SpellMasters — Which color do you prefer?

Anyone got impressions or feedback concerning the "color-scheme" in this set of "cardbacks"??? This is literally the BACK of the "Spell" Cards in the game... So the face of each of these cards should be some kind of magical Spell, component or item (depending on the Class of Wizards).

These are only Low-resolution images. I don't upload 300 DPI images for several reasons:

1. Copyright.
2. File size.
3. Required Scaling.

So yeah they're not the greatest images ... but they do give you an overall "FEEL" to the cards. On The Game Crafter, I have proofed some SAMPLE HI-RES images and they look a lot better.

Thanks for the feedback... It seems like CYAN is the best choice (I too was personally leaning that way too...) So I'll use that color for the cardbacks with the Health Points (HPs).

Many thanks for giving your opinion!

It's actually 600px x 330px (at 300 DPI). And yes I do own the copyright, but I don't want to put the LARGER files because they would overload my hosting account for all those "linked" images. The smaller, the better.

And there is really no reason to post HI-RES images... when the impression of the images is sufficient to give an idea as to the basic layout and "feel" for the various assets/elements.

Cheers!

You are exactly correct! It is the resolution. The card samples (most of the images I upload) are screen captures at 72 DPI. So they are pretty lousy in terms of details and magnification. Basically the image is the top most resolution as seen on the screen.

Any additional magnification will lead to pixellisation.

So YUP it's because of the poor resolution. I have proofed the Cardbacks (some samples only) on The Game Crafter and the resolution is BETTER but still not at 100% 300 DPI... Maybe closer to 150 DPI which is about TWICE screen resolution (at 72 DPI).

Here's a TGC "screen capture"... You'll notice a bit better quality, so I am assuming the resolution should be around 150 DPI. You can CLICK on the image and it will open up a LARGER image with even better resolution:

And remember that's still NOT 300 DPI (like I said maybe HALF). So from the screen resolution (72 DPI) to print quality is about a 4X factor. I'm pretty sure it looks fine, because if I ZOOM into the image to 100% in PaintShop Pro, the kerning is automatic... If I set it manually to about 15, there is even more spacing that makes the font most readable.

I'll reword all those cardbacks with the manual kerning to be sure there is enough space at that font's resolution.

But thanks for pointing that out... I'll make the corrections and upload a newer sample for the comparison (we'll see how that turns out).

If you check out the difference now, the Kerning is MANUAL and set at 15 (whatever type of unit that is). Anyhow it looks much better in that the letters are not so "glued" to each other... There is some spacing making the font more readable.

Compare OLD:

Versus NEW:

Open them up in two (2) separate TABS and you will really NOTICE the difference.

Cheers!

I'd recommend opening it in a NEW TAB... The White makes it harder on the eyes than if you choose to view it on a darker background. You can simply CLICK on the image and it'll open up a new tab with the image.

And yes "manually" kerning the font has made it much more readable.

Note: This is main reason that I did NOT want to use RED ON RED. You can see that the "cyan" is still very distinguishable but that "red" would clash with the background of this card. "Cyan" isn't too hot on "Green" but it is better than the RED ON RED.

The Game Crafter (TGC). I make all my prototypes off of TGC. But they have a limited set of Pouches... I need those Pouches for the "Game Tiles" used by the game.

They come in the following colors: Red, Green, Blue, Purple, Gray and Brown.

Red and Brown are too close in terms of colors. So either I use RED or BROWN.

They used to SELL "Black" Pouches... but they are OUT-OF-STOCK.

So I want to make sure the "Game Tiles" MATCH closely the color of the "Game Tiles" and the "Letter Boards". Obviously with limited choices, I am forced to work with THEIR inventory to make prototypes that are reasonably "immersive".

What I am trying to say is that when I "submit" my game to a Publisher... I want them to say: "Wow looks cool every Wizard with his/her own game elements..." I don't want them to say: "Whoa this looks like poor color coordination" and that they don't like the marriage of this GENRE of game.

Know what I mean??? Ugh it's an endless battle...

It's just PLACEHOLDER artwork for a future Publisher to consider in what some of the elements of the design could look like. To give a "feel" for the game. While I'm not the greatest "Graphic Designer", I'm just putting something out there that will eventually get RE-DESIGNED by a professional.

So this is just some "nicer" version because the opposite side (Card Faces) will be in Black & White (like all my prototypes) and there won't be too many cards. A bare minimum for only playing 3 rounds of the game.

I'm not going to develop the game to the end-goal ... because quite frankly having gone through the Publishing route... I already know what to expect when it comes down to art and design. And since I'm not advancing art ... this will be up to the publisher to FUND all the artwork. Design is replaceable and any good Publisher will have Graphic Designers that can "run circles around me" when it comes to proper design protocols, making professional looking templates, etc.

Anyhow thanks for your opinion on the cardback... But to be real honest, I'm not super sensitive on the production. It'll certainly get re-designed...

Cheers.

Note: And what I was going for with this "Carback" is something old and mysterious... That's why the darker glow, the blood drop is because this is YOUR actual Health Points. If it's a "1" that means that card is only worth 1 HP. Some cards have more HP, some have less. A good average is anywhere between 10 to 20 HP (with min at 5 and max at 25).

So that side (back) serves as a reminder about how much HP each card is worth.

And still it will be 10% of what a REAL "Graphic Designer" can do.

Here's my vague attempt to make it LESS "heavy"... No worries if you still don't like it... Like I said it's placeholder artwork and as for the coloring, that is all handled by "The Game Crafter" (TGC), it's the SAME price if it's WHITE or BLUE... They don't care.

Again, I'm not a "Graphic Designer" so don't HATE on me! I was not offended by your comments, I happen to like the Font. Maybe the card was too "empty" because I am so poor with graphics.

Anyway if you don't like this version either... It's okay too. No worries!

Okay I understood and made some more "fine-tuning". To be real honest, the FONT is not 100% what I wanted. I had a vision of what the game's Title was supposed to look like. This is as close as I could find searching for FREE fonts.

Because finding the RIGHT font is well rather difficult. I'm not well versed in types of fonts, so I don't know if it should serif, sans or medieval for that matter (LOL).

Again my reason for saying that I'm not a "Graphics Designer" is because I'm not a professional at editing computer images and doing compositions... I dabble. In my opinion, I TRY to get something CLOSE to what I would want a REAL Graphic Designer to transform... And I know Mike from Outer Limit Games, LLC is better at it that I am... He designed a super layout for our boxes (It was so nice that I got compliments from the family: "Hey it actually looks like a REAL GAME!"), the rulebooks and the cards themselves. He's not a Graphic Designer by trade... but his skills are much better than my own.

So I know what is possible (for me) and what is possible (from a professional).

Note: I added thumbnails of all four (4) additional screen captures of the other Wizard classes. You can scroll up a bit and see them along with the original "Enchanter" that I was inquiring about.