Game Art and Design PBM
My Work Showcase for Game Art and Design I
(so far)
Table of Contents
Introductory Paragraph
We were tasked with creating a professional looking, playable board game over the course of one month. At the start of this project everything seemed really easy, like we would easily be able to complete everything in time. This was not the case. As you may be able to infer based on the examples farther down on the page, I put my all into this project and it took a very long time to complete. In all my time in this course I had never had to think about explaining mechanics to players, giving them all the resources they need to win, and making sure everything was appropriate for my for specific audience. it was quite the challenge but I am very happy with how the finished product turned out.
​
As you continue down this page you will follow my design process and have the opportunity to critique my work. I hope you enjoy reading about my game, of Light and Shadow, and have a lovely day.
Game Documentation & Portfolio
The Process Behind:
of Light and Shadow
The Game Of Light and Shadow was originally intended to be an adventure videogame. The development of this board game served as a prototype for the video game. In the videogame, you would play as a hero, single-player, on a journey to defeat your greatest rival by traversing many dangerous landscapes. I was set on keeping the combat, boss battle, and quest mechanics of the game with as few modifications as possible. I achieved this by having the players, now up to four people in one game, navigate from space to space around a board where they would have to gain items and fight monsters. Not many board games attempt battle sequences, so I'm already content with the uniqueness of the gameplay.
​
The age range for of Light and Shadow is twelve and up. This seems the most fitting because the mechanics might be hard for a child to understand and while there are no moments of graphic violence, there is implied violence during combat. Up to four players can participate at once, otherwise, the game would go on for too long and there might be a shortage of resources for all the players. This could be changed in a future rendition of the game but for now, it seems like a good idea to keep things as simple as possible.
Game Design Document:
Game Instructions and Procedures:
Board Game and Packaging
Visualizing Components
The preproduction process for this game was quite a bit more extensive than it has been for other projects. There was a particularly strong focus on making aesthetic choices. We were tasked with sketching out characters and ideas that got progressively more detailed. By the time we reached the prototyping stage, it was easy to make decisions about what everything should look like. Using programs like Adobe Photoshop and Adobe Illustrator, we were able to create graphics that will be used in our physical game.
​
We have yet to discuss the price of manufacturing the game if it were to get published. For now, it costs next to nothing because the box is being reused from something else and all the other components are being printed out on plain legal sized paper.
Cost Analysis
We never fully discussed costs of manufacturing the game if it were to be fully released but here is my best estimate assuming I already have access to materials like glue, scissors, paperclips, and a printer:
​
- paper for the cards runs at about $15.00 per 50 sheets, it took around 20 pages to print all the cards so it should cost around $6.00 to print the cards for one game.
​
- If I were to get the cardboard material I was hoping for for the board it would run around $1.00 per board but they are sold in packs of 25
​
- Dice run at around $6 dollars for a pack of 36 which means that the die needed for each game would total at $0.16
​
- The rules and procedures pages can be pulled up online through a QR code to save money and conserve paper. This also allows players to all have their own copy of the rules on hand in case questions arise.
​
- Boxes cost around $0.98 per box to be designed and printed
​
This means producing each game would cost around: $9.14
​
In-Game Art:
Credit must be given to a great many artists on Pixabay for a number of assets used in the card and game board designs.
Development Plan and Copyright Form:
Oral Presentation
The presentation was not filmed but you can find the slideshow below:
In Conclusion
This project was a lot of work and it pushed me outside my comfort zone. Designing a playable game with complicated mechanics and physical components is a challenge beyond what I imagined it could be. In total it took me fourteen hours to put all the physical parts together and even then, my game was barely playable because I forgot a tiny detail in the procedures.
​
As challenging and aggravating as this project may have been, I'm really happy with my final project. It wasn't perfect but I learned a lot while making it and I intend use what I learned in here in projects later. I'm looking forward to jumping back into Unity but I'm glad I worked as hard as I did on this project.