About the Game

Penguin Post Office is an unpublished card game I created for a course assignment in my MFA program. I designed the cards, manuals, and box while my husband, Jonathan, helped with game mechanics. And our friends helped with play-testing! We hope to pitch the game in the future.

The Backstory

At the tip of Antarctica lies a place called Port Lockroy, which is nicknamed "The Penguin Post Office." Thousands of tourists gather yearly to buy postal cards to greet their loved ones from Antarctica while watching cute penguins roam the port.

What if penguins actually worked at a post office? And this location was one of many post offices run by penguins?

In this game, players are in charge of one post office run by a different type of penguin. Each post office generates its profits by delivering postal cards to various locations worldwide. The longer the trek, the greater the profits. Be warned, though! Penguins are surprisingly competitive and have been known to resort to less-than-ethical means of making profit. And as the world continues to change, the postal routes become more and more hazardous. But the risks are worth it. After all, only one penguin can become the ruler of a Penguin Postal Empire.

How to play

The goal of the game is to have 30 Postal Profits at the end of your turn. These represent the profits gained by sending postcards throughout the world.

Players earn points by collecting mail cards. A mail card represents a piece of mail sent by a penguin. The greater the distance the post is sent, the greater the profit your post office will make each trip. Each mail card has a postal profit number, but forming a match of three of the same color gives you more overall profit.

To throw more chaos into the mix, there are also Action Cards and Reaction Cards. Action Cards allow players to play an action on their turn, while Reaction Cards can be played immediately in response to an event or another player’s action. Examples include stealing a set of cards from another player or cleaning up after a “natural disaster” card. (When a player draws a natural disaster card from the deck, all the post offices immediately take a hit. Each player must give up a mail card.) However, if a player has an “evacuation” card, they can play it in reaction to the natural disaster and save their mail card.

Behind the game illustration

Imagine designing a game from scratch. I thought to myself, where do I even begin?

I first decided on the feel of the game. I wanted the penguins to be cute and the colors to be playful. I imagined children playing the game, but I also wanted to include details that adults would enjoy. The game design borrows from a lot of vintage postal stamps and travel postcards, making it feel nostalgic. With all of these ideas in mind, I created a “Mood Board.” The mood board is a collection of images that helps with style decisions.

Then I thought of design hierarchy. Which information needed to be immediately clear, and how could I do that with design? For the Mail Cards, I knew the points must be front and center. Everything else could be decoration, or a nice detail you notice later on. And of course, the mail cards needed to be color-coordinated according to their rank in the point system. This is the quickest way to tell the difference between a 1-point card and a 5-point card.

Designing the Cards

After narrowing down the game information, it was fun to pick out story details. What were the modes of transportation for the penguins? On foot? On skis? With or without a jet pack? I decided on all of them.

I drew the penguin characters in Procreate, then exported them as PNGs and moved them into Adobe Illustrator to place in the card template. The backgrounds were photos of national parks around the world that I edited in Photoshop to look like old engravings that you would find on postage stamps.

(A note on photo copyright: I scavenged most landscape photos from royalty-free websites online, but some were taken from Pinterest because I ran out of time. If I were to publish the game, I would ensure all the photos are royalty-free, or just hand-draw all of the backdrops to avoid copyright issues.)

After designing the cards, I printed them in batches on thick card stock using a laser printer. Then I brought the print-outs to the Laser-cutting studio and watched the laser do its work. It was satisfying to lift the sheet and watch all the perfectly-trimmed cards fall out without a tear.

Game brochures and booklets

I also illustrated a map that explains the story behind the point system. Each location marker represents a mail card location. Since the penguins are sending mail from Antarctica, the greater the distance, the greater the profits.

I measured the distance of the mail by latitude and grouped them into their respective point categories. For example, the pink section represents the mail sent to locations at a latitude of 45 degrees North. The mail cards for these locations are colored pink and have the greatest number of points: Mongolia, Canada, and Japan. On the flipside, the mail sent in the purple section only reaches 45 degrees South, making it a quick delivery route for the penguins. The mail cards for these locations are purple and yield the fewest points: Argentina, Chile, South Africa, and Australia.

The back of the map shows the point system. It folds out like a travel brochure and fits nicely in the box.

The game instructions were designed with less flair. Instead of a regular instruction booklet, I made an “Employee’s Handbook.” Even postie penguins need an onboarding before taking the job! Inspired by the practical design of documents from a Human Resources department, I kept each page minimal and text-only. The front of the handbook shows a fake address for the (PR) Penguin Resources Department: 1340 Snowfall Drive, Port Lockroy, Antarctica 64°49'S, 63°30'W.

Box Design

Then came the box. I knew from the start it would be a package. I designed custom stamps and printed them on thin packing paper. Then I wrapped an existing box and tied it nicely with packing string. That was all the box needed, and I was very happy with the final product.

I loved designing the custom stamps: “Hand-delivered by a postie penguin”

Play-testing

Play-testing involves a group of people who actively play a game in development. During the gameplay, the play-testers give feedback on design issues and/or experience. This is why play testing provides necessary revisions for games before their market release.

The first round of play-testing occurred in class. The point system needed improvement; it was too easy to achieve in larger groups but nearly impossible in smaller ones. Testers also wanted more cards for player interaction, as they enjoyed elements like stealing and making deals. Overall, everyone was impressed by the design quality, and my professor appreciated the detailed story elements. Their feedback was invaluable for improving Penguin Post Office.

For the second round of play-testing, I had family friends play-test the card game, and they provided great feedback. They enjoyed the competitive gameplay and offered helpful suggestions for improving readability.

Some takeaways

There are so many decisions that go into making a game. What will the box packaging look like? The instruction packet? The game pieces? With self-publishing, it is all up to you. While I am open to self-publishing options for Penguin Post Office, I am also considering licensing options. But for now, this is considered a personal project for meeting course requirements. I appreciated the class because it allowed for a wide exploration of illustrated projects. In addition to game design, we learned how to make comics, zines, screen-printed apparel, lino-cut post-cards, and so much more.

It was encouraging to see friends, family, and peers get more involved with my work. With game-play, the audience is not only viewing the illustrations, but they are playing with them, and their decisions play an active role in how they experience the created work. Everyone has a different experience. Sometimes it is winning through clever maneuvers, or losing all of their cards, while other times, it is finding funny ways to add to the story. I also liked that I could use the game for educational purposes. Players can explore geography, latitude and longitude, global climate change, and wildlife in a silly game about penguins delivering mail. :)