Hey Don, both yourself and Eddie have made a valuable point that collectors tend to prefer traditional suits for a decks of cards. I was definately stepping outside the box for this development and taking a risk. It may be that this set of cards would be better marketed as a card game as suggested, despite me trying to design them specifically to include features for cardistry and magic trick performances......if it be that card collectors arn't fans of non traditional suits than that will be unfortunate...whether or not this includes cardists or card magicians as well, I am unsure?. With all thing aside, the final design for this deck series really just came about after deciding to replace the traditional markings on a deck that was in development with four 'Shapes' to go with the theme of the Shapeshifter Story(A story I had been writing as a seperate project . In turn the four shapes were then included into story line and they serve much deeper purpose then just random shapes which I have outlined below.
(This may seem a bit out there to read for you if your not into the world of Science Fiction but should never the less be interesting for you I hope).
The suit marking in this deck series have been created based on the Shapeshifter Story, a story within which a secret society existed to defend humanity against an evil threat to mankind, a threat that began during the time of the ancient egyptians when an alien race of beings called Gouanen (aka Shapeshifters) first arrive on Earth to deceive and manipulate mankind for their own pleasures and secret agenda for Earth. In the Shapeshifters Story, in the year 2031, there is an uprising againt the Shapeshifters, after which humanity is able to return to a peaceful existence on Earth. A utopian world then emerges that is free from all the opppression, slavery and injustice that was brought upon us by the Shapeshifters. The secret society in the story that leads the uprising against the Shapeshifters is called The Four Pillars, who fought for Truth, Loyaly, Honor and Justice for mankind as they sought to expose the shapeshifters and to free us from their evil clutches. The story concludes as mankind begins to rebuild after the war on the Shapeshifters and they emerge to be able to enjoy their true freedoms from oppression and of slavery and injustice. They finally begin to relax and return to everyday life, enjoying music, art, dance and other social interactions while having a greater respect for one another. During this time a new set of playing cards emerge that have been designed to symbolise the common values of the new world and of The Four Pillars.... that of Truth, Loyalty, Honor, and Justice. These are represented by the following four shapes in the deck series and in the story- Circles(Truth), Pentagons(Loyalty), Triangles(Honor), and Crosses(Justice). In the story. In the future (in 2077), these cards serve as a constant reminder for people of the true values of humanity in order to continue living a peaceful existance on Earth, and they also serve as a reminder of the time when mankind was able to take control of their fate and reclaim their freedom from Earths oppressors. The Shapeshifters Card Game reflects this storyline and players must strategise as they try to see through all the lies and deceipt around them from the other players to be able to take control of their fate and to expose the shapeshifters to be able to win the game (plays a bit like a game of poker with the inclusion a shapshifter cards that are able to take the form of any card of a matching colour, as well as The Four Pillars card that can be used to expose Shapeshifter cards from a players hand. The Four Pillars Card can be also used to represent any shape/suit in the game to help with making the best 5 card hand to win a round).
For this project, I really wanted to create something that had a deep and valuable meaning...one that I have tried to expressed in the form of both a deck series, card game and a science fiction story/comic book series. And although having a sci fi theme for each, at the core of it all are some important truths about humanity and about the world. My intention for this project is for it to serve as a guide to reshaping the world in which we live, by encouraging people to take control of their fate and to find ways to introduce changes in order to free the world from all the corruption and injustice that has plagued us since the dawn of civilisation. Eventually I want to be able to offer the Shapeshifter Card Game in a pack that also includes the shapeshifter comic book when it is completed, so people can get into the story and then play the game and have fun while learning valuable lessons on life.... I am hoping for this project to be able to influence kids in a positive way while not being too serious by making it into a fun card game and sci fi story/comic book that has a message behind it, that in order to change the world we need to take control of our fate, (and also, that other influential people around us have the power to deceive, hence the Green Deck in the series titled 'The Power To Deceive'. (I included design features for cardistry and card magic to try and reach a wider audience to be able to share my message with).
More about the decks design features -
The Green deck also serves as a gaff deck for the Blue 'Take Control Of Your Fate' deck as you ca introduce cards from the Green Deck into the Blue Deck to perform deceptive card tricks with, such as using the card manipulation technique that David Blaine uses for one of his card tricks that is called 'The Shapeshifter' that involves changing a card from one shape to another with thes cards. The Shapeshifter trick has long been one of my favourite card tricks to perform and can be used with the Shapeshifter Decks to not only change the shape of a card in a trick, but also to change the colour of a shape on the card by using the same method of card manipulation. While im on the topic of the design features for the decks, the green triangles on the card backings form part of a one way design that if placed back in the deck in the opposite direction to the other cards, the green triangles serve as indicators and allow the deck handler to see specific cards in the deck since the green triangles will be facing in a slightly different direction that goes by unoticed by the spectator but is easily recognised by the trained eye. Theres a lot more to the design features that I wont get into for now as im sure I have raved on enough lol.
Thanks for reading my rather long post by the way, im sure it was a lot to take in, but thanks if you got this far into reading it lol. I just want to say that really appreciate the feedback you have been giving me on everything and it is great to have your opinions on my deck designs..... even though some of it wasn't what I was hoping to hear its still great to have honest and constructive feedback that will be useful moving forward from here. Thanks guys :)
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