Studio Activities

Creating a Board Game

Making a Simple Board Game

Design the basics of a board game to teach an educational concept, then explain it based on Mechanics, Story, Aesthetics, and Technology.

Metamorphosis Madness

Because my dad majored in entomology, I grew up loving insects and arachnids. We had terrariums with scorpions, tarantulas, hissing cockroaches, and assassin bugs. I wanted to make a board game for that little kid who picks up every rock he can find to look at the roly-polys underneath (I know they're isopods but it's hard to kick that habit). The purpose of the game is for a child to answer questions about insects while following the path of complete metamorphosis.

Rules:

Youngest player goes first.
If you see a player is having trouble, hints are encouraged!
If you get mad at someone for getting a question wrong, you lose your turn.
Cover up the answer when showing a player a card's picture.

Story: The story of my game involves going through the process of metamorphosis. The players start as an egg, then moves to larva, pupa, and adult as they correctly answer trivia questions.

Mechanics: This game is collaborative rather than competitive so all players have an incentive to learn together. Players move together by answering questions in each stage of the cycle. Each player begins the game by choosing their an insect or arachnid and saying why they like it (This has no actual mechanical function it's just for fun). On their turn, player A draws a card corresponding to their section of the cycle and hands it to player B. Player B reads the question on the card, which Player A must answer. If they get the question right, the group moves their piece ahead one space on the board.

Aesthetics: For my game I decided to use bright colors to denote each stage of the metamorphosis cycle. I wanted the colors to be distinct enough that it was clear which section of the game the player is in.

Technology: The technology required for this game is the game board, game pieces, and question cards.

The topics for questions are as follows:

Egg - What Kind of Insect am I?

Larva - Am I actually a Bug, or just an Insect?

Pupa - Who do I Grow up to Be?

Adult - Cool Insect Facts!

What Kind of Insect am I?