MS Patient Journey
Merck Pharmaceutical approached me to custom design a serious board game for their awareness campaign on the MS patient treatment journey to shed light on what the patients go through.
I led the entire project's design process in collaboration with Merck's marketing team, from defining the game vision, conceptualizing, and prototyping to production and the market launch. "The full design process is explained below"
Challenge
Merck initiated that project to shed light on the patient's journey with prescribed drugs over a five-year duration infusing random life events that the doctors should be aware of in setting their treatment plans.
Results
The game introduced 3 patient cases with different medical case variations, where players progress in the game, and make treatment decisions with a close eye on the patient's medical attributes represented in Safety, Efficacy and Convenience.
Every decision the players take will affect in patient's attributes by the end of the game, which raises critical discussions between doctors post-game to reflect on the experience.
2-4
No, of players
30-45
Playtime in mins
8.7
Game sessions avg. NPS
Game manual - Back
Game manual - Front
Design Process
Discovery: Begin by research and gathering essential information about the client's objectives and the target audience. Understand the specific educational goals related to MS disease and treatment. Identify the knowledge level and interests of the audience.
Define: Establish clear definitions for project aspects: problem statement, game vision, game objectives, available resources, and facilitation/delivery scope. That set a direction for a focused game design process.
Mechanics and Gameplay: Ideate game mechanics, rules, and card sets that offer a balanced experience. Design decision-making elements that reflect real-world medical scenarios and patient outcomes.
Iterative Design and Prototyping: Build rough game components and conduct playtesting sessions with the client and targeted audience. Gather feedback to refine the mechanics and ensure the game effectively communicates the intended educational message.
Documentation and Communication: Create comprehensive design documents that clearly explain the game's mechanics, rules, and components. These documents should serve as valuable references for the team.
Playtesting and Feedback: Continuously gather feedback from the target audience (neurologists and MS disease doctors) through playtesting sessions. Analyze the data to make necessary adjustments to the game's mechanics and educational content.
Balancing and Refinement: Ensure that the game maintains a balance between entertainment and education. Fine-tune the game's attributes, events, and decision points to provide a meaningful learning experience.
Presentation and Pitching: Create visually appealing prototypes and presentations to demonstrate the game's value to the client. Emphasize how the game effectively conveys the impact of drug treatments on MS patients.
Collaborating with Illustrators: Collaborate closely with 2D artist to develop visual assets that match the audience and deliver the game aesthetics.
Game Production and Launch: Oversee the production process, which includes artwork, design, printing, and manufacturing. Ensure a smooth launch by facilitating launch event and train client's staff to run the game with their audience.
Prototype 1
Prototype 2
Final Prototype
Mechanics
Cooperative Gameplay: Players work together as a team of doctors to treat the patient's MS case and progress through the stages.
Card Management: Players use various cards, including Resource Cards, Special Cards, Visit Cards, and Side-effect Drugs, to make decisions and influence the patient's attributes.
Progression System: The game consists of 7 stages, and players must unlock each stage by using gold tokens. Progressing through the stages is essential to reach the ultimate goal of "Escalation."
Attribute Management: Players must manage the patient's attributes, including Safety, Convenience, and Efficacy, which are affected by the main drugs, visit cards, side-effect drugs, and random events.
Risk Management: If any attribute bar reaches zero tokens, players can use the Risk Bars to replenish up to 3 tokens per color.
Trading System: Players can trade resources with each other based on specific conditions, utilizing trading licenses or special cards.
Star Collection: Players earn stars based on their contribution to unlocking stages. Each gold token added to an unlocked stage rewards the player with one star.
Strategic Depth: Players must make strategic choices regarding drug selection, resource allocation, trading, and timing of switching drugs to optimize the patient's treatment.
“The game was perfectly tailored to our needs, I enjoyed the design process a lot because it was flexible enough to accept quick iterations.
In our sessions with the audience, the game was easily bringing their attention to the intended point “
Fady Emil
Marketing Manager, Merck Egypt
Conclusion
MS Patient Journey's serious game project seamlessly blends education and entertainment for neurologists and MS doctors. Our iterative design process, feedback loops, and collaboration with medical experts have ensured a meaningful Edutainment experience.