Guessture
Guessture is a game to help colleagues or friends enhance relationships in the virtual world. Players will be divided into two groups, and one must draw a card and act it out without speaking to let others guess what it is.
Project background - Limited interaction outside of the work environment
Since the pandemic, people have started working remotely. This phenomenon makes it difficult for colleagues to maintain relationships since it is hard for them to have fun together.
Experts predict that there will be 36.2 million Americans working remotely by 2025.
(ZIPPA the career expert)
54% of workers feel it has been harder to build relationships with colleagues while working from home. (Totem)
84% of Americans have a harder time making friends when working remotely
(Jobsage)
Project solution - Building relationships through informal interaction
The spontaneous informal interactions at risk in hybrid and remote work are not distractions or unproductive. They foster employee connections that feed productivity and innovation.
(Nancy Baym, Jonathan Larson, and Ronnie Martin from Harvard Business Review elaborate)
23% of employees build relationships through digital Interactive Office Solutions. (Entrepreneur)
How might we enhance interaction in a fun way?
Design goal
1. Create the opportunity to interact with each other face to face
2. Work together to boost morale
3. Create a joyful atmosphere and increase positive interaction
Design solution - Working together to achieve the goal in a funny way
What if we can play a game and see the funny and cute side of people so we get closer to each other? Guessture is a game where players have to collaborate to win a game. Players will use funny gestures to help teammates score points during the game. In this way, people will enhance tacit agreement and relationships more.
Key features - Teamwork, Joyful atmosphere, Face to Face
People need to turn on their cameras to guess their teammates' gestures. Through the game, the teams will create different friendship chemistry in a joyful atmosphere.
How to play Guessture?
The flow of how to play the game
Take Angel as an example. She wants to play Guessture with her colleagues.
Step 1. Start the game
Angel wants to play with her colleagues, so she chooses to play a private game. She must set up the game settings after entering her name. When she finishes the settings, her colleagues can join the game by entering the code.
(The private game)
However, when you want to play with strangers online, you can choose a public game.
(The public game)
Step 2. Play the game
Angel is the player who needs to act out the word to let her teammates guess what it is.
1. Draw the card
2. Start gesturing during the remaining time
(The gesturing player)
All players can guess what Angel is gesturing so she wants to make her gestures understandable for her teammates but not for the other players. When other players give the wrong answer, an icon will be displayed. On the other hand, if the player enters the right answer, there is a pop-up window showing that you are right!
(Other players answering the quesiton)
Step 3. Win the game
Angel knows what Tom wants to gesture, so she enters the answer to win the game.
When the team is almost winning, there is a star on the score bar for encouragement.
Eventually, there is the winning page to celebrate victory.
(Enter the answer)
Game Instruction
If players do not know how to play, they can press the Game Instructions button to learn.
(Game Instruction)
Design element
I want to create a retro feeling because the Guessture game is an old-school interactive game. Thus, I used retro colors and design elements to create the interfaces and Card decks.
UI kits
Card decks
The reflection
The design process is memorable and fun since when I thought about this game during a class, other people thought it was interesting but did not know how to create it. Thus, I conducted diverse design references such as meeting apps and game designs.
What I learn
- learn how to use different references of fields to design a game
- learn how to transfer a physical design into a virtual design
- learn how to design card decks
What I need to learn further
- how to maintain and design the consistency of UI elements
- learn more about retro design syles
