The Evolution of Lumen

The Evolution of Lumen

Lumen PhotoVocab Game Officially Launches: A Journey from MFA Thesis to Classroom Tool

I’m thrilled to announce the official launch of Lumen PhotoVocab Game! 🎉

Born out of my MFA thesis project on game-based learning at Jacksonville State University, Lumen was designed to address challenges I faced in my own classroom. Students often struggled to engage during critiques and group discussions, which are such an important part of learning. As a lifelong gamer, I knew that games could be powerful tools for bringing people together and overcoming fear of failure so I decided to design a card game to help.

Lumen went through extensive research, prototyping, and playtesting—including IBR-approved testing in design and photography classes at Jacksonville State University. The response was overwhelmingly positive, which inspired me to bring it to market.

📖 Interested in the research behind Lumen? You can download my paper, “Game-Based Learning: Building Competence in Visual Literacy Through Simulation,” at JSU Digital Commons.

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We’d love to hear from you!

Have you been using Lumen PhotoVocab Game? Your experience matters, and we’d love to know how it’s making an impact in your classroom, photo club, or learning space.

 Share your story by emailing us at: ahoy@blackwaterbucs.com

By sharing your testimonial or photos, you’re not just supporting a small business—you’re helping us further our mission of creating engaging learning solutions for educators and students everywhere. Your feedback inspires us to keep innovating and growing!

Thank you for being part of the Lumen journey! Together, we can make learning fun, interactive, and unforgettable. 

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Shop Our Games

Good News: We’re Extending Lumen’s Launch Special!

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To give educators more time to explore Lumen PhotoVocab Game and to share this innovative resource with their schools, we’re extending the Launch Special through January 31st!

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Lumen isn’t just a game—it’s a powerful teaching tool that:

Enhances visual literacy

Expands photography vocabulary

Sharpens critical thinking skills

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Ideal for classrooms, critiques, and photo clubs, Lumen PhotoVocab Game transforms teaching photography into a fun, interactive, and collaborative experience for students.

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Now through January 31st, get 50% OFF with CODE: BLASTOFF at checkout!

Use this extra time to plan for the new semester and talk to your administrators about adding Lumen to your school’s resources.

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Shop now: Blackwater Shop

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Let’s make 2025 the year of creative and engaging education!  

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Lumen’s final prototype is being assembled!

Our manufacturer, NiceFunnyGames, sent us in-progress photos of Lumen’s final prototype. They reported that all game files have been printed and that Lumen’s samples should be finished in two days. 

This is Lumen’s third official prototype. The differences between it and the second prototype are as follows:

• Updated game logo. The name was changed from ‘Lumen: A Game of Photographic Terminology’ to ‘Lumen PhotoVocab Game’.
• Rewritten and redesigned Player Guide (slightly larger in size).
• Updated game box layout.
• 4 photo cards were swapped out to aid variety.
• Four vocabulary cards were added to make the game an even 400 cards (100 vocabulary cards and 300 photo cards).

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I had prepped a pretty straight forward introductory talk on game-based learning to be followed by the 30+ attendees getting to play Lumen and experience game-based learning for themselves but I ended up changing my talk a bit at the last minute. The morning presentations leading up to mine were all super heavy so I felt like I needed to transition the mood a bit more for mine. I ended up speaking more about why I’m passionate about game-based learning and why I think game-based learning is needed in this day and age and I could tell that resonated with quite a few people. Yay!

Games have often been thought frivolous but I personally have found them essential for my mental health and great vehicles for experiential learning. When we’re kids we naturally learn by playing and creating games but at a certain point in our development most of us are told we have to stop playing and get serious. Personally, I think that’s horrible advice.

We live in a time where we’re constantly aware of every awful thing happening in the world. We’re overworked, overwhelmed with stress, and often subject to crushing amounts of peer/societal pressure. We need play and joy in our lives now more than ever and games are a great vehicle for that. In an ideal world everyone would know that it’s okay to play and have fun while also being productive but since so many of us have been programmed to believe that it’s not I feel it’s important to give people permission, or at least an opportunity, to play and relax a bit. Technically none of us need permission from anyone else but that doesn’t mean we don’t still desire it. I know I love when people give me an excuse to be silly or playful and I know I’m not alone in that feeling.

My talk went well and people were already jumping into Lumen before I went over how to play so that was very exciting to see. I even got to sit down and play with one table and it was such a delight to see everyone having a great time. It was exactly the kind of reaction I was hoping for and is the reason I love games so much. I got some great feedback afterwards and now feel ALL THE PRESSURE to get this game out ASAP. 😅

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Anyways, here are some photos from my MFA thesis exhibition. We were still in a pandemic situation when it took place so I was so touched that so many people came out to support me. The exhibition included the game, including copies that people were able to play at the show, large prints of cards from the game that attendees were asked to vote on (so they could experience a hint of the game if they didn’t have the opportunity to play the actual thing), and a How to Play video. Everyone seemed to have a great time and I got a ton of great feedback.

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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.

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When creating a game you usually start with either a theme or one or more mechanics. For Lumen I started with a problem I wanted to tackle and then narrowed the subject down to determine my theme.

Choosing a Problem to Tackle

Critique and interaction with peers is a super important part of art/design education, but it’s often a source of anxiety for many students. I think there are very few students who don’t suffer from some degree of anxiety or nervousness when they’re asked to pin their work to a wall and have it examined and dissected in front of a group. It’s a process that is always tough at first but the more you do it the easier it gets and hopefully everyone eventually realizes the value and importance of critique.

Critique is one of the most valuable and helpful experiences for growth as an artist/designer so it was important to me to try to help my students become comfortable with it which also meant helping them become more comfortable with one another. I taught several classes at JSU and it was always a struggle to get students to put down their phones and interact with one another. As an educator, one of my goals is to help my students engage and hopefully form relationships with fellow students to help aid both their professional and social development so getting them to engage with one another was just as important to me as the content I was delivering.

Games, especially table-top games, are a great way to help students relax and engage with one another. They are great at helping shy and socially anxious students feel more comfortable because games provide a clear framework for interaction. There are usually rules, guidelines for interaction, and clear objectives or goals that help players engage with one another in a fairly low-stress scenario. There’s also usually a bit of friendly competition which can help to create an engaging and fun experience.

Figuring Out Suitable Mechanics

When I started brainstorming ideas for my thesis project I knew I wanted to create a game that would help prepare students for critique while also serving as a fun ice breaker, but it took me a while to figure out what mechanics and format might work best to achieve my goals. I thought out several different systems which were at first way too complicated. It was important to me that the game be fairly simple, easy to understand, and quick to play so that it would be as beginner friendly as possible.

To help with critique I decided to focus on vocabulary and image analysis/interpretation so adopting game mechanics similar to Apples to Apples and Cards Against Humanity but with terms and images instead of just words and phrases turned out to be the perfect formula. It also helped that a lot of people are already familiar with the mechanics of these games which helps reduce the amount of time required to jump in and get started.

Narrowing My Subject (Theme)

After figuring out the mechanics for the game the next challenge was deciding what subject to focus on, and what terminology and images to use. I originally planned to create a game for art and design students but that was too broad and would require a more complicated set of images. It takes a long time to design and playtest a game and I was on a deadline for my MFA exhibition so I decided to focus on photography for personal and practical reasons. Photography is my primary creative outlet. It’s also much more specific that art and design, but most importantly I knew I’d be able to find a variety of relevant image assets for it thanks to stock photography sites. I would have liked to of included work by myself and my friends and peers in my first version but that would have required too much time so the first version of Lumen was curated completely from pexels.com. Now that my MFA requirements are complete I’m excited to have the time to refine Lumen and add some of my own work and that of friends and peers.

The theme of Lumen is photography, however most of the terminology is also relevant for art and design. Lumen has been play-tested in several Introduction to Design classes in addition to photography classes, and the instructors all reported positive engagement from their students. One of the instructors loved their students reaction to the game so much they asked to borrow it the following semester to help serve as a fun icebreaker at the beginning of the semester for a new group of design students.

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