See, playing Magic a lot when I was younger made me fan the cards the other way, so I could see mana costs. For me, that feels more correct than the way you suggest in the first point.
5:37 So fun fact about these cards is that they came inside snacks as a promotion here in Brasil. They used to make a lot of these collectibles in the past, don't know if other countries had them. And the one you showed, the vampires, are just one of the 3 types of cards on the set, each with a different format. There's also undead/zombie cards which are shaped like a tombstone and the hunters, with cards shaped like crosses.
Still very new to Shard TCG but I've been watching your videos lately. I develop homemade TCG and homemade miniatures games. You've got some great content that has a lot of applicability.
About the optimal place for the stats: My tcg, ther's no cards in hand, means all is on the table or stacked. So me, the designer, has personal freedom to put the starts whereever I want. ;)
Even beyond big numbers being nice for scanning, I do enjoy the granularity they can offer as well! MtG's Lightning Bolt defines balance for 1-cost instant burn spells as 3 dmg being the ceiling without drawbacks, but then Shock at 2 feels like hot garbage. So for games like mine, while it's not a perfect 10:1 scale at 200 starting life (compared to MtG), having life totals in the hundreds allows equivalent cards to be adjusted to 25 instead of 30 or 20 (essentially if MtG could print a 2.5dmg card for 1-cost). It has been lovely to work with! One other comment, the left/right adjusted information statistically works for people because the majority are right handed, but there isn't a "correct" way to hold them, it completely ignores that a chunk of people are lefties 😅 (funny enough for me, I held Magic cards before playing cards, so I actually hold them like a lefthanded person, even though I am right handed. Haven't been able to break that habit. I wanted to see mana costs)
I hold my cards as a left-hander as well. I didn't consider this to be a lefthanded preferred position because you can fan your cards either way when you hold them. So basically, I have always said I hold them wrong. But that is the habit I formed very young. I try to hold them the other way, and it feels so unatural to me. The 2.5 compared to 25 example you gave is good. It is weird how our brain considers decimals to be more complex even though the maths is essentially the same. So MtG could never move to using decimals while you have the freedom to walk that path with 10x values.
@ShardTCG Now, I often fan my cards vertically downwards after my cycles of card flicking so I can get all of the "top of card" information lol.... I also can't do it the statistically normal way. Yeah decimals break people's brains sometimes, and they aren't as clean, so I get it. But I wouldn't mind seeing games on MtG's number scale use them.
I have a notebook that I jotted down a RWBY CCG idea I had a few years back. The design of the cards where based on their Scrolls (The shows version of Tablets and Phones). The backs where the closed Scrolls that have the gold diamond in the middle; and the front/face of the cards would show the character in a pose with their stats above them and their abilities below them, and all would be displayed with a neon/sky blue background like how it look in the show whenever the characters look at their scrolls. Concept wise, I think I had something good (I'm being bias, though). ...The problem was I couldn't think up any rules.
It sounds awesome. The issue with RWBY is that it is more human vs. monsters, so the regular pvp setup won't feel quite right. Perhaps a point system for hunting and killing monsters (Grimm) where you could play one to both race for the kill. This suggestion isn't rules, but it can be a base for the feel and flow of the game, perhaps. It has been a long time since I've watched RWBY, so this idea could be outdated.
@@ShardTCG That was the beauty of my concept: It was going to be based on The Vytal Festival Tournament, so it would be a "best of three" of a team of huntsmen vs a team huntsmen So like, round one would start the game with both players having a team of four hunstmen, then the second round would start with a team of two, then the possible final round would have both players start with only one huntsmen. I even wrote that their Aura is also their HP and they can use it to do their abilities, but only if their Aura is above 15%, like in the Tournament.
Shard, I’m making my own game - the resource system is a typical Mana system. You gain 2 at the start of your turn, and 1 when you end. The first player to move will only ever gain 1 during their first turn, while player two will gain a total of 3 on their first turn. How do you think this sounds in relation to the infamous player 1/player 2 starting turn imbalance?
It could work but I simply don't have enough information to know for certain. I would need to look at card costs, mechanics, etc. The important thing is that you have implemented something to help with a potential problem. So you're on the right track.
I understand that. I am speaking from personal experience that it reminds me of love when I see the symbol, which can pull me out of the emersion of the game. The rough aesthetic of this one seems less lovey and I like it.
I would love to send you some of the cards I've made for these kinds of breakdowns. It's all low skill, because it's all been me (and I learned enough photoshop to get me to where I'm at with it). Since mine is a Deckbuilding Game, I put the cost in the upper right because it isn't something you need to be looking at in hand (after the card is in your deck it's cost isn't used unless another card tells you it is). Where the damage and resource generation of the cards is in the upper left because it's the stats you need during the game.
Sorry for the late reply. Family emergency over the last week. I would be interested in some design samples with a brief description of how they operate. I think it will make a great video to look at a few homemade TCG cards and see what makes them tick.
@@ShardTCG I hope you got the emergency resolved. I understand that life gets in the way of youtube. Where should I send those files? I'm putting together a more bullet points version of the rules to send you and a group of cards to show off main mechanics and the gameplay loop.
Sorry, the messages get a little lost as my first response counts as responded and then it doesn't flag up the same. Email me at NephriteGames@gmail.com
It would be awesome if when you do another video like this, I can send you some of my formats to look at. I haven't really shown my game much, so some critisism and publicity would be great! Let me know.
That's not a bad idea. Sorry for the delayed reply, by the way. Family emergency stuff. Anyway, a themed video based around many homemade TCG cards would be good. I may not want to be too critical because these are all of my brethren. Definitely fun to see so many different designs and guess what inspired them.
That last card you looked at is actually a kaijudo card not a duel masters card it looks similar because kaijudo was an attempt to bring duel masters back to the u.s with a rebranding in the 2010’s also the framing design for duel masters is slightly different and the water mark behind the text would be the water civilization logo which is a cylinder instead of a glove since gloves are what the characters in kaijudo used to summon creatures
I might be looking for design ideas to feature in a new video. Would you be interested in sending some card samples my way with a description of how they operate?
@@ShardTCG thanks for reaching out, my games board is set up like a battlefield, and there is a front and back line, the front line is use for damage cards while the back is use for support and economic cards. Most frontline cards can attack the back ones, but I have some cards that can.
@@ShardTCG the card known as baller, can do damage to a front and back unit. I made it to counter the card rich guy, who makes extra robux(how you play cards) every turn. I also have a mechanic where you can discard cards from your hand, and get a new one.
See, playing Magic a lot when I was younger made me fan the cards the other way, so I could see mana costs. For me, that feels more correct than the way you suggest in the first point.
We are all unique, and we have our own methods for how we see things.
You keep being you and have a great day.
5:37 So fun fact about these cards is that they came inside snacks as a promotion here in Brasil. They used to make a lot of these collectibles in the past, don't know if other countries had them.
And the one you showed, the vampires, are just one of the 3 types of cards on the set, each with a different format. There's also undead/zombie cards which are shaped like a tombstone and the hunters, with cards shaped like crosses.
That's awesome!
I can't think of any collectable cards from snacks in the UK. I wish we had more of that here.
I try to pay attention to EVERYTHING!
This is like ma child here, and I want the best for them.
Your point about the text being hard to read at 9:09 was instantly proven to me because I thought it said "My Super Crap Game" haha XD
when you make a black metal tcg
That's hilarious 😂
Some good ideas in here! Definitely have to keep them in mind!
Terrific review of card layout design techniques.
Still very new to Shard TCG but I've been watching your videos lately. I develop homemade TCG and homemade miniatures games. You've got some great content that has a lot of applicability.
That's great. I'll have to check out your miniatures. I haven't come across anyone who makes those.
About the optimal place for the stats: My tcg, ther's no cards in hand, means all is on the table or stacked. So me, the designer, has personal freedom to put the starts whereever I want. ;)
James you are just absolutely hilarious.
Aw, thanks!
Even beyond big numbers being nice for scanning, I do enjoy the granularity they can offer as well! MtG's Lightning Bolt defines balance for 1-cost instant burn spells as 3 dmg being the ceiling without drawbacks, but then Shock at 2 feels like hot garbage.
So for games like mine, while it's not a perfect 10:1 scale at 200 starting life (compared to MtG), having life totals in the hundreds allows equivalent cards to be adjusted to 25 instead of 30 or 20 (essentially if MtG could print a 2.5dmg card for 1-cost). It has been lovely to work with!
One other comment, the left/right adjusted information statistically works for people because the majority are right handed, but there isn't a "correct" way to hold them, it completely ignores that a chunk of people are lefties 😅 (funny enough for me, I held Magic cards before playing cards, so I actually hold them like a lefthanded person, even though I am right handed. Haven't been able to break that habit. I wanted to see mana costs)
I hold my cards as a left-hander as well. I didn't consider this to be a lefthanded preferred position because you can fan your cards either way when you hold them. So basically, I have always said I hold them wrong. But that is the habit I formed very young. I try to hold them the other way, and it feels so unatural to me.
The 2.5 compared to 25 example you gave is good. It is weird how our brain considers decimals to be more complex even though the maths is essentially the same. So MtG could never move to using decimals while you have the freedom to walk that path with 10x values.
@ShardTCG Now, I often fan my cards vertically downwards after my cycles of card flicking so I can get all of the "top of card" information lol.... I also can't do it the statistically normal way.
Yeah decimals break people's brains sometimes, and they aren't as clean, so I get it. But I wouldn't mind seeing games on MtG's number scale use them.
I have a notebook that I jotted down a RWBY CCG idea I had a few years back.
The design of the cards where based on their Scrolls (The shows version of Tablets and Phones). The backs where the closed Scrolls that have the gold diamond in the middle; and the front/face of the cards would show the character in a pose with their stats above them and their abilities below them, and all would be displayed with a neon/sky blue background like how it look in the show whenever the characters look at their scrolls.
Concept wise, I think I had something good (I'm being bias, though).
...The problem was I couldn't think up any rules.
It sounds awesome.
The issue with RWBY is that it is more human vs. monsters, so the regular pvp setup won't feel quite right.
Perhaps a point system for hunting and killing monsters (Grimm) where you could play one to both race for the kill.
This suggestion isn't rules, but it can be a base for the feel and flow of the game, perhaps.
It has been a long time since I've watched RWBY, so this idea could be outdated.
@@ShardTCG That was the beauty of my concept:
It was going to be based on The Vytal Festival Tournament, so it would be a "best of three" of a team of huntsmen vs a team huntsmen
So like, round one would start the game with both players having a team of four hunstmen, then the second round would start with a team of two, then the possible final round would have both players start with only one huntsmen.
I even wrote that their Aura is also their HP and they can use it to do their abilities, but only if their Aura is above 15%, like in the Tournament.
Shard, I’m making my own game - the resource system is a typical Mana system. You gain 2 at the start of your turn, and 1 when you end. The first player to move will only ever gain 1 during their first turn, while player two will gain a total of 3 on their first turn.
How do you think this sounds in relation to the infamous player 1/player 2 starting turn imbalance?
It could work but I simply don't have enough information to know for certain.
I would need to look at card costs, mechanics, etc.
The important thing is that you have implemented something to help with a potential problem. So you're on the right track.
Heart in any kinda game is always understood as LIFE and not Love lol
I understand that. I am speaking from personal experience that it reminds me of love when I see the symbol, which can pull me out of the emersion of the game. The rough aesthetic of this one seems less lovey and I like it.
I would love to send you some of the cards I've made for these kinds of breakdowns. It's all low skill, because it's all been me (and I learned enough photoshop to get me to where I'm at with it).
Since mine is a Deckbuilding Game, I put the cost in the upper right because it isn't something you need to be looking at in hand (after the card is in your deck it's cost isn't used unless another card tells you it is). Where the damage and resource generation of the cards is in the upper left because it's the stats you need during the game.
Sorry for the late reply. Family emergency over the last week.
I would be interested in some design samples with a brief description of how they operate. I think it will make a great video to look at a few homemade TCG cards and see what makes them tick.
@@ShardTCG I hope you got the emergency resolved. I understand that life gets in the way of youtube.
Where should I send those files? I'm putting together a more bullet points version of the rules to send you and a group of cards to show off main mechanics and the gameplay loop.
Sorry, the messages get a little lost as my first response counts as responded and then it doesn't flag up the same.
Email me at NephriteGames@gmail.com
It would be awesome if when you do another video like this, I can send you some of my formats to look at. I haven't really shown my game much, so some critisism and publicity would be great! Let me know.
That's not a bad idea.
Sorry for the delayed reply, by the way. Family emergency stuff.
Anyway, a themed video based around many homemade TCG cards would be good. I may not want to be too critical because these are all of my brethren. Definitely fun to see so many different designs and guess what inspired them.
That last card you looked at is actually a kaijudo card not a duel masters card it looks similar because kaijudo was an attempt to bring duel masters back to the u.s with a rebranding in the 2010’s also the framing design for duel masters is slightly different and the water mark behind the text would be the water civilization logo which is a cylinder instead of a glove since gloves are what the characters in kaijudo used to summon creatures
I always thought Kaijudo was just another name for it. My bad.
@@ShardTCG alls good I just thought it was something worth clearing up
Theres a reason everyone uses squares. They just work. Every major card game uses squares.
Hey shard! I’m currently working on a Roblox themed economy based TCG, I was wondering if you would like to hear some of my ideas
I might be looking for design ideas to feature in a new video. Would you be interested in sending some card samples my way with a description of how they operate?
@@ShardTCG thanks for reaching out, my games board is set up like a battlefield, and there is a front and back line, the front line is use for damage cards while the back is use for support and economic cards. Most frontline cards can attack the back ones, but I have some cards that can.
@@ShardTCG the card known as baller, can do damage to a front and back unit. I made it to counter the card rich guy, who makes extra robux(how you play cards) every turn. I also have a mechanic where you can discard cards from your hand, and get a new one.
@@ShardTCG Most discards are not permanent, only if a cards dies it won’t be useable again.
@@ShardTCG And you can combo item cards with unit cards to unlock special attacks and cards