Passion Project

How a jellyfish idea became a board game?

I’m fascinated by jellyfish, so I decided to make a marine-themed board game called Jellyfish Cove. It began with a simple question: what if you could raise jellyfish and have them battle one another? I kept building on the idea until I had a full set of cards that people could actually play with.

I used Doubao to create illustrations of 13 real jellyfish species, including moon jellies and box jellyfish. I adjusted my prompts again and again to get each species’ shape, translucency, glow, and lighting closer to what I had in mind. Then I designed five kinds of cards: Jellyfish, Food, Environment, Attachment, and Natural Enemy. The rules follow the jellyfish life cycle, from planula to polyp to medusa. Different species need the right environment and food, and each has its own special abilities.

I also wrote a rulebook in both Chinese and English, printed and cut out the cards, and put them in sleeves. When I played the game with classmates, I found that rules that sounded clear on paper didn’t always feel right during a game. Their feedback helped me adjust the balance. The project let me take something I was curious about and carry it through design, making, playtesting, and revision.