So just what is your contribution going towards? Here's a breakdown of all the costs associated with this project!
•$7,500 - Card production, taxes, shipping to distribution location, shipping to anywhere in Canada.
•$600 - Covers the cost of the minimum order for the metal coins and shipping to the distribution location.
•$600 - Shipping materials for all backer rewards (bubble mailers, tubes, boxes, labels, etc) as well as the extra cost for USA and international shipping.
•$900 - Kickstarter's fee (5%), payment processing fees (3-5%).
That leaves a little under $400 for the rest of the backer rewards including the prints. If the final cost of everything somehow increases due to changing prices, or increased differences in currency exchange rates that cost is on me. I will never come back and ask for money once the campaign has ended.
*All numbers are approximate
It's almost as if someone attempted to suck all the life out of a deck of playing cards. Damn near succeeded, too. The four-color scheme is an assault on my eyes and the pip arrangements on the spot cards are the antithesis of minimalist design - it's like the spot cards came from a different deck or something.
I finally have it. This is the illegitimate offspring of the Vanda deck and the Bicycle Tattoo deck, and it got all of the boring, uninspired genes!
One good thing is the courts are a damn sight better than they used to be. I knew I'd seen this deck 'in progress' somewhere, then this evening I remembered that it was on 'the forum that shall not be named', and in its topic the original draft had just the name of the court inside a box:
Hey Guys,
I want to introduce myself and my new deck design. My name is Mike Lambert and I'm a video game designer / developer from Toronto Canada. I'm also a poker player and a graphic artist. I just recently finished my first deck design, and I wanted to share it with you guys to see what you think!
The NOX deck was designed to stand out. It's got a minimalist design, with bold, high contrast colours. The poker-size cards will be printed by the USPCC, and are currently funding on Kickstarter:
I'm still open to changing up some of the designs, but considering the campaign is live I probably won't do anything too drastic at this point. I'd love to know what you guys think!
Thanks for reading!
I've been a digital artist for almost 15 years, so I'm used to criticism. I welcome it. If it's not constructive though, it's just a waste of everyone's time.
If you don't like my design, that's cool. I learned a long time ago you can't please everyone. When I started this design I specifically went against the trend of intricately detailed, hand painted designs (I've backed a couple of them myself). I wanted to design something that stood out from what was out there. Whether or not that will pay off is up to the Kickstarter community.
Legibility was an important factor in my design. I'm a poker player so I want cards that are easy to distinguish at a glance. A lot of the newer decks on Kickstarter look amazing, but to me some of them are more a show piece than a usable deck.
After feedback from my backers I'm going to be revising the design of both the tuck case and the jokers. I should have an update for those sometime this weekend.