Wakey, Wakey, Rise and Shine!

Wakey, Wakey, Rise and Shine is a single-page tabletop RPG game where breakfast foods become heroes! In this adventure, different breakfast foods team up to save their kitchen family from the wicked Mold King. The game turns an ordinary kitchen into an exciting battlefield. Brave breakfast foods with special skills must work together to fight against the annoying minions, the Moldy Army and their leader, the Mold King. It is a fun game that players of every age can enjoy.

In this game, players must collect victory tokens or clear locations occupied by the Moldy Army before getting infected. These tokens can be used to get helpful kitchen tools to defeat the Mold King. The game is about courage and friendship; therefore, players have to work together to face different unseen challenges in the kitchen. The tone of this game is full of light and humorous. As the spaces in the kitchen are transformed into unexpected battle scenes, and the molds on food are designed as villains with rich personality traits, although the game involves conflict and combat, the overall tone remains playful and enjoyable. Through exploring and “struggling” in the game, as the designer, I aim to express how the ordinary things in life can also become extraordinary. Discovering the uniqueness, even foods can become super-heroes, let alone the special you! :)

The intention of creating this game was to explore breakfast as one of the energized moments in a day. For me personally, breakfast marks the beginning of every hopeful day. By personifying some popular breakfast foods as hero characters, I wanted to help every player maintain a sense of playfulness in their busy lives. Meanwhile, in my weekly Magpie Book collection, whether it is the Cycles, Choices, or Joys collections, the element of food has frequently appeared. Combined with my personal insights on breakfast, the variety of choices of breakfast foods inspired me to create the characters, and their characteristics have all been transformed into distinctive attributes and skills.

I deliberately chose to hand-drawn my Game Sheet because I believe it can better match and reflect the idea of “making daily life magical.” The free-flowing art style makes the game more friendly and approachable, while the decorative elements and patterns can make components such as infection less serious. On the back, I left an interactive space for my players. The invitation to the players to fill this blank map emphasizes that the game is completely open and creative; at the same time, it preserves players a room to explore through their own drawings. My choice of the card-drawing system using suits ties game actions to the character’s special skills and the kitchen tools. Influenced by traditional card-playing games, I think using the standard cards that are easy to get and understandable to most people can greatly reduce the entry barrier for new players. In addition to Victory Token, I have also innovated infection mechanisms for game mechanics. Making what is usually seen as a negative ‘infection’ into an opportunity to get new tools brings more possibilities for players. In the meantime, my failure mechanism is gentle, inspired by real-life experiences. By allowing breakfast food that has been infected three times to be joined to the enemy of Mold King not only matches the reality that mold on the food can spread, but also brings a different challenge to the game than usual. 

Whether you’re partying with friends or taking a break from a tiring day, you might want to start this game. I hope that these few hours of playing not only bring joy and energy to everyone but also inspire more people to discover the “hidden” interesting aspects of daily life. 

Rise and Shine! Let’s start our adventure of exploring the lovely in life!