Bemused is an asymmetrical, cooperative card game designed to facilitate a spontaneous narrative shared between two players, influenced by the oral tradition of storytelling. Players are challenged to be creative while working within the constraints of the game and against the ticking clock of the play structure. Improvisational storytelling is the core component of the game's design, wherein one player is primarily responsible for managing the narrative flow of a story while the other player subtly influences it. The designed challenge of this collaborative effort comes from the shared objective of including specific themes or ideas only one player knows of.
The narrative of the story told by players is dictated by the themes and concepts provided by the game's Word and Event cards. Players construct the majority of the narrative but their stories are anchored to the setting and genre the story practically asks for through these Word and Event cards which must be used in their telling of it. The Word cards keep the game light and playable, while the Event cards provide a structure and help players to transition their stories into thematic narrative arcs. The contents of the Event cards are derived from research on common story tropes and observations of the patterns of verbal communication in the context of the game’s play structure.
Year: 2021
Role: Game Designer/Graphic Designer
Collaborator: Nyusha Iampolski, Marcy Leiman, Rook Liu, Jon Talbot
Medium: Card game
