Physical Games

Contents: 

• paper or digital method to draw on

  • if physical paper: color pencils, markers, paint, (any media of drawing)

• four custom 6-sided dice (each representing a different category) ❀ can make your own prompts

  • Characters (Animals): Frog, Cat, Axolotl, Duck, Dog, Rabbit

  • Setting: Park, Beach, Ocean Depths, Mountain, City, Space

  • Objects: Balloon, Hats, Food, Vehicle, Timekeeper, Instrument

  • Actions: Running, Jumping, Sleeping, Dancing, Singing, Any

• Optional:

  • timer, to make the game more challenging

  • additional dice for more prompts

Rules:

1. Each player take turns, rolling all the dices

2. After all players have their prompts, they must create a drawing incorporating all the images or words shown on their dice rolls, i.e. Frog, Mountain, Balloon, Jumping

3. Once completed with their drawings, players share their artworks

Optional Rules:

1. Time Limit: give players a timer to limit the amount of time each player has to complete their artwork (i.e. 10 minutes)

2. Scoring: Other players can score the drawing based on creativity (1-10), coherence (1-10), and use of all dice elements (1-4); for a total of 24 points.

Game Variations:

Collaborative Drawing: Players take turns rolling one dice each of their choosing, adding that element into the drawing.

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• ｡⋆𓇼˚  𓆝 𓆟 𓆞 𓆝 𓆟  ˚ 𓇼⋆ ｡ •

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Description of Project: 

“Draw Dice” is a game where players roll custom dice to receive prompts and create unique drawings based on the results. The game involves four 6-sided dice, each representing a different category: Characters (Animals), Settings, Objects, and Actions. Players take turns rolling all the dice and then use the prompts to inspire their artwork, such as drawing a Frog in a Mountain setting with a Balloon, while Jumping. The goal of the game is to provide players with prompts to draw and be more open to sharing their artworks. From personal experience sometimes I think it’s difficult to share art as there’s the stress of it not being good enough, but with time limits there’s less pressure for perfection. Also having dice to randomize what you draw helps when people struggle to think of what to draw in the first place.

Description of Process: 

The creation of “Draw Dice” was inspired by the thought of encouraging artistic expression and erasing the challenge of deciding what to draw. I chose to use dice as a core element of the game because dice introduce an element of randomness and surprise, which can spark creativity and lead to unexpected combinations. The process involved selecting a variety of elements for each dice category to give players a wide range of potential prompts. The game design prioritizes spontaneity and creativity, aiming to reduce the pressure of perfection. This approach also helps players feel more comfortable sharing their artwork, as the emphasis is on creativity and participation rather than technical skill. The design of this game is to make drawing more fun, providing a solution to artist’s block and encouraging sharing art and supporting artists.

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Project Postmortem: 

From this project I thought more about how my experience as an artist or things I have seen as an artist can be reflected in my project. Implementing randomness with custom dice prompts is a method to get ideas running, while time limits lessens the fear of judgment. Expanding on this game, players can also just make their own dice with the many things they want to draw (like if there’s specific creatures or objects) and this game adds on limits so they’re not overwhelmed by having to pick and choose. This experience emphasized the importance of practicality in game design alongside creativity. Moving forward, I aim to prioritize more time to brainstorming game ideas as something I haven’t just struggled with during this project was the ideation of the game, thinking what to create and how to create it.