Independent Project
My game, Jolt Jots, will help new writers become more comfortable with creative writing by providing inspiration from real tools writers use and reframing the process as a fun, inviting way to try something new, focusing on the enjoyment of writing rather than worrying about quality.
Drawing on advice from real writers and abstract art for inspiration, my target demographic of 18-26-year-old non-writers can find the fun in writing. Jolt Jots presents writing as an enjoyable, playful experience where players can get silly and be creative without fear of perfection.
My final outcome is a complete kit of all the materials a non-writer would need to begin creative writing. The kit includes a writing guidebook, a writing book with fifty lined pages, fifty double-sided cards and one example card.
All the materials have been considered for sizing and inclusion for the final design to be presented in a writing kit with everything in it, so players will have all the materials they may need in one package to remove any hurdles they may run into that may be used as an excuse to not write.
The compact design, where the cards and booklets can stay together, doesn’t take much space on desk, encouraging users to have it out versus keeping it tucked away and hidden on a shelf."
All the materials have been considered for sizing and inclusion for the final design to be presented in a writing kit with everything in it, so players will have all the materials they may need in one package to remove any hurdles they may run into that may be used as an excuse to not write.
The compact design, where the cards and booklets can stay together, doesn’t take much space on desk, encouraging users to have it out versus keeping it tucked away and hidden on a shelf."
The image shows three of the fifty provided cards for the game. The top card is an example card, showing the player how they may interpret the abstract ink art of the cards.
On the card, there's a drawing over the ink, creating a more defined image of what the player may see within the ink. With the illustration, there’s a few-sentence story going along with the image to give the players a little example of what one of their stories looks like, and how they don’t have to be restricted by what they see and can build onto what’s in the card. "
On the card, there's a drawing over the ink, creating a more defined image of what the player may see within the ink. With the illustration, there’s a few-sentence story going along with the image to give the players a little example of what one of their stories looks like, and how they don’t have to be restricted by what they see and can build onto what’s in the card. "
The game uses abstract ink art as the primary style for the cards. This style came from 410 research over what style of art provides the most inspiration and was most fun to write about, scoring the highest of all the styles tested. The game provides 50 double-sided cards, one side being just black ink and the other side being coloured ink.
From my research, I found it was a very even split between having a preference over one or the other, or having no preference at all. Some people preferred the black ink over the colour because they did not feel restricted for what they could write about, but others found that the colour gave them something to think about and gave them a little help, because just the black ink made them feel a little lost. So instead of choosing one and alienating a part of my audience, the double-sided cards give the option to simply flip the card if one side is not very helpful.
The guidebook includes three game rule options for different player needs. Rule set one focuses on encouraging ideation, building bigger ideas, and getting into the flow of constructing a story with a little more structure. Rule set two focuses on group collaboration, building ideas off of each other, encouraging the players to go in directions they might not have gone before, and getting the group energy to get people more invested in writing. Rule set three focuses on quick, short ideas, where the player doesn’t have to construct on multiple ideas, just a little thing here and there as they find themselves with a few minutes to spare. At the end of the guidebook, there are some additional tips and tricks that have been sourced from my survey, meant to give the player a little encouragement and advice for the kind of mindset they may need to want to remember to have fun with writing.
The game also provides the players with a little writing book. The writing book is a book filled with lined paper, which can easily be torn out if the players didn’t like the story or if they wanted to share it with others.
The writing book has very faint text of the advice featured from the back of the guidebook, as little reminders as you play. I included them here so players don’t have to go back and forth between the guidebook and their story; they can just focus on their story and get little encouragement as they go.
The writing book has very faint text of the advice featured from the back of the guidebook, as little reminders as you play. I included them here so players don’t have to go back and forth between the guidebook and their story; they can just focus on their story and get little encouragement as they go.