Author: Sara_Estus

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Sara Estus – Game setup (prototype 1)

Academic Integrity:

  • Set up: 400 Art Cards, 100 topic cards, 20 of each topic including, plants, animals, people, food, and objects. Card Key (it tells you if the cards are AI or not)
  • Players will set up by passing out 5 topic cards, and 5 art cards, then place both piles facedown in the middle of the playing space.
  • Objectives: One player, following a counterclockwise play, will choose one topic card for players to fulfill, matching the topic, The cards will specifically say something like “I am looking for something to eat for dinner, can you give me options?” and players are tasked with fulfilling the task by placing a card with food illustrated on it. However, these cards can be either AI-generated or created by a real artist via photography or drawing, it is the player who chooses the topic’s job to pick a card that they believe is not AI-generated. The goal to win is to have the most topic cards filled with non-AI-created illustrations, the player with the most non-AI-created cards wins (probably a max of 15 cards)
  • Actions: In the first round, players will be given 10 cards, the oldest player goes first, followed by a counterclockwise play after their turn. The player going first will choose a topic card from their pile, they can choose a new topic card, but they must discard an art card to do so. After picking a topic card, they will read it aloud and place it in the middle of the play area, then every other player is meant to best fulfill the topic ex “I am looking for something to eat for dinner, can you give me options?” the players will attempt to choose ONE card that fits this topic, thinking about if the art on the card is AI, or not. There can be a chance that no card fulfills the topic, so they can draw a new card, but must discard a topic card. After each player places their art card, FACE DOWN, the player who chose the topic will look at all the cards and choose which card they like the most or believe to not be AI.
  • Ending the game: Once at least one player gets 15 cards that fulfill their topics, each player will spread out their cards and one player will get a key that will tell the players if their cards were AI or not. The player with the most non-AI cards wins.

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Sara Estus – 5 Games, one theme: ART

Game Theme: Art

Academic Integrity: This game is inspired by a thread of comments between Amber and me on last week’s game ideas, for this game, players are given a handful of 5 cards that have a multitude of different topics illustrated on them, such as animals, food, people, plants, and objects.  One player, following a counterclockwise play, will choose one topic card for players to fulfill, matching the topics mentioned before. The cards will specifically say something like “I am looking for something to eat for dinner, can you give me options?” and players are tasked with fulfilling the task by placing a card with food illustrated on it. However, these cards can be either AI-generated or created by a real artist via photography or drawing, it is the player who chooses the topic’s job to pick a card that they believe is not AI-generated. The goal to win is to have the most topic cards filled with non-AI-created illustrations.

Art School (Bringing this back from week 3) is a card game where players must collaborate to create a piece of art that fulfills a specific category. However, the difficult part is that only one player knows the category, for example, “Mythical Beast” and the player who knows the category can only give one-word hints. The drawing must be done in a quick passing style, with the player who knows the category only getting 10 seconds to draw, as the round progresses, each player gets 10 more seconds added until 3 minutes is up. After the time is up, players must write on a separate paper what they think the category was, and the closet gets a point. **Further explanation: As this is a super quick game, I think changing it up a little and implementing a level to the categories, like some that are very specific, like “Snail” or “Pancake Stack” would be fun to make it have more playability for those who aren’t confident in drawing, but it would be cool for it to also have a different point value when compared to broader categories.

“Art Noted” a scavenger game (Bringing this back from week 1) Students are given a small photo of a close-up image taken of an art piece on campus, they are given one hint on its location in the style of a riddle and then they must try to find the piece based on knowledge of the area and the riddle.  Students can work in teams for time’s sake. If they find the piece, they win a point. The first to get 5 points wins! **This is meant to drive students to become more aware of campus art** I received the AMC Experience Design scholarship, and this goes similarly with my plan for the scholarship, so I want to note that there are hundreds of pieces of public art on campus! Including the rules stated above, along with the understanding of the vast variety of art, I think sticking to only faculty and student-made art would be a priority, and creating cards that show more information on the art would encourage more awareness of the art on campus!

“I promise we are artists” is a Pictionary game, but we suck at drawing! (Bringing this back from week 1) One student is given a card with an object, animal, or thing and is tasked with drawing it on a piece of paper without lifting the pencil, and they can’t look when they are drawing it. They have 30 seconds to complete their new portfolio-worthy masterpiece, and the other players must guess what the thing is without hints. **I want to add an even more fun factor to it, and it’s that we must critique in front of the class when we present the art, I think having students also re-drawing the piece with needed time to compare would be super fun as well

Gallery Guess Who: A twist on the classic “Guess Who” game, players will ask questions to figure out the artist or artwork. Include facts about styles, including a list to assist players (with examples) periods with a timeline, and techniques used by the artist. It may be easier for artistic students but can be playable for anyone as it will include as much information reasonably way, while still including the style of the original Guess Who.

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Sara Estus – Takenoko Review

  1. Was it fun?  Yes, I felt like the game was entertaining and enjoyable! I have a soft spot for playing plant-based games, and the unique pieces and art made the experience more enjoyable! The game included an adorable comic about the story behind the characters in the game (A panda and a bamboo farmer) so the added lore to the game was a nice touch.
  2. What were the players’ interactions? Like most games, diving into a game with quite a few pieces and a very specific rule and guideline book is always a little intimidating, but I’m super biased at this point and will always agree that Amber does a fantastic job of explaining the rules and assuring the game is played. Although there was one rule, we didn’t realize was incorrect until the game was a fair way through irrigation channels, we eventually agreed to play the game (still incorrect) but as we were before.  The most difficult part of the game was completing the tasks we needed to get points, but it was super fun once we got the hang of taking turns and fulfilling task cards.
  3. How long did it take to learn? I would say about 10-15 minutes, Amber was super concise with the rules, so questions were asked, and as far as the basic understanding we started the game quickly, learning a bit on the way and getting the hang of it by the mid-game.
  4. Would you play it again? Absolutely, this game is so so fun and cute and I was actually trying to find it over the weekend to buy it!
  5. Analyze the game using the 3-act structure: Act 1: Establishing the game, the pieces, and the idea of task cards. This beginning was not as rough as some beginnings of games can be that I have experienced. It was all about placing tiles and getting tasks at this point. Act 2: At this point, we all started to focus on completing tasks, the difficult part is deciding which task to do, as some are more complicated than others. Act 3: This is where it was sort of obvious who was winning and who was behind. I had focused a lot of time on one task, which I believe was my downfall. Collin ended up winning with lots of points, as he focused on getting as many tasks as possible completed.
  6. What are the collaborative and or competitive aspects of the game? The game is highly competitive, with players trying to get the most points from task cards, but it is also collaborative in a way, as certain moves you can do, such as placing tiles, or choosing where to move the panda can help other complete their tasks, on purpose or not!
  7. What is the game’s metaphor, and which mechanics stand out? In researching the meaning of Takenoko, which means “Bamboo child” – referring to the strong bamboo sprout that can grow 1.5 inches in an hour. Takenoko is about growing and spreading regardless of barriers that might attempt to prevent one’s growth. Throughout the gameplay, we never ran out of bamboo, even though we removed a lot of it from the board by “eating it” as the panda. I think the mechanic of never losing a feature of the game, no matter how much is going on, really brings not only the metaphor to life but also an aspect of never being done with the game.
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Sara Estus – Pandemic Game Review

Was it fun?

I do think Pandemic was fun, although the aspect of reading a lot of rules and conditions in a game is often pretty daunting, it was interesting to see the different aspects of how we can win and lose in the game. I think what would make it more fun would be to win the game

What were the players’ interactions?

We spent a lot of time trying to plan out our moves before we decided to follow through with them. Collin made a lot of good choices throughout leading the team, but I think our flaw was just not fulfilled playing the game with confidence

Would you play it again?

Yes, though the irony of the Covid Pandemic was a little goofy, it is an interesting game to play and collaborate on

How long did it take to learn?

We spent about 15 minutes trying to figure it all out but got the hang of it in the first 10 minutes of genuine playtime.

Analyze the game using the 3-act structure.

Act one was primarily about us getting our roles and firsthand of cards, we went around and figured out what our roles allowed us to do Act two was when the game got into the spreading of the disease cubes, and we were losing a lot of confidence in winning. By Act Three we were succumbing to losing, which we did.

What is the collaborative and or competitive aspects of the game?

The pandemic is very collaborative! The only way to win is to team up and take out the disease cubes.

What is the game’s metaphor and which of the game’s mechanics standout?

“Can you save humanity?”  The biggest mechanic that stood out to me was only certain player roles could travel the board in specific ways, I have not seen that mechanic used in board games before.

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Sara Estus – Game Ideas Week 3

Art School is a card game where players must collaborate to create a piece of art that fulfills a specific category. However, the difficult part is that only one player knows the category, for example, “Mythical Beast” and the player who knows the category can only give one-word hints. The drawing must be done in a quick passing style, with the player who knows the category only getting 10 seconds to draw, as the round progresses, each player gets 10 more seconds added until 3 minutes is up. After the time is up, players must write on a separate paper what they think the category was, and the closet gets a point.

The Journey is a tile-placing game in which the players will randomly select a role in which they must work together to escape an area (the tiles) think escape room, but it is super small, and each player has a different skill and ability, like players who pull a ‘water’ role card can move things on the tile that are blue. The tiles are around 1’x1’ and have a multitude of random obstacles that limit players from passing through and only certain players can move certain things. This game is meant to go off the saying “It’s not about the journey, it’s about the friends we made along the way”

Convince Me! Is a card game where players must collaborate to convince the “Founder” player to fund their creation. The players who are the “Makers” are given a spread of 10 cards face down that all have bizarre pictures of creations on them, the creations are machines or products that aren’t real, and the cards contain 3 things that the creation can do, players who are “makers” must pick ONE card and ONE of the purposes of their creation and convince the “Founder” The players who are the “Makers” must agree on one of the cards to pick, and can ‘reselect’ their creation based on voting in the group. The collaborative part begins when players must agree to the different prospects of their creation, and they must agree on when the price for their creation is fair.

Stow Away is a fast-paced card game where players are split into two teams, the stowaway and the security. The game is set up with one side sitting across from each other. The setup begins with one side taking a ‘place card’ for each player and that will be where they are hiding. The place cards have a picture of the hiding location, a visibility score of 1-5 (1 being out of sight and 5 being practically out in the open) and they have a perk written on them that explains the abilities positive and negative of the spot. The security players’ setup begins with receiving their specific security roles as well as their ‘location cards’ that will give them a general location that they are securing. The idea of the game is for the stowaways to remain hidden without causing suspicion and for the security to find the stowaways before the cargo is delivered. Through the gameplay, stowaways will attempt to help each other hide by giving up their hiding spots, creating diversions and distractions, and staying completely silent! For security, they will team up to search larger areas, use perks like flashlights and search dogs to find clues and find the stowaways, all while openly communicating the whole game!

Trial by Combat is a board game with four corners where players must compete in a rock-paper-scissors style fight to cover the most spaces on the board with their color, the winner will not only need to have the most color on the board but also be able to beat at least 2 other players in combat to win the game. The rock-paper-scissors comes into play as each player will have a draw pile and discard pile where they will pick up three cards with random items, food, tools, and animals that they can use to win a battle, an example being, drawing a lion card, and being able to beat sheep, pig, and deer cards, versus picking a pig card, and beating a stew card, versus picking a stew card and being a freezing cold card. The list goes on!

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Sara Estus – DiXit

“DiXit” Review and Three- Act Structure

Was it Fun?

While Dixit is pretty simple, I find that super charming about it! I enjoy that it’s about art and interpretation, but also about how well your friends can be about giving simple hints.

What was the interaction?

Amber read the rules and explained the game super well, we quickly played it and enjoyed it, all wanting to play again so it was a very positive experience compared to Fluxx

How long did it take to learn?

It took maybe 5 minutes to learn, including setting it up and shuffling the cards

Would you play again?

Absolutely, I really enjoyed how simple it was, but how complicated it could be with who was playing

Act 1-

Getting the ropes of the game and figuring out how to play. We were a little confused on the voting aspect, but quickly got the hang of it

Act 2-

Once we realized we could be as vague or easy as we wanted with the hint we all got really into it, almost neck and neck with the points.

Act 3-

The game felt like it kinda ended abruptly, but we all enjoyed the points system, the voting and the art! 30 points to win does not feel like a lot though!

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Sara Estus – Week 2 Questions

Question Set One:

  • If I made a game where the theme was around size, some mechanics I’d implement would be challenges through areas that normal-sized people could not go, such as adventuring through a mouse hole, or attempting to pass through a garden that feels like a jungle very ‘Honey I shrunk the kids’ – I know, but I think making it more of a journey like the “secret life of Arrietty would be fun”. Though these are usual and expected mechanics, more unexpected would be the implementation of being practically invisible and harmed by the elements easier.
  • I am making games for my friends and family. I enjoy the competition between people I know, but I also enjoy playing and picking on them without them thinking I mean harm. It’s so fun to tease and taunt!
  • Friends and Family.

Question Set Two:

  • I feel like games that are often made in a series like Animal Crossing are ones I have never really referred to the rules for, I have played all the games since the first one was made, and the mechanics have only improved, but are always common sense, so I would often skip the tutorials and figure it out. In physical games, I would say as a child it was the game memory, cause, duh.
  • How I define a game is by its ability to captivate a player or audience for some time, to convey a message or a task to the player(s).
  • I think the feature that would make my games more intuitive would be to make my games look more attractive and pleasing to look at. I have not had a lot of time to create art for my games, hopefully, I will be able to.

Question Set Three:

  • My gateway game was Animal Crossing on the GameCube (2001). I grew up always watching my older sister play video games, and one day I grew tired of being player 2, so Animal Crossing allowed me to be player 1 with no questions asked.
  • Gateway games are games that are easy to get into without any hassle of needing extra time and preparation to become skilled at the game. They are games that can be played and learned quickly and can be enjoyed regardless of the pace the player chooses to play in.

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Sara Estus- “Bang!”

“Bang!” Review and Three-Act Structure:

Was it Fun?

 I believe Bang was a fun game once we got into it, though I was a little sad once we started to kill players off as they did not have a way to continue into the fun. I enjoyed the process of the game and how it was played. I can’t say in my experience I’ve played a game common to it.

What was the interaction?

It was a very “Who is the imposter kinda game, but we knew who the main sheriff was, but were dealing with the mechanics of the game within a smaller group. We would go up against each other blindly and that was an enjoyable feature.

How long did it take to learn?

Though we had Professor Ames carry us through the first round, we picked it up pretty fast. The rule book was super descriptive, and having a key helped everything make sense.

Would you play again?

Absolutely, I think playing all games again after their initial play makes the game even more fun, so I would 100% play again!

Act 1-

Our roles were laid out from the start, and learning how to use the other cards was our biggest task at this point. We had a lot of questions but we began to make moves with our cards that progressed the game.

Act 2-

Once we got comfortable and knew what to do, we started to strategically attack each other and decide who was good and bad. This is where things started to get into the cooler cards and we made choices on losing lives and saving lives.

Act 3-

This part was carried by Amber and Reese after I was killed off, when they decided to go back and forth with shooting each other, Amber won!

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Sara Estus – Week 2 Game Ideas

5 Ideas for games that can be played using cards:

  • “Greater Purpose”

Each player has a card that has an item on it that has a common purpose. When each player (3-5) receives their card, they will not see it themselves, but all the other players will. One at a time, each player will try to explain to other players what their card is in front of them, without simplifying its purpose. An example: a butterfly, can be simply described as a flying creature, or you can say, it’s summer’s pollinator (See we can mistake it for a bee, but that’s the butterfly’s greater purpose)

  • “Absolutely Not!”

(I don’t know how gambling games work, so leave me alone!) In this game, each player wants to attempt to get the amount of 21 in their hands, but the catch is that other players can go and either steal or give the other player a card. If the player they want to steal from doesn’t want to risk going too high or too low, they say, “Absolutely not” and then the player sitting next to them is now the one getting stolen from or they will receive a card.

  • “Cards Against Humanity, but we let people who aren’t in the game play!”

Nothing is more fun, and possibly embarrassing than being caught with a raunchy card while playing cards against humanity by the unsuspecting person, so why not play the game, then when it’s your turn, you must run out into the hall and ask the first person you see to pick your card. *Bonus points if they think it’s funny or look at you like you’re an awful person.

  • “Dixit, but it’s reskinned with our art”

We would either try to be so nice to each other, and go “oooh” or “ah” when seeing each other’s art, like seeing the cool stuff Reese comes with, or snicker and snide like the comments between Evan and Gideon when they argue about each other’s talents and who sucks more (you’re both great shut up) and we’d forget how to play the game, but in the end, it would be so fun to single handily describe each other’s art with single words

  • “Bang!” but it is media arts-themed and it’s called “Collab!”

The characters are the professors from the media arts department, each having their taught skills, such as, Professor Ames’ talent is in game design, so when you play as his character, you can receive a bonus when you pick up a “collaboration card”, allowing you to collaborate with more than 1 player. (The collab card replaced the “Bang!” card because we don’t want our professors committing in mass murder of their colleagues) The goal of the game is to take out the player who is playing as “Finals week” because nothing hurts the artsy creators collaborative spark more than grading final exams!

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Sara Estus – Game Ideas

  1. Continuation of “Stick with the Flock” I would like to revise the rules better and create a more effective game in terms of what I want the metaphor to be and how the game looks!
  • “Art Noted” a scavenger game Students are given a small photo of a close-up image taken of an art piece on campus, they are given one hint on its location in the style of a riddle and then they must try to find the piece based on knowledge of the area and the riddle.  Students can work in teams for time’s sake. If they find the piece, they win a point. The first to get 5 points wins! **This is meant to drive students to become more aware of campus art**
  • “These FRICKEN DUCKS” a tag-like scavenger hunt One student will be given 20 ducks of the same color and size to hide around campus in one building of their choice. Another group of students is tasked with finding and collecting the ducks before anyone else! (Cause man, we hate ducks!)
  • “Impersonation Game” How well do you know your friends?” Students must pick another student in the room to impersonate, you can’t be rude of course, so you must use body language, actions, and props to impersonate someone. We must find the good qualities about each other to find out who it is!

  • “I promise we are artists” is a Pictionary game, but we suck at drawing! One student is given a card with an object, animal, or thing and is tasked with drawing it on a piece of paper without lifting the pencil, and they can’t look when they are drawing it. They have 30 seconds to complete their new portfolio-worthy masterpiece, and the other players must guess what the thing is without hints.

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Sara Estus – Fluxx Review

1.) Was it Fun? Yes and no, I feel like Fluxx is one of those games where you enjoy it because everyone is in the same boat as you, panicking because you don’t know how to play, if you are doing anything right, etc. I feel like if I fully understood the game, I’d enjoy it and feel the actual challenge of it. But all in all, I think it’s a good game for the purpose it serves – to explain the value behind rules.

2.) What was the interaction? It’s always confusing at first. Like most games, you sit and read the rules for about 5 minutes and then play the game, but Fluxx feels like you have to keep going back to the rules to understand anything of what you’re supposed to do. After you THINK you have it right, it’s still confusion, with a hint of anxiety.

3.) How long did it take you to play? In this session we did not come to a winner, so we never really got to judge what it felt like to play a round. In my experience, however, I found it could be anywhere from 5 minutes to 50 minutes of play.

4.) Would you play it again? Only if Ames asked me to. No, just kidding, I think I would, but I’d want to play it again where I could sit and understand the rules. I think I just enjoy games that are quick to learn and not confusing, But I see why Fluxx is a popular game.

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Sara Estus – Question Set 1

In your opinion what should every game have? Why do you like your favorite game?
I think every game should have an appealing appearance; I say this from the perspective of someone who is supposed to design things that not only look good but feel good. Though I think that there is a subjective part to art in games, both tabletop and video; I believe that being able to immerse yourself into the space of the game is a solid quality. Understanding this, my favorite game that I started in class, Stray has a very immersive experience through the art. I mean, you play as a cat, in a utopian city, with robots that have TVs on their heads! The world of stray feels deep, unknown, and very very large, making the player feel like they are just as small as their feline counterpart.


List the games you’ve played and currently play.
Until Then (omg its soo good!)
Legend of Zelda Links Awakening (2019)
Minecraft
Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom
Stardew Valley

To name a few 😀


Can you apply the three-act structure to your favorite game? What is its pacing and how long do you find yourself in each act?
Stray is undoubtedly broken down into chapters, as you finish sections of the story, and move to the next parts, a title rises up stating the name of the next chapter. Though Stray feels long in pacing, it is more up to the challenge level of the play and if they are a completionist.


When coming up with ideas where do you find you start, with the metaphor or the mechanic? 
When coming up with ideas, I tend to curve towards the metaphor rather than the mechanic. I always try to put a narrative behind the reason why I make what I make, and I feel like it can often do more harm than good in my creative process. I think coming up with the working parts to make the final piece may be a better option for the ease of making a game.


Over the course of this semester, who would you like to collaborate with and why?
I do have particular people I enjoy collaborating with, but I also love to collaborate with new people so I can build connections in strengths and weaknesses from myself and others. I think it is important to be open to new things, but also be able to know what works best if trying new things is not an option.