Splendor : The Forest of Life
2022
Speculative Project
Board Game
Adobe Indesign, Adobe Illustrator, Adobe Photoshop, Procreate
“Splendor-the Forest of Life”
is a game which is a remake version of the game Splendor. The thoughts about land for people and all living things on the earth are all in this game. The game reveals earth-centered worldview and love of all species living on this earth. The game is about restoring the forest into a living and loving placewhere no one possesses exclusively but lives together in it.
Therefore, you can experience the beauty of nature and coexistence here in this game. The history of Korea when they were colonialized by other country and how people fought against dictatorship is reflected in the game.
By having people play this game, I wanted to make them experience the sadness of loss of their lands and why we should know their stories.
Design Process
01 Idea Sketch
While using the basic card system of the original Splendor developing the cards and collecting tokens, I came up with new rules added to the original game.
In ‘Splendor: The Forest of Life’, each player is going to have a designated animal and has to collaborate with other players to produce the land of life, which is going to be a key card to win the game. Each player is going to produce different factors that compose the land of life. Those are going to be the tokens and tiles that are going to be used to make a land of life. Therefore, players should exchange and sometimes help other players while playing the game.
02 Building the System of the Game
03 Game Contents
Game Board (18in *18in)
04 Game Rules and Settings
01 Game Settings
Each player is going to have a job and a designated animal. The player is going to work together with the animal to win the game.
02 Game Setup
Step 1.
First, each player should roll the dice to decide the order to go through the board and choose their jobs and animals.
Step 2.
Get job tiles and animal cards as decided and then place the job tile and the animal card in front of each player.
Step 3.
Place the game board in the middle of the table and then shuffle action cards and each development card deck separately, and then place them in a column in the middle of the table in increasing order from bottom to top ( O ; OO ; OOO ).
Step 4.
Then reveal 4 cards from each level. Shuffle the noble tiles and reveal as many of them as there are players plus one
(example: 5 tiles for a 4-player game). The remaining tiles are removed from the game; they will not be used during the game.
Step 5.
After that, place the tokens in 5 distinct piles (sort them by color), action cards, nature tiles, and land of life cards within reach of the players.
Step 6.
Finally, place the tokens in 5 distinct piles (sort them by color) within reach of the player’s hands.
90 Development Cards
40 Level 1 Development Cards
30 Level 2 Development Cards
20 Level 3 Development Cards
60 Tokens (12 each)
12 Shadow, 12 Oasis, 12 Light, 12 Land, 12 Gem
03 Game Overview
During the game, the players take tokens. With these tokens, they purchase development cards, which are worth prestige points and/or bonuses. These bonuses allow players to purchase subsequent development cards for a lesser cost. When a player has enough bonuses, they immediately receive a visit from a nature tile (which is going to be the parts to make a land of life). Each player is going to roll the dice each turn to go around the board. All players are allowed to take 2 kinds of actions in their turns :
1. Take Tokens 2. Exchange 3. Use Action Cards 4. Earn Jewels from Animals 5. Buy Development Cards 6. Reserve One Card.
As soon as a player reaches 15 prestige points, the current turn ends and the player with more land of life and the prestige points is declared the winner. One land of life worth more than any prestige points.
04 End of the Game
When a player reaches 15 prestige points, complete the current round so that each player has played the same number of turns. The player who then has more land of life with the highest number of prestige points is declared the winner. In case of a tie, the player who has purchased the fewest development cards wins.
10 Job Tiles (Players)
Land of Life Cards
Players are going to have jobs, and so do the animals. The jobs for the players are chef, smith, potioneer, wanderer, and jeweler. The jobs for the animals are herbalist, gourmet, guide, collector, and hunter.
With the tokens and gems the players earn during the game, they are going to buy cards and develop them into nature tiles. When you collect all 4 nature tiles, you will be able to get the Land of Life card, which is the final destination of this process. The more lands you protect and make, you will win.
Good luck with your journey and remember. You are not the only one who’s restoring this whole forest.
60 Action Cards
10 Blessing of the Fairies
10 The Tree of Souls
10 Glory of the Sun
10 Call of the Sea
10 Tower of the WInds
10 Benecia Cards
60 Gems (12 each)
12 Gem, 12 Light, 12 Oasis, 12 Shadow, 12 Land
48 Nature Tiles
12 Sun Tiles
12 Moon Tiles
12 Water Tiles
12 Energy Tiles
5 Animal Cards
05 Jobs for Players
Chef
Animals: Herbalist or Gourmet Produces-Land, Light, Oasis
Smith
Animals: Guide or Collector Produces-Light, Land, Shadow
Potioneer
Animals: Herbalist or Gourmet Produces-Gem, Shadow, Oasis
Wanderer
Animals: Hunter or Guide Produces-Land, Gem, Oasis
Jeweler
Animals: Hunter or Collector Produces-Gem, Light, Shadow
*
1.
A player who begins first and can choose their animal first has to choose animals among two choices listed. However, if there’ areno animasl left that are mentioneatin the topthe , player can choose one among any other animals that are left.
2.
A player can only take tokens that they can produce, and other tokens can be earned by exchanging them with other players or by going around the game board.
3.
When players are exchanging, they can force deals with Benecia cards, but without Benecia, they should exchange them withthe same amount or the value of items.
Design Outcome
