Nova
An abstract card game about health insurance.
BCBSMA innovation garage
Game Design
Problem space
This project started in an integrated studio class with Wentworth Institute of Technology Industrial Design and Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts. Our class’s task was to solve for the transition of turning 26 and getting health insurance for the first time.
Semester incubator
During our semester long class at BCBSMA, we cycled through the design process four times.
We learned how people turning 26 perceive health insurance and prototyped experiences to teach them how to use it.
Our final concept was a card game named Clear that taught aspects of health insurance plans through matching cards.
During our semester long class at BCBSMA, we cycled through the design process four times.
We learned how people turning 26 perceive health insurance and prototyped experiences to teach them how to use it.
Our final concept was a card game named Clear that taught aspects of health insurance plans through matching cards.
Internship
Another team member and I interned at BCBSMA the next semester and continued to work on the game.
The card game was fun, but it didn’t accomplish our goal; to teach people about the aspects of health insurance they’ll use.
The game was a good platform to teach, but it needed to be based on realistic situations.
1 week sprint
Over the course of a one week sprint, we defined realistic scenarios in health insurance and applied them to a new card game. We prototyped, tested, and iterated over and over again until the game play worked.
The new card game, Vital, gave players a persona and they learned what health insurance plans worked best with certain health scenarios.
Over the course of a one week sprint, we defined realistic scenarios in health insurance and applied them to a new card game. We prototyped, tested, and iterated over and over again until the game play worked.
The new card game, Vital, gave players a persona and they learned what health insurance plans worked best with certain health scenarios.
Focus groups
We held a focus group to test how the rules of the game were understood.
A second focus group tested the game. The silly situations in the game did make the topic more relatable, but they were too realistic to health.
It offended those struggling with real health issues, so we needed to slightly abstract the concept.
Feedback
Vital also didn’t capture the idea of investing in healthy behaviors.
We needed to iterate the game so that a person’s health insurance experience wasn’t just impacted by negative experiences.
3 day sprint
We transitioned to a digital game called When Life Hands you Lemons where players calculated how “healthy” they were based off what cards they picked up.
They could choose to take risks or play it safe depending on what health insurance plan they had.
Automation
During the sprint, I Iearned how to code to automate the health calculations. This allowed us to iterate the game faster and run through more rounds.
Iteration
This game abstracted the concept of health insurance in a fun way, but needed to be connected more to the actual language used.
We also wanted to pivot back to a physical game to encourage family conversation and needed to simulate the randomized patterns in a digital game through cards.
Student sprint
We co-lead the industrial design studio class at Wentworth Insitute of Technology for a week, teaching them how to run a design sprint, while getting their input on a new version of the game.
New learnings
The students’ game abstracted health insurance relative to space, and it had important aspects like HMO, PPO, and HSA’s.
We decided to run with the space theme, and add in topics like deductibles and premiums.
Final sprint
After a final one week sprint, we landed on a space themed card game called Nova.
Nova is an analogy. The players are galactic crystal hunters traveling through space, protected by their spaceship’s shield (health insurance) and dodging aliens (illnesses).
Players could regain energy by going back to their home planet (if their ship was an HMO) or getting a galactic passport (referal) and landing on any planet (PPO).
Hubweek testing
We tested a low resolution version of the game with kids at HUBweek and they loved it! They quickly learned the game play and understood why some ships’ “shields” were better in some games but worse in others.
When we told observing parents that it was actually about health insurance, they understood the analogy.
Analogy and rules
We needed to explain the analogy in a seamless way, so we integrated it into an illustrated rule book.
The rules were told as a story that parents could read to their kids.
Final prototype
The project is still in progress within BCBSMA’s innovation team.
Rebrand
After leaving BCBSMA, I decided to rebrand the original illustrations and style of the game as a personal project