Thanks again guys; much appreciated
@ audrey: the transparencey of the scroll behind the text has been addressed, and also, the text colour has been darkened, improving readability. As for the text bar at the bottom (which, btw, had to be properly aligned, as it was out of center...); I have included this because I wanted to provide exactly the same information on my cards as provided on the Osprey reference sheets.
The icons are there for easy and quick reference as the prime source of info. When not sure, one can always double check the bottom bar. I
am contemplating reducing the font on the line though, to make it less pronounced.
@ Smith: I am left-handed; maybe that has something to with the position of the icons
As it is though, I have referenced dozens of gaming cards from sources such as Warmachine, WotC Star Wars, Mercs, Myth and many, many others. My findings were that there is no overall preference for position of icons.
In fact, most simply seem to be concerned with having a unique layout, rather than a logical lay-out, which make some very difficult to read indeed. There are quite a lot of discussions and shared design processes out there regarding gaming cards (I tried to mostly look at miniature gaming cards), and I picked up on the most important subject discussed almost everywhere; readability.
So I abandoned my original design in which the base casting value was in/on a metal-edged gem, with the derived casting values on attached smaller gems around it. They were also colour-coded, but I ran into the issue of placement of the alignment icons. I contemplated a second ring of even smaller gems attached to the first ring, but things were getting really out of hand there, with that design looking more and more like a mutated flower, and increasingly confusing. (I'll post that monstrosity when I'm at my home PC again
)
Enter the much simpler vertically lined up icons and numbers on equally simple bars, which worked a lot better. (as an aside, the dark colour I chose for the bars (to provide contrast for the white icons) also meant that I had to darken the blue texture considerably, to make them look good together. The blue texture originally was a pretty accurate recreation of the blue texture on the cover of the Frostgrave book, but the darkening has taken away much of the detail)
The positioning and shape of the top scroll, with it disappearing behind the top bar, was a legacy of the earlier design, which all flowed around the curved edge of the blue textured area. In response to audrey's remark though, I have addressed the scroll now as well; I have changed its shape so that it's no longer hiding behind the top bar, but is shaped and positioned much straighter, to the bar's left.
The asymmetrical design, for me, does not allow for the title bar to be positioned symmetrically on top. Also because that would push the top icon (caster) down, reducing first glance readability of the icon.
And removing the bottom bar would not allow for room for another right-hand bar, so the only way to go about that is to reduce the text field, which I find is small enough as it is, certainly when also moving the bars down to make way for the top scroll.
I am also strongly contemplating changing all the icons to better suit the style of the card, as I find they are now 'too clean'.
Smith; as I still do not have the book (Nickstarter still on its way), is it possible to tell me what the modifier for the apprentice is? Does their casting value rise along with the mage's, if said mage levels up? I like the suggestion of adding that value as well, but have to think about how to cram it in.
I am not planning on making the casting values editable; the whole purpose of the card is to make a one-stop reference with all relevant information for every caster. Obviously leveled-up values are not included, but those will be the only modifiers required to be applied.
In the end though, it's first and foremost a matter of taste and preference.
I am happy with the overall design as it stands now, bar some tweaking and tuning of course.
Oh; and I have a vague idea of making something along the lines of the X-Wing movement dial, but instead showing what mages are aligned, neutral and opposed, as another handy tabletop reference. I am sure those things are laid out in the book, but such an alignment dial would make for faster, easier, visual reference, without having to leaf through the book...
And talking about a book; that was quite the lengthy post (again)...
23 December 2011, 11:57:48 PM