Friday, August 25, 2017

The Making of a Fun Family Game, Part 1

The Rooster Race Journey

The sun rises over the farm. Here comes the roosters. And boy are they hungry!
Cute farm and chick illustration by Imagine That! Design
©2015 Imagine That! Design


Rooster Race, The High Low Game of Fowl Fun was one of the first games we helped bring to life with Roosterfin Games. 

 

 2017 Seal of Excellence Award by Creative Child Magazine.
A fun family game, Rooster Race, designed and illustrated by Traci Van Wagoner and Kurt Keller

The Beginning:

This is how it all. We got an initial verbal brief from the Joe Roosterfin with a description of the game and basic imagery. Then he sent us a rough instruction sheet outlining the game play and cards with basic clip art. 


Client Brief Instructions for new game, Rooster Race, for ITD to develop
Initial Instructions
Imagine That! Design gets an initial brief for developing a new family game, Rooster Race
Initial Cards


Logo Development:
One of the first things we do with a new concept is create a logo. We start by researching other similar products, colors for the overall game, fonts, image and illustration styles, and overall looks to help us figure out where we're going and which direction we should take, i.e. character vs. straight type logo design. Then we explore the concept and various directions with rough sketches. Starting with very loose sketches to more detailed choices which we send to the client. We design with the giggle factor in mind. Once one of us starts giggling while working on a project, we know we're on to something.

Logo Sketch Options for the family game Rooster Race by Roosterfin Games
Rough Sketch Options
Logo warm up and exploration sketches by Imagine That! Design
Rough Sketches

Final Rooster Race logo sketches  created by Imagine That! Design for client approval
Final Logo Sketch Options
Upon approval of a direction from the client (and hopefully we've made them giggle too), we dive in to refining the design, breaking it down into parts, colors, characters, fonts, tag line, etc. and start debating its pieces and parts until we are happy with the overall look and story it tells.
 
Rooster Race Logo Development by Imagine That! Design
Rooster Race Logo Development
The logo for this game begged to be a heavy character concept reflecting the cute characters on the cards. The client loved it!
Rooster Race Final Logo
Rooser Race logo on black background by Imagine That! DesignRooster Race black and white logo for instructions by Imagine That! Design
Character Development:
We spent a good deal of time refining the overall character looks as well as individual personalities of the characters. Here's a sneak peek of the character line up.
Rooster Race characters designed and illustrated by Imagine That! Design
Come back next week to continue the rooster's journey, starting with giggle worthy character development. Until next time, you can buy your own copy of this fun family game here.
Cock-a-doodle-doo!
Cute baby rooster character from Rooster Race, a game developed by Imagine That! Design for Rosterfin Games