Card Games

Build your own TCG 4 – Printing

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Build your own TCG 4 – Printing

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In Part 4 of the Build your own TCG series, I’ve decided to add on some finishing options. In this day and age it’s now possible to run a complete production in your own home. You can print at home, and not just movie tickets, vouchers, or grocery coupons, but full quality high finish prints and documents. As always you have your local print shop for those on the go. If tools aren’t readily accessible, achieve that professional glossy look and feel for a price with Print-On-Demand services.

There are many print shops who are willing to print custom playing cards but they may want to run you a minimum of 250 pieces. Promotional imprinters, or Print-On-Demand (POD) offer services per deck. There are more and more of these type of printers available on the web now than a decade ago, but you obviously save if you bulk order more than 10. That usually means if you’re trying to maximize your investment you’ll have to agree and pay upwards of 100 pcs (1 deck = 1 pc) of your card game. With so many options to choose from what determines your course of action? Well, that’s pretty simple when you narrow it down to a few things; Quantity vs. Quality, Margin, and Accessibility. My suggestion would be to start small, invest wisely and opt for quality first. Shop around. Have sample kits sent to give you an idea of the materials and print quality. This will be your first impression and your final product, so make it count.

Printing at home

There are many things to consider when printing at home. Great news is most of the prep can be carried over to setup for profession printing which goes back to my first post about publishing tools. Assuming you want to have your stuff professionally printed at some point, best set up your files so you are print-ready for the big day. This will alleviate several hurdles in the future.

File setup
There are a few varying ways to do this, and depending on the printer you’re working with you may have to modify your print settings; colour, grain, saturation, etc. But all printers require the same formatting setup for your files – 300 dpi, quarter inch bleed and at least an 8th inch safety margin.

Printing
If you have specific type of paper or your printer can support a heavier stock of paper, use it. Full colour, vibrant artwork will need a good paper to transfer that impact onto. Especially if using an Ink Jet printer.

Cutting & mounting
Printing to colour copy paper adhearing it to card stock. Many ways to go about this. Either using scissors or hobby knife, or you can use a rotary cutter or guillotine. Once the cards are printed, mounted and cut, sleeving them is the next best thing.

Sealing/Sleeving
If you’re not producing artwork directly to a finished card stock, sleeves are imperative to protecting your work as much as it is for shuffling. Nothing says trading card like sleeves. Simply head down to your local game shop or search the web for “card sleeves”. You can also flip open Amazon or Ebay to narrow your online sleeve search. Trading card sleeves come in all different sizes and colours so be mindful. Choose the ones that work for you or that are common among the type of games your TCG falls inline with. You’re choice during your setup will determine the sleeve size. Different styles and types of sleeves are available. Artwork, opaque or transparent backings are just some of the options.

Printing locally

Printing locally may seem like a chore for some, but may be a breeze for others. I’ve been dealing with printers and vendors for so long I’m fairly familiar with what their looking for. If you don’t know, ask. They are usually very helpful as they want your business as much as you need their service. Finding a local printer to print your game cards specifically will be tough (at least it was for me here in Toronto), but there are ways around this. With a little creative setup and a good share of manpower, 2 or more people can knock out a 40 card deck in an afternoon. Use a local printer and print as many cards as you can (double sided) on the largest heavy stock they have. Then cut and sleeve. Bam! TCG ready to run.

A few large sheets of cards carefully planned out may be able to cover a whole set or deck of your game cards, and with the print shop quality and speed,  you could create very impressive prototypes or personal decks with this finishing process. It provides your players a close-to-production experience of your game(s).

Printing on demand

There are many many many services online that print and ship your custom created cards to you. Be it your TCG/CCG/LCG cards, supplement cards for a board game or flip card learning material for classes, kids and more. On-Demand printing is definitely the way to go for quick, professional output. The list below outlines some of the POD services I’ve either used or reviewed.

Printer’s Studio
These folks are another Print On-Demand company, creating custom playing cards along with blank cards that you can add your artwork too. They are my go-to at the moment. Providing a very good quality card with better than average digital printing as a reasonable price per deck. Over the last 5 years though, the pricing everywhere has gone up as there is a spike in indie game development. Part of their service is a template creator. It allows you to upload your front and back images to a list of 54 cards. The tool is useful for when you need to update a particular card. Just upload the new art instead of sending the whole file again.

The Game Crafter
Probably one the most popular POD shops for board and card games in the USA. They specialise in low-run or one-off table top game produced in full quality. Shipping to Canada from is a bit pricey and brings up the cost per deck, so I’ve stuck with what I’ve known. No doubt though, I’ve played card games produced through them and the quality is top notch.

Panda GM
Probably the biggest name in the North American industry for indie and professional game manufacturing. This company has grown exponentially since the tabletop boom a few year back. They are more of a large quantity production house, usually dealing with minimum order quantity of 1500 pcs. But if you’re game is ready for the big league, these are the big boys you should be dealing with.

Shuffled Ink
Formally QPC Games, this company has been in the game for about 2 decades. They print card games, develop game components and other elements to bring your game to life. I remember coming across them back when they were under QPC and printing quality is superb. A great alternative to Panda GM because of their custom order quantity, but maybe not as budget friendly as The Game Crafter. Definitely worth getting a free quote.

MPC
MPC, like Printer Studio, provides a template tool to upload your cards to. What makes this service provider stand out is their history. They traditionally produce actual playing cards. Using their pre-loaded common templates, you can achieve high quality Print on Demand (POD) game cards. Choose from varying colours and styles, or upload your own artwork to be printed. They state their online card maker is arguably the best in the industry for detecting low-res images and positioning. I’ve had playing cards made once for a non-TCG but never used any tools since I used another application to build them. This route would be great for the TCG enthusiast who has an established set of cards or someone who prefers a high quality finish to their printed deck and are not too keen on designing it themselves. Definitely worth a look.

Find all the links to the whole series right here. And for any tools and services that you feel are worthy to mention, please let me know in the comments below.

Build your own TCG 3 – Handcrafting

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Build your own TCG 3 – Handcrafting

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Draw, colour, cut and paste your way  a playable TCG. You may, however, not know where to start or require a little inspiration to get the engine roaring. Have no fear. As a lifetime crafter I can tell you it’s a lot less daunting than you may think. Don’t have artistic abilities? No worries. Don’t have any of the “pro crafting goodies” you see tubers and other artists use? No problem. Starting is a breeze and acquiring the materials is even easier. Most times I may not cost you a dime. YA! FREE is good! But if you don’t mind spending a little something, get the materials that matter.

Dollar and discount stores will be your source for inexpensive, useful materials. From scissors, glue, cardstock, paper, colouring and writing tools, tape and stickers. You name it, they got it (for the most part). If you don’t have any drawing abilities you can always print from the web, cut and paste artwork to your cards. Classic crafting 101. Add cool boarders, character art and symbols to make your card ultra custom. Your checklist of the base materials are below.

Common materials

There is no real list of tools per say to use that you don’t already know about. Pencils, pens, markers, scissors, glue, tape and some creativity are standard requirements.

Cutting tools
Most of the materials required at this stage will probably be kicking around any common house. Everyone, and I mean EVERYONE should have a scissors kicking around. Whether your printing these cards our or drawing them on loose leaf paper, it is a must have. If you happen to have a guillotine or hobby knife, then you’re a little better off. Quick, straight, long cuts can be achieved with a metal ruler and an X-actor blade. When it comes to a few cards, scissors should be enough, but working with a sheet of cards? Get the blades out.

Blank paper
It is what it is. Blank paper for writing and or printing on. Have designs already on the computer and just need to print them off? You’ll need paper. I find myself printing just a template of the cards and penciling in the details so I can tweak them later if need be. Combined with card sleeves, you got yourself a playable, editable deck of cards for prototyping you very own game.

Index cards/Poster board
Either or gives you a card type foundation for your design work. They take marker and pens well, but don’t shuffle as nice as natural playing card. If shuffling isn’t a game breaker then drawing on blank index cards are great. Whether it’s for prototyping or for hand drawn final card, this is a winning approach in my books. For a better shuffling experience, and to provide protection to your precious hand drawn work, card sleeves for the win.

Drawing tools
You have to draw something! And you have to colour it… maybe. If you do, make it cool, make it fun, make it yours. For those that have drafting chops, get to the art my friend. Sketch, ink, paint, colour, accessorize with stickers and glitter or foil or whatever you thing is super cool. Hand-made game cards are collectible and incredible. Don’t be limited by your tools.

Adheasives
Glue. Tape. Two primary uses; 1) binding the front and back of the cards together, and 2) pasting cool add-ons. Now double sided tape is preferred for instant bonding, but glue stick or white glue can work just as well. Heck, even if you had spray adheasive you can go that route – though it can get messy.

Playing Cards
Cheap playing cards from a discount store or ones you may have lying around the house are a great foundation for prototyping. They also make good backing cards to your handcrafted designs. Marking them up with non-smudging pens or inks is a sure fire way to get your details down on card so you can get to play testing early. This is by far my favourite way to get to play testing phase without worrying so much about visual presentation. It’s a good practice to make sure the game works first before investing time to create/curate art.

Blanks
Let’s say you don’t want to fuss with all the cutting and pasting. You just want to get to the point. Well, blank playing cards can be purchased at your nearest education materials or art store, or on your nearest internet enabled device. Places like Amazon or Ebay have tons of blank trading/poker cards. Just Google the term and you will find more options than you can shake your bank book at.

DIY and How-To

Now it’s time for the inspiration. DIY tutorials are a plenty on the web. Here is a short list of places to help you get started and even polish the greatness you have brewing inside.

Instructables – You can always find amazing tutorials here from other creators. This search turned up many but the first 3 (during the time of the search) are valuable tutes for information and process.

YouTube – There are thousands out there. You already know how to use YT to find cat videos and movies, so you shouldn’t have trouble finding tutorials and tips on creating TCGs. Hint – keywords to use are “diy + tcg + trading cards + how to”. Here is a great search list: https://tinyurl.com/yavxrgr4

wikiHowTo – Another DIY / How To site with great users and easy to follow resources. Make use of this place as well as Instructables. Images and step by step walk-throughs may not be for all, but it’s a great place for ideas and construction. Here is a general search list: https://www.wikihow.com/wikiHowTo?search=tcg

And as always any search engine will provide you billions of hits. The purpose of this post is to narrow down some of the more popular (in terms of search results and user feedback) tools and resources to access. That should be it for now, but as always, have fun and stay motivated. The best TCG/CCG/LCGs are produced from patience and the love of gaming. Game on, my friends.

Find all the links to the whole series right here. And for any tools and services that you feel are worthy to mention, please let me know in the comments below.

Build your own TCG 2 – Online tools

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Build your own TCG 2 – Online tools

Is there anything you can’t do online nowadays? Websites were, in part, created to share information and publically (or privately) document the knowledge and opinions of others. In an age where you can literally run a company sitting on your cell phone in a coffee shop, we turn to the World Wide Web for guidance. This case is no different and I was happy I did so. Which online tools are best for creating your very own TCG? Saving you some time, I’ve gone ahead and disseminating the best of the best. Well, by no means is this list the best of all time, but they are the best out of 10+ tools I’ve found and tested.

Online tools to create your very own TCG

With the many online TCG creators out there it’s hard to pick one … UNLESS you know exactly what you’re looking for. If your game takes nods from YuGiOh or Pokémon, or even Magic, then it’s probably best to use card makers with a fixed style. If, however, your card game is completely custom, then I would suggest an open style maker like Deckromancy. Anyway, let’s tool up!

Online tools

MTG Cardsmith – (FREEware)
An online tool for creating your own custom MTG (Magic) or MTG like trading cards. This is just one of a couple MTG online tools out there. They all pretty much to the same thing so I didn’t list them all. This site requires you to register, as it saves your custom cards and decks and has a community based around it. It has a lot of customization related to the types and styles of existing MTG cards. A definite for the MTG fan or user of the MTG card format.

Card Maker – (FREEware)
The second of a few MTG card makers out there. This card maker is actually at it’s core a TCG/CCG creator, as it also offers Pokémon and Yu-Gi-Oh formats. This was the second online card maker I’d ever used and I loved it. The online tools may seem a bit restrictive in its formatting as it uses a fixed style format. You’re locked into the placement and sizing of common elements though. If that’s right up your design alley (or you’re just not picky), these group of  tools get the job done.

Deckromancy Web – (FREEware)
Yes, you read correctly. Deckromany also provides on online card design tool so you can create and print your custom TCG cards without the cost. What’s the catch? They watermark all their cards with “Edited online at Deckromancy.com/web. The online creator is just as robust as the stand alone and it even provides users with pre-designed templates (SKIN files) to load up and modify. They even have a HearthStone card generator.

WOW Card Creator – (FREEware)
And speaking of HearthStone, looking to create a CCG/TCG with the World of Warcraft look? Or maybe you designed custom WOW decks that you’d like to play with friends. Welcome to the WOW card creator. All cards are fixed styles of existing types of cards and all you do is modify the Tribe, Class, Vitals, Rarity Text and costs. Plus add your own custom image for that authentic WOW card look and feel. Though it is freeware, the site does take donations and creators should register so they can save their cards and decks for later access and printing. The presentation is very stylized and professional, but keep in mind the creators of this card generator are not affiliated with Blizzard.

My Pokémon Card Creator – (FREEware)
Another tool in a long list of Pokémon card makers I had come across online. They all pretty much provide you with the same style of cards, assuming you’re creating your own pocket monsters for the existing popular game format. Or even if you just like their card setup. Great thing about this one, and what makes it standout in the sea of Poké-card generators, is that it also supports 5 languages; English, French, Spanish, Polish and Japanese. It watermarks every card with a “-fake card-” in the footer where artists’ credits would normally be found, taking responsibility for not supplying cheaters with faux cards. Also, the quality of the JPG raster image is degraded so that there is no way to fake a custom card that can be used in tournament play anyway.

Trading Card Creator – (FREEware)
Originally created as a online tool for students, this webware can still provide you with some essential elements for creating trading cards. The software is very nice and easy to use. I came across this tool sometime after working with 3 other online card generators. It’s clearly designed to be a flip card generator for educational purposes, but with some simple design creativity this could be used to create game cards and basic TCGs. It’s a stretch, but it does work.

There are a plethora of online tools to design and generate cards. So much so that it might be beneficial to give 2 or 3 of the aforementioned options a good run through. Based on what you prefer versus what works best may be a matter of trial and error. If web access is an issue and you’d like to keep your cards save locally, then a desktop program might be best. Just be ready to fork over some cash. Who knows. You may already be using a graphic program to generate artwork for use with these online tools. Almost all the online tools are free, but one catch is your stuff is saved in the clouds. Plus, you must consider print resolution and flexibility.

Find all the links to the whole series right here. And for any tools and services that you feel are worthy to mention, please let me know in the comments below.

Build your own TCG 1 – Desktop publishing

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Build your own TCG 1 – Desktop publishing

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Since before the insatiable itch of trading card games (TCG) hit me, I have always wanted to design and play my own battle card game. Now card games have come a long way and have several classifications, like CCG (collectible card game) and LCG (living card game). After the introduction of Pokémon — which I was a casual collector of the cards but never actually played against anyone — I was hooked on the battle card concept. Now TCGs have evolved and come a long way.

Adventure and dungeon crawling games have been created, real-time fighting games, as well as live action card games have come to the forefront. As many card games have come and gone, I’ve started to notice the pattern. I was beginning to understand more about the core mechanics that make up a balanced card game. I was open to a lot more variety of card games. Mix in chance with strategy and offer a plethora of cards which allow for unimaginable combinations and you have a barn burner. It doesn’t hurt to have a popular animated series to tie in the culture and lessons. For a little history on Collectable Card Games pop on over to Wikipedia and get your dose or foundational fibre. It does a creative mind good.

customTCG

Recently after a month of browsing the web for any kind of tool and resource for creating my own cards, I’ve compiled a short list of what I consider the best. I’ve done this hunt several times over the last several years and not much has changed in the landscape of producing your own stuff. More tools, more tutes, more resources, but the game’s still the same. I’ve used most, if not all of these in some degree and found my own comfort zone. What works best for me may not work for others, hence the list. Experiment with each one when you are ready to start creating your own TCG. You may find your creative comfort zone in a mix ‘n match of desktop, online and manual options. So, you still want to make a TCG? Well, let’s get to it!

Desktop publishing tools

Windows or Mac based programs that can help you create that custom card game you’ve been wanting to build.

Deckromancy – (FREE / Paid)
A great program that is both flexible and easy to use. Works on WIN and MAC OS as well as your iOS and Android devices. For the price of the software you get freedom to build and manage your custom decks. Setting up templates, customizing layouts and colours, and adding your own icons makes this one of the best I’ve used. It’s more than worth the price tag. It goes by a few other names online but they are all the same tool.

nanDECK – (FREEware)
Another good tool, nanDECK is very flexible, but that comes at a cost… coding. If you’re more of a visual learner and prefer to drag-n-drop, double click and type your way to a custom deck, then this program is not for you. It’s not to say it’s any harder than the others. Quite the contrary. It’s MAC OS, WIN and LINUX friendly, and from what I gather its primary focus is to build and manage decks based on scripts; referencing images, colours and text through lines of code. Systematically it generates a full deck of cards within mere seconds. nanDECK is great for prototyping (where you don’t require heavy graphic design) and want to generate a functioning deck that can be edited without the time consuming graphical edits. I used it, I love it for prototyping.

CCG Maker – (FREEware)
This tool was the second piece of software I ever tried when I first started my search for desktop card creators. It’s simple and to the point, very customizable, and allows you to save and print your cards. The saved cards can be re-edited if needed but the print resolution JPG is poor for high quality output. It’s primarily for online or digital presentation. You can create and save up to 10 of your own templates for manna symbols, set symbols or cards. The application has a feature which allows you to import or export different symbols. You can add, remove or position your own set symbols to this program.

Magic Set Editor – (FREEware)
This piece of software allows you to design your own cards for popular TCGs. MSE can then generate images of those cards so that you can print or upload them to the internet. One great thing about this tool that the others don’t have is the ability to export it to an HTML file so that you can import it to Apprentice or LackeyCCG and play with your own cards online against others.

Adobe CS/CC – (30 day trial / Paid )
Adobe suite tool provide tons of power for designers and developers. I’ve been using Photoshop since 5.5 so my design instinct is to draft on paper, then create digital version. With Photoshop you can build a single card, then build a sheets and edit them all in one shot. Set up a print document, set up your measurements and create your template. Then fill in the blanks. Adobe also offers programs like InDesign and Illustrator that give your more design and layout power, the former of which can automate text on your cards through data merge. All in all, if you’re looking to go right to the visual presentation out of the gate this is the tool for you.

GIMP / Inkscape – (FREEware)
An alternative to the paid Adobe CS tools is GIMP and Inkscape. Both are all-OS friendly, being open-source, and very well respected photo editing and vector tool respectively. For TCG creation they can do pretty much do everything you’d possibly need creatively. From templates to designs, typography and manipulation – your creativity is the limit. GIMP is a freeware program that boasts great tool sets which rival such applications like Photoshop and CorelDraw. Inkscape, with it’s flexible drawing tools, wide range of format compatibility and powerful text tools, make you are no lesser a force than any other designer with paid software. If you’re strapped for cash or just looking to dabble with full-featured editing/design tools, these are your answer.

Other digital tools – (FREE / Paid)
Depending on how technical or creative (or in some cases just bull headed) you are, you can really develop TCG cards with any program you can type and import artwork to. I’ve seen people using MS Word or OpenOffice Docs to design cards. Some really talented folks have created cards in PowerPoint, MS Paint/Paint.NET (both of which are free and default with Windows), Pages (which is a OEM program on Mac OSX), and many other no graphic design software. Snicker if you want, but a veteran MS Excel user could probably write a macro or two to automate a whole deck in a matter of hours, artwork and all.

The bottom line is if you have some type of digital software that you can draw, erase, type and import you have the tool(s) to create your very own card game or supporting cards for a board game.

Find all the links to the whole series right here. And for any tools and services that you feel are worthy to mention, please let me know in the comments below.

Cheater Cheater Pumpkin Eater

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Cheater Cheater Pumpkin Eater

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Is it your responsibility as a game designer to create a system where it is difficult to cheat?

This conversation has people flip flopping depending on which side they sympathize with, the player or the designer. But since this post is directed at designers there should be no defensive stance on this. I will say this loud and clear for all to hear;

“It is your duty to limit (eliminate) confusion, complication and misuse of your game and its mechanics.” — cK Leach

Bottom line. There will always be cheaters and liars and the more tightly sealed your game is the more apparent cheating will be.

Math = Power

Math is the answer. Whether it’s a mechanism or a player that checks and balances, mathematical deduction usually produces any back handed actions to be visible. I’ve found that if you as a designer found ways to exploit your own game, fix it. If not, play testers will exploit it for you. In that case, fix it! That is the point. If there is a hole and fixing it will break your mechanism(s), then you didn’t really work out all the wrinkles. It’s just sloppy game design. No game is really cheat-proof, don’t get me wrong, but making cheating visible is a lot easier than people think. Isolating scenarios that are too perfect is one way to do it, which often leads to pigeon-holing. Another way is to have there be exception. Exception in gaming, as well in our world’s set of rules, is how we’ve come to understand the limitation of said system and how it’s patched to water tight for the most part. I use the word exploit specifically because an exploit isn’t always a cheat. Though the two words seem to be synonymously they are not the same. One can exploit a hole in a game to better their outcome. This isn’t always cheating. Cheating seems to lean more towards breaking or bending the rules/confines of an given environment to better the outcome …. see what I did there. I know the argument and I hear you loud and clear. Look at it this way. If there is rule that allows for a player to take advantage of or access a certain criteria, and it’s within the confines of the games’ law, then by all means it’s not cheating. At least not to the designer. They designed the game that way, so that’s how it’s played. If it’s used over and over again or incites rage from other players because it ruins the balance of the game, then yes, I can see an exploit becoming more of a cheat or a cheap. That’s why my argument about using math to isolate said scenarios is so important.

For more ways on how to exploit games just search YouTube

For instance, any game where numbers are involved, there is always some variable that cannot be used to acquire a desired outcome. If that outcome is too frequent or non existent in theory and then shows up to be a game changer, cheating/exploiting is definitely a factor. I like to believe the more complex anything is the easier it is to have gaps. Now there are times when a perfect storm would arise, a moment when all the planets would align and even the developer with hundreds of thousands of hours play testing with thousands upon thousands of people may not have calculate. It could happen. I’m not saying that. But when the developer knows, and for the most part any serious player knows when a moment like that comes up it’s due to a miscount, a missed card, a missed action or a sly act, it’s flagged right away. Then it becomes a situation of back tracking to find out where the miscalculation was and who was to blame, intentional or not. Errors should be easy to track because at the end of the day it comes down to numbers and numbers can be easily controlled by math. Math is the answer.

Solving = Cheating

Is counting and “solving” games considered cheating? This, I suspect, is a sub-set to this conversation and personally I don’t think so. In a perfect-information game cheating doesn’t exist without it being blatantly apparent. It’s more so the responsibility of all players to be conscious of the game play and possibilities. Does the blame directly lie with the game designer? I don’t think so, nor should it. The act of cheating should be marginalized to the point it breaks the game. There a lot of solved games out there.  And technically any game can be solved if you know all the variables regardless if they are visible at the time. Perfect play and all that jazz. It’s almost like both players are playing at the same time but they are not necessarily playing against each other. A lot of solitaire games with fixed starting points and simple movements can be solved via reverse engineering. I’ve played my share of puzzle games and it has always come back to order. How can you arrange pieces/number/men/cards in the order they need to be to get expected result. I may be rambling a bit but there is a science to design. Deduction, strategy, tactics, it’s all about calculating probability and maximizing that chance of an expected outcome. Or minimizing the risk of unknown factors. Math. Math is the answer.

At  the end of the day we, as designers, have to do our best to lock down the possibility of cheating. And no matter how hard we try it’s a long, arduous battle to try and keep a game streamline and not have it susceptible to being solved or exploited. The more complicated the games gets the greater the chance of grey areas going unseen by both sides. These grey regions are where the mathematically inclined like to work their magic. Card games in general are notorious for cheaters and we all know someone who knows a way to beat cheat at a card game. The funny thing is, if those conditions are known then it’s easy to point out. I’d hate to have been in a game for 2hrs where someone’s been skimming the whole time and eventually edge me out just because of some exploit AFTER all the numbers are tallied. Math …. *shaking fist* Math is the answer.

Winning = Respect

To turn the tides from designers to players just for a moment. It’s obviously clear that no matter how hard one designs a game with iron clad rules and almost impossible loopholes, a designer cannot get around human nature and the almost innate need to best the system. Systems, like rules, are too regimented at times leaving those involved and invested restricted in their freedoms. And when it comes to the human factor in a game, that is something even the most rigid of game mechanics can’t ignore. I had recently read a post about how players are finding new ways to cheat in games. Similarly to how casinos have not tried to eliminate/limit the dealer (human factor) as much as possible there is still the factor of the player. There have been card sharps (card sharks) since poker and other card games have been invented. Unless the game has changed or the rules have changed, little will help card sharps or mathematicians from besting others by playing the best hand, or making the best play, or using the best route to success. Even if it means a little underhandedness.

You’d think that if a human went up against a computer in any game the human would lose. This is not always the case. We’ve seen humans beat computers in all types of board and card game challenges. This has only proven how masterful the human mind works and how it can deduce probable outcomes from the information it’s provided. The computer, though many, many times faster does the exact same thing. So now you have people playing people online and using another tab or their phone to calculate moves based on the current game’s information. As you will read in the article I’ve linked above it even happens at Master Level events.  Local tournaments are one thing, but at an international level people are still trying to finagle a way to best their opponent. It’s not like they’ve solved the game. It’s more like they’ve pulled a thread in the tightly woven rules and weaseled their way through. All for fame and riches? All for accolades and a place in history? Scary. Even among the local friendlies, players still use sly tactics to get the upper hand their opponents. And it’s all just bragging rights. Doesn’t make sense, right? Well, to humans it does and that’s why mathematicians have found ways to help combat this strain of short-handed success by creating programs that recognize patterns. Matching player patters to that of a computer program has helped tournaments keep a close eye on not just the winners, but how the winners are winning. Because it’s all numbers there is a finite amount of options any player has at any one time. And if the quickest way to success is evident by a machine and can be matched up to a human player, it may be more than just coincidence or skill that has this player walking through to the finals. And in the end it’s all math. Math is the answer.

So developers, fix your games and players, stop your shit. The lesson of the day is don’t cheat because it ruins it for everyone, including math.

Throw it to the ground

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Throw it to the ground

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Yes! You literally collect them then throw them, but not in the bin. Welcome the world of Menko, the game where players collect card with art printed on them. Prints range from anime and manga characters, comic book heroes, baseball players, samurais and ninjas, and just about anything worth collecting. The cards themselves are a thick stock, usually in the 40-50 pt range and come in 2 popular shapes, rectangle or circle. The premise of the game is to throw down a card, trying to flip the other player’s card with a gust of wind or by striking his card against the other card. If you succeeds, you takes both cards. The player who takes all the cards, or the one with the most cards at the game’s end, wins the game. Sound familiar? Of course it does. Anyone who grew up with Pokémon and Crazybones should also be familiar with the other collector fad know as POGs. Though menko existed centuries before this 90s fad, POGs have been around for some time. According to facts the game originated in Hawaii sometime in the ’20-’30s and were originally the cardboard inserts in the cap of a POG drink — POG standing for the drink’s ingredients of passion fruit, orange and guava.

Image courtesy of Wikimedia.org
Image courtesy of Wikimedia.org

 

The variety of menko out there in the world is unfathomable. Just like CCGs of anything really, millions upon millions of them were printed and that’s just the licensed vendors. Anything popular usually gets a a few noted knockoffs and if you were a collector, there were always the inferior quality, not as sharply printed versions floating around. Heck! I remember buying sheets and sheets of bootleg POGs from the convenience story and flea market where I lived. I have a good collection of Officially licensed World POG Federation POGs, but all the cool slammers and reflective/hologram pogs came from the terribly produced knockoffs. Even the knockoffs followed a code of production, designing lines of characters that were popular among the lesser brands printing them. But more about menko.

800px-Menko-square-circle-collection
Image courtesy of Wikimedia.org

 

In Japan, menko cards we popularized by the times. During the 17th and 18th century, menko sets were designed around samurai and ninja. Before WWII fighter planes and military were popular, in the ’80s and ’90s baseball players, eventually making it’s way to manga and anime being the favoured print style. Going through images of old menko cards that predate my birth really fills me happiness. Happiness in the way of art and characters from my anime and manga, and the fact that such a rudimentary mechanic played pivotal to many generations of gamers and collectors. I collected CCGs but never really played them competitively. Same goes for POGs but I’ve never owned any official or bootleg menko. I think now is the time to get my hands on a piece of history and relive (regardless how brief) the simple joys of smashing chipboard cards onto each other, risking both loss and damage of my beloved Astro Boy or Sailor Moon menko. If you’d like to see how menko is played in Japan, give this short video a watch. It’s entertainment at it’s most basic level, but you know what? It’s still a bloody challenge.

[youtube id_video=”ePMY_Lxc6hU” autoplay=”false” ]

Well, if I end up buying bootlegs – as we all know they are out there – then I guess it’s not that big of a deal. The internet is littered with them, plus who’s stopping me from printing my own. Hm… Yeah. My own!

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Get to the point

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Get to the point

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Creating a game is a wonderful feeling. Having other enjoy what you’ve enjoyed creating is an artist’s or designer’s greatest accomplishment. Getting you newly developed game(s) out the public is nothing to shake a stick at, but the real nitty gritty comes with explaining how the game works. This is where some designers may not have the vocabulary chops to get players through the learning curve before enjoying their creation. I can attest to this as I’m a very wordy individual. I’m also very technical with every aspect of my life, so simple convos or tutorials tend to stray into premise and concepts that aren’t necessarily required for the layman to get the job done. That being said, and this linguistically loaded lead in brings me to the point of this post. Getting to the point.

Came across a very insightful article on my devlog posted by a blog I follow, CardBoard Edison. I have shared some of their posts in the past and I wanted to share this as well. This hit home heavily as I’m in the process of creating a lot of final drafts (hopefully) for several of my games. These are to ready for several conventions and shows next year.  As the author illustrates in this post, he’s both a writer and a designer as am I, and the struggle between providing as much and as little information relative to the game is an undertaking.

Practice being Concise

Just so summarize some of things the author has pointed out practice makes perfect. One needs to practice being concise. It’s a great exercise and not just for game design but can be applied to any writing one would do in their life, especially when communicating ideas to others where a length explanation isn’t necessary.

“Social media isn’t usually viewed as practical experience for anything, but think about how much information you try to squeeze into a tweet or text. Use that same mindset when writing rules. Look for common or unnecessary rules you can remove but still convey the same meaning. Also look for parts of speech you can remove, even if the grammar suffers. Opportunities could include card text or bullet lists. You may get called out for it, but ultimately gamers are trying to get to playing the game and will generally overlook your word choice.”

Removing text and playtest

Designers can agree that when putting on a playtest, be it publicly or with friends and family, one would be eager to try and explain everything and then some. Partly to explain how you intended them to play the game and talk up your reasoning for said ways to play. It’s a thing I’ve noticed I do a lot and other designer games I’ve playtested.

“The written text needs to convey everything the players need to play properly and, arguably most importantly, have fun. While it sounds like you should just throw everything and the kitchen sink at the rules, there’s an upper limit to how many rules players are willing to sit through depending on the complexity of the game.”

It’s hard enough sitting back and watching them read the rules, then break the game and look at you for some type of explanation. Either a lack of understanding or a lack of clarity can be to blame. Usually it’s a little column A and B. So what do you do? The authors states to iterate the rules during playtest and not just the mechanics. Play around with the way the rules are written, inserting and omitting things and testing with each test group is a good way to get a feel as to how people/players interpret the rules written. Even during the same playtest, have your rules written in 3 different ways and observe those who question or have trouble with information before or during game play. If certain things explain themselves and players pick on particular parts of the rules or play organically then you can leave it out.

Move rules to components

Now this is a popular format for delivering rules, especially with the rising insurgence of micro and mini games. Game components are already meticulously crafted to fit a restriction and who’s to say your rules don’t have to follow suit. Placing the basic rules on the back of cards that match the game sets’ size or on the back or below of the actual game components is a great way to practice short and sweet.  Again, it comes back to how players absorb the game through little info and a couple play through.

“While not a full replacement for written rules, these cards or boards can help fill in gaps that you could leave in the rule book. Again: rule book for generalities, components for specifics.”

Give the article a read and take what you will from a write up about practices to consider when writing rules. The full article can be found at http://designingcardboard.com/how-to-write-concise-rules.

If you’d like to find out more about formatting rules and creating rules for your games, here are some other game designers that have a lot more info in store.

Ryan MacKlin – 11 Rules for Board Game Rules Writing

BBG Forum – Rule book writing

StackExchange – Organizing a rule book

Enjoy!

It just got Real-Time in here!

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It just got Real-Time in here!

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Every wondered what real-time gaming is? Well, wonder no longer. For those not familiar with the concept of real-time table top gaming here is the short and sweet of it:

“Real-time games often allow for players to take their turns (or part of their turns) simultaneously. This is in contrast to turn-based games. There are also some Real-time games in which there is a consequence if a player does not play their turn in a set amount of time.” — BoardGameGeek

You can also view a video here of real-time games by the Board Game Knights.

Although this is not a very common mechanic used by many board games, it does define a board game when it’s done right. High paced, competitive game play is often sought after in today’s rebirth of board games and what better way to build excitement than with a game where timing and pace could secure your success… or seal your fate. I’ve come across a few games like this not many enough to remember how fun they are. Spoons is one game that comes to mind, and concepts like musical chairs promptly follows. Other games that come to mind right away are Scrabble® Slam,  Spot It, and to some extent Pictureka. Other common Real-Time board games include Brawl, Space Cadets: Dice Duel and Ricochet Robots. This concept is almost effortless to pull off in digital gaming as it is synonymous with multi-player games. Achieving this on a game board, however, could prove to be a little trickier.

Looking at card games, as a standard form of multiplayer tabletop gaming, one can see that cards can naturally be used to create a Real-Time game. I also think dexterity games to some degree could lend themselves to Real-Time gaming. After pondering the thought of simultaneous play some time ago I had come up with a game called Junk Mail: The card game. Junk Mail is essentially an email management game where 2-4 players play at the same time. The goal of the game is to keep your inbox from overflowing. I know, sounds kinda lame doesn’t it? So I thought initially. When I went back and reviewed my initial notes written years ago, the primary goal was to create a game that can;

  1. be multiplayer without limiting a 3rd or 5th player,
  2. be played simultaneously,
  3. be played solitaire.

Though it may not have a strong marketing value on theme or originality it does promise to have the makings of a great party/filler game that is both intense and rewarding. Players can bury themselves in emails or chain link their opponents into dealing with junk mail, chain letters and spam. Still in it’s infancy, the games core mechanisms are still being fleshed out. The speed at which each player plays at can vary, but when goals are achieved a player can impose restrictions on their opponent or reward themselves with bonuses. Both inboxes are visible so each player can keep check — and more importantly keep track — of their opponents inbox management. Players draw cards from a fixed, shuffled deck, organize the cards by types and follow actions dictated by the cards. There are 5 inbox slots, 1 archive slot, 1 trash bin and 1 outbox slot. By placing a card in the outbox slot, your opponent has to use those cards. Now, they can use them as they come or they can let them pile up before using them. It’s up to the player to manage their inbox, but more on this when the game is put into actual development. You’ll be able to read about this and many more games on my devlog.

I see a place in any board game bookshelf or game room where a Real-Time game can fit, and I don’t doubt there isn’t an open-minded board game player out there who wouldn’t give a Real-Time game a good effort. For the casual gamer such as myself, it’s a good way to pass the time with friends and family and ensure that everyone is getting in on the fun as the fun is actually happening. Party games truly do benefit from this mechanic, so the next time your designing or buying a game for a group of people to play that needs to be light, fast and fun, think Real-Time.

I’ve heard of going in blind, but…

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I’ve heard of going in blind, but…

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How incredibly awesome is this to see? Now don’t get me wrong. I’m not blown away by a blind person playing board games, but MTG of all things. There is so much textual detail and context in Magic that one would think it’s overwhelming even if you could see. The cards are beautiful and that is one major draw for this franchise, but I doubt players rarely care about fashion and look forward to function.

The game is crazy technical and was never exposed to Magic when I was a kid. Would I start now? Hellz no! Why? Because I have other deep interests and that pool is a bit daunting to me to be honest. I have no shame in saying it, but kudos to those that play the game religiously and double kudos to this dude and any other impaired players out there that are sticking to their guns and enjoying gaming as much (if not more) than the rest of us.

There are a lot of book and game stores that cater to the blind. Board gaming for the blind isn’t anything new, and as you can see there are always ways to make any game accessible to those visually impaired. Below is a short list of the more popular shops from around the web.

  • MaxiAids – Owned and operated by individuals who are deaf, blind and autistic
  • VisionAware – Helping adults who are losing their sight continue to live full and independent lives
  • Braille Bookstore – family-owned business who manufacture and supply adapted items for the blind
  • RehabMart – Founded by therapists with children who have special needs

chessfortheblind

It’s truly amazing and after doing a little research for this post I found that there are many, many more businesses and associations (such as the AFB and EBU) and community groups designed around the visually impaired. Now, I knew that for the most part, but the plethora of support groups and variety of everyday things they have access to is growing by the year. And the amount of games being adapted for these remarkable individuals closes that gap in accessibility and really levels the playing field.

Making gaming accessible

“Between 10% and 20% of the people in a country can be considered disabled.” — Published in Accessibility in Games: Motivations and Approaches (2004)

Another great site to visit is Game Accessibility – a collective of people working to bring the world of mobile, console and computer gaming to those with impairments. The site states “The game industry is expanding at a tremendous rate. Games have been growing in depth and complexity over the past years and have become one of the most popular forms of entertainment, with yearly sales exceeding 7.4 billion dollars. Many innovative developments in new media and ICT arise from the game industry. At the same time there is a huge increase in game-oriented studies at universities and academies.”

They go on to say, “Unfortunately, the vast majority of modern computer games does not meet the needs of gamers who function under limiting conditions. Limiting conditions can be functional limitations, or disabilities – such as blindness, deafness, or mobility limitations”.

A very fascinating read and the truth is it’s becoming harder and harder, even with today’s technology, to keep up with the fast paced growth of gaming entertainment. Give the site a read if you’re truly interested.

Kickstarter Campaign Round Up – Part 4

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Kickstarter Campaign Round Up – Part 4

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Game makers, heart breakers, and failed success

I shared this KS Round Up with my TYL crew a short while back through email. I just pulled a massive list of campaigns through my Gmail search and only picked up on the ones I thought were worth writing about. I share snippet reviews via email all the time but only ones worthy due to an interest or a lesson get a write up on ADLi. This snapshot review might be the last of the old campaigns though. I have now caught up with the Canadian tabletop gaming campaigns on KS and will be posting more timely campaigns.

It’s become a bit of an obsession right now with my games so close to play testing and possibly funding next year. Share you thoughts and ideas with me in the comments below — but please give each campaign page a view before you do out of courtesy to the the creators. Now without further ado, this week’s KS campaign round up. 

War of the Ancients

FAILED!
Game is in early development. This project stood out to me in some way. Though it’s a digital video game, it’s a digital card and tabletop game. The game could clearly be transferred to an analog version which would be fun to play in the same way. I like the concept, the game play is challenging and I find it not difficult to learn. Gets players to play the game without spending an hour reading a manual on rules and regulation. The tactical aspect of this game is also common enough that anyone who’s played a RP tabletop or card game would feel right at home. The designer needed $30K to get this campaign off the ground. They raised $102. What a shame!  Production of this game already seems to be in rolling and I’m sure a ton of time and money might have already been spent. The back story sounds intriguing, the storyboards are nice as well. I was very impressed with their video and page presentation. What was the failing here? Maybe it was awareness, maybe lack of pre-marketing or possibly just not enough interest at the moment.  I’m probably not the only one who’d like to see something like this on Android or iPhone. Hope they get this game developed either way.

MMA Cage Combat

FAILED! Yes, this project is very old but I thought I’d share anyway.
2 backers! Man, I feel for this dude. Not sure what to say here. I’m pretty sure with all the play testing he’s presumed to have, there would be more than 2 people close to him that would support the project. Honestly, his presentation needs work. I get the ‘spur of the moment’, live speech style works for some, but not for all. Though I have to give him credit for jamming a lot of game information in a casual video such as this. A little better than Tai-Jii due to the game mechanics video and intro video but as for backing tiers and written presentation it falls short. I think it’s risky to get your backers to support your campaign if the chance of production and delivery confirmed. From what I’m understanding from his video he’s looking for $25K to;

  • Getting a couple prototypes made
  • Finish developing the game (play testing)
  • Support his family?

Now here’s where I’m a little baffled. Is he looking to raise this money to do everything, from prototype to production? That’s what it sounds like to me. Basically, we’re backing him to;

  1. Build a game that is still in its infancy,
  2. Get it play tested and validate balance,
  3. Then get it produced and shipped

… all in one go? I get that people need time to produce games, and with time comes cost. This kind of mentality seems to stem more from video game developers than tabletop developers. If I can make $25K to develop my game, this cost may include covering costs spent on designing and testing, building and breaking the game, play testing, marketing and presentation, print collateral and other media. Assuming I don’t have a job then part of that money is also going towards paying for work commissioned (artwork, music, media, etc.) and my cost of living. You never really admit you’re going to pocket some of the cash if you’ve come out of pocket before hand. In case you were wondering where the game play video actually is, click on Updates link. The good; It’s actually has a neat game mechanic and has time-based components. Build up your fighters based on how you want to play them by adding cards that aid their fighter type and compete. The bad; Has potential for sure, but like a lot of others I’ve covered here on KS Campaign Round Up this one falls short due to common flaws such as poor pre-marketing, possibly lack of extensive play test which usually attributes to general interest and the promise on delivery (which is super vague) assuming it ever gets out of  play testing. I’m looking forward to something like this but it’s way too early to push it on KS at that level.

RealmClash

CANCELLED! Another oldie.
These chaps brought the noise. I chose this one to show you folks another example of a well oiled KS campaign machine. Now, a game of this magnitude would require a lot of funding and we all know that. Not just for the board but for the miniatures as well. Injection moulding is not cheap and I know they are not doing 10,000 pc run for $12,500. They also need a shit ton of cards printed plus multiple boards. Scope-wise this is huge.  I’d figure they’d shoot for more like $25k minimum. They had 29 backers and though they only raised just over 10% of the money it’s nice to see this game had fairly large interest. I think anything around 20+ backers has been play tested or demoed in front of at least 100 people. Maybe even more. Best of luck to them in the future. After reading through their comments I was informed that due to the CCG nature of the release it deterred people from wanting to back the project. Backers wanted to choose their own cards and miniatures to build their armies. No blind selections. They had some really good media, updated the campaign throughout, wonderful write ups and info. It was even expressed by the designing team that they would cancel the project so they can relaunch it under the LCG model to enrich the players experience and provide a game that their audience has been begging for. And fixed scheduled releases also means new content will always be available.  I’ll give them this — they’ve listed time and time again that they listen closely to their audience and adjust to please. That’s a great habbit to have because at the end of the day you’re designing for them. I visited their Facebook page but there hasn’t been any updates to this or any other campaign by the creator. I had contacted the game developer and he had sent me this message.

“Life kind of got in the way for a lot of us unfortunately. Financial and timing issues caused some obstacles but I’m confident we’ll get back on track eventually. We put too much work in to let it die completely.”

Are they on hiatus… or it’s a wash for RealmClash? Only time will tell.

Ravenous: Biohazard Level 5

CANCELLED! Another oldie from 2013.
Hm. Don’t know what to say about his one. Apparently the video they promised never made it to the campaign page. Shame. The presentation and content is solid, artwork is top notch, game sounds interesting and tiers are varied. An otherwise flawless delivery on what one can only assume was not highly anticipated. With only 19 comments on the campaign page, the game interest of those willing to leave feedback were few. I think it’s a rather cool game too. There are SO MANY zombie themed games out there it’s hard to jump on the wagon and expect a flood of interest, but this one claims to be 100% original. I can believe that. Thought the zombie theme has been flogged to death but I had hope for this one. The project was cancelled before it reached the end, and the project was only up for 8 days before it got cancelled, and the cancellation update was not made public. Only backers could access the final notes by the creator. This must have been something pretty big to pull the plug on something this big so early in the campaign. Oh well.

Touhou Project ft. GS System

FUNDED & CANCELLED?!
I don’t know what happened?! Funding cancelled and they actually met their goal?! Something fishy is going on here or maybe something bigger than they expected? At first glance it threw me off. I figured maybe they got pulled for some legal matter, but here is their official broadcast on the situation:

“We, and Team Shanghai Alice, have concluded that Kickstarter is not an appropriate method regarding production of dōjinshi materials for Touhou Project. The reason for this is because receiving funds before production is considered an investment, and a method like this can not yet be recognized with the production of dōjinshi materials for Touhou Project.”

So to sum that up, they want proper credentials for producing dojin material but can’t do so ethically because they are taking money before work is distributed. At least that’s the way I interpret that. Hm! Moral dilemma cans an otherwise successful campaign. I can live with that… but then again I’m not a backer. I’m pretty sure that if I was I’d disappointed as much as the rest of them were. There we also looking to license the Touhou Project characters/brand/assets for this game and that was also something they were striving to achieve. There are some honest people out there, trying to share with the world and not just line their pockets. The micro card game system that had so much potential has lost all steam, and the same can probably be said about the backers. Either way, a definite blow to the backers of this project who were so amped on getting this really cool game. Game play seems like a standard CCG but the card config and mechanism make this micro card game stand out in a crowd. Hope they can find a way to publish the game without a public investment. Good luck GS System.

Closing Notes

Every once in a while I take the time to contact the creators of these KS campaigns and query whether or not we’ll be seeing these project resurface again. Be it on KS or independently through other internet or brick and mortar establishments. Without investor cashola all of these great (and sometimes terrible) campaigns will never see completion. It’s a sad truth, and one truth that I carry with me as I design, play test and broadcast my games. It’s a tough world out there and the pond is becoming over stocked with fish. 

If you’ve missed the earlier posts for the KS Campaign Round Up, I suggest you continue your read on this and other KS related posts here today at ADLi.

Disclaimer: The purpose of these reviews is to share an first impression critique based on expectation received and presentation provided. It is not to demean, demoralize or flame the creators and/or their games. Just sharing my honest point of view on the project’s success or failure as a fellow game designer.

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