Trivia Obscura
Trivia Obscura is a strategy game designed to share dark knowledge with the world in a celebration of the weird, wonderful, and lesser-discussed aspects of our society.
As the name suggests, the game revolves around Dark Culture, covering a wide range of topics. From music to movies, from video games to comics, from arts to science, and much more.
Competencies
Brand consultancy
Brand design
Design of the game assets
Design of promotional materials
The Project. The Story.
The Protagonists
Marilena Tzorzaki and Konstantinos Kerasovitis are the creators of Trivia Obscura. They both founded Nadanull, a company that claims to challenge the current reality by creating parallel universes where people can interact, stretch their minds, and find freedom. How? Through the design of new and original games.
Their work is born of a passion for research and endless love for anything quirky, unusual, and mysterious.
The Plot
My first step was to create a strong and powerful logotype. Konstantinos had already drafted something they used in the mockup of the game. I liked his approach, so I took inspiration from his original sketch when starting our my creative process.
I used a bespoke typeface for the logotype. I tidied up the rough edges and made it more 'Obscura' by adding some mystical symbolism to each letter.
The logo came from the connection of the letter T with the letter O. The symbol was then used to create a pattern. A game like Trivia Obscura had lots of surfaces (the box, the cards, the board game, the rule booklet, etc.) and I wanted to make sure everything could be branded with the same attention to detail without my design becoming overpowering.
One of the most challenging parts of the project was designing the symbols that represent the 8 houses included in the game. I started by exploring the hidden meaning behind each house. I opted to design 8 beautiful initials, each crafted with meticulous attention to detail. The rich details retain the symbolism without preventing anyone from recognising the letters.
The less creative part of my work was probably the game board. The board is the most important part of the game because it defines the uniqueness of Trivia Obscura and has to accommodate the strategic level of the game. Therefore, the look of the board was mostly dictated by function.
Functionality also guided me in the creation of 800 cards with 1200+ answers and questions. To reduce printing costs, we opted for a one-colour design (of course, black was the choice). The cards had a specific size too, so the monochrome print came in handy to enhance contrast and legibility of the small characters printed on the back of each card.
As with any other board game, Trivia Obscura also had different materials for information (instruction booklet and House Reference Card).
I also had to design practical symbols that are mandatory in the game, like the number of players, the minimum age of the players, and the general flow needed. Those symbols are quite common in games, but I couldn't leave these details un-designed on such a beautiful box. Therefore, I designed them to fit Trivia Obscura's look and feel.
The Results
Trivia Obscura reminded me how complex designing a board game is.
However, I enjoyed the whole process and working closely with Marilena and Konstantinos immensely proved essential in helping to define the final appearance of the game.
In 2020 Trivia Obscura was launched in Kickstarter.
The client says:
We do not make games. We build artifacts that help multidimensional beings interact with hidden parallel realities.
-Marilena and Konstantinos, Nadanull Founders
