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What If... Card Game

Mistletoe . 2019

Singapore

 
 

GAME DESIGN

UX DESIGN

UI AND BRANDING

What If... is a card game that challenges players to solve in-game crises via creative interventions and solutions. Players take turns to draft, present and enact policies and inventions that affect the city. Come up with the most innovative solutions to save your city and win the game!

Created in collaboration with impact collective, Mistletoe, the card game aims to allow players to have fun in the process of re-imagining the city and to come up with a new way to conceptualize ideas for the future.

 
 

 Rules of the Game

 
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In the game, players take turns to take on the roles of the Citizen, Innovator and Mayor.

 

1.

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Each round the Citizen chooses 1 Event and explains the problem.

2.

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2 Innovators draw Blueprint cards and use them to create solutions.

 

3.

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Chain up the words on the Blueprints to create a solution for the Event. You may use 1 Blueprint per card and chain up to a minimum of 3 and maximum of 5 cards.

4.

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Innovators have 2 mins to come up with their solutions. During the 2 mins, they may swap any card with another card from the Vault.

 

5.

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A solution is 1 idea that you have to read from the left to right of your chain.

6.

Each Innovator has 2 mins to present their ideas to the Mayor. You have to start presenting your solution with the phrase “What If...”. After which, Innovators each have 2 mins to question each others’ solutions as well as defend their own proposal.

 

7.

The Mayor chooses their preferred solution. 1 point is awarded to the Innovator, whose solution is chosen.

8.

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Players may also earn points by going for Objectives. After each round, the Citizen may choose to award an objective card to either Innovator (or no Innovators at all), if they feel that either Innovator has achieved the objective.

 
 

9.

The game carries on for a few rounds and points are tallied at the end. The player with the most points win!

 
 
 

Game Design Process

 

The team went through a series of game version and rule iterations, as well as play-tests for different player demographics over the period of 9 months. Throughout the whole process, the goals of the game and game mechanics evolved over each play-test, into the final version it is today. Below is a glimpse of how the process sculpted our decisions and design strategy.

 

VERSION 1.0

Open-ended cooperative world building - Players come up with their own characters and take turns to add “history” or “events” to the game.

GOALS

To rethink how we imagine the city and come up with a new way to conceptualize ideas for the future.

 

Players create their own characters and write history.

Collaborative world building and story telling.

 

LESSON LEARNT

Players enjoyed collaborative world building. However, when players have too much freedom, things tend to take a dark turn.

 
 

VERSION 2.0

Resource-management board game for idea generation - Players manage resources which in turn determine how many ideas they can put into the city.

NEW GOALS

To rethink how we imagine the city and come up with a new way to conceptualize ideas for the future. To make the experience more structured and gamified.

 

A boardgame with a map for development and growth of the city.

Players discussing strategy for building their city.

 

LESSON LEARNT

Mechanics are too complicated to pick up, the game requires too long a set-up time and play time. Priority of the game should be to have fun, generating ideas is secondary.

 
 

VERSION 3.0

Idea-Chaining Word Game - Players chain together ideas, which people usually do not associate with each other, to create solutions for the city. Final version of the game mechanics.

NEW GOALS

To have fun in the process of re-imagining the city and to come up with a new way to conceptualize ideas for the future.

 

 Try the Game!

 
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What If... the card game is currently in the beta design phase. We are creating a story line and characters to increase the level of immersion of the game, as well as planning content expansion packs. We are also adapting the card game into different variants and versions such as for casual play, educational workshops and corporate events and purposes.

The final version of the game will consist of the standard edition to be released. The standard edition includes global issues that the world is facing in the 21st Century and the Blueprints draw from words associated with current news media, pop culture, current affairs and technology.

Contact us if you are interested in being a play-tester, a collaborator, or if you would like to find out more information about the game and our design process.