Tooling Up

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.