Metamorphosis
This game was developed to accompany other materials, including the book Gemma Jones Visits Nuthatch Hollow that I designed as part of The Hua Lab. While we had been engaging elementary school students with the children's book, we asked ourselves how we could take that engagement further.
Throughout this whole process, I collaborated with Dr. Hua on literature reviews, user base analysis, and competitive/comparative critiques as we user tested versions of this game.
The game is still in development as we work to help this product meet our end-user's emotional and actionable goals.
How to Play
Each player collects leaf tokens that represent the energy each of their species cards needs to metamorphose.
The first player to metamorphose all of their species cards wins!
Be careful of players predating and inflicting disease, environmental, and human stressors on your species.
Phase One: Build Your Community
A
Shuffle the Species Cards and hand them out until all players have three (3) cards.
B
Players then pass their hand to the player on their right. Repeat this until all cards have been placed.
C
Players then pass their hand to the player on their right. Repeat this until all cards have been placed.
Phase Two: Battle it Out!
Shuffle the rest of the deck and hand out cards face down to all players until everyone has five (5) cards.
The person who last saw a wild animal goes first. Order goes counterclockwise.
A
Take three (3) tokens from the pile. You may apply these tokens however you like among your Species Cards. It takes 10 (10) tokens for a Species Card to metamorphose.
B
Choose one (1) of your Species Cards and use their special skill. Some Species Cards’ special skill may only be used when that card is being attacked.
C
Play up to one (1) card from your hand. You may play a card with a green leaf border at any time during gameplay. Cards with orange leaves must be played immediately upon drawing.
Metamorphosing a Species Card
Once a Species Card is metamorphosed, flip it over and return all then (10) tokens to the token pile. This Species Card cannot be affected by any cards from this point onward.
Phase Three: Draw Cards
Draw cards from the draw pile until you have five (5) cards in your hand.
Winning
The first player to have all of their Species Cards reach metamorphosis wins!
Game Manual
Card Types
Blue Cards
These cards help your own species and can be played at any time during your turn.
White Cards
These cards help your own species and can be played at any time during any player's turn and must be played immediately upon drawing.
Brown Cards
These cards represent the anthropogenic pollutant, pollution caused by humans, that stress ecosystems.
This kind of card hurts other players' species card.
Yellow Cards
These cards represent natural events that stress ecosystems.
This kind of card may hurt other players' species card and affect gameplay.
Red Cards
These cards represent predators that eat the species that all players play as.
This kind of card hurts other players' species card.
Orange Cards
These cards represent pathogens and diseases that affect the species that all players play as.
This kind of card hurts other players' species card.
Purple Cards
These cards represent extreme ecological events, resulting in the extreme diminishment of a species.
This kind of card hurts your species card and must be played immediately upon drawing.
Back Cards
These cards represent abstracted stressors on wetland ecosystems.
This kind of card may hurt other players' species card and affect gameplay.