Games Studies - Full Compilation : Tabletop Game Development

January 04, 2026

Games Studies - Full Compilation : Tabletop Game Development

13 October 2025 - 7 November 2025 // Week 4 - Week 7

Racheal Tan Tze Rou // 0381005

Advanced Typography // Bachelor of Design (Hons) // Creative Media

Games Studies - Full Compilation : Tabletop Game Development

TABLE OF CONTENT

1. Lecture Notes

2. Module Information

3. Weekly Progress

4. Reflection

LECTURE NOTES

REFER TO EXERCISE 1

MODULE INFORMATION

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WEEKLY PROGRESS

This blog post focuses on the development process of our tabletop game.

Individual report works can be found in the following blog posts:

Week 1

In Week 1, Ms. Anis briefed us on the task requirements. Afterward, she provided several games for us to play with our classmates. We had a great time playing Scrabble.

Figure 1.1 ; Scrabble in class

Next, we formed a group for our future tabletop game group project:

Group Forming:

Ye Ying Ying (0364398) (Group Leader)

Wong Mei Yee (0367857)

Racheal Tan Tze Rou (0381005)

Areeya Foo Xue Ting (0368211)

After forming the group, we began exploring different types of games individually. We conducted research to gain a clearer idea of the type of game we wanted to create.

Week 2

This week, we held group discussions to brainstorm ideas. We chose Cluedo as our primary inspiration but decided to adapt it into a cooking game blended with Malaysian food culture.

Week 3

This week, our group had the chance to spend some time playing games together at the Student Life Centre. Although the selection of games was limited, we still tried out a few different ones. It was a good opportunity to explore various board games and gather ideas that could inspire our own project. Through playing, we also discussed what worked well in these games and what can we learn from them.

Figure 3.1 ; Cluedo Playtest

Figure 3.2 ; UNO Playtest

Figure 3.3 ; Blokus Playtest

Playing the games together gave us a clearer vision of how our game should function.

Week 4

By the fourth week, we had developed a rough draft of our game rules; our project is finally starting to take shape.

Week 5

This week, we created a lo-fi prototype and conducted our first mock-up test. This initial playtest was done internally within our group. Using the prototype, we played through the game to see how the mechanics worked in practice. Because we were testing it ourselves, we were able to quickly identify issues and discuss improvements on the spot.

Figure 5.1 ; Mock Test

Because we were testing it ourselves, we were able to quickly notice issues and discuss them on the spot.

Week 6

After completing our internal test last week, we identified several issues with the gameplay. This week, we focused on refining the game based on those findings before finalizing the card visuals.

Our refinements included:

Adjusting Card Quantities
Simplifying the Rules
Finalizing the Card Designs

In the class, we presented the our initial game design including the components, mechanism, and rules.

We then continued working on Final Card Design as shown below

Figure 6.2 ; Design Development Progress

Week 7

Figure 7.1 Physical cards cutting

This week, we printed the physical cards and cut them to size. Once the physical deck was ready, we conducted our first external playtest with our friends.

Figure 7.2 ; Playtest #1

Date: 5/11/2025 (Week 7)

Duration: 1 hour 38 minutes

Video: New Players Group 1.mov

Refinement after Playtest #1:

Too easy to guess certain meal card → When guessing other players' meals, player can only guess one time for the same person (can not guess the second time if they have guessed it right before)
Too many Ingredient Cards compared to Action Cards (imbalance) can make players focus on collecting ingredients over using strategy → Reduce ingredient cards and add more action cards to make it balanced

Week 8

This week, we did another round of playtest with one of the group in our class.

Figure 8.1 ; Playtest #2 (with new players)

Date: 10/11/2025 (Week 8)

Duration: 1 hour 03 minutes

Video: New Players Group 2.mov

Week 9-11

Issue (Group 2 Feedback):

Players were confused by the one-action-per-turn rule
Compared the game to UNO, where multiple actions are allowed
New players needed time to understand the turn structure
Gameplay would feel limited without Action Cards
Action Cards are essential for:
- Sabotage
- Delaying opponents
- Creating tension

Refinement after Playtest #2:

Figure 8.2 ; Reminder

Added a clear rule reminder: “Only one action per turn”
Reinforced this rule during explanation and gameplay
No mechanical removal or simplification of Action Cards
Decision made to retain and emphasise Action Cards as a core strategic element
Ensured Action Cards remain frequent enough to affect gameplay meaningful

Figure 8.3 ; Playtest Report

Week 12

Final Playtest

In Week 12, we conducted our final playtest to evaluate the latest refinements made to the game. This session helped us observe whether the clarified rules and adjusted balance improved player understanding, strategic use of action cards, and overall gameplay flow.