Beyond the Stream
Jia Choi
In the past, superstitions functioned as rigid and invisible rules of daily life. Today, these ancient beliefs exist as media content or everyday entertainment and have transformed into familiar cultural assets. Beyond the Stream focuses on this shift. It translates once-heavy traditional themes into a witty and interactive tabletop experience that invites players to reconsider the weight of destiny.
The game takes the Joseon Dynasty—an era of peak supernatural belief—as its primary motif. Through a unique social climbing system, players navigate a world of good and bad fortune as they rise from the rank of a servant to the ultimate position of the King. This journey offers a contemporary space where tradition and modern play coexist within a lighthearted cultural landscape.
The visual identity of the game bridges the gap between history and modernity through a minimalist design system. Familiar elements such as animals and food appear as abstract forms rooted in basic geometric shapes. This approach replaces complex explanations with refined symbols and encourages players to directly infer the symbolic meanings within these simple structures. Through this graphic language, the project transforms traditional beliefs into a fresh and intuitive visual experience.