ARTISTS
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I dragged my ass around for 3 weeks before sending more concepts to be drawn by my artist. That bit me really hard since the card art I need is the Wound card. The main point of the game. Kinda dumb to wait so long. What's worse, is that he "doesn't do" items! Luckily, I found 2 artists for the job after 2-3 days searching. 1 guy got my stuff done in about 3-4 days, and that was with revisions! The girl said she'd have it done in a week. Well, the lineart is back and now I've sent it to be revised... so that could take another week. Meanwhile, I've already touched up guy artist's work and it's on the card already. This girl's art needs to be f*king amazing for me to put it in now. She was my first choice, being $8 cheaper than the guy, but he responded first with all my questions answered, so I hired him anyway. Thank goodness I did.
DEADLINES (and meds)
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So, Gamerbowl is happening this weekend in San Diego. Unpub stuff going on so you know I'm going to be there. I'm burning the candle extra hot right now. I honestly think I'm wasting time blogging right now. I should be working. I work best under pressure. I'm more focused. But, I'm quite aloof otherwise. Why is that? I'm taking classes for certification to be a masonry inspector right now. I actually got a prescription for Ritalin to help me focus. HOLY CRAP do I focus! I'm so glad I spent the money. It works for about 8 hours, then flushes out. Where I was needing to take a break because I was stressed from learning, I'm now studying an extra hour with no break and enjoying it. My memory retention has gone up as well. This has carried over to my board game design as well. I don't get distracted by facebook or youtube anymore. I work til 5am near non-stop. I can definitely see the difference when I'm off it. I go on the web every 15mins when I'm not on it.
AFTERWARDS
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After every major deadline I make for myself, (This time, Gamerbowl), I find myself with a EXTREME lack of interest in continuing, improving, and fixing my games. It's exactly like sewing a cosplay outfit, finishing 80% of it, wearing it anyway, and after the con, just throwing it in the closet til the next con is 3 weeks away. The pressure is what keeps me going. Once the deadline passes, you just decompress and enjoy life which ends up turning into procrastination and laziness.
Whelp, I've got to get back to deciding stupid things which are keeping me from finishing my cards... like "do I show just the weapon on the Weapon Card or do I show the character holding the weapon? Stupid visual stuff which is like walking through mud. If you've read this far and care to add your opinion of which you like best, feel free.
Comments
The wording on the cards is a
The wording on the cards is a bit unusual.
I would suggest something like this:
"Deal 2 damage to target player 1 square away.
OR
As a quick action you may discard this card to add 1 damage to any attack or a double action you take this round. An action can only be enhanced this way once."
I suggest you center-align the text and the "OR".
Further, if you'll rotate your scroll 90 degrees, you will have more horizontal space for text. So it can be bigger.
Is there a reason for the artwork to be that tiny with all the empty space around it?
As for the image itself, I would go with item-only probably.
I wrote it the "target and
I wrote it the "target and deal" line so it sounds like a proper sentence in English. How you wrote it is how I originally had it, but I don't like the improper machine language. "Target a player 1 square away. Deal 1 damage to him." sounds best to me. (Actually, this IS the syntax I was using. It's late, and I'm making these in a rush. herp derp) Thanks for the catch. I need sleep.
Can't fix "Attack/Double Action" because it means "Attack Action or Double Action". (Just as you would use the phrase "and/or") "Once in this way"... "in this way once". Potato, Potahdo. I WILL use that "add 1 damage" though. I currently use "deal 1 additional damage" because I don't like the phrase "to add 1 damage." I'd have to use "to add 1 damage to this attack." which uses more letters and takes up more space.
I tried center-aligning. I immediately hated the way it looked. I wouldn't mind centering just the "OR".
Scroll position is an aesthetic call. Thanks though.
The small space is just to show the background. The weapons don't take up very much space. I don't want a giant, tan canvas which isn't being utilized. Do you see the bracer by itself? Why would you want a bigger canvas? I certainly don't see the point in making the bracer bigger. I COULD make the bow smaller though. Also, I have to use assets I current own. I'm working with what I have. The framing and backing are the compromise.
A vote for item-only. Got it.
Ugh... seems like the SAME issue!
Please remove those "rectangles" around the "item" in question?!
If there is a conflict with the "background", just use an OUTER GLOW with a Yellow-ish color.
I feel we've already had this discussion that the "rectangles" around stuff was not good. The framing just diminish the look of the overall card.
Take the bow: you can place it anywhere at whatever angle, add the glow and it should look great.
The bracers: well those perhaps would be best if NOT equipped. Just the bracers alone...
Try that out and see what the other designers think. I'm just visualizing it and I think they would both look great.
Cheers.
Here you go.
To clarify, the skills and spells card use the "improved" layout which we discussed. This is for weapons/armor/etc.
Here you go.
http://www.bgdf.com/image/explanation-layout-2
http://www.bgdf.com/image/explanation-layout-2a
The problem is, if you didn't read, that I'm working with the assets I have. Which means no new art, nor major alterations to the art. As you've asked, I've done it the way you envisioned. The problem is when it comes time to show chest armor/clothing, it is cut off by sleeves/hands/weapons/etc. Examples are shown with the middle card of each image. Be truthful, If you did not immediately notice the belt cut off of the cloak and/or missing pauldron on the armor, we have a problem. The final solution is the card on the right of the second image. Simply place the full character over and over again with different text. The only way you'd be able to tell the difference between a Sword and Armor would be the text. No visual representation to help you or your opponents.
The reason for the rectangle is to add a tasteful border which draws attention to the object of focus while also hiding edges and cuts such as the missing pieces of armor or cut belt, etc.
Of these two (2) choices
I would choose the item ALONE. Otherwise it is confusing (is it the bow, the bracers, the cloak, etc)... Plus every card will look the same: The Bow, The Bracers, The Cloak, if you go with with the 2nd option (which is what you were saying with repeating the character for each item).
agree with above comments -
agree with above comments - for me the focal point of the cards is/should be the artwork. Otherwise you might as well just use numbered chits or similar. So I'd like to see big pics that make me pleased to have got a card in game
The cards are nicely designed - the horizontal scrolls look great - but they take up a large proportion of the card. Can you reword your text to be more concise and punchy? (then reduce it, giving more space to the image? (same deal with the surrounding rectangle on the times - more space should be given to the item in my opinion.
Re showing item or character+item : I think item alone is best as its confusing looking at pic with part of character. Ideally you would be able to get what the card was from across the table
krone9 wrote:agree with above
The cards are nicely designed - the horizontal scrolls look great - but they take up a large proportion of the card. Can you reword your text to be more concise and punchy? (then reduce it, giving more space to the image? (same deal with the surrounding rectangle on the times - more space should be given to the item in my opinion.
Re showing item or character+item : I think item alone is best as its confusing looking at pic with part of character. Ideally you would be able to get what the card was from across the table
Unfortunately, there is no way to make it more concise. The skill/spell cards were condensed with the new stat system implemented from the last blog. Both the skill/spell and item cards are the size they are in order to be uniform throughout all the cards. I'm not going to resize the scroll on a card by card basis to allow for more of the image to be seen.
TL;DR : The scroll is as large as the card with the longest text.
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Printed the cards and playtested them today. Printed a bit dark, but that's the printer's fault. Player immediately noticed how much the font was improved. I made mention to fellow designers of the weapon/armor cards. None had issue nor even thoughts on improving the card. I even asked for some when none was given JUST to make sure. Lots of differing opinions. from this group and that one.
Sometimes if you can't make
Sometimes if you can't make the wording of an effect shorter the better option is to get rid of the effect entirely.
Long texts on cards will hurt your game by increasing downtime and making it less appealing for new players.
Too many cards have quite a
Too many cards have quite a bit of text. The font is also a bit bigger, I believe. I'd rather people not play because "there's too much to read" rather than "I can't read this at all". One is a subjective complaint (which means it just isn't for them), the other is a big problem (which effects everyone who plays).
I have "starter decks" for people who want to get into the game, but either way, you'll HAVE to read the cards anyway because all classes play differently and the cards are the core reason they play so asymmetrically. I'm just thinking of all the heavy-reading card games: BattleCON, Dead of Winter, Arkham, Dominion, Pixel Tactics. You have to read everything. BUT, on the 2nd game and on, you get familiar with the cards.
Believe me, I'd love to shorten wording to the point where everything is just 10 cypher symbols which everyone has to look in the book to remember what it means, increasing downtime, but I feel this is what must be done. Half of the cards are utility and the other half are situational so the text is necessary.
Evil ColSanders wrote:I'm
1. You don't have a hand of those cards. You just get one at a time and read it's effects for everybody aloud.
2. These games are cooperative.
Do not compare this with competitive card games with turns where if you are there, reading through your hand of cards with tonns of texts, on the other side of the table is a bored player with nothing to do.
Dominion
In dominion you only have 10 cards during entire game. Which all players would normally read at the start of it at the same time. And yes, I believe some cards in Dominion are way too text-heavy for what they do. If it's a classic game it doesn't mean that everything in it is perfectly designed.
I kinda don't see a problem
I kinda don't see a problem then. You can read the cards in the beginning like dominion. You are constructing your deck of 14 cards. If you just pick randomly (or use the pre-constructed deck) you can read the cards when it's not your turn. Talking about this made me realize I have too few cards for each character. Lol