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Reuben Williams

Product Design and Technology (BSc)

A conscientious, creative designer who enjoys embarking on design tasks and projects that surround personal hobbies and interests.

Card Portal

Trading Card Games have been popular for 30 years with ever-expanding rules but little enhancement to players’ immersive experience.

Card Portal aims to engage experienced and new players alike by making the games easier to understand and bringing their favourite cards to life.

The tale of how Card Portal would be used by players during a game.
No matter the card or variant of the card, Card Portal will recognise it, play a unique animation and help players with any of its rulings – ensuring a fair, fun game experience.

The Concept Evolution

Aesthetic appropriateness, GUI convenience and prioritising tabletop space were the main aspects of designing this product. Card Portal needed to look like it belongs in the fantasy-themed games it enhances, as well as fit conveniently within tabletop play spaces and be intuitive to use whilst playing.

Early ideation, exploring features and form.
The semester 1 proposal design, pre-testing feedback.
Post-testing development, finalising components.

Development and Testing

NFC technology was used with the trading cards to simulate how the cameras underneath the dragon heads would identify cards. With the help of this and a Raspberry Pi for a GUI/touchscreen, a functional prototype was created to provide a realistic testing experience with players to gather feedback.

Planning the GUI layout and aesthetics.
Coding and testing the circuitry.
Building the functional prototype.
Testing in a proper game with players.
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