Folks, look–
Game design is a dynamic creature. It is amorphous and only when you kneed the design dough over time do you eventually find something that can take a satisfying shape. That’s the case here. I was designing one game and, even though it was a fun game, it wasn’t the game that I envisioned. But I still made a fun game!
The answer becomes clear: Split that bad boy off into two games, divide the cells. The result of this mitosis is a new game being born, titled: Tortured Artist Design Factory.
“Graphic Design is My Passion” is still a game that I’m designing. But that’s a different game. I explain how it’s going in the recent design journals on Graphic Design is My Passion:
- Graphic Design is My Passion: Designer Journal Five
- Graphic Design is My Passion: Design Journal #4
- New Achievement Unlocked: Mutant Pizza Games Showcase at Comic Con
Now, let’s look at this new game, not unlike the old…
How do you torture an artist?
It’s not hard, we’re fragile, temperamental birds. Tortured Artist Design Factory is a cooperative game where one person takes the role of a designer, tasked with designing an icon from a list, and everyone else takes the role of a stakeholder, who will hand “feedback” in the form of cards to the designer over the course of the game. There’s just one problem, the designer is actually an abstract artist. Why must these business types stiffle their creativity with such banal tasks? Oh, cruel world!
The artist will rotate and position art on transparent cards based on real pieces made by abstract artists.
When the cards run out or the stakeholders feel confident, they have one opportunity to guess what the icon is that’s being designed.
The game plays until the team reaches two successes or failures.
I’ve made a physical prototype using my laser printer and transparency paper. It’s not exactly what the game will look like, but it’s good enough to playtest with. I haven’t had the chance to bring this to the table. Once I do, I’ll show off the prototype more in a future design journal entry.
That’s all for now, until next time!
Mutant Pizza 