From Art nights to card fights

When you have a family, you're always looking for interesting and unique ways to make meaningful memories. One overarching element of our family was a natural gravitation to creativity in some form or fashion. We experimented with some ideas, which initially led to conducting "Art Nights" every so often. Even though they weren't always at night, the idea remained the same: a time to come together to have some fun and be creative.

Ideally, this could have been a time to come together and work on anything, whether it was a solo project or joint effort. Considering that most of the kids were still young at the time, working together would be the only realistic solution. So with that in mind, we worked on different mini projects using different mediums.

Art Night drawings that were created from a written prompt.

This meant the possibilities were endless. Art Nights would be a way to set the stage for the one thing that causes many people to avoid creativity: perfection. The idea was to create something without worrying that it had to be "officially" complete and refined. These sessions were merely short times that were used to spark conversation and foster creativity without the apprehension.

This Art Night collage was a split canvas styled project, where each person took one section and colored it.

The tasks or projects were simple in their application, but usually with a twist to it. Sometimes this took the form of a collage or a split canvas picture, where each took a part of the same picture and decorated it in their own way. Other times, we worked form a blank sheet of paper and took turns drawing on the same page to create a unique conglomeration. Although drawing tended to take center stage many Art Nights, there was still ample ideas to keep things interesting.

Art Night project that started with drawing a squiggle, then passing the page to another to create a face from random the line.

For a while, these Art Nights became a staple of family time, but as with shifting family scheduled and responsibilities, they tapered off. They would still occur, but much more infrequently. However, the true purpose wasn't really the Art Nights themselves, but the opportunity to create, connect, and collaborate. This left a new question: Could there be a new way to accomplish the same purpose AND create something a more lasting?

Art Night Collaboration Map

Art Night Collaboration Map Detail

Art Night Collaboration Map Detail

Art Night Collaboration Map Detail

 This Art Night design was a "map" of a world that was created along the edges of the poster paper.

At this time, the kids were older, but still only up to middle school for the eldest. This meant that any idea would still need to be simple enough to be able to complete without requiring too much complicated components or orchestration. There were some ideas to make a story, possibly a comic book, maybe a mini video game, or even some other interactive medium. We finally decided on creating a simple, physical game.

To this end, we focused on a card game as the best avenue to accomplish this. The idea was to create something simple enough to play, but with a nice mix between favoring some strategy over luck. In addition, one important facet of the game would be that no card was truly worthless. The foundations for Card Commander were born. Now the challenge would be to take ideation and make it into an actual creation.

Notes about designing the gameplay mechanics for the card game concept.

This would lay the groundwork for not only Card Commander, but eventually the subsequent card game, Fighting Fantasy. These projects would become the foundation for a lasting memory of creativity locked into a physical memento that could be played time and time again.