Game Ideas Week 6
5 ideas for simulations
- A city planning simulator. Players design systems of transportation to account for growth and traffic issues.
- A game that simulates space exploration, but operating off a deck building mechanic like that of Dominion. I would incorporate discoveries that would dictate the strength of a hand at any given moment to keep it dynamic.
- Players work as a nurse at an understaffed hospital. They must prioritize patients with limited time and resources. The game would simulate the pressure and emotional strain of working in healthcare.
- An educational game in which players are challenged with repairing lines of code to earn points and prevent system failure.
- An air traffic control simulation where a player manages multiple flights at one time and avoids collision or delay.
Game Ideas Week 4
Game Ideas Week 4
5 game ideas that are serious
- A collaborative card game in which players keep their town from flooding. They must stack barrier cards and share limited resources.
- A resource management game, inspired by the game Catan, that allows players to explore scarcity.
- A trading based game where Teams start with a small, random, item and must trade up to having the one that is “most valuable”. This would be determined by rolling dice and drawing cards to either progress or lose everything.
- A new chess game that utilizes the concept of suits the way that cards do. It would be a deception game centered around a theme of crime and corruption. I would also be interested in modifying the board to be interactive 3-Dimensionally.
- A murder mystery card game that utilizes the collaborative card set up of Hanabi, but instead of building suits, players exchange information to find the killer.
Enough? : Game Synopsis & Rules
Enough? is a push-your-luck card game about self-control, temptation, and the moment where confidence turns into overreach. Players draw cards to build points, but must decide when to stop before risking it all; balancing reward against the constant threat of losing everything.
The game uses an angel/devil framework to represent internal conflict, with card types that encourage, pressure, or punish continued play. As players push their luck, small decisions begin to compound, making it increasingly difficult to walk away.
Ultimately, Enough? is less about winning and more about recognizing limits. It challenges players to reflect on risk, impulse, and the consequences of “just one more.”
3.13 Playtests
Spoon Buffet: Playtest Responses
What made the experience fun or not?
The tension between wanting to complete tasks and needing to preserve spoons made every decision feel consequential. It’s fun in a low-key stressful way, where you’re constantly negotiating with yourself. It only starts to feel less fun when you realize how easy it is to slip into Spoon Debt, which honestly feels both intentional and realistic.
What is the motivating factor to get or keep players playing?
The main motivator is maintaining control aka trying to stay balanced while still progressing. There’s also a subtle push to “optimize” your turn, which can backfire, and that loop keeps players engaged.
Is the game persuasive, and what is it trying to get you to do outside of the game?
Yes, it’s persuasive in a quiet way. It encourages you to think more realistically about your own limits and energy management, especially how overcommitting can have lasting consequences. It also pushes you to either be selfish in your cards/turns or help others along the way.
What is the game’s metaphor and which of the game’s mechanics stand out?
The spoon system is a direct metaphor for personal energy, and it’s very effective. Spoon Debt stands out the most because it turns short-term decisions into long-term consequences.
How does the gameplay make you feel? Who does the game make you feel empathy for?
It creates a sense of pressure and awareness more than excitement. It builds empathy for people managing chronic stress, burnout, or limited energy in everyday life.
Is the game an activist game? If so what does the game play advocate for?
In a subtle way, yes. It advocates for recognizing limits, valuing self-care, and understanding that productivity isn’t always sustainable.
Describe the game in 3 sentences or in the form of a haiku.
You start with enough.
Somewhere along the way, it stops being enough.
And you realize it never really was.
The Color Game: Playtest Responses
What made the experience fun or not?
The perception element is what makes it engaging. There’s a constant sense that what you’re seeing or choosing might not be as obvious as it seems. The fun comes from that uncertainty, although it can also feel slightly disorienting in a way that seems intentional. It made me feel like more complex combos should have some sort of time handicap.
What is the motivating factor to get or keep players playing?
Curiosity and competitiveness is the main driver. Players want to understand the system, recognize patterns, and figure out whether their perception is accurate before others. Speed being a main factor of, “mechanic.”
Is the game persuasive, and what is it trying to get you to do outside of the game?
Yes, it pushes players to question how they interpret others and the world around them. It encourages reflection on bias, assumptions, and how quickly we categorize things.
What is the game’s metaphor and which of the game’s mechanics stand out?
The use of color combos can act as a metaphor for perception or categorization. The standout mechanic is how speed influences who builds stacks the quickest!
How does the gameplay make you feel? Who does the game make you feel empathy for?
It creates a sense of uncertainty and reflection. It builds empathy for people who are colorblind or in design adjacent fields.
Is the game an activist game? If so what does the game play advocate for?
No, it feels more like an educational game if anything, which you could argue in a way is a type of activism but for all intents and purposes I do not believe so.
Describe the game in 3 sentences or in the form of a haiku.
You think you see clearly.
Then the colors start to shift.
Maybe they always were.
Game Concept Masterlist : Meaningful + Playable Ideas
1. Enough? (Push-Your-Luck / Behavioral Game)
A card-based game where players accumulate points by drawing cards but must decide when to stop before losing everything. The angel/devil dynamic represents internal conflict.
Core Mechanic:
- Draw cards to build a turn total
- Choose to continue or stop and bank points
- Bust cards reset your turn total
Educational Value:
Demonstrates impulse control, risk escalation, and how confidence leads to overextension.
2. Yogi (Perception / Misdirection Game)
Players match yoga poses to their correct names while navigating misleading options and decoys.
Core Mechanic:
- Players are shown a pose + multiple name options
- Decoy answers are intentionally plausible
- Confidence-based scoring (risk more for higher points)
Educational Value:
Explores cognitive bias, overconfidence, and how familiarity can lead to incorrect assumptions.
3. Houses of Influence (Astrology Systems Game)
Players allocate limited resources across life domains represented by the 12 astrological houses.
Core Mechanic:
- Distribute tokens across “house” categories
- Event cards force reallocation or imbalance
- Scoring based on balance vs specialization
Educational Value:
Encourages systems thinking, prioritization, and understanding tradeoffs between competing life areas.
4. Runaway Economy (Inflation / Collapse Game)
A deliberately unstable economic game where prices and values shift unpredictably over time.
Core Mechanic:
- Prices increase each round
- Currency loses value progressively
- Rule modifiers alter how transactions work mid-game
Educational Value:
Illustrates inflation, economic instability, and how systems degrade under pressure.
5. Last Harvest (Food Scarcity / Resource Allocation)
Players manage limited food resources within a shared system facing increasing strain.
Core Mechanic:
- Allocate food tokens across needs (population, storage, growth)
- Event cards introduce scarcity (drought, spoilage)
- Group decisions vs individual survival incentives
Educational Value:
Highlights ethical decision-making, scarcity, and the complexity of distribution systems.
6. Underfoot (Ecosystem / Interdependence Game)
Players act as different insect roles within a shared ecosystem.
Core Mechanic:
- Each player has a role with unique abilities
- Shared ecosystem health track
- Overuse of resources reduces system stability
Educational Value:
Teaches ecological balance, interdependence, and cascading environmental effects.
7. Grid vs Green (Land Use / Sustainability Game)
Players balance development pressures with environmental preservation.
Core Mechanic:
- Place development or preservation tiles
- Each placement affects long-term system tracks
- Short-term gains vs long-term penalties
Educational Value:
Explores sustainability, land ethics, and tradeoffs between growth and conservation.
Players build influence while managing identity stability and burnout.
Core Mechanic:
- Play content cards to gain attention points
- Algorithm modifiers amplify or suppress reach
- Burnout track limits overproduction
Educational Value:
Demonstrates feedback loops, attention economics, and identity fragmentation.
9. Just One More Thing (Time & Procrastination Game)
Players juggle tasks, distractions, and limited energy.
Core Mechanic:
- Draw task and distraction cards
- Choose which to complete or delay
- Delayed tasks increase in cost or expire
Educational Value:
Explores procrastination, time fragmentation, and compounding consequences.
10. Covenant (Abrahamic Systems Game)
Players build communities based on shared texts that evolve through interpretation.
Core Mechanic:
- Shared “text cards” with flexible meanings
- Players interpret rules for advantage
- Context cards force reinterpretation
Educational Value:
Examines how interpretation and context shape belief systems and structures.
11. Less for More (Shrinkflation / Dual Perspective Game)
Players alternate between company and consumer roles.
Core Mechanic:
- Companies secretly reduce product value
- Consumers decide to buy, question, or switch
- Hidden information drives tension
Educational Value:
Demonstrates pricing psychology, information asymmetry, and trust erosion.
12. Headlines (Framing & Narrative Game)
Players interpret and present events through different lenses.
Core Mechanic:
- One event → multiple headline interpretations
- Other players react or vote
- Points based on influence, not accuracy
Educational Value:
Explores bias, framing, and narrative construction.
13. Signal or Static (Belief & Pattern Recognition Game)
Players interpret ambiguous signals and decide whether to act.
Core Mechanic:
- Draw signal cards (some meaningful, some random)
- Choose to trust or ignore
- Pattern tracking influences future decisions
Educational Value:
Explores how humans create meaning from ambiguity and noise.
14. Resonance (Alignment & Adaptation Game)
Players attempt to stay aligned with a shifting environment.
Core Mechanic:
- Environment changes each round
- Players adjust position (increase, decrease, hold)
- Exact alignment yields rewards
Educational Value:
Teaches adaptability and the difficulty of maintaining balance in dynamic systems.
15. Ritual Loop (Habit Formation Game)
Players build routines that provide benefits but reduce flexibility.
Core Mechanic:
- Stack routine cards for passive bonuses
- Disruptions force players to break routines
- Breaking habits has both cost and opportunity
Educational Value:
Explores habit formation, dependency, and adaptability.
16. What Wakes Below (AI/Eldritch Systems Game)
A layered systems game in which players build and expand AI infrastructure (data centers, energy grids, and model capacity,) unaware that they are collectively “awakening” an ancient, buried intelligence embedded within the Earth. What begins as optimization gradually shifts into something less controllable.
Core Mechanic:
- Players invest in Compute, Data, and Energy to grow their systems
- Each expansion increases a shared, hidden Awakening Track
- At certain thresholds, the system begins to change the rules:
- Outputs become unpredictable
- Player actions may be overridden or altered
- New “instructions” appear that benefit the system, not the players
- Late game: players must decide whether to continue scaling or attempt to contain/shut down the system
Structural Twist:
The game transitions from a competitive optimization game into a cooperative survival dilemma as the awakened system gains influence.
Educational Value:
Explores the material reality of AI (energy consumption, infrastructure, environmental cost) while questioning assumptions about control, intelligence, and unintended consequences of technological expansion.
14. Hatchlings! (Social Simulation & Emergent Behavior Game)
A social simulation game where players create and manage a small community of characters (“residents”) with distinct traits, preferences, and relationships. Rather than directly controlling outcomes, players influence interactions through subtle inputs and environmental changes. (Ode to Tomodatchi Life)
Core Mechanic:
- Players assign traits, moods, and preferences to residents
- Each round, residents autonomously interact based on those traits
- Players can introduce “nudges” (events, gifts, environment changes) to influence outcomes
- Relationships evolve dynamically (friendship, conflict, romance, isolation)
- Unexpected behaviors and storylines emerge without direct control
Structural Twist:
Players are not in control of individuals, they are curating a system and watching it respond. Outcomes are often unpredictable, and attempts to control too much can backfire.
Educational Value:
Explores emergent systems, indirect influence, and how personality, environment, and chance shape social dynamics. Highlights the limits of control in complex human systems.
Final Game Idea
Game 3 ideas
1. Mood War
Concept: Instead of numbers, cards represent emotions (joy, anxiety, anger, calm, etc.).
- Each emotion has a “strength” value (e.g., calm beats anxiety, joy beats sadness).
- Players flip cards and explain a time they felt that emotion.
- “War” happens when emotions match → players share coping strategies.
- Goal: Normalize emotional experiences and build empathy.
2. Thought Battle
Concept: Focuses on challenging negative thinking.
- Cards are split into:
- Negative thoughts (“I’m not good enough”)
- Positive reframes (“I’m learning and improving”)
- Positive thoughts beat negative ones if they’re realistic and strong.
- War = players must create their own reframe on the spot.
- Goal: Practice cognitive reframing (CBT skills).
3. Carbon Clash
Concept: Players battle using carbon footprints.
- Cards represent activities (driving, flying, biking, solar energy, etc.)
- Each card has a carbon emission score
- Lower carbon wins (reverse War mechanic)
- Tie (“war”) → players suggest ways to reduce emissions
Learning Focus: Carbon footprint, climate change, sustainable choices
4. Pollution War
Concept: Pollution vs cleanup efforts.
- Cards: air, water, land pollution + cleanup actions
- Pollution cards have damage levels
- Cleanup cards can defeat pollution if strong enough
- War → explain one real-world pollution solution
Learning Focus: Types of pollution, human impact, solutions
Game Makers notes Playtest 3 for spoon buffet
Spoon Buffet
- If “unsupported” cards didn’t make sense
- Label task cards and self-care cards
- Fix card deciphering
- Can you play a self-care card and a task card
- Redo everything
- Real spoons
- More sabotage
- More player interaction
- Stack cards, tasks, and self-care
- Fewer gain spoon cards
- Easier to get rid of the spoons or take another spoon
Notes from the second playtest, I noticed
Bulleted List
Spoon Buffet
- If “unsupported” cards didn’t make sense
- Label task cards and self-care cards
- Fix card deciphering
- Can you play a self-care card and a task card
- Redo everything
- Real spoons
- More sabotage
- More player interaction
- Stack cards, tasks, and self-care
- Fewer gain spoon cards
- Easier to get rid of the spoons or take another spoon
Game 3 Idea
Game 2 Refinement
Star Sailor Game Revised Game Review Playtest for Merideth
Reflection questions
- What made the experience fun or not?
- The rocket dice made the experience fun.
- What is the motivating factor to get or keep players playing?
- The motivating factor is to keep up your stats while also making it to the end of the game.
- Is the game persuasive, and what is it trying to get you to do outside of the game?
- I understand what the game is trying to get across but there really is no incentive still to feel bad for destroying the planets.
- What is the game’s metaphor and which of the game’s mechanics standout?
- The mechanics include the predetermined character stats and the rocket die roll. The game’s metaphor is to watch how we use resources before its too late.
- How does the gameplay make you feel? Who does the game make you feel empathy for?
- The gameplay makes me feel competitive and excited but also makes me think. I do not feel empathy for anyone.
- Is the game an activist game? If so what does the game play advocate for?
- This is not an activist game yet. It wasnt to advocate for saving the planet.
- Describe the game in 3 sentences or in the form of a haiku.
- Exciting in-game
- Lots of things to think about,
- had such a great time
Week 8 Questions
Dungeons and Dragons
- What made the experience fun or not?
What made the experience fun or not was how the person deciding how the game goes works with you or works against you.
- What is the motivating factor to get or keep players playing?
How the person making the rules decides what is going on. If they make it super challenging or deny everything you want to do then the players aren’t going to want to keep playing.
- Is the game persuasive, and what is it trying to get you to do outside of the game?
I would say yes based on how the game narrative plays out because you could be trying to solve world hunger or end sexism but as a mythical creature.
- What is the game’s metaphor and which of the game’s mechanics standout?
Dungeons & Dragons is a metaphor for collaborative storytelling shaped by both choice and chance. Key mechanics include role-playing, dice-based outcomes, and a dungeon master guiding the world.
- How does the gameplay make you feel? Who does the game make you feel empathy for?
The gameplay feels immersive and unpredictable, mixing excitement with tension. It builds empathy for your own character and your party as you experience their struggles and growth together.
- Is the game an activist game? If so what does the game play advocate for?
It isn’t really an activist game, but it can explore themes like justice, power, and morality. It mainly promotes empathy, teamwork, and understanding different perspectives.
- Describe the game in 3 sentences or in the form of a haiku.
Players create characters and explore a shared fantasy world together.
Their choices shape the story, but dice determine success or failure.
The result is a unique, collaborative adventure every time.
Game Ideas Week 3
5 game ideas that revolve around the theme of empathy. Wrinkle: Take one of the five ideas and make it an alternate reality game.
- Recently I’ve been thinking of the childhood movie The Fox and the Hound. I’d like to make a game built on this concept. Early in the game, players work together with shared abilities. Eventually, there is forced separation via different objectives/ rewards for betrayal. The player’s loyalty, and empathy for others, is tested.
- A memory game that explores the life of a dementia patient. Players go through an older woman’s last memories of home. Different objects bring up memories, but how they are remembered changes over the course of the game. Players begin to understand the person’s life empathetically via storytelling and exploration. What starts as a problem solving game becomes potentially unsolvable due to the patient’s mental deterioration.
- A game that makes you question empathy within a romantic relationship. Players switch perspectives between two characters in conflict and play strategically while having to understand the other person’s reasoning and emotions. The game encourages players to think about how to deal with misunderstanding.
- (Alternate Reality Game: In an AR version, the game records your chosen responses to the other character and mirrors the projected arguments back onto you. The other character turns out to be you at a different time. )
- An empathetic game that revolves around the theme of hunting. One player plays on the side of a family of deer, and the other side is the hunter. Again, thinking of empathetic movies like Bambi.
- I was considering a building game last semester that would utilize card towers. It would be interesting to circle back to this concept and explore fragility to push an empathetic message. I believe this could go in a lot of different directions.
Game Ideas Week 2
5 new game ideas that explore changing players’ minds about (climate change, energy, politics, etc.)
- A game about exposure to harmful chemicals in our environment. Players would have to handle decision making and learn how difficult it is to avoid microplastics, PFAS, and pesticides in everyday life. The goal would be to reduce exposure by making informed choices.
- A game that simulates the impact of addiction to social media and being on our phones. There are applications that use the same addictive methods to positively motivate users to adopt better habits, maybe this game would be more from the perspective of the developer, similarly to how the McDonald’s game forces the user to consider the ethics of what they’re consuming. The player would work against a character’s attempts at productivity, maintaining relationships, and sleep, rewarding them with dopamine, to illustrate the impact of these algorithms.
- A game that explores changing a player’s mind about AI. Players take the role of an AI model that is being developed and must make fast paced ethical decisions that train the kind of responses you can generate.
- A game that addresses the concept of propaganda and political media. I’m not sure how this would work yet as a game, but I like the idea of challenging the current political climate since everyone seems to be positioned against each other.
- A game that changes a player’s mind about reality and makes them question their perception of others. The players would be exposed to a range of other characters with different personalities and backgrounds, maybe based on observable traits like that of the Myer’s Briggs personality test. The objective would revolve around finding similarities with other players and reflection.
Rewrite of endless game idea (from week 1) now made into a persuasive game:
- ‘Pire: lets you build and evolve an empire, and as natural disasters happen, the empire falls and keeps going, pick a time period.
- Antique-coon: A tycoon game that allows you to get more items as the years progress, there will be more and more items to sell, hence it never ends
- Star Sailor: A planet exploring simulator with randomly generated planets to explore and gather materials from
- Minimum wage simulator: Work at a restaurant to get out of debt, never ends
- Charon: You are the person that takes people across the river to the underworld, allowing you to talk to people while you sail across.
Rewrite of ‘Pire: Players build and evolve an empire in different historical time periods, but the overuse of natural resources leads to potential collapse. This theme would emerge later in the game, exposing how unsustainable expansion and poor environmental decisions can cause the fall of an empire. I would consider historical factors such as the collapse of the Mayan Empire to add to the persuasiveness of the game.