When Life
Gives You
Lemons…
About the project…
When Life Gives You Lemons was a Board Game designed to facilitate conversations amongst young people about plausible futures and inequalities that surround them. The project grew out of research into coastal youth, in which it was observed that young people in such communities find themselves devoid of local prospects, which presents challenges in envisioning and strategizing for their upcoming years, In response to this research, the University of Southampton sought to create a game which would foster dialogue with young people regarding setting plans into action for their future, within a fun and supportive environment. The game aims to encourage unconventional and playful contemplation of the future for young individuals.
The project was designed with the assistance of young people in these communities through the use of user testing events. The game revolves around the balance of economic needs and mental health, and places players into a position of disparity. Reflecting reality, players endeavor to reach the board's centre symbolizing their ideal future. Progress entails collaborative efforts to collect resources (health and wellness tokens) to surmount increasingly challenging obstacle cards. t the start of each turn, players receive tokens based on unique character cards, establishing individual token 'entitlements' reflecting the unequal starting points in real life.
My role in the Project
I was hired by the University to Design the game mechanics, build upon the desired themes they wanted to pursue, and create the assets needed for play. The game had multiple iterations, which all changed based on user feedback received when I hosted user testing in schools on the Isle of Wight. Similarly the art work used on the cards also evolved over time; based on a title suggested by a member of the university the artwork settled on a theme of lemon characters representing the cards they were situated on.
Outside of Art, Design and Research, I also co-authored a published paper based on the game and its initial data, and showcased both the paper and game at GALA (Games and Learning Alliance) conference in November 2023. The image on the right was taken as both my colleague and I were presenting.
Art and Design
Below are the final iterations of card designs that were used in the game. From left to right there is the: character card, opportunity card, risk card, and obstacle card. In the bottom left there is the board I designed, and on the bottom right a screenshot of the Design document of the game. Players would each turn collect currency based on their character card, then choose either an opportunity, risk or obstacle card. The only way to progress up the board to the centre is by overcoming an obstacle card, meaning players must decided on their turn if they feel confident enough to beat the card or if they want to choose one of the other two options to try and build up either of their currencies.
