Frogs of War - A Card Sample Update
I had the good fortune a couple weeks back of having some people playtest Frogs of War for me. I'm still in the early stages of the game and need feedback on rules and gameplay; the feedback I have already received has been terrific.
One of the change that I already knew I was going to make was to re-do the playing cards completely, and change them from hexagonal to standard rectangular. Hexagon shaped cards are neat, but they're difficult to shuffle, hold, and use. From a financial standpoint, they are also more expensive to print.
What I do want to keep is the transparent abilities of the cards, to let one card literally be played on top of another and have both their features visible. These were items that I was already thinking of.
The positive feedback I received revolved around the information that is put onto the cards: in particular, it was a near universal comment that putting more symbols onto the card would make it easier to read and understand. Designing the card, particularly with new features, is becoming easier to do now that I have more surface space to work with. Here is a new sample "animal" card that I've been able to put together:
This card is easier to read and easily and quickly shows the attack damage, health, and breeding cost of the animal. I know I'm not a big fan of how the card is comprised of boxes, but I can improve that. There is also still some negative space on the card that the original hex card (shown below for comparison) did not have.
Item cards are likewise improved. I haven't shown it here, but one of the advantages of having card-width rectangles for statistics is that I can print additional information if necessary, without interrupting other important features of the card.
By far the largest improvement is the ability to show the animal and the animal's item in an easy to see-and-read format. Here we see the Battle Turtle armed with a knife: the turtle has a health value of 1, an attack damage of 1, and an additional knife attack damage of 1 for a total of two. As stated, there is also ample room to be able to print additional information if I find the need arises.
In contrast, here was how the original hex cards would look in such a scenario:
Now, I do like how the hex card looks, and it's possible that with a few edits and the addition of the symbols the hex cards would still work, but I'm also trying to think of the user experience.
So are there any thoughts? Hex cards? Rectangle? Further improvements that need to be made?
(c) All images and photographs, unless otherwise specified, are created and owned by me.
(c) Victor Wiebe
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The hex cards are cool, but as you say the rectangular cards will be easier and cheaper,
the concept of the transparency is brilliant
greta to see the game coming along
Thank you! I'm still trying to visualise the transparencies; I might need to redesign these cards yet again, and I'm definitely going to need an artist to help; very possibly a UX designer for the card design, too. I think I've got some good rules ready that will need a few more test plays to stabilise. Thanks for stopping by!
But your making good progress
I had never heard of this game, well I'm not really a gamer, but I have heard good news about games on the blockchain, I just haven't gotten around to playing one yet. I can see that you do like them. I hope you win a lot of cards! 💪
Thanks @mballesteros ! This is actually a game that I am designing. It is going to be a tabletop game and has some ideas taken from chess and other trading card games. I'm a team of one (just me) and there is a lot yet to do. If I can find someone to help me turn it into a blockchain game I'll certainly entertain that idea. For now, though, it's all going to be physical. 😃
Sorry, I relied on how little English I know, I should have used the translator! 🙈
I think it's great that you are designing a game! Wow I don't have the imagination to play them much less create them! You are smart! The game I've played the most is called UNO, it's a board game, and it's fun when you play it in a group. I wish you success in your game, and who knows, maybe we'll see it on store shelves later! 🚀👍
Thank you very much! There's a lot of work left to do on it, but I'm excited about it.
My kids and I used to play UNO quite a bit, too. It became a very intense affair with us. At some point one of the boys removed all of the "Reverse" cards, and we ended up not playing since. 😂
😂😂😂
The transparency aspect is super cool, such a neat mechanic.
Suggestion: If the cards that are able to be played on top of other cards are limited in their usage (like with the example you showed with the battle turtle + knife, can you only use 1 knife card on that turtle? or can you stack up multiple?), you could redesign the layout to show like a "character" and then their "item slots".
I've drawn up a super professional high-quality print-ready ms-paint mockup to better illustrate what I mean:
Not sure if this works with the type of gameplay you're thinking of, but could be a solution. There's other layouts you could explore of course if you want the item cards to be more "full" and have less negative space.
Oh, I like that. One of the biggest issues I have been facing is what to print on the back side of the card, to take full advantage of the transparency, yet not give away what is on the card. This just might do that! Thanks so much for the suggestion!
Oh, I like that. One of the biggest issues I have been facing is what to print on the back side of the card, to take full advantage of the transparency, yet not give away what is on the card. This just might do that! Thanks so much for the suggestion!
No problem, good luck with the game! 🐵