Game Studies / Project 1, 2 and Final

22/9/2025 -  29/12/2025 (Week 1 - 14)

Rachel Ng Jie Ting/ 0378902

Bachelors of  design (Honours) in creative media

Games Studies / Project 1, 2 and Final

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Table of content

Instructions

Project 1, 2 and Final (80%)

Feedback

Reflections

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Instructions

Module Information Booklet

Project 1, 2 and Final

Timeframe: Week 1 - Week 14 (Deadline Week 14)

Project 1: Propose a Table Top Game Design Gameboard Proposal (20%)

Project 2 - Table Top Playtests (3 cycles) Playtests (20%)

Final Project: Tabletop Game Development Playtests, group presentation (40%)

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Ideating

“Sprout Up!” is a strategic, family-friendly card game where players compete to grow their plants the fastest while facing unpredictable weather and player sabotage.

Genre : strategy, party, educational

Target audience: aged 8 and above, 2-4 players

Duration: 30 - 45 minutes

Fig 1.1 - Card Game Ideating

Presentation slides

SPROUT UP - Presentation slides for week 1 - 14

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Update Progress

Week 1 - 4: Ideating and card game first concept

The first four weeks of the project was dedicated to ideation and decision-making. This resulted in our team successfully choosing the concept for our game and ultimately agreeing to proceed with Sprout Up! 

This was immediately followed by us focusing on the core game mechanics where each member was cooperative and contributed feedback to ensure that our game and its mechanics was engaging to the players. We meticulously tried to eliminate any loopholes that players may exploit and result in ruining other player's playing experience.

Fig 1.2 - Creating and ideating the card game

In the Second half of the four weeks, the team moved from ideation to creation where we developed paper prototypes of the game's cards. This allowed us to perform an initial testing which allowed us to determine if the game is playable with proper game mechanics before moving to creating the actual cards for the game. 

The initial Playtest resulted in us changing the damage of the action cards and the number of shields and growth cards for the game, ensuring an enjoyable experience for the players.

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Week 5 - 6: Designing cards and minor game mechanic tweaks

For these two weeks, most of our time was spent on designing the actual cards for the game, with changes applied to the mechanics according to the initial playtest we did amongst ourselves.

Fig 1.3 - Writing game descriptions and drawing card artworks

This is the final results of our cards for these weeks, featuring pot cards and growth cards (sunflower, bamboo, and cactus)

Fig 1.4 - Sprout Up! prototype design (growth card and bloom token)

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Week 7 

This week was spent on recording the first official playtest which is played by our group members. 

Fig 1.5 - First playtest with team members

The first round of testing revealed that the game was slow-paced due to an excessive number of shield and damage cards, reducing player engagement. 

To fix that, we sped up the game by reducing the number of these cards and increasing the effect of the "High Growth" card from +2 to +3.

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Week 9

This week was spent on recording the second official playtest which is played by new members from other groups.

Fig 1.6 - Second playtest with new players

Although, we did our best in guiding the players throughout the playtest, the second round of testing showed several issues with card clarity and game balance. The Cactus pot card buff clashed with a Season effect, causing the plant to grow and then die immediately. Some card effect descriptions were also confusing, and players had difficulty understanding how the Bamboo and Corn buffs and debuffs worked.

There was also the issue of new players attacking plants too early, destroying plants and pots that had just started growing. Without pot cards or a lucky “Get Pot” draw, some players were unable to grow any plants, which caused them to be locked out of a major part of the game.

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Week 12

In Week 12, we focused on refining the card designs where we spent the first hour of the class decorating the cards so that it's easily recognizable by the players and soo that Players won't take as much time reading the cards. This makes the cards more intuitive. 

Fig 1.7 - Adding artwork to action cards

Fig 1.8 - Final prototype family photo

Fig 1.9 - More testing with team members

This was then followed by the last and final playtest with both new and returning players.

Fig 1.10 - Third playtest with new and returning players (2 each)

The 3rd test went really well, after fixing the game based on the feedback given in the last 2 play test, The 3rd group of players found no issues with the game.

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Week 14: Presentation video and finished card game

Presentation video

Fig 1.11 - Final presentation video

Finished card game

Fig 1.12 - Inside card game box cover

Fig 1.13 - Inside card game box

Fig 1.13 - Card game content

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Feedback

(No Feedback)

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Reflections

In this class, his project has helped me understand how important playtesting is in game design. By watching different players play the game, I learned that some problems only appear during actual gameplay, such as unclear rules and slow pacing. 

Working in a group also improved my teamwork and communication skills, as we shared ideas and solved problems together.  Overall, this project helped me gain confidence in making and improving a tabletop card game from start to finish.