Culture Vultures

A Fast-Paced Cultural Card Game

About the Project

Culture Vulture was the first project I worked on during CMGT. The assignment was to create a physical game that teaches something about culture. Because our class included many international students, we designed the game so players could learn about Dutch culture as well as each other’s cultural backgrounds.

Our team consisted of three people. I acted as both art lead and general project lead. I created all visual assets, the full card system and the physical components.

What I Did

I designed the entire visual direction for the game. This includes every card front and back, all the layouts, colour coding for each card type and the icons and illustrations. I also created the physical pieces, including the 3D-printed eggs used for scoring and for claiming the right to answer. These eggs became an important part of the gameplay feel and added a fun tactile element.

Design Highlights

Card layouts: Designed all card layouts with colour coding so players can quickly recognise card types.

Card artwork: Created all card artwork, inside and outside, including icons and patterns.

3D components: 3D-printed and painted the vulture eggs.

Readability: Kept the visual style bold and easy to read under time pressure.

Visual direction: Set the overall visual direction and kept assets consistent.

How the Game Works

Culture Vulture is played in three short phases that increase the competitive tension.

Phase 1: Race to the Nest

Players split into two teams of two. Everyone draws three cards and helps their teammate answer challenges like Explain, Name 3, Pick One or True or False.
Each correct answer moves the team closer to the central nest. The first team to reach it earns an advantage for the next phase.

Phase 2: Head to Head

One player from each team faces off. To answer, they must grab the large egg first. A correct answer earns a small egg, and the first to collect three wins their duel.
The team that reached the nest first begins with a small bonus.

Phase 3: The Finale

If both teams win one duel, the final two players face off in the last challenge. The winner of this final round wins the game for their team.

Tools Used

Illustrator (Card graphics)
Photoshop (Sketching card details)
Blender (3D-modelling)
3D Printer