InReflect

When was the last time you checked in with yourself?
Do you know how your friend is doing?
Take some time to do some soul searching and play InReflect!

A set of 40 custom designed cards. The game can be played independently or with a group. The purpose of the game is to evoke an emotional response in the players by giving time and space for the player to inflect on their past experiences, and reflect on how these experiences have helped shape who they are today.

Fall 2018

Role: Game Designer, UI Artist
Type of Work: Game Design, Product Design, Graphic Design
Tools Used: Illustrator

Let’s start here

The initial idea for this game was to offer space to ask those difficult questions in life that we generally try to tuck into the underbelly of society. Often, we are so caught up in the daily obstacles of life that we can be blind to our own pain, joy, sadness, or even gratitude.

I wanted a game that I could pick up if I had some free time to myself. Being connected to social media makes you constantly compare yourself to others, and I wanted to be able to be prompted on something that maybe I hadn’t thought about recently.

The initial iteration of the game featured a light and dark side to each card which were meant to be personal time (dark, inflective, in the mind) and sharing time to start a dialogue (white, open, sharing, reflecting). The incorporation of color into the text was my next attempt to highlight the main theme of the card itself.

playtest, iterate, repeat

During college, I worked as a Resident Assistant in the freshman dorms for a few years. During the time I made this game, I took advantage of the opportunity of being surrounded by so many potential playtesters.

The first time I played this game with a group of students, they were already friends, bonded by their being away from home for the first time. I invited them to my room, asked them if they wanted to participate with me, and we got to playing. We went through some happy yellow cards, romantic red cards, and eventually made our way to the emotional blue cards. During our inflection phase, when players are given an opportunity to think about the prompt to themselves, the atmosphere warm comforting. It was in this silence I realized the power this game had.

Reflection time came and one of the playtesters shared some really tough information that they hadn’t verbalized before. They were met with open arms and hugs and love and they felt comfortable being their authentic selves for the first time in this group. Since then, I knew I needed to continue working on this game and making it as good as it could be. I saw firsthand the good that came from taking time to be vulnerable.

The final product

Take the Color and Run with It

I wanted this game to be a celebration, a conversation, an experience. After a few tweaks to white space, readability, and color, the results were a 40 card set deck with rules that featured topics to reflect on and prompts to discuss with old friends, new friends, and potential friends. Each color of the deck is associated with a genre of questioning, from Passionate Red to Deep Blue exploring the gamut of emotions each of us go through in the human experience.