Time Tango

Game Summary

Our project focused on developing game-based experiences to help students manage work-life balance, exploring how we might shift emphasis from career success to creating holistic and sustainable lives. 

Game Goals

1. Players will be equipped with the knowledge and resources to enforce boundaries

2. Players will be encouraged to reflect on their own life through playing the game

3. Players will develop their own understanding of work-life balance

4. Players have increased self-awareness after playing the game

5. Players will understand the consequences of a lack of balance in their lives

6. Players have a sustained interest in the game and will play it repeatedly or over a period of time

7. The game is easily accessible & affordable for the average college student

8. People with limited experience in games can easily learn and play the game

The Research

Starting with in-depth research to understand the core challenges, we moved through ideation, playstorming, and parallel prototyping, creatively exploring various game mechanics. This process led to the development of a promising storytelling tabletop game that embodies our vision of integrating themes about work-life balance into compelling gameplay, particularly centered around how decisions about balance are meaningful and interconnected. While our current game is an exciting step forward in this space, it is still in the early stages and will benefit from further design iterations, as well as more targeted research to evaluate how well it actually achieves our transformational goals. However, we hope our project sets the stage for future work that leverages the power of play to encourage balance.

From there, a variety of design research and game design methods were used during the development process. See the full deck below.

Documentation

A full deck of game process, design, and outcomes is available below.