Adobe Owns Me

Well I tried to make the free apps work.
GIMP, Inkscape, Krita, etc.  But after reaching out to a few game manufacturers it seems like InDesign is one of the better ways to save the best quality file images.
The PNG/PDFs I was creating with Inkscape were just not the same definition/quality that they would need.  And I find that when working with artists they often use adobe products/files, which makes importing their art/icons/template suggestions much easier.

I have tried the 7 day free trial for several days now, and I do love the program so I will end up paying the $20USD per month to have access to ID and PS.

Now that I do, its time to get back into re-designing every single card I have... A long process indeed.

Also, I came up with another idea for the future state of the game... but it involves a game board.  Was trying to stay away from the board at first, but now I realize that my map of Novus can actually be the board, and players will travel across it to reach the different locations, thereby invoking a sense of control over their character destinies (instead of the random card drawing that was happening).

One more thing... Battle mechanic needs to change based on a few players thoughts that combat was too quick, and too static.  Given that the game is based on DnD, I am going to incorporate D20 rolls into the game.  Not 100% how yet, but my initial thought is that each combat consists of 3 attack "rounds" in which the player and creature roll a d20 (the acting player can just roll two different color dice).  They each add their combat modifier(s) to the rolls to determine who wins the round.  Whomever wins two out of three rounds wins.  AND a player may choose to escape in mid combat (ie after the first or second rounds).
This creates more interesting and interactive battles, the chance for Tragic Fails or Epic Strikes (rolling a 1 or 20 on the die), and allows the rare chance for goblins and rats to win a battle against a powered up character.

Lots of thinking and suggestions today, a shout out to Jon Mott from the US who took 30 minutes of his day to chat with me on the phone about his playtesting session with his friends!  Thanks very much Jon, greatly appreciated.

Pics are of InDesign, and a few new card visions..

Cleaner Card Formats

Through the support and advice of an artist I was provided with a cleaner card template to try using for a few of my card frames.
So far I believe they do look more professional than my original inkscape designs, and may decide to use them for final frames if the feedback is positive.

Here's a couple examples....

A Mass Volume Quote

A few weeks ago I sent in a submission to Panda Games out of curiosity of what my game could cost if it were mass produced overseas in China.
An often mentioned company that does this is Panda Games, their website does not provide immediate costs (or any costs for that matter), but it is pretty easy to create a profile and request a quote.
The minimum quantity you can quote for is 1,500 units, which is what I did.  It was kind of neat to see the difference in price through mass production overseas vs mild production within North America.  I won't quote any businesses exact prices, but I can see overseas shows a significant decrease in costs (keeping in mind production time/delivery time would significantly increase, with potential for additional shipping charges and taxes).

When developing a Kickstarter plan I think I will have to have a plan to produce in both, then based on how many backers support the game (if any!), that can help determine where it is the most time and cost effective place to produce it.

I noticed a recent kickstarter card based solo game still has 15 days left in the campaign and has already raised over $250,000 with over 8,000 backers.  Pretty crazy!

Thanks for the quote Panda, it truly helps to develop a cost / sell formula to plan for how much I could afford to spend on packaging, art, shipping, etc now that I have a ballpark figure to go with!

An Artist who share a passion for Fantasy

During my quest to build this game, build this world, and share it with others I have met a very talented artist from Italy.
I discovered Andrea by searching the Artstation website for fantasy related images.  Although his page did not have a ton of art, it had some good concepts and what I felt was great potential.

Have a look:
https://www.artstation.com/andreabutera

Finding an artist is only the beginning though.  From there you need to be able to feel comfortable discussing your project with them, seeing if they even have an interest in a multi-art project, and ordering some example/individual art to see what they are capable of on-demand.

I am very happy to say Andrea is a true Fantasy fan, who seems to enjoy the world I am creating, and can create some pretty solid creature art in a short amount of time.  Together we have agreed to a total of 15 cards to get the game images developed for a potential Kickstarter promotion later this year.  Based on how these turn out, Andrea could very well become the complete game artist (with one of his friends) for this creation, which I think would be fantastic in terms of supporting a budding new artist in another part of the world.

Below are a few examples of his sketches/coloring so far, which I am very pleased with!  Thank you Andrea for replying to my initial email, and working within my budget to help change this game from an idea to a reality!

A Friendly Kickstarter Chat

This afternoon I reached out to a recently funded Kickstarter game designer, Taylor Hayward.  It was his first campaign for a game, and he was able to achieve $14k for a card game, with 607 backers.  To me this was a pretty solid success story, and I was thankful that he was willing to chat with me on the phone for 15 minutes.
Taylor shared a few things with me, and was very gracious with his time and honest about his responses.  I will keep the summary of his keys to success to three simple points though...

1. ART - The game art is critical to your success.  No matter how good your game may be, the art is the finishing seller of your product.  It needs to stand out, and it needs to connect with your audience.
2. HOW TO PLAY - Your campaign page needs to stand out visually, but more importantly it needs to show potential backers how to play the game... in an interesting and visual way.  They should be able to learn the basics of your game simply by scrolling through your campaign page.
3. COMMUNICATION - You need to get the word out about your game, kickstarter launch, and constant posts/discussion about your game throughout the campaign.  Taylor highly recommended using one of the Kickstarter Experts that are available to support you (at a % fee of your fundraising).

I will attach a pic of Taylors game below, and I want to extend a thank you to him again for taking time out of his day to share his Kickstarter experience with me.

An elegant, highly unique, portable, strategy card game set in ancient Northern Europe.

Created by

Taylor Hayward - Green Meadow Games

A short break

Sometimes you need to take a break from work, usually a vacation but sometimes just a few days off helps as well.  Over the next few days I will be taking time off work and from in-depth game design, but I will still be putting some time in each night towards Character creation and World creation from a story perspective (hard to do anything else when the laptop is being left at home). 

In every book and podcast I have read/listened to they all say to devote time every single day to bringing your project to life.  I plan to live by that philosophy, as I think the longer you put something off or ignore it, the more likely you are to keep ignoring it.  In addition to writing story and character ideas I will also be reading up on Game Design blog posts, articles, etc.  In particular I need to find out how to best attempt to create the game at a minimal cost, so that it can be sold at the lowest potential consumer price (without having cheap cards/art though).

Now I'm heading off to enjoy the mountains for a few days in Lake Louise and Banff, always a great place to ease the mind.  I also find it helps with thinking of new story and game ideas when you are away from the hustle and bustle of everyday life.

See below a photo of Lake Louise area, and a few preliminary pieces of art some of my colleagues are working on specifically for this game!  One artist is working on Creatures while another is working on Characters.  Loving what they are doing so far!!

Probably won't put up a new post until Sunday now...

Problems with GameCrafter Prototype

As I mentioned a few posts ago, I had placed an order for a preliminary game through GameCrafter.  It turns out they look closely at all files and determined that some of my cards had images not approved for use (example, one magic helmet had a helmet from an iconic video game).

Looks like I have to create more generic images in order to print some real cards, or I could keep using sleeved printouts until I have more playtesting data to work with.

One more obstacle to overcome!

Currently I am working on establishing a cost analysis for pre-Kickstarter investment costs, and post-Kickstarter game costs.  Other than game production, the most significant cost will be the Art.  I am trying to work with talented artists at discounted rates to provide a few sample cards for the kickstarter project (a few of each card type is enough to show backers what they can expect to see in the finished game, and how the basic turns work with real-card examples).

One artist provided me with a preview of her art, since it is not quite finished yet and we haven't finalized payment, I will not announce her name just yet, but I do plan to post the image and name of the first few pieces of commissioned art as I feel recognition is important for these talented individuals.

Personally, I think she is very talented and I am looking forward to the finished product, and seeing what she can do with the Hydra card as well!