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Card Design Question: Tournament of the Discarded

9 replies [Last post]
Wed, 07/29/2015 - 14:45
DakotaWolff
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It's been a while since I've posted, I'm currently working on creating a robot junkyard fighting game that has been going well. I have a large amount of questions but today is something simple. I looked at the forums I hope I put this in the right forum.

On the cards I'm choosing to use mostly symbols as often as I can. So for hypothetical a * would mean damage.

My question is, when making a card what makes more sense.

*10 or 10*

I know it's silly but I really don't know what makes more sense. The first meaning Damage Ten, or 10 Damage. The cards work in that they are read like a book from left to right. So some cards will have multiple actions like movement, or extra targeting and I'm trying to create the rules for that language. So for a more complicated example * means damage, > would mean movement, and # would mean targeting. A card might read either way

*10 #5 >2

or

10* 5# 2>

Essentially what this card would do is do 10 damage with an additional 5 to the targeting roll and after you could move 2.

I have been putting the symbol first as that's what I've seen in other games but I feel like I've seen both. I may be shunned for making such a large post about something so simple and I apologize if that's the case and this could be a case of me over analyzing something but I want it to be as clear as possible.

So with your wealth of experience, do you put the symbol first or second?

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Wed, 07/29/2015 - 16:11
#1
Casamyr
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I'd say for ease of reading,

I'd say for ease of reading, have each instruction it would be better instead of reading left to right, to have them on a separate line.

*10
#5
>2

This will make it clearer and easier to read. Of course, there could be some reason for the instructional text to read this way. If is it to be programming language, then it makes sense for each bit of instruction to be on a separate line as well. Maybe like this (using BASIC as a basis). Again I have no idea of your intended card layout, but it could be fun to see instructions like this being a little old school.

10 #5
20 IF in range THEN deal *10
30 ELSE >2
40 END

Basically Your Targeting is increased by 5, then if you are in range, deal 10 damage, otherwise, move 2. Of course you could make 30 be an AND statement as well. You could have a huge number of different command sequences using this.

As for symbol first or second. i prefer first.

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Wed, 07/29/2015 - 16:42
#2
Garwyx
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I agree with Casamyr. In

I agree with Casamyr. In text, "ten damage" would make sense, but on a card, align the texts and the values in two columns.

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Thu, 07/30/2015 - 01:33
#3
JewellGames
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I assume putting the symbol

I assume putting the symbol above, below or behind the number is out of question then?

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Thu, 07/30/2015 - 03:40
#4
Garwyx
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Joined: 10/28/2014
Of course all four options

Of course all four options can make sense as long as you put them in nicely separated columns and rows.
Symbols above or to the left would make most sense to me because that is how we are used to read tables.

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Thu, 07/30/2015 - 17:37
#5
DakotaWolff
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Awesome! This is some great

Awesome! This is some great feedback.

The only problem is I can't do a top to bottom because the card has both "heavy" info and "Light" as a single Program includes what happens in both phases. The game start with both players being "heavy" and then by the mid point turn into "Light" so due to card space I just am not able to do top down sadly.

However things might change. I am for sure trying to keep things as clear as possible and when I can very distinctly separate the info. This was very helpful and I'll be applying this to all my cards that I have so far.

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Thu, 08/13/2015 - 15:44
#6
Zag24
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Joined: 03/02/2014
Inside?

What about the number inside the icon? So, for damage, you have crossed swords behind a shield, with the number on the shield, or a squat, cartoony cannon with the number on the barrel. For targetting you have crosshairs. For movement you have a wheel with contrails, or a short, fat van with contrails.

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Tue, 08/25/2015 - 06:11
#7
M_Nemo
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Joined: 08/13/2015
You can always make the icons

You can always make the icons with a void where numbers fit. Or a player cheat sheet and then differentiate the types with colors so 10 damage is represented by a red 10 for example, or do it with a transparent background like a shield in blue at very low transparency and the number 5 superimposed in a contrasting color so it pops.

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Tue, 08/25/2015 - 15:51
#8
JewellGames
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I would love to see a sample

I would love to see a sample card of current layout to go off of.

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Thu, 10/08/2015 - 07:11
#9
Masacroso
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Joined: 05/05/2014
If is not for programming

If is not for programming then I would like to see numbers of different colors or inside some geometric symbols to describe actions.

Or just a combination of a capital letter and color is enough to code actions that are easy to read, by example instead of *10 you can put 10D, and maybe all string of the same color. In this way is more easy for the eye to see all possible actions if you put all together in a row.

For clarity if you want some kind of symbols you can search some tiny symbol that describe the action, by example a little sword or just a triangle pointing to up... something like this.

But this is a question of taste and very subjective.

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