The idol industry has been sufficiently mature in South Korea. As the saying goes, Korea has three treasures: idol, shopping, food. Good-looking idols are the same, but there are really few interesting idols. Recently, In the graphic design industry of the young generation in South Korea, there is a design group whose looks are as well as idols, but they have opened up their own way in board game.

2016

When Jeong-cha Che was a visual design student at Seoul National University of Science and Technology, she had not yet imagined she would be a member of the INACMS design team. This day, she and team members were worrying about this team design. They considered to design based on global topic, but without a good presentation form.

One day, they found an article about grizzlies and polar bears in social media. With the melting of glaciers, the number of polar bears is decreasing. Polar bears living in the Arctic have to migrate to the tundra. Correspondingly, grizzlies living in the tundra migrate to the North Pole. When the two species meet, a species called “polar grizzly” appears. And the increase of this kind of creature will lead to the decline of polar bears-even extinction.

“At the time, I thought this theme could alert people to focus on polar bears are declining and pay attention to environmental changes. So, I designed it into a board game with my team members.” Jeong-cha Che said.

Half of the game’s territory is the North Pole where polar bears live, and the other is the tundra where grizzlies live. Movement points are decided by throwing dice. When polar bear cards meet, player need to turn out a new polar bear card; when grizzlies cards meet, player need to turn out a new grizzlies card. But when the polar bear card meets with grizzlies card, the “polar grizzly bear” card must be opened, and the player also needs to return to the starting point and move again.

Besides, Players will also turn to hunting cards and trap cards. The hunting card can let the player move forward, and the latter will make the player move back. The player who reaches the end first will win.

The design style of the group led by Jeong-cha Che is simple and flexible, making these animals lifelike. Players can also know about the habits of different animals while playing the game. In 2016, their work was also shortlisted for the Adobe Design Award and won the Special Achievement Award.

Later, they set up a design team, which collects the design works of everyone and each team, and publish them on the Internet. The name of the group is called: INACOMS.

2017

After recruiting the right members, INACOMS went back to design board games. This time, it’s a game about dreams.

“We all dream, but have you ever thought about selling your dreams to someone else, or buying them from someone else? The Dream store has made this a reality. Here, we take dreams and grade them, turn them into products and sell them.”

In the game, players select a dream and the dream store puts the dream into a jewel ball. You will receive a card that classifies the dream store’s dreams according to the dream’s theme and elements, and grades the dreams: for example, dreams with pigs and numbers are classified as property. Dreams with peach or dragon are classified as the future.

After the dream is classified, the dream is graded according to its theme and elements:
A. a dream of a group of pigs B. a dream of several pigs C. a dream of only one pig
A. a big, appetizing golden peach B. a dream of a big peach C. an ordinary peach

Then, by buying and selling, the dream is overlaid with an S-level: golden pig + dream with a number = S-level golden property set dream. This game pays attention to color collocation and use, compared to the game, it is a rich imagination of the dream guide.

In fact, in addition to board games, the INACOMS team’s home page is still engaged in graphic design and some interaction design. But, given the chance, they will consider whether they can combine the theme with the board game to make a great product.

2018

With the newly promoted members, the team returned to its original intention and designed a game to protect the environment.

“Did you know? Acorns are the key for wild animals to survive the cold winter. Squirrels, wild boars, Asian black bears and pheasants are all animals hoarding acorns for the winter. Nowadays, more and more humans are processing acorns as food, which makes the number of animals decreasing.

As the number of animals that eat acorns decreases, upper carnivores are also threatened, and insects that lay eggs on acorns also lose their safe places to lay eggs. When the number of wild animals falls below a certain level, this species is on the brink of extinction. ”

In the game, the player acts as a little squirrel looking for acorns. They get chips (representing acorns) by throwing dice. The chips can be embedded in different areas of the game backboard. When the number of small cards in the area reaches 6, the acorns sprout and grow into a small forest. Players with more chips can fix the flag (representing the acorn forest) on the area, and the player with the most flags wins.

The designers of this game are the juniors of Jeong-cha Che. They are also supporters of environmental protection.

“Environmental pollution is getting worse. How to protect the environment and give animals a normal growth space has always been a worldwide problem. This is debts that Humans owe to the nature, and we are responsible for it. That’s why we created this game.”

In year 2016 to 2020, INACOMS has designed three board games, which have had a good response on various social media. Although these board games are their project assignments, the games they have designed have excellent ideas and excellent artistic skills. Although the game is very poor in playability, it is considered qualified as a small board game.

In the past four years, the number of the group has risen from a few to a dozen. They will hold parties, celebrate their members’ birthdays, get together to play party board games… a large girl group is alive.

This is a very magical scene. Profession keeps them together, and board games make their connection closer.

In fact, board games are an excellent carrier that can truly present visual art. It integrates social networking, content and themes, and it can be infinitely tolerant at the moment of showing the theme.

I also hope that the members of INACOMS can really participate in the wave of board game design and add some bright colors to the board game circle