Dark Daze is Clint's card game about getting through an ordinary day with depression. His usual description is: imagine The Game of Life, except that instead of your entire life, it is simply a Thursday.
For three to six players, the goal is to collect 24 points of Success cards, one for each hour of the day. Energy, unpleasant events, ordinary surprises, and other people's behavior complicate the plan. Some days you get things done. Some days getting through the day is the achievement.
An idea in the shower
Clint was in the shower, thinking about Spoon Theory and a comic about nerdy dragons playing Houses and Humans. The combination suggested a game that could communicate something about living with depression.
Someone should make that. Then came the familiar realization that he could become that someone. Experience creating decks for Carbs of the Huge Manatee gave the idea a practical starting point. His project history recalls developing more than 160 cards during a workday, alongside his web-development work.
The video I had a black dog, his name was depression supplied another influence. Its visual analogy helped connect the subject to a character. The dog became part of Dark Daze's identity, while recognizable experiences and humor gave the cards their tone.
The Houses and Humans comic, reproduced on the history page, is credited there to Metzger Cartoons.
How a Thursday works
Players begin with ten Happiness Points and three cards, following the setup instructions for the different types. Starting Success cards go face up; usable cards stay in hand. The player who reports having had the worst day goes first. They deserve something.
Each turn begins with drawing a card. Energy supplies resources for acquiring Success. Suck cards drain those resources. It's Just Life cards change the situation, Jerk cards let players interfere with one another, and Mod cards block certain disruptions. A player with enough Happiness Points can buy a drawn Success card and add it to the collection in front of them.
The objective stays clear while the route becomes unpredictable. Someone may know what needs doing and still lack the energy to do it. Another person may help or make the day harder. The rules give those experiences a form the table can see.
Each card has a straightforward function and a character quote explaining the reason behind it. That pairing keeps the mechanics legible while giving a resource change a recognizable human situation. The full instructions explain setup and play.
Finishing the artwork
The largest production obstacle has been finding an artist willing and able to finish every card design. Clint has worked with five artists; the most productive completed 50 of the 220 illustrations needed.
Coming up with cards and completing a deck require different kinds of sustained work. Dark Daze has its concept, writing, and rules, but bringing the entire collection into a consistent visual form has been the bottleneck.
Possible next versions
Clint would like to follow the original with a high-school or college edition and a simplified version for younger children. Each would need its own language, situations, and level of complexity.
A later idea is a therapist-oriented expansion: fictional situations that might let a child explore a difficult experience through a character, with a therapist guiding the conversation. The intention is to provide some distance from speaking directly about oneself. This remains a design proposal, with its suitability and use to be developed with qualified practitioners.