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cyberpunk deck

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cyberpunk deck
« on: June 20, 2021, 02:30:39 PM »
 

excelsior

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After my nightmare with USPCC to produce Cybershock, I am almost ready for a new release. I am working on another cyberpunk deck and this time is a partnership with Deckidea. All feedback is appreciated (please be kind). They are just rough sketches but would like to know the community opinion.

I plan to use two foils on each tuck box. The courts were inspired by different references but the style mainly from that old cartoon Samurai Jack.

I am still researching the manufacturer (since USPCC and Cartamundi are overwhelmed) and so far best candidates are TWPCC and HCPC (any thoughts?)

I hope you all appreciate it and please give us your feedback!
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Re: cyberpunk deck
« Reply #1 on: August 09, 2021, 05:46:21 AM »
 

Don Boyer

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Overall, it's not too bad.  I would try to suppress the urge to redesign the pips (suit symbols).  Some people really prefer the traditional ones.

The art could use a bit more color to it - it's almost monochrome, and as such it doesn't capture the eye as well as a more colorful design might.

Those tiny little stripes that you have in the non-index corners?  The ones that extend into the bleed?  Get rid of them!  Your red suits have a red stripe, the black suits have a yellow stripe.  You might not realize this, but that stripe, because of how it goes into the bleed, becomes visible from the card edge.  Because you have them in two different colors, this means I can tell from looking at the edge of a face-down deck the color of the suit of the next card being dealt.

Worse, you might not get perfect alignment - printers tend to be more concerned with getting the best possible alignment/centering for the back designs, less so with the faces, because an off-center back means the design has a one-way indicator.  So let's say that certain cards were centered correctly when cut, and some weren't.  You'd be able to tell them apart.  I have a deck in my collection where this is so prominent, it almost functions like a magician's stripper deck, allowing me to reverse a card in the deck, shuffle it, then spot the card from the edge of the deck and cut to it immediately.

In general, if you're printing ANYTHING into the bleed, print EVERYTHING into the bleed (as in the entire edge of the card faces), and completely identical on every card regardless of suit.  Trying to get fancy with design touches like this leaves the risk of a less-functional deck.

BTW: take ALL of this advice with a grain of salt.  I know a lot about the important elements of playing card design - but some designers are less concerned with making a functional deck, more interested in making "their vision" or something that's more pretty and pleasing to the eye than functional.  It's OK to break a basic rule of design now and then, but it's important to know 1) that you are breaking it, and 2) that you have a really good reason for doing so.  It's a matter of knowing what kind of deck you want yours to be and what you need to do to get it there.

As far as printers, both the Expert Playing Card Company and the Legends Playing Card Company are very popular with custom deck designers.  Feel free to give them a shout.  Many designers also use MakePlayingCards.com for printing their prototype decks - they use a digital press and allow for print runs as small as a single deck, so for a fairly reasonable price, you can get some idea of what your finished product will look like without spending hundreds of dollars per prototype (which is what most high-end printers will charge).

Don't let how busy USPC and Cartamundi affect your choices - if one of those is the printer you want, go for it.  They're only busy because of what's been going on with the pandemic, which is wreaking havoc worldwide in a variety of industries.  There's no guarantee that using a smaller printer will leave you any more or less affected by this havoc.  Supply and labor shortages all over the place are the source of the problems, and no printer is utterly immune to the effects.
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