After determining my theme and mechanics I had to determine the exact content of the game. I knew I would need two decks of cards, one terminology deck and one photo deck, a rulebook, and packaging for the game. I knew based on experience with Cards Against Humanity that I would need a minimum of at least 2-3 images for every term, preferably more. I would also need a name for both the game and the two decks of cards.
Creating the Terminology Deck
I began by brainstorming terms for the terminology deck from my own experience with photography and critique, then combed through photography glossaries and textbooks for additional terms. I tried to find a good balance between technical terms that weren’t so specific it would be nearly impossible to have a relevant image and a variety of descriptive and interesting words for players to interpret. Once I looked through multiple dictionaries and textbooks to find the definitions that help most relevant for photographic discussion and critique. Finding and choosing definitions was a bit difficult at times because a lot of photographic term definitions can’t be found in standard dictionaries.
Due to production restraints my terminology deck was limited to 70 cards.
Creating the Photo Deck
For the photo deck, I initially thought about using my own photography and that of people I know but quickly realized I did not have time to do and complete my project in time for my MFA thesis show so I curated images from pexels.com, a free stock photography site. To select my images I began by searching my terms and searching ideas inspired by my terms and I just saved anything that popped out at me. Once I had about three hundred images collected I began the process of curating them down to the exact number I would need (180). I tried to make sure there were at least two or more super relevant images for each term card while also ensuring there was a large variety of images in both style and subject matter.
Production Limitations
I knew at the beginning that Lumen would work best if it had about 500 cards or more with about a 1 to 4 ratio of terms to images but my first prototype was limited by both time and production options. I wanted a professionally printed game for my MFA thesis exhibition so I had to limit the content of my game to what I could find and have produced in time for my show. Finding printers for standard size playing cards wasn’t very difficult but cards did have to be ordered in certain quantities. Finding packaging for my game was the more challenging aspect and I ended up having to limit the size of Lumen to a standard sized deck box which was only capable of holding 250 cards.
Normally you probably wouldn’t worry about this until after playtesting but I was on a time crunch so I had to make sure I was creating a game I could actually have created in time for my MFA show.
Asset Creation
InDesign was the most efficient software to use for the creation of the playing cards since there were going to be so many. InDesign is a page layout software that excels in multi page documents and text formatting. For my terminology deck I was able to quickly create a template and set up paragraph styles (text formatting shortcuts) to have full control over the design of the cards and be able to quickly make updates to the 70 cards that make up the deck. I also used InDesign to create the photo cards. I just had to make sure that the photos were able to extend over the edge for a full bleed print without ruining the photo composition.
Lumen’s logo, card backs, rulebook, and packaging were all designed in Adobe Illustrator.
Early Prototypes & Playtesting
When creating a game it’s important not to put too much work into the prototype until after you’ve playtested the game and know it works well and doesn’t need to be altered. My first few prototypes were self-printed on copy paper, hand trimmed, and not particularly pretty. One challenge I encountered while creating Lumen was the pandemic. It was a bit difficult to playtest Lumen while everyone was quarantining so I was initially only able to playtest it with my husband and a friend that was staying with us. Later on when people felt more comfortable I was able to test it with slightly larger groups composed of friends and family. It would have been ideal to playtest it with the target audience before finalizing this version of the game but enough playtesting was done for me to feel confident in it’s current form.
Sourcing a Professional Prototype
Production considerations heavily influenced the design of the Lumen. It’s fairly easy to find companies that can create custom playing cards but finding packaging is a bit more of a challenge. I ended up limiting the amount of cards in Lumen based on a standard box size I found with a different company. I ordered the cards from boardgamesmaker.com, the box from printplaygames.com, and I self-printed the instruction booklet.
I wasn’t able to test how Lumen performed with larger groups until after pandemic lightened so I originally guessed it would work well for 3-6 players. I’ve since had the opportunity to playtest Lumen at my MFA show, quite a few game nights, and in over half a dozen photography and design classes, each with multiple groups. I’ve been happy to learn Lumen works well for up to 8 players, with 5-6 being the ideal game size. I originally wanted to create a game that the entire class could play at once but upon observation I think it’s better to divide classes into smaller groups for a more personal experience.
Lumen works well as is but after getting to play it in several classes with larger groups I’ve decided to add at least 100 more photo cards and make a few changes to the packaging that I did not have time to do before. This means it’s going to take a bit longer to make the game available but I think it will be worth the extra wait.
When I first created Lumen I wasn’t really thinking about trying to publish the game but the responses to it have been so great I’m doing my best to see if I can make it available at an affordable price. I’m currently working on a GameCrafter version that will be expensive but will at least make the game available for purchase by schools and any of y’all that just can’t live without it right now. But I have hopes of possibly doing a Kickstarter or small batch run of the game early next year if I can find an affordable manufacturer for small runs.