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Wiz-War F:ATties, I need your help.
- Colorcrayons
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The short of it is that I am redoing the layout of Magic Cards, that will fit in with 8th ed but also allow me to rake in some sweet sweet classic cards that got left behind. The art won't be goofy, but that can't be helped as quality art assets for that are rare.
The general theme is that each card is a page from a spell book. The book mark ribbon holds all iconography needed for play.
In case you haven't seen it in the Wiz-War thread yet, here is an example:
With that out of the way, I have to do a new layout for Energy/Numbers as well.
Keeping in mind the general thematic premise that each card is a page in your spell book, I went the route of putting a few bits of geometric and runic shapes on the background. Simple, run of the mill fake esotericism.
But how to make it look like it produces energy? Or do I even need to worry about that and just keep it simple?
The entries are in order of least to most elaborate:
Just simple sepia work, some geometry and runes and most importantly, the amount of energy this spell page produces. No frills.
#2 The Sepia Page Plus.
As above with the addition of a more stylized numeral and a bit of mysterious energy, because magic.
#3 The Heptagrammic Metallicum.
A snazzy bit of clip I found on Deviant Art. Dunno if it adds to the theme, but it looks neat. *shrug*
#4 The Warp Rift.
This one took the most effort as a lot of layers go into the effect. I think it portrays energy manifesting into this plane from another through the spellbook page, though it might be a bit much?
Are any of these good enough to use? Which one? If there aren't any satisfactory options present, do you have any suggestions?
We all have opinions. Let me know yours.
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- hotseatgames
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I also have some unsolicited advice about the Buddy card, as a representative of the spell cards in general.
1. I really like the idea of the book mark ribbon, but that red and gold background looks dark and doesn't contrast well with black for readability. I can read them fine on my screen, but it might be too dark for actual play conditions if room lighting isn't bright enough.
2. The font for the card name is nicely quirky, which is good for this game, but I dislike that the letter "D" looks so much like a letter "O."
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It has better contrast. Still, I'd push the outer glow a little more. More value contrast should look good between the gray number and green energy.
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I'd probably like the numbers even bigger like in #4, but the #4 layout jut seems too messy.
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- san il defanso
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Not Sure wrote: I like #2. Change the colors for different numbers as well.
I'd probably like the numbers even bigger like in #4, but the #4 layout jut seems too messy.
This is almost my exact answer. Number 2 is my favorite.
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- Colorcrayons
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Thanks to Sevej as well for the pictorial example.
Consensus could be read as:
* Needs more contrast
* Darker geometry seems to be preferred
* Larger numeral is mo' bettah
* Increased outer glow seems to be preferred as well
* Perhaps a white stroke outside the black stroke
With that in mind, I made a few changes.
The heptagram resized for precision. (ocd) And opacity lightened.
I kinda like the lightning halo. The full brush has a circle of runes attached to it that I originally chopped out that look good at a larger scale. I'll give it a shot and see.
The opacity of the geometry brush was increased, to darken it and add some contrast. (Side note: this is a minor tweak that will be corrected all over the sepia of the card face. Spot opacity erasure of certain ink areas to look worn, and add stain brushes for further aging/wear effect on parchment)
I turned off outer glow for a moment, and with the contrast of the white numeral in front of the blueish energy halo, I wonder if the white outer glow is needed.
Here are five examples:
Shellhead wrote: I also have some unsolicited advice about the Buddy card, as a representative of the spell cards in general.
1. I really like the idea of the book mark ribbon, but that red and gold background looks dark and doesn't contrast well with black for readability. I can read them fine on my screen, but it might be too dark for actual play conditions if room lighting isn't bright enough.
2. The font for the card name is nicely quirky, which is good for this game, but I dislike that the letter "D" looks so much like a letter "O."
Any advice is always welcome.
1: I agree with the problem of the dark lack of contrast. A test print was made and while it was good, this may not be true on all printers. I have since lightened the red to a brighter scarlet.
2: The font is actually the identical font (called: Unzialish) used on FFGs cards. The old english-esque D is rather unfortunate, and is not a perfect font. The same issue lies in the uncial fonts in its predecessors as well. But, if you know of a whimsical font that could be better, I'm all ears. I have a about 3500 fonts on my system and always have room for more (Font Nerd).
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- Erik Twice
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- Colorcrayons
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- hotseatgames
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- Colorcrayons
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hotseatgames wrote: I like the worn effect, but realistically, I assume these will be print on demand and the difference in the real world will be negligible at best.
The practical differences at this point are fairly negligible. I am mostly asking about opinions concerning this because it will affect the rest of the cards and card backs.
If the worn/faded approach is preference of consensus, then I'll add light stains that are enough to be noticed, but not enough to affect legibility of card text. An easy enough thing to do with minimal effort. I could even make the wear/stains on each individual card unique and still not think of it as any effort worthy of note.
Probably not worth the effort. But some stuff can be a good embellishment even if you don't consciously notice.
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