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Project Overview

game design/Visual design/Package design/Illustration

Academic Conundrum is a board game that simulates the operation of a biological research laboratory. Players will play the role of a professor striving to climb the academic ladder, recruiting students, advancing research topics, and reaping results. Strengthening your own laboratory through the cycle of fundraising and publishing papers.
Will you choose to uphold your principles and seek a way out in poverty, or bow down to desires and shortcuts, opening the curtain of fraud?
Make choices and balance in reputation, income, and fame.

Role

Game Artist

Platform

Board Game

Game Engine

Board Game

Genre

Card Game

Material

300g mounted card paper, 300g coated card paper, acrylic, wood

Design Purpose

Through this game, the primary objective is to let players experience the helplessness of the current state of scientific research. Various unethical behaviors have become shortcuts for the initial stages of laboratory work. In this game, players will experience and uncover the lesser-known aspects of the research field. It aims to guide young people who have not yet entered the industry to develop the right ethical perspective on research and prepare in advance for future challenges.

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PACKAGE DESIGN



The packaging cover adopts a binary opposition style that fits the entire work.
Two symmetrical hands symbolize "opposing control", holding a double helix pattern that represents biotechnology, in line with the theme of the work.

Packaging Cover Design




The side edges in all four directions are printed with game titles and logos. When players store the board game packaging box on a bookshelf, no matter which direction it faces, they can clearly see the name of the game.

Packaging Side Design:

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In order to facilitate players to understand the contents of fhe game before buying it, the bottom of the outer packaging printed the entire number of game cards and tokens. Players can confirm the type of game before purchasing. And after purchasing, they can check the index on the box to see if any of their cards or tokens are missing.

Packaging Bottom Design:

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EVENT DECISION CARD 
EVENT DECISION CARD 
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FUNCTIONAL CARD 
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The game demonstrates a certain degree of cumbersome flow and players taking a slower time to familiarize themselves with the The game demonstrates a certain degree of cumbersome flow and players taking a slower time to familiarize themselves with the game process. However, after multiple rounds of game experience, players gradually enter their roles and improve their understanding of the operation and management of their own biological laboratory, forming their own gaming style. Currently, each player's unique color can effectively help them quickly make judgments in actual operation, thereby achieving the purpose of adapting to the game play.game process. However, after multiple rounds of game experience, players gradually enter their roles and improve their understanding of the operation and management of their own biological laboratory, forming their own gaming style. Currently, each player's unique color can effectively help them quickly make judgments in actual operation, thereby achieving the purpose of adapting to the game play.

Improvement Plan

According to the current actual game experience, the information on the scoreboard and the journal board is too simple. The players will occasionally forget the specific functions of these two modules in the middle of the game, which affects the game experience. Moreover, considering that this game has a large number of accessories and game card content, the packaging box should have appropriate storage design, especially for the storage design of small parts, so as to reduce the possibility of losing accessories by the players in the actual use process.

PLAY TEST
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