The Green Way Home
The Green Way Home is a mini board game focusing on environmental pollution and how this can affect animals. Green is a Beagle with a green backpack who navigates between four areas on his journey home; park, beach, town and field, here he meets fellow animals that are stuck in various situations that need solving. Using items that Green picks up on the way around the board he helps to solve these situations.
I started with a big project idea about a Beagle going on an adventure to find his way home, linking it to educational themes in games, particularly sustainability and pollution. I had to significantly condense the concept to fit a mini-game format, making it much shorter and more manageable. I began by brainstorming ideas, drawing on various influences and imagining different pollution scenarios. I also considered how to make the game engaging and appropriate for children aged 10–16.
The first PDF shows my original, larger concept for the board and card game, while the second PDF reflects the condensed version I worked from after scaling the game down to a more manageable size.
After brainstorming, I had already decided that the main character would be a Beagle named Green. I started drawing him, imagining him with a green backpack and a playful, almost caricature-like style; a big nose, big cute eyes, and all the charm that would make him memorable.
After drawing Green the Beagle, I turned my attention to the game board. I sketched out a few layout options and started designing the cards, thinking about how each element would work together in gameplay. I decided on a four section approach with four different locations to move between. I also decided to add educational facts to the bottom of all the cards in the game. I decided to put a pin in the board design to do last as this was the most difficult challenge.
Next, I started drawing the characters and objects for my “scenario cards,” all centered around pollution. These included a seagull with a plastic ring around its neck, a hedgehog trapped in a coffee cup, a seal tangled in a net, and a duck caught in a balloon string. I also illustrated environmental issues like an oil spill, a dirty fountain, and plastic bottles in the river. Other scenarios showed a rabbit caught in a snare trap, a fox pursued by illegal hunters, an abandoned box of kittens, dog snatchers, and car exhaust pollution.
Next, I thought about how the scenario cards themselves would look. My first design was pretty basic, just a white card with text, but I quickly added an educational fact at the bottom, a brief description of the scenario, and the items players would need to solve it. I decided each card would have a design reflecting its area, like the beach, park, field, or town, which helped tie the visuals to the gameplay. I also added tiny thumbnails of the items needed to solve each scenario, which made the cards more visually appealing.
In order to include thumbnails of the items on the scenario cards, I needed to actually draw the items too. So I got to work creating them all, including doggy boots, sharp false teeth, strong false teeth, a blanket, a magic recycling bag, a bucket, a net, a bark dial (phone), super bark, a glow-in-the-dark collar, and a magic sniffer mask (full items and item card artworks can be found at the bottom of the page).
I then turned these into the final item cards, and added thumbnails of each item to their corresponding scenario cards so everything linked together clearly.
One of my favourite pieces I did is the artwork for the “Strong Winds” card. It shows Green the Beagle being completely windswept, his backpack blown open, fur swept to the right, and squinting in one eye. I love this piece because it’s funny and captures a playful, exaggerated moment.
My inspiration came from my own dog, Merry, on a very windy day! His ears blew upward like Dumbo! I’ve included a side-by-side comparison of my drawing and a gif of Merry in the wind, which really helped me capture the motion and expression for Green.
I also included a little “easter egg” in the game. The “Kind Stranger” card features a friendly dog walker with her dog, an orange roan cocker spaniel. This character is actually me and my dog Merry! which was a fun way to add a cheeky personal little touch to the game.
Designing the game board was another challenge. I wanted a layout that worked well with the cards and gameplay, similar to how Monopoly has Community Chest and Chance cards. At the same time, the board needed four distinct areas for the scenario cards; town, park, field, and beach and spaces for “Special Event” and “Item” cards. I also wanted it to feel like a Mario Party board, with spaces for Item Cards, Eco Trade, Special Events, and Scenario cards, while keeping the design simple enough for players to navigate easily. Each of the four sections was inspired by the scenario card backs but viewed from a bird’s-eye perspective, and the board needed a home space at the center. Balancing all these requirements was tricky, but it helped me really think about how gameplay, aesthetics, and clarity work together.
I later revised my beach cards as I felt the design on the beach cards was too basic in comparison to the town, field and park cards that had much more detail on them. So I drew a whole new beach scene for the card backs and fronts. I recycled my simple beach texture to use on the board design so no artwork has gone to waste.
Instruction Manuals
I lastly created two intruction manuals for the game. One which goes into more depth about all elements of the game and gameplay and one which is for a quick start with younger kids and a basic outline of the game to make sure they remain engaged instead of getting bored reading the instructions and set-up of the game.
Closing Note
Overall, I’m really proud of my game and all the artwork I created. This project challenged me in new ways, improving my art skills, developing my narrative abilities, and thinking creatively about how to link a game to educational content. I enjoyed imagining and designing the game world, and I’m especially happy with how the eco-theme and educational facts are incorporated into the gameplay.
The Finished Designs
Scenario Card Artwork
Item Artwork
Special Events Artwork
Item Cards
Special Event Cards
Scenario Cards
Beach Cards
Park Cards
Town Cards
Field Cards
Box Design and Prototype
The final image shows my entire box contents for my prototype including a board made from paper and green cardstock, item cards, scenario cards, special event cards, an instruction manual, a green die, 5 counters to choose from and a little green backpack to keep the die, counters and cards inside which I thought was a cute little touch.
Ally Dawson 