Winter rabbit

Adapting a euro-game framework to an indigenous perspective

Project Description

Winter Rabbit is a semi-cooperative strategy board game for two to six players. My goal for this design was to promote Cherokee history, art, and values in a game that could stand on its own in the hobby game market.

In Winter Rabbit, players act as animal characters from traditional Cherokee stories. Players work together to prepare their village for winter while competing to provide the most for it. Meanwhile, the trickster, Rabbit, is working to undermine the whole process.

While creating Winter Rabbit, I developed a game framework called "4Cs". This framework intentionally breaks from the established 4X frameworks: Explore, Expand, Exploit, Exterminate. 4X games are a well-established genre in both board games and video games; however, the framework is inherently colonial. The 4Cs stand for Cultivation, Continuation, Conservation, and Competition. This framework intentionally moves players away from a "win at all costs" mentality; it instead considers how their actions affect the game as a whole, collaborating with other players and competing only when it does not come at the expense of the whole group.

Winter Rabbit can be played in both English and Cherokee. It features authentic art, graphic design, and traditional stories, all developed by Cherokee artists and designers. Winter Rabbit was carefully crafted with every detail in mind to ensure that it authentically represents the culture while remaining an engaging experience for players.

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