A meal is only as sweet as it’s provider.
Served Sweet is a turn-based co-operative board game about preparing dishes for customers of your delicious dessert bakery. Players will work together to forage, prepare, and pass ingredients to each other, all while keeping track of each customer’s wait time.
DetailsServed Sweet was created by a group of five talented game designers at Northeastern University, including me. My role within this project was primarily as the project manager and a lead game designer, but I also dabbled in rule writing, balancing, and some of the art, including character cards, the board, and the cookbook (our rule sheet). We originally wanted this game to be a cozy and relaxing game where players work together to create meals, but through conducting playtests and recording feedback, we found more success with a stress-inducing, high strategy experience. After 3-4 weeks of intense work, we were all proud of the final product, and I learned a lot about balancing, food, and especially time management.
Served Sweet Logo!
One of numerous playtests that we conducted. Through these playtests, we received valuable insights that helped shape our final design.
My first iteration of our character cards. These were quick sketches that aimed to give players information on which dishes needed to be prepared and who wanted them.
My first iteration of our board. The hexagonal pattern was chosen to provide better movement strategies, especially because movement was limited by AP. The locations of preparation spots and resource foraging simply had their names and their AP cost, and they were played concurrently as recipes were created so that the flow of the gameplay as smooth.
My final iteration of the character cards. The new design now includes three components: the character itself, both named and drawn by me, the specific dish which the character requested, and the number of stars the players would generate depending on swiftness of completion.
My final iteration of the board. I worked with a wonderful designer named Daniel Valentine to make sure that each quadrant had a unique design that fit their theme. We expanded the finished dessert area both to limit movement space for players and require less AP usage to finish each dish. Each point of interest also now has a distinct design. The names and AP costs were moved to the reference book so that there wasn't too much visual clutter.
The front page of our Served Sweet Reference Sheet. I designed both the cover and the inside pages to be reminiscent of a cookbook to better immerse the players within the world.
Four of our Eight recipes. I worked with game designer Austin Jackson to balance these recipes to ensure they worked in-game and in real life. (I did forget that you don't have to wash bananas before you use them.) The recipe images were designed by game artist Ciaran Shea.
Page one of the rules of Served Sweet. I co-wrote the directions with a game designer named Jo Shumaker.
Page two of the rules of Served Sweet, including a couple more designs of the character cards.
My designs for the Served Sweet preparation tables.
My designs for the Served Sweet foraging locations.
The full list of Served Sweet's base and mixed ingredients. I worked with my team to create a unique list of foods that fit our cozy theme while also being believable food ingredients. As seen in the recipe sheet, however, we had to use some creative liberties.
Four of our Eight wonderfully crafted dishes. I worked with another awesome game designer by the name of Austin Jackson to balance these recipes to be both feasible in-game and in real life. I, however, did forget that you don't have to wash bananas before you use them. The recipe images were also designed by Ciaran Shea.
The last four of Served Sweet's recipes.