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Not a new game - but a way to make LCG's and CCG's better

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BMinNY
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Joined: 03/07/2012

I wanted to throw this out there and see what you all think...

Recently my wife, son, and I have started playing A Game of Thrones LCG. We love the game, but have found many of the cards confusing, and needing further clarification we went to the Internet to search out the answer. More often that not we ended up finding the answer on the game's forum. And from the looks of the forum, we are far from the only ones needing lots of clarification.

It got me thinking...what if each card had a barcode printed on it, and when scanned with your smartphone, that would take you directly to a page setup by the publisher for that card. On that page, the publisher would have the ability to explain the card in greater detail. Additionally, the publisher could add an "ask a question" box on that page, that would allow the gamer to submit card specific questions to the publisher. This would allow the publisher to answer the question, as well as update the explanation of the card if the same types of questions keep coming up.

Do you think this would be a helpful feature, or does my family just have more trouble understanding the cards than most?

I look forward to your feedback!

~Brad

gameogami
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Joined: 03/20/2012
I am already doing this with

I am already doing this with the LCG I have been working on for the past few years, Way of the Warrior. Each card has a QR code printed on it, which when scanned, will open up a wiki page that contains a description of the card, rules errata, a rating by the players, and player feedback/discussion.
I thought it was a pretty cool idea when I came up with it, so yes, I think what you are proposing would be a very helpful feature. :)

- Sanhueza

HandwrittenAnthony
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Joined: 12/01/2011
Size?

gameogami, how much real estate does the QR code take on your card? I can't remember the dimensions but I thought QRs needed to be relatively large to maintain readability, so I'd be interested to know how you're designing around that.

gameogami
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HandwrittenAnthony

HandwrittenAnthony wrote:
gameogami, how much real estate does the QR code take on your card? I can't remember the dimensions but I thought QRs needed to be relatively large to maintain readability, so I'd be interested to know how you're designing around that.

I am using fairly small dimensions, although I've seen much smaller QR codes printed on bills, flyers, etc. You can see how they appear on the card mockups below. I've tested it with smartphones and it works! However, it can sometimes be tricky to line it up just right for the scanner apps to pick it up. This might not have to do with the size of the code, however. A friend of mine suggested that the text on the cards (in other words, other black-and-white patterns nearby) might be confusing the scanner. So increasing the white border around the code, or moving the text farther away, might improve the reliability. Even making the code smaller might help, by putting more white space around it. I will definitely try both larger and smaller codes, and play with the white border, to find the best readability without sacrificing too much card space.

[removed links to deleted images]

DISCLAIMER: I do not own the copyrights to the illustrations on these images. They were simply used for the purpose of mocking up the card designs, and I have no intent of publishing them as part of the finished product.

indigo
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Joined: 03/13/2009
I was at the local gaming

I was at the local gaming shop last month and noticed a QR Die - a large d6 with QR codes printed on each side. You roll the die and scan the code to see what the result is. I think there was more to the game than that - it's not just a 1-6 result, for example - but I didn't look into it any further.

It seems to me the problem you're trying to solve - not having enough information on the cards - will only be exacerbated by taking up space with a QR code. It seems to me the more fundamental problem is that each card NEEDS to have so much info on it. I guess it depends on the kind of info you're talking about, but couldn't it be split among several cards?

If the card's too confusing, maybe the solution isn't to have a webportal for people to explain the cards to each other. Maybe the solution is to just simplify your game somehow. But then, I'm a big believer in the idea that a game should come with everything needed to play it.

gameogami
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Joined: 03/20/2012
I agree with many of the

I agree with many of the things you are saying about game design, indigo. Especially in terms of "a game should come with everything needed to play it." For me, the choice wasn't to compensate for not enough info on the cards. Instead, it was to solve a problem inherent in these kinds of games - with so many cards, constantly trying to be inventive and new with the designs, it's inevitable that something breaks or gets misunderstood. Online forums have been a great resource to CCG/LCG players to clear up these misinterpretations and get rules corrections from the publishers. So using the code simply makes it that much easier for the players to do so. The purpose is to clarify or fix broken information that slipped through during the testing/proof-reading process, not to supply missing information.

Another reason why the idea appealed to me so much, is to connect players to the online community directly through the cards themselves. They'd be able to post their own strategies and opinions about the cards and communicate with other players around the globe. So in theory, it adds to the interactivity and community of the game, which I think is worth the sacrifice of space.

ConMan
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Joined: 03/22/2012
Absolutely as much as

Absolutely as much as possible the contents of the game box should let you understand how to play the game. But as soon as a game becomes moderately complicated, there are edge cases and race conditions that you'll need to explain or errata, and in some cases they're ones that only appear after people have been playing for months. In other cases, you might release a few expansion sets, which happen to interact in strange ways - sometimes, you can explain the interactions in the expansion boxes, but again sometimes you don't realise what can happen or there are just too many micro-rules to cover.

I think having a barcode or QR code would be a great idea - I'm pretty sure there are already trading cards out there with similar things to connect them to an online component (WoW CCG? Neopets or one of its knock-offs?), so it definitely doesn't sound crazy.

gameogami
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Right, ConMan. It's unlikely

Right, ConMan. It's unlikely that BMinNy and I are the only ones to have had this idea. In fact, indigo said he's seen a dice game using QR codes, so it's only a matter of time before this becomes more common.

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