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Playing Card Chat ♠ ♥ ♣ ♦ => Design & Development => Topic started by: EgorKlyuchnyk on March 14, 2015, 09:34:22 AM
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ADMIN NOTE: project is now LIVE on Kickstarter:
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/308247697/strange-head-society-playing-cards
Hello guys. My name is Egor and want to present my new deck - Strange head society
This is my second project at KS, so I would like to hear your opinion for this one.
Previous project: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/891191024/demon-deck-playing-cards
Thank you.
Now live on KS:
<iframe frameborder="0" height="420" scrolling="no" src="https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/308247697/strange-head-society-playing-cards/widget/card.html?v=2" width="220"></iframe>
(http://cs621731.vk.me/v621731090/18bb1/8R-0ornbeIo.jpg)
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I'm certainly interested, even just by the name I assume it will be something cool. The images look interesting, but a bit too small to really comment for sure. Are you able to post a few more close ups or larger?
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I'm certainly interested, even just by the name I assume it will be something cool. The images look interesting, but a bit too small to really comment for sure. Are you able to post a few more close ups or larger?
Click on the one at the bottom (below the line indicates it was uploaded to the board and not just linked in from elsewhere) and it blows up rather nicely.
I'm curious about using double the pips for the indices. Why? It's a unique choice, to be sure.
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I'm curious about using double the pips for the indices. Why? It's a unique choice, to be sure.
For practise use.
I'm certainly interested, even just by the name I assume it will be something cool. The images look interesting, but a bit too small to really comment for sure. Are you able to post a few more close ups or larger?
Yes. Attached to the post.
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I'm curious about using double the pips for the indices. Why? It's a unique choice, to be sure.
For practise use.
Practice for what?
I noticed in the first image you attached to your most recent post that you're showing them with one and two pips, side-by-side. If you do keep it to one pip, I'd suggest the bottom pip, made a wee bit larger. It's a matter of practicality. While not every deck needs to be practical, the more practical ones tend to be the ones more people use.
Placing the index pip to the right of the index value rather than below it forces the player holding a hand of cards to spread them further apart to read the full index. Any time you have to spread your hand further apart, you risk flashing at least some cards to an opponent.
Now, if you're making a specific style choice having to do with the deck's artistic merits as you see it, by all means, arrange your indices the way you want them. Just know why you're doing it, rather than simply, "I don't know why, I just did it that way."
Overall, I like where the design is going. There's elements of late steampunk and Lovecraftian Mythos, but the deck doesn't scream "THIS IS A STEAMPUNK DECK!" or "THIS IS A MYTHOS/CTHULHU DECK!" It's subtle rather than blatant, and with the focus on the strange heads and not the genre the characters may come from.
I'm looking forward to seeing more.
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Practice for what?
I noticed in the first image you attached to your most recent post that you're showing them with one and two pips, side-by-side. If you do keep it to one pip, I'd suggest the bottom pip, made a wee bit larger. It's a matter of practicality. While not every deck needs to be practical, the more practical ones tend to be the ones more people use.
Placing the index pip to the right of the index value rather than below it forces the player holding a hand of cards to spread them further apart to read the full index. Any time you have to spread your hand further apart, you risk flashing at least some cards to an opponent.
Now, if you're making a specific style choice having to do with the deck's artistic merits as you see it, by all means, arrange your indices the way you want them. Just know why you're doing it, rather than simply, "I don't know why, I just did it that way."
Overall, I like where the design is going. There's elements of late steampunk and Lovecraftian Mythos, but the deck doesn't scream "THIS IS A STEAMPUNK DECK!" or "THIS IS A MYTHOS/CTHULHU DECK!" It's subtle rather than blatant, and with the focus on the strange heads and not the genre the characters may come from.
I'm looking forward to seeing more.
I mean right image shows how it gonna be in the deck. I thought It more usefull for card game like poker or others.
i don`t want to do another cthulhu or steampunk deck. I want to create something unusual and interesting, which shows story about this organization and members.
And custom deck seal.
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I mean right image shows how it gonna be in the deck. I thought It more usefull for card game like poker or others.
i don`t want to do another cthulhu or steampunk deck. I want to create something unusual and interesting, which shows story about this organization and members.
And custom deck seal.
If you're making it useful for card games, poker included, make the indices narrow rather than wide.
It's most certainly not "another Cthulhu or steampunk deck." You've applied some fun creativity - the characters on the courts look like there's a story about them that's begging to be told. That is a very cool accomplishment.
Now - it looks like the custom seal will be serial-numbered and will list the size of the volume. But unless you print these things out on your own, a sheet at a time, your numbering will be stamped-on numbers, not the cool numeric characters you've shown on the seal. How are you planning on doing it? And please don't say that every single deck will be "1 of X,000!"
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If you're making it useful for card games, poker included, make the indices narrow rather than wide.
It's most certainly not "another Cthulhu or steampunk deck." You've applied some fun creativity - the characters on the courts look like there's a story about them that's begging to be told. That is a very cool accomplishment.
Now - it looks like the custom seal will be serial-numbered and will list the size of the volume. But unless you print these things out on your own, a sheet at a time, your numbering will be stamped-on numbers, not the cool numeric characters you've shown on the seal. How are you planning on doing it? And please don't say that every single deck will be "1 of X,000!"
Serial numbers i don`t how to do at this moment) If need i will number every seal in photoshop by hands.
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Serial numbers i don`t how to do at this moment) If need i will number every seal in photoshop by hands.
Consider a simpler solution, one that's been used before. When the Misc. Goods deck first came out, there was something printed on the side of the tuck box, "_____ of 10,000." The creator had the decks delivered to him without cellophane wrapping - in fact, if I remember correctly, it was without a deck seal, as well. By hand, with a nice pen, he filled in the numbers on all the decks by hand.
It's not impossible to have serially-numbered seals. But to have it done in that font, as an integral part of the design - I haven't seen it attempted yet. It would likely be simpler to just go with a nice seal design and standard serially-numbered seals. Of course, your deck manufacturer might have better solutions at their disposal, so talk to them and see what they have to offer.
Have you selected a manufacturer yet? Will you be using the "European Playing Card Company" again? Honestly, I've never heard of them before your project and no one has mentioned them since - they're a completely unknown factor, except perhaps to those who pledged for and received their Demon decks.
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Consider a simpler solution, one that's been used before. When the Misc. Goods deck first came out, there was something printed on the side of the tuck box, "_____ of 10,000." The creator had the decks delivered to him without cellophane wrapping - in fact, if I remember correctly, it was without a deck seal, as well. By hand, with a nice pen, he filled in the numbers on all the decks by hand.
It's not impossible to have serially-numbered seals. But to have it done in that font, as an integral part of the design - I haven't seen it attempted yet. It would likely be simpler to just go with a nice seal design and standard serially-numbered seals. Of course, your deck manufacturer might have better solutions at their disposal, so talk to them and see what they have to offer.
Have you selected a manufacturer yet? Will you be using the "European Playing Card Company" again? Honestly, I've never heard of them before your project and no one has mentioned them since - they're a completely unknown factor, except perhaps to those who pledged for and received their Demon decks.
Regarding seals. I got response that our printer is able to do numbered seals with custom font, although your idea with numbering on tuck is interesting too.
This time it will be produced by NoirArts | NPCC (Noir-Arts.com).
Their quality is way better than Demon deck was, and I'd say it's the same as Legends, EPCC or Bicycle.
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Regarding seals. I got response that our printer is able to do numbered seals with custom font, although your idea with numbering on tuck is interesting too.
This time it will be produced by NoirArts | NPCC (Noir-Arts.com).
Their quality is way better than Demon deck was, and I'd say it's the same as Legends, EPCC or Bicycle.
It's not merely being "produced" by Noir-Arts. You ARE Noir-Arts!
Out of curiosity, I checked out the Noir-Arts website you listed above.
First image: hmm... I've never seen a company so reluctant to allow people to screen-grab their site like that. Good thing there's often a good low-tech solution to each high-tech problem! Bust out the camera phone, and voila - screen captures the old-school way.
Second image: here's some of the "popular posts" on the site, all written in 2013. But wait - one of them dated 05 March 2013, just over two years old, is announcing that the "Holidays are coming next year! Stay tuned" and another, dated May of 2013, states that "Defunctorum CRUOR playing cards was successfylly funded on Dec. 10, 2014". Wow - that's downright prescient, predicting the project's completion seventeen months before it happens...
Third image: I decided to read that article on Defunctorum CRUOR. Unfortunately, I left my Latin-to-English dictionary in my other...who am I kidding, I don't have a Latin-to-English dictionary! The small bit in English about renewing the membership to IceTheme is nice, albeit completely off-topic and out of the left field PARKING LOT... But all that Latin stuff - y'know, the kind of stuff people use as placeholder text - was not terribly informative on any level.
Fourth image: that post entitled "New projects are on it's way!" wasn't as exciting to read, but it was short, to the point, and (as it was dated March of 2013) was about 22 months ahead of its time. That's "its", as in singular-possesive "its", as opposed to "it's", the contraction of "it is", "it" being a singular adjective and not a plural one, as it was used in the title of the second prescient post. They can get predictions down to a science, but they can't check grammar with a dictionary or the interwebs?
To be continued...
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Continued from prior post.
Fifth image: I wanted to check out the store, perhaps do a little shopping. I heard there were shortages in some parts of Ukraine but I didn't think it was this bad...
Sixth image: ...and yes, the company operates its printing facilities in Ukraine. You wouldn't believe the number of spam accounts I have to delete from ".ua" domains...
Seventh image: Egor, you stated in the first post that this Demon Head deck was your project. But when I checked Kickstarter, I see the name of your studio as the designer, but the project is actually that of Mr. Roman Kotiv...
Eighth image:...who also happens to OWN Noir-Arts! You're listed has having been the "designer, creator" of the Demon Deck, but the project was Roman's. I don't know if it would be accurate to list Roman as part of "Our Partners and Friends" unless he considers himself a friend of himself. Oh, and those concealed designer names? Who the hell does that? Are they embarrassed to be associated with Noir-Arts? If it's a teaser campaign, it's pretty weak.
Now, having said so many less-than-flattering things about Noir-Arts, none of that takes away from the fact that you have a rather impressive design on your hands. If you and your "friends and partners" plan to push Noir-Arts as a playing card publisher - and as a potential publisher for other designers out there - you need to polish up the company image a bit (more like a lot, really) and you need to demonstrate how these are quality decks you're making. First thing you need is someone who knows English to proofread and rewrite your website's text. When I see multiple grammar and syntax errors on a website (or anywhere else for that matter) it bothers me and makes me think they just didn't care. (I make such mistakes, too, but they're fewer and further between and I try my best to catch them before they're "set in stone" anywhere.)
I read the pricing page for print runs of playing cards. It leaves a LOT to be desired. All it states, simply enough, is that decks start at $1 a pack and have minimum runs of 500 decks. That information is next to useless in terms of someone working out a project's costs. I could go to MPC at makeplayingcards.com and tell you practically to the penny what a project will cost. Now, you could say, "But USPC, EPCC, LPCC, etc. doesn't list their pricing," but they're also the industry leaders and can afford to be a little secretive about pricing. You're not in that position - if you show pricing like MPC does, you'd have a much better shot at attracting new business. At the very least, if you don't want to go the "up-front and open" path, REMOVE the pricing page, because in the state it's in now, it's about as useful as firecrackers in a bucket of water.
I'm hoping you take all this as constructive criticism. It's the vein in which was was intended.
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Thank you Don for your posts. But I have nothing to do with this site. All of my work - send project to Roman and draw more images. I even don`t send the decks myself.
This critics will be more usefull for Roman Kotiv, but I really appreciate this.
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Thank you Don for your posts. But I have nothing to do with this site. All of my work - send project to Roman and draw more images. I even don`t send the decks myself.
This critics will be more usefull for Roman Kotiv, but I really appreciate this.
It's entirely possible that, as you stated, the decks will indeed be on par with USPC, Legends or Expert. But if I was shopping for a printer and saw a company website with so many issues, it would make me disinclined to do business with them. They cards could be the greatest cards in the world and I'd never know it because I couldn't get over how poorly the website communicates that to me. Would I trust a company to make my cards and make them correctly when they can't be bothered to check their own website for Latin placeholder text where an article about a deck project is supposed to be?
Roman, if you're reading this - again, this is not criticizing for the sake of being a wise-guy or busting your chops. Learn from what I'm saying here and apply it. It's "Good Business 101!" I'm all for a new card company stepping into the breach and keeping every other company on their toes, but before you can do that, you have to keep YOURSELF on your toes.
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Hello guys. New pack of Clubs
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Hello guys. New pack of Clubs
They look good, but you might want to vary the palette a bit. There's very little contrast in there at all. Even more white would help.
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I really like the way you are going with this! This one will definitely be on my radar.
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Maybe make the warmer colors a little richer and slightly brighter to add a little contrast to the palette
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Tentacles are so forced... especially in the aces. IMHO.
Good luck.
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Maybe make the warmer colors a little richer and slightly brighter to add a little contrast to the palette
Colors warmer in CMYK, but when images transfer to RGB they are fade.
Tentacles are so forced... especially in the aces. IMHO.
Good luck.
Thank you
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Maybe make the warmer colors a little richer and slightly brighter to add a little contrast to the palette
Colors warmer in CMYK, but when images transfer to RGB they are fade.
Tentacles are so forced... especially in the aces. IMHO.
Good luck.
Thank you
I think you're on the right track with this, personally. When will this deck finally hit KS?
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I think you're on the right track with this, personally. When will this deck finally hit KS?
Thank you. I don't know, but i hope soon. In a month maybe.
Update from GW:
"We are planning to launch the project early May"
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I think you're on the right track with this, personally. When will this deck finally hit KS?
Thank you. I don't know, but i hope soon. In a month maybe.
Update from GW:
"We are planning to launch the project early May"
Awesome - be sure to give us a heads-up!
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Another quick update from GW:
These are scheduled for launch on Tuesday May 5th at 12PM Central :)
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YEY! Strange head society now live on Kickstarter!
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/308247697/strange-head-society-playing-cards
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Congratulations, Egor! Gonna go check it out now.
I actually got THREE emails in my inbox yesterday from GW about this.
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Congratulations, Egor! Gonna go check it out now.
I actually got THREE emails in my inbox yesterday from GW about this.
Thank you!
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Just a quick question:
You said that your 'demon' playing cards were printed by the European playing cards company (I found this on the project's page on KS) but I can't find them anywhere on the internet.
If you could reply with a link that would be great :D
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Just a quick question:
You said that your 'demon' playing cards were printed by the European playing cards company (I found this on the project's page on KS) but I can't find them anywhere on the internet.
If you could reply with a link that would be great :D
The original project on Kickstarter: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/891191024/demon-deck-playing-cards/description
The follow-up project for the limited edition: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/891191024/demon-deck-limited-edition-playing-cards/description
The company he was working with: http://noir-arts.com/index.php/projects-portfolio
Noir Arts doesn't actually sell decks from their website. There's a link on the home page marked "How to buy" but it takes you to either a blank page or an error message. (The entire website's a bit on the dodgy side to me - especially the sections where they copied and pasted text from other websites just to pad theirs with "content.") Try looking on eBay or Amazon.
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These are now available for direct purchase from GW & PlayingCards.net - http://www.playingcards.net/Strange-Head-Society-Deck-Playing-Cards-New-Limited_p_1374.html