Hi Don, thanks so much for the input.
I definitely agree on the indice placement, and have fixed that for a second prototype printing, which I think are reflected in the digital mockups. I'll post some more pics once I get some new prototypes made.
Maybe I should get rid of the corner flourishes entirely? That way the indices can go even further into the corner. But they're a very nice touch when splaying out the deck. I tried to make them a bit more legible, please let me know what you (or anybody else) thinks.
You make a good point on four-color, and I've been brainstorming perhaps how to have it work better when pairing suits. I based the color scheme off of color variants that already exist. The four-color is so central to the design that I would have a hard time scrapping it (without also starting completely over). I'm hopeful the yellow/orange pairing of the diamonds/hearts is enough. I might play with a cooler pink/purple for the clubs and see how that looks, but I rather like the CMYK vibe the deck has.
You're probably right about the name, and I'm notoriously bad with naming my work, this was something I came up with on the spot so I had something to call the project. I will definitely think on this more and report back when I have a better name... Each animal is beheaded, but since it's pixel art, the image isn't as striking as it is on the jokers.
Regarding MPC, I made my prototypes through them and they look great visually, but the question comes to whether or not they're actually good as cards. Again, I'm not a cardist, but I was doing some research and found not everyone is in love with MPC's quality, and I was wondering whether or not that reputation effects whether or not people will buy a deck. The ideal is always USPCC, it seems, and I don't know if what the willingness is for people to spend potentially more on each deck if I were to do a smaller production run through MPC. Also, I haven't heard much of what people think about Gambler's Warehouse, even though I see many kickstarters done through them.
In another forum, someone mentioned making the designs on the court cards much bigger, what is the consensus on that? I always prefer to have a lot of negative space and air to let a design breath, but that might not work as well when dealing with 54 cards all at once...
I love these designs you linked, this artist has very awesome work. It's very helpful to be able to compare similar concepts, I'm definitely going to be looking at the whole deck for further inspiration.
So you know, "indices" is the plural form of "index," not "indice." "Indice" isn't a word, as far as I know. "Indexes" is also considered acceptable today as a plural form, though I'm more old-school and use the older form.
I suggest ditching the extra corner pips altogether and going with more traditional indices, in addition to getting rid of the border lines and making your art larger. The current design isn't doing your artwork any favors. Go for a higher level of detail and a little bit bigger on the art - just because you're making pixel art, it doesn't mean you have to have large pixels and small art. Indices really do need to be deep into the corners of the cards in order to be useful - the further from the card edge they are, the further a player has to spread the hand cards in order to see them, the more likely someone else at the table will accidentally see a player's hand cards.
The "CMYK" vibe doesn't work as well as going with a specific pattern to help make your four-color deck easier to use for two-color applications. And do bear in mind, there are people who simply dislike and won't buy a four-color deck, period. There's a number of ways one can do a four-color deck or a modified two-color deck. I've seen warm colors for red, cool colors for black. I've seen light colors for red, dark colors for black. I've seen shades of a color - for example, shades of red for red and shades of blue for black - but it really depends on the shades chosen, because if you make two light shades and two dark shades, that can be confusing as well, so you're better, for example, going light with the reds (say, for example, pink and red) and dark with the blacks (say, for example, medium blue and midnight blue/indigo - but not purple, because it's has not just blue in it but red as well). Orange and yellow are good choices for traditionally red suits because they're nice and bright, so maybe a forest green and a deep blue for the traditionally black suits would work well? Avoid pink/purple - pink's a little too warm and purple, again, has red in it.
You need not keep the court art strictly to the two colors you have for your dark or light theme - regular courts in a standard deck use a four-color palette for a reason! It's one thing if you're going for a mono- or duo-chrome look for a purpose, but in such cases, it's better to stick with a more traditional design or a more shades in the colors chosen.
USPC is for many the "golden standard" for getting a deck of cards produced, but they're not exactly what one would call cheap. It's only recently they even allow for short print runs, and their idea of a short run is 1,000 decks. Previously, their minimum was 2,500, and before that, 5,000! Their per-deck costs are pretty high for short runs, but that will be the case for nearly any printer you use, even high-quality alternative printers like Expert PCC and Legends PCC. MPC's big advantage is that they're among the most flexible in terms of print run size - Expert has a minimum of 1,000 decks and Legends has a minimum of 900. Decks will always cost less per deck the more you're printing, but then you have to sell all those extra decks as well, unless you happen to like using full, unsold cases of playing cards as modular living room furniture, beds, kitchen tables and chairs, etc.!
Do what many projects do. Figure out your cost analysis for using more than one printer, then set a base goal to get the job done with the cheapest printer, with stretch goals for higher quality printers with larger print runs. For example, perhaps you set a simple goal that covers selling 100 decks printed by MPC, then a larger stretch goal of printing 1,000 with Expert. If your deck is a runaway success, maybe a third stretch goal would be a print run of 5,000 with USPC and with Bicycle branding - unless you have other thoughts in mind, like perhaps getting fancy foil stamping on the box, metallic inks, embossing on the box, a custom, serially-numbered deck seal, etc. Make these goals known up front, so people don't get upset with a printer switch mid-project - some people might prefer one printer over another.
Gambler's Warehouse does most of their decks with either USPC or Expert PCC. A few of their designs they do in-house - they own the Liberty Playing Card Company. I've not heard a lot about Liberty's quality - you'd have to do a little research of your own to learn more.