The other Frostgrave Spell Cards thread - 10/09: A farewell to cards

[Daeothar]

Even though I immediately wanted to get cracking on this when Osprey released their spell cards PDF, real-life reigned me in for quite some time, so I wasn't able to produce anything worth showing before now. (bar the logo's I created for each caster type in Audrey's thread that is...)

I went for a more ambitious result here, and I must say, I'm really happy with how these are looking. The format is a more traditional gaming card (same size as the X-Wing pilot cards) in portrait position. Also, I wanted to include more information on the cards, plus, I wanted them to look as good as I could get them.

Obviously, there will also be a reference card for all the different logos, but I am hoping they're all intuitive enough to see what they mean in one glance.

Position of the logo's and numbers on the cards is as follows:

Caster type
Area of Effect
Casting number
Casting number for aligned casters
Casting number for neutral casters
Casting number for opposed casters

The texts on the cards are a direct copy of the texts on Osprey's original cards, and to be complete, the casters, costs and AoE are repeated in text at the bottom of the cards, again in direct copy from the Osprey cards.

I will try to source (partial?) artwork for each card, and I'm hoping I will be able to get a different piece of artwork for each individual card, but if this will prove to be impossible, I will simply stick to the standard caster artworks from the book.

I have not started on the back of the cards yet, so that is yet to follow.

Now on to churning the cards out, as the real hard work is done, by creating the card template; the rest is simply copying and pasting texts and some artwork, which could be done fast enough. I will probably finish each caster before moving on to the next.

Which, for now, leaves me with showing off the first card:



Also; if you have any constructive critisism, please don't hesitate, as I am aiming to get these cards to the highest possible standard, even though in the first place, they're for my own use (although I'll obviously be sharing ).

This is my first time creating cards from scratch (I have worked from existing templates many times though), so I'm happy to hear about stuff that could be improved...  

[aiteal]

I think it looks fantastic, very professional indeed. I'm not sure my dodgy old printer is up to the task mind you. Does anyone know of online printing services that can do this sort of thing?

[Elbows]

There are plenty of online services who can print for you - or just hop on down to the nearest print shop/postal service center and see if they'll do it for ya.

These look really good - who is doing the artwork for the back?  That seems like it'd be the hardest part.

[Supercollider]

Those are going to be fantastic! 

One slight concern - might be worth reducing the alpha on the background behind the text to make it pop a little more?  I think on some printers the arrtwork behind the text might make it look a little muddy, esp. as the font is going to be quite small on some of the wordier cards - like the one here?  Probably nothing, but I thought I would mention it!

[Mad Lord Snapcase]

That looks really great! 

[Awesomeshotdude]

Fantastic looking cards!!!

[Kane]

Ace stuff!

[Daeothar]

Thanks much guys!

@ Elbows: that'll be Dmitry Burmak, who did all the original artwork for the book, since I was thinking of using the book cover art as the basis.

Mind; I do not own any rights to the original artwork (Just wanted to get that out there... ) and I'm simply using it to create some cards for my own use, which I'll obviously share here. The rest of the elements are either free to use stuff, or my own work.

@ Supercollider: thanks for the input. I think you're right; I'll reduce the transparency of the text background slightly and see if this will increase readability.

[Henrix]

Very pretty!

But for me, even if I get a resl printer to do them for me, the background images are a big detractor.

I want reference cards to be easily readable, even when the lights are not perfect. And my eyes arr not up to reading those cards fast.

Pretty artwork when I play a card game is good, but these I'll just read on my own, not play out in front of us.

[Momotaro]

Lovely, lovely stuff.

[audrey]

Daeothar, you went all out! The card looks very nice. I do have some suggestions. You may want to change the transparency of the spell description scroll so it is a bit easier to read. If you are using icons for the information why repeat it again at the bottom as text? I'd rather see the text at the bottom removed so the right icon bars can be moved down to uncover the background scroll used on the spell name and then center the spell name and scroll. Looking forward to seeing all the different spell cards.

[Smith]

Wow!

Really, really attractive cards.

I might be inclined to suggest putting the icon bars over on the left - most people (I believe) tend to fan cards left to right, which is why playing cards are commonly designed as they are:



Obviously, this is really only a benefit when held in the hand - lay them out on the table and it's a moot point.

Are these are going to be editable for when your wizard improves? If so, I would probably replace the aligned/neutral/opposed casting costs with modifiers (i.e. +2, +4, +6) - as they will always be consistent, it simply reduces the number of elements that need editing from 5 to 2 (although I agree with audrey's suggestion of dropping the bottom bar - so 4 to 1 in that case). Of course, if the casting cost is going to be editable, I would probably remove the modifiers altogether and simply show the casting cost for that particular wizard, incorporating any modifiers as appropriate.

On a related note, if the school alignment modifiers are added (in whatever form), is it worth adding the Apprentice modifier as well?

[Cherno]

I recommend Fantasy Flight Games' card sleeves. They are sturdy, come in different sizes and colors, and protect the cards of course

[Dakota Mike]

Can't wait for these!  My "Spellbook" holds the cards the tall way, so Audrey's take on them aren't ideal for me.  Good work!

[Daeothar]

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)...