Week 9

Overview

I've been working on pages for the rulebook, and printing them out to see that they look good physically. I've also been trying ways of binding the pages together, as well as considering getting them printed in a more professional manner. After a discussion with James, there are also a couple things I've been trying to really tie the project together before hand-in.

Easter Break Minuting

Overview

Max has made excellent progress with the models, and they all look like they fit together in the context of our game. We did run into an issue where I felt like I wasn't getting enough space from the project, and Max kept needing me for various bits throughout the project, but we managed to put that aside and Max continued with his work whilst I was able to take a break.

Rulebook

Max made a mock-up for the rulebook. However, I had a few ideas for how the book could be improved, and ended up making my own version which I plan on showing this Thursday when we all meet up together. First of all, Max made the rulebook A4, which I think is too big. I made my version A5 and I still think that design is a bit big, and so I'm gonna try an A6 version next. The background was also just plain white, so I suggested making the paper look old by using a tea-stained background. I also blended our artwork into the background, so it doesn't stand out too much and take away from the main focus of the rulebook. I've also tried binding the book with string to give it character and make it look like an adventurer's journal, but in a business context, we might not be able to mass produce these books by hand-binding them, so I'll need to try other methods to create the rulebook.

Rulebook

After binding the rulebook I've found that the binding disrupts some of the writing on the pages. I forgot to flip over the guide I made for the alternate pages, so I will be going back and fixing those so that the pages look nicer.

Team Meeting

We're in a very good place with our project right now. With 3 weeks left and only a couple more tasks to complete, we should have ample time to complete those, as well as perhaps start advertising for the arcade event. I've set out what still needs completing below:

The Hunter playmat has a typo that needs fixing. The 2 charge ability should say "Take out a player's creature and send it to the discard pile."
Need to paint the charge counters
Max needs to create a model for the Trading Post
I'll recreate the Grand Beast card at a slightly bigger size, and send it to Max for laminating
I will finish creation of the rulebook.

Go to sculpture, cover sculptures in cling film and vacuum them

Marketing

As we're near the end of our project, marketing is something that we can start to consider. I've started to design a potential poster to hang around the campus to make people aware of the arcade event, and will be coming up with more designs in the coming weeks.

However, what we're really thinking about is how we can make this product ready for market. We've discussed with James different ways we could go about this:

Small changes can be made, such as using a sans serif font for the abilities on the cards, as well as maybe changing the rulebook font to a sans serif.
The playmats could have a small white outline on the writing on the boxes to make them pop
Scaling considerations:
- What size will the models be? How many mm? They're obviously going to be more detailed, and Max's models are just concepts for now.
- The charge counters could also be made slightly smaller, maybe 20%?
By changing the size of the models, we'll then be able to fit all the materials in a smaller box, which will be more ideal for customers.
James brought up the idea of selling the characters separately, with cards, counters and a playmat that are specific to them. I like this idea, however, I'd rather we not be cheap, and instead sell the models we have as the base edition of the game, and then bring out characters in this format.
This pairs well with expansion decks, which can help to build up the lore of the world we are creating, as well as offer differing play experiences.
James brought up making cloth playmats. They're easy to store, and also fit well with the aesthetic of our game, so this could be viable.
- He suggested to print the designs for these on shirts, as printing shirts is inexpensive, and then cutting those out. A map of our world could also be printed, cut, and then sewn on the back of the player mat as well for added flair.
- The remaining fabric from the shirts could also then be used to create drawstring bags to hold the dice and counters.
As for dice, we could consider production for these, as we had towards the beginning of the project. We don't really need to make custom dice, at least not using symbols as we had considered before, but we could try casting them in different materials for added flair?

Arcade Event

Discussion about the arcade event:

Casual game night
Con(vention)
- Stall where we talk and show off our game
- Q&A about development?
- Set up the scene somehow

It seems we're heading for a convention-styled event, with a space where we can talk about the game, and for eventgoers to have a go at the game. We'll need to make posters to advertise the event and our game, which I've already started a design for, but I'll need to discuss further with my time how we'll be setting up our stall.

Rulebook

I fixed the layout so that the pages won't be ruined by the binding. I also printed the pages smaller as per James' suggestion, but I've found this has made punching the holes into the sides of the pages more difficult, so this will need to be considered. It was more an issue of me not being able to line up the holes correctly, so I'll need to set up some form of guide to complete that.

Card Re-designs

I've made some re-design mockups for the cards. James' felt as if some of the text was hard to read, and that the ability and capture requirement texts should be changed to be a bit more readable. I've used the Algerian font for the mockups below, which read a little better I think, but then it sort of ruins the overall consistency of the look. I think the cards are readable as is, and the issue with the number 8 being difficult to understand in the Holy Empire font I've cleared up in the rulebook. I suppose maybe I can take this to the public to try and get as many opinions as possible before making a final commitement.

Card Re-designs

I made a survey and put it across multiple platforms to try and get some opinions of the cards. The responses weren't what I was expecting. I've been told that the font choice is awful and that the information hierarchy could be a lot clearer. To be honest this wasn't the kind of reaction I was expecting at all, and so late into development as well. I should have put forward designs for how the card would be laid out to others, got feedback, and then created the art around that layout instead. I also took some advice and reworked my survey so that it wasn't so biased: https://forms.gle/rDPppUZhaAzYv6TY7

Card Re-designs

I've used a sans serif font, Gill Sans, and a serif font, Algerian, for these next few redesigns. I've also tried increasing the contrast between the writing and background by using a lighter background, and adding a white outline to contrast with the darker background. I've had some responses, and most votes put forward so far suggest that the white outline isn't as helpful, so that design will be scrapped. Between Gill Sans and Algerian without the outline, there has been an almost even split so far, with Algerian taking the lead. I don't think it's as messy as Holy Empire is, but it still maintains a style that is similar to the kind of writing we are going for.

I'm really not a fan of Gill Sans. To me, it looks like no effort has been put in, and whilst it may be easier to understand, it really detracts from the overall quality of the card. I'm going to keep experimenting with different fonts to see if I can find a good sans serif font that will help to add to the quality of the cards.

Card Re-designs

I've made a few more re-designs of the Grand Beast card, using different fonts which I think match the atmosphere that we're going for in our game, whilst still maintaining clarity.

Book Antiqua is personally my favourite out of the new designs. It's still readable, and gives off vibes of old passages of writing, much like Holy Empire. This font works quite well with the rulebook as well, as it looks like a book worn over time.

Apollo and Arthead are pretty similar to each other, although I'd say Apollo is slightly easier to read than Arthead is. I feel that neither fit the intended theming of our cards though, so I don't think we'll end up using them in a final design.

I think that Papyrus works in the context of our game, and I think it would look especially good in the rulebook. However, I don't think many people would find it very clear, so we most likely won't be using this font.

The same goes for Santana. I love the way that "d" is written, as well as the dot in the middle of the o's, but I don't think this will make for a clear card design, so we most likely won't be using this fon't either.

Next Week

I'm going to make another survey using the designs I've made and send that out to get opinions on which designs are best, before conferring with my team about a final decision. That will then let me print off a slightly larger version of the card to send to Max for laminating. We also need to have a more in depth discussion about the painting of counters, and I should finish the concept I made of our game's poster to advertise for the arcade event.