I See What You Did There (Card Game)
Team Size: 4
Role: Lead Designer, Original Concept.
Development Cycle: 9 months.
Description: I See What You Did There is a party card game where players try to play "stacks" from their hands, which are 3 cards grouped together by player chosen association. Players can also use these cards to modify the game space with real world elements.
Core Tasks:
-All card design, playtesting, and iteration.
-Selecting the cards for final ship and archiving those that weren't selected for future expansion.
-Responsible for start-to-finish design on 81 of the 99 final ship cards
POSTMORTEM
What went well:
-My team and I shipped a commercially available product post college!
-Players generally enjoyed the awkward situations created by the game.
-Real world elements were greatly appreciated and people went out of their way to bring in these real world elements.
-There is a very even balance between cards that change the game socially, and cards that change the metagame and allow for more traditional card game elements (countering, changing game mechanics, changing win conditions).
What went wrong:
-Some players were turned off from the game due to awkward social interactions and didn't want to play further.
-I See What You Did There has quite a lot of rules and modifying elements that change the game environment, and some players struggled to keep track of all these elements.
What I learned:
-There is a legitimate hunger to add gameplay elements to the party card game space.
-Real world elements are very much so welcome in the tabletop space.
-Awkward social interactions and slapstick humor can play a role in your game, but should be monitored for culture and feel.
-Less is more, adding complexity to a game doesn't necessarily translate into more fun.