide players toward empathy and understanding through structured conversations, while Grapefruit employs poetic instructions and art to inspire moments of reflection and imagination. Both demonstrate how even simple tools—whether cards or conceptual prompts—can spark profound connections and bring people closer to one another by encouraging vulnerability and authentic expression.

A Deck of Discovery At the heart of Quintessence lies a deck of cards divided into three types: Them Cards, You Cards, and Us Cards. Each type serves a unique purpose in guiding players towards mutual understanding.

Them Cards challenge players to step into each other’s shoes by answering questions from the other player’s perspective. This role-reversal exercise encourages active listening and empathy as players seek to understand their partner’s point of view.

You Cards inspire vulnerability and self-reflection by asking players to honestly share personal experiences and opinions. By relating to one another’s stories, players build trust and find common ground.

Us Cards spark collaborative discussions on topics that matter to both players. Working together to find a shared answer fosters a sense of unity and highlights the power of cooperation.

Simple Mechanics, Profound Insights Quintessence’s gameplay is elegantly straightforward. Players take turns drawing cards, reading questions aloud, and engaging in heartfelt conversations guided by the card type drawn. Correct answers and points of agreement are celebrated by placing cards in the shared Agreement Pile. In moments of divergence, cards are placed in each player’s respective Disagreement Pile. These piles serve as visual representations of the journey towards understanding and connection.

More Than Just a Game By delving into personal experiences, beliefs, and dreams, Quintessence creates a sacred space for authentic human interaction. It invites players to set aside their digital devices and be fully present with one another. This game has the power to strengthen bonds between friends, deepen romantic partnerships, and even build bridges between strangers. It reminds us of the transformative potential of genuine dialogue and active listening.

Playtest Notes In playtesting Quintessence, I was struck by the depth of conversation it facilitated. Players quickly moved past small talk and dove into meaningful discussions about their hopes, fears, and life experiences. Even in moments of disagreement, there was a palpable sense of respect and a desire to understand each other’s perspectives. The game’s structure created a safe space for vulnerability and encouraged players to be their authentic selves. One player remarked, “I’ve known my best friend for years, but Quintessence helped me see a whole new side of her. It brought us closer than ever before.” Another couple said, “I love how this game can be played by people who just started dating like us and people who have been dating for years.” And the third said, “Although there were something we disagreed with and maybe didn’t want to talk about yet we were able to be understanding with each other. This also helped us put in perspective where we were in our relationship and what we could do to make each other more comfortable.”

A Game for Connection in a Disconnected Age In an era where screens often serve as barriers to genuine human connection, Quintessence offers a timely reminder of the power of presence and dialogue. This avant-garde card game is more than just entertainment; it’s an invitation to connect deeply with others and rediscover the transformative potential of authentic communication. Whether you’re looking to strengthen existing relationships or forge new ones, Quintessence provides a structured yet organic way to foster understanding, empathy, and connection. It’s a game that leaves you not just with fond memories, but with a renewed appreciation for the people in your life and the stories they carry.

PLAY IT HERE ON ITCH : https://jasonkinggamedev.itch.io/heart-defense       (Password : Jason)

Playtesting Video :

All in all, I would say the playtest went well, and the user enjoyed. Many of the criticisms I list later were brought up, such as a lack of enemy variety. However, my playtester loved the central premise having gone through similar experiences themselves. I’m glad I was able to make that connection as that’s part of what I sought to do with this game in the first place.

Overview

Heart Defense, my fourth artwork, is the artwork I have the most passionate love and hate relationship with out of all the artworks I made. As per the assignment directions, I decided to make a game that emblematic of the experiences I had growing up and my view of growing up in general. I wanted to convey the added strain that growing up can provide as more and more responsibilities are accumulated. Even more than added strain, I wanted to convey the sacrifice inherent in growing up as it becomes more and more apparent that life, especially in this society (and this economy) doesn’t afford people the time to do everything they want to do. I think I have partially succeeded and partially failed in this goal, and overall been left with a final product that I am happy with, but not content with, and I will seek to expand this game further going forward (and hopefully I will be able to show off the updated version next semester).

Reflection – Cons :

The areas of improvement regarding Heart Defense mainly concern lacking features and content.

I wanted to add a feature where the player heart would bleed and lose health when shooting after a certain point. This is because the “bullets” you are shooting are meant to represent “time” (as in the time we use to do things) and so convey the difference between spending time as a youth (it feels free and infinite) and spending time as an adult (every second you spend doing something is a second you could spend doing something else and you’ll never get to everything and your going to die so chose wisely) I wanted the “time” (the bullets) to cost more, to cost so much more that it went from not hurting at all to hurting (which mirrors my shifting perspective regarding spending time as I aged). Coding this was easy, but without the visual feedback with the heart bleeding, it was hard to tell exactly what was happening, and I didn’t have time to implement that visual feedback.

The game needs more “enemies”. As the gameplay loop is incredibly simple, every step towards variety should be taken, including visual variety. Thus, the game needs more enemies that take your health and friendlies that heal you when shot.

The game needs better visual signalizing. As I want the game be symbolic of my experiences, I think a lack of dialogue helps, as this is something I feel not something I had expressly explained to me. However, I didn’t have time to implement clearer visual signaling for enemies being enemies or friendlies being friendlies. Additionally, the death screen should be an image representing my conceptualization of failure and how that changed as I aged, but I alas, as with the other visual signaling improvements, I did not have time to implement that.

The enemies and friendlies could use more interesting movement patterns. I’m glad I worked out how to add parabolic sine wave movement in addition to linear movement, but more variety would help the game (for example, teleporting enemies).

Reflection – Pros :

I believe the concept was executed well in terms of format and genre. The game has a very plain pixel art visual style, but I think the decision to forgo a background draws the eye even more to what really matters for this game, which is the heart and the enemies/friendlies coming to hurt/help it. I loved the opportunity to work on my pixel art skills more, and I believe this project both has good pixel art assets and allowed me to improve. I’m proud of the pixelated enemy explosion effect I created, as well as my decision to make the heart be beating the entire time. The phases of game as a concept has a very strong foundation, as currently the enemy spawns (in terms of enemies spawned and frequency) enemy movement patterns, and heart model all change phase to phase, paralleling aging. The added difficulty in conjunction with the amount of changed things from phase to phase I think conveys my message well, if not perfectly.

Conclusion :

Overall, this was definetly my favorite artwork to work on, and one I look forward to working on more in future.

Trigger Warning : Mentions of Sexual Assault (SA), the SA of Minors, and Child Sexual Material

Artwork Idea & Description :

For my intervention artwork, the industry/issue I wanted to intervene in was the manga industry in Japan. This presented many challenges I would have to try to overcome, but I chose this topic because it’s one I genuinely care about and would love to be able to better. In Japan, the manga industry is almost comically awful, and an excellent example of the evil that can be perpetuated when the only thing being considered is money. Japanese mangaka (manga artists) work absolutely brutal hours well in excess of 100 hours a week, demolishing their health in service of their art and their company. Sometimes, these same mangaka commit crimes ranging from the SA to having terabytes of child sexual abuse material. While of course it’s not all of them, there are a handful of high profile cases just with Shonen Jump, and every time as soon as the convicted predators serve their sentence, they are welcomed back with open arms, an especially worrying standard considering the magazine is expressly (at least in part) targeted at children.

With this issue plaguing an industry I love, I was inspired by the MyCelia Barbie done by the Yes Men. I liked the format and the humor it allowed for as well as how directly and explicitly it pointed towards an actionable plausible solution. Instead of suggesting that Mattel go green via mushroom barbies, I wanted to suggest that Shueisha (the largest manga publishing company) start caring about it’s employees and taking measures to both limit the suffering they endure and the suffering they inflict.

Artwork Execution & Challenges :

I created a fake Shueisha Website with a satirical company announcement describing how they were going to start caring abut their employees. I leaned heavily into the satire in an attempt to heed the advice of my peers and professor and protect myself from any potential legal trouble. I made the site with WordPress, and below you can see a comparison of the sites.

Fake Website I Made: https://shueishacom.wordpress.com/?_gl=1%2A1ho68ra%2A_gcl_au%2AMTk2NTIyOTkxNi4xNzMzMjYyNjM4

Real Shuiesha Website : https://www.shueisha.co.jp/en/

The first image at the top of my post is a sliding gallery of Shueisha manga double page color spreads. This is distinct from the real Shueisha website, which has a bunch of images filling the whole screen horizontally and also sliding right to left. WordPress did not have the ability to recreate this feature, so I did the best I could. Besides that, thankfully, the official Shueisha website is very barebones which made parts of it easy to copy. The top of my fake website should say “Shueisha” but that’s a premium feature I have to pay for. Beyond the technical limitations of the software I was using, I think I did a good job of copying the basic elements of the Shueisha websites, and with more time (and maybe a WordPress Subscription) I think I could make it look identical.

For the actual content of the article, I tried to be both highly satirical (to make it somewhat clear this wasn’t real) and still bring up real issues and real stats with those issues (with how long mangaka are overworked for example). I did this to, just as the Yes Men, make it clear the problem is real and affecting people, and that the solution is needed, possible, but distinctly fake highlighting how the company is willfully just not doing it.

To spread the article, I ran into some issues. I don’t speak Japanese, but I could translate the entire article fairly easily. However, I would have no way of telling how off or fake the translation would sound, and it might hurt the meaning of what I wrote. In terms of location, I was also unsure, as I needed some way to spread this fake message but don’t have many distribution channels. I decided to post the article to reddit, but unfortunately, the one SubReddit with the largest amount of people that would be interested in my message (r/manga) doesn’t have a meme or shitpost or some other “not serious” flair to make it clear that this isn’t real. Additionally, despite my site having text on it, when I link it in reddit, it’s blank for some reason. Nevertheless, that’s where I posted it, and I hope at the very least a few people end up reading it and find it funny and “real” (speaking to a real issue) and it doesn’t get taken down.

Reddit Post :

Artwork Reflection :

I really liked my idea for this post, but I recognize the issues that arose with execution. Creating a website proved more difficult than I thought as my progress and vision for what the website was supposed to look like was stymied by the limitations of the software I was using, both technical (some features where just not available) and monetary (some where paywalled). If I had to do this again, I *might* choose WordPress again, but this time make extensive use of CSS to code the specific more complex parts of the website I wanted. That way, the site would look much much closer to how the real website looks.

Additionally, I recognize my distribution could have improved. If I had to repeat this, I would make a new reddit account, be active in various larger and smaller manga subreddits for at least a month, then contact the moderators and let them know what I am trying to do. With moderator approval, I could make the post, ensure it wouldn’t, get taken down, and raise more awareness/engagement. In terms of reaching out to more Japanese people, I would try to find a more reliable way to translate what I wrote (either a better service or try to find someone that speaks Japanese) and also more extensively research Japanese internet culture so I could essentially find the Japanese version of reddit and post it there for more engagement and more raised awareness.

Official Rules:

1. Use WASD to move
2. Reach the Bed

Game Link:
https://play.unity.com/en/games/2faa68b0-3fc1-4e80-83a1-345bd5f64cd0/time-game

Description:

The game I made was a 2D puzzle game where the player tries to grab key items (Food, toothbrush) and avoid distractions(phone, friends, TVs) in order to head to bed on time.

Playtest #1:

In the early phases of the game there was only a friend and a phone as well as the bed. Because of these limiting options, there was only one level but it worked well enough as a proof of concept.

After this playtest there was a request from the playtesters for more variety of distractions and key items.

Playtest #2:

During this time there were 3 levels of varying difficulty, including key items and an added TV distraction. Player feedback was there should be a few more components as well as more challenging levels

Summary:

I initially wanted to make an art game commentary on easily it is to ruin your sleep by seemingly harmless distractions. My initial idea was a time game based around a sort of clock system. The clock would increase after each action you do and depending on the action you take it might consume more or less time.

I diverted from this idea because although it was an interesting concept, im not the biggest fan of text games and much prefer puzzle games. That is when i was inspired by a classmate’s 2D puzzle game that used direction inputs to change the puzzle. Through this inspiration, I decided to make my own 2D puzzle game and I created a (kind of) turn-based grid system puzzle game.

Game Title: The Universe Unfolded

The Initial Inspirations

The game I was mainly inspired by is the Table Top Roleplaying RPG “Dialect: A Game About Language and How it Dies”. Although the book for how to play it is fairly thick, the game boils down to a series of prompts to get players to craft a story and a community together.

From Sharp’s “Works of Game”, I have learnt the importance of noticing ludic affordance offered by the medium and the mechanics of the game. The game very tactfully makes use of the idea of languages as a way to prompt people into crafting their story and community. While narratives are not necessarily crafted by words, the idea of conveying intent and generating meaning is fundamental to languages, and which is what Dialect takes advantage of to allow players to craft interesting narrative that they otherwise wouldn’t have.

Is Dialect merely a game about crafting stories? Or does the mechanics of the game lend itself to deeper concepts that prod players into seeing the world in a new way? In “Works of Game”, one point of view discussed was that the a game’s mechanics are not just about what the player does, but also what it means. Unlike any other mediums, games are interactive. How designers design experiences when games are inherently unpredictable? How could designers make the game mechanics mean something when players could do so many things, and come from all walks of life? For instance, in the experimental game “The Marriage”, until it was given a title at a later time (because people were confused about what it meant), the game mechanics had little meaning. But once the title was given, the game mechanics revealed a deeper concept via a simple system.

But in Dialect, this is not a dilemma, but is exactly what powers the game. Dialect embraces the idea that players can come from all walks of life and can assign whatever meaning they want. While the main mechanic of Dialect is to create new words and to tell stories based on them, the consequence of the mechanic is that players are given a platform and a guide in which they can practice expressing themselves in ways they wouldn’t have thought of. This is a view point shared by Jonathan Blow. In “Works of Game”, it is said that he did not spend most of his energy arguing whether games are art, but rather, allow his games to be a platform in which players experience the mechanics of the game first-hand, and figure out for themselves the consequences of the mechanics.

I wanted a game that also took advantage of the power of languages to keep players a platform and a guide as to how they can express themselves in new and interesting ways. I started by removing everything about Dialect except that bit, and replaced the idea of generating new words with folding pieces of paper.

The main reason for paper folding is that I personally enjoy folding paper, and I find that similar to languages, paper has a lot of ludic affordances and is fundamental to communities and civilisations. It is a resource that most people have on hand, yet so versatile. Although it is thin and flat, there is still so much you can do with it.

Original Version

The original version of the game was run with pieces of paper from my lined notebook, as well as the following prompts:

Setup

1. Have a pile of pieces of paper on the side which players can use to fold. The more pieces of paper in the pile, the longer the game will last, and the more content the stories will have.

The Beginning

1. Each player should fold a piece of paper into something, and bring it to the center.

2. As a group, the players must come up with a story as to how their community begins, and how the 5 folded things play a role.

The Change

1. Players can continue the game by either taking a new piece of paper and folding it into a new thing, or they can re-fold an existing folded thing.

2. If a new addition, come up with a story on the new addition. If re-folding, come up with a story on how and why it was changed, and the consequences it has on the communit.

Termination

When players feel like the ending the game, or when the stories feel like they are leading to their conclusion, it is time for the stories on how the game ends.

1. Each folded thing must be folded into something new, or torn into pieces. For each thing, explain why and how the folded thing changed, or why it was torn into pieces, and the consequences it has on the community.

Final Version

The game was play-tested again with index cards and then construction cards, as well as the following new prompts.

The Setup

Have a pile of pieces of paper on the side which players can use to fold. The more pieces of paper in the pile, the longer the game will last, and the more content the stories will have.

The Beginning

As players of this game, you all will tell the story of a community in a world shared between you all. The nature of this world is up for you to decide. Is it on an alient planet? An ancient civilisation? A coffee shop in the city?

Every community has a beginning. Tell the story of the beginning of your community by folding a piece of paper into something. Once done, place it at the center and wait for the rest to finish.

When everyone is finished, each person shall explain how their folded piece relates to the beginning of your community. Every player should link their story to the existing ones.

Etiquette: Each speaks on behalf of everyone. Say “we”.

The Change

Every community changes over time. Each player shall either fold a new piece of paper if there are any left, or re-fold an existing one.

If a player folds a new piece of paper, they must explain what the new addition means to the community.

If a player re-folds an existing one, they must explain what the folded piece was before, what the new folded piece is, and what does the change signify.

Players can repeat this phase of the game as many times as they like, but eventually, all communities reach The End.

The End

All communities eventually end, but the world will live on.

Each player should take an existing folded piece, and either fold it into something entirely new, or tear it into pieces.

If a player decides to re-fold a piece, they must explain what the folded piece was before, what the new folded piece is, and what does the change signify.

If a player decides to tear a piece, they must explain what the folded piece was before, and what the tearing signifies.

Conclusion

In the three times that the game was ran, every story that was crafted was different. However, people who played the game multiple times tend to fold the same things. For example, one person folded a boat twice.

While I think construction paper feels the best for folding, I also find that every paper type had its own pros and cons:

• The lined paper from my notebook was used the most creatively by the players. Players did all sorts of things with it, including tearing it into pieces, poking holes to put a stick in them.
• The index card paper was used to create sci-fi folded pieces, and structures that could stand.
• The construction paper had the most personality, because of the colours, but I felt reservations from the players to fold whatever they wanted. Granted, the playtest with the construction paper had a crowd watching, which may have influenced how people would have normally behaved.

It is evident that different paper qualities have different ludic affordances, and hence different outcomes. I hypothesize that for games with more players with less folding experience, there should be more lined paper, so that players don’t feel that they are messing with something precious. However, for players with more folding experience, construction paper would be good as it gives them the best flexibility in what they could fold.

As for whether the game achieved its goal of being a medium for players to come together to craft stories and meaningful experiences together, I think it did, but I also think that there is room for improvement. A variant of the game could exist with instructions on folding techniques, so that players can “expand their vocabulary” to make more interesting folded pieces and hence more interesting stories.

Pictures

Playtest #1: Lined paper from my notebook

Playtest #2: Index cards

Playtest #3: Construction paper

By Ruby Harkness

Link for all rules and directions:

SproutDocumentation

Artist’s Statement: 

Sprout is a card game that comments on environmental awareness and helping others. The game starts as collaborative, but eventually forces players to be selfish, which I thought was a really interesting progression. The main goal of Sprout is to grow your plant faster than everyone else, but if one person’s plant “dies” or reaches 0 growth points, everyone loses. 

The idea of growing a plant was a core value of Sprout from the start, however, the mechanics switched up a lot through the design process. Originally the game was designed to have 4 different cards with different abilities, but for simplicity, the final version only has 2 different card types. The game also originally was more of a luck based game, but after talking with others in the class it seemed like a strategy based game would be more fun. The first play test included the two card types and the plant models, which are the same as the final version. However, after the first play test, I realized that the game was too hard. Multiple people were out too fast causing everyone to lose the game in around 3 rounds. We tweaked this by creating a “pass go” system where every time a round ends, every player adds one growth to their plant. This seemed to help the game flow a lot better and on the next play test the game went on for a long time. Cards were also shuffled to disperse different events more evenly. 

Sprout’s commentary on environmental awareness was intended, but after we were talking about how Sprout also acts as a commentary on socialism. The beginning of the game forces players to share their winnings to help keep everyone alive. Sharing resources was a big part of the early game. People were forced to be willing to give to each other. Late game is when people got competitive because nobody’s sprout was close to dying. It was super interesting to see people go from sharing and being very willing to give up resources to wanting to keep everything they had to themselves to get ahead of other players. The start of the game was very collaborative, but the collaboration eventually fell apart when people realized they were not forced to keep others alive anymore. 

I think Sprout gets a lot of inspiration from indie farming games like Stardew Valley, a game based around the idea of the player “taking care” of something. I think the tactile element of Sprout can be compared to a game like Battleship. Both use a very clear visual and tactile way of keeping score. The scorekeeping models were also fully inspired by the model in “Grow: The Organic Building Game” which we talked about in class. As an art game, I think Sprout could connect to the DADA movement, providing an interesting commentary on environmental issues.

Images: