LOGAN HUNT GAMES DEVELOPMENT PERSONAL JOURNAL
WEEK 2
Overview
Had a group call on Monday as a team to decide on where to take our project next, as well as decide on the roles that each of us will take on over the course of the project. Also discussed ideas with James about our game on Thursday, and I did some product research to see roughly how long it would take for items to be shipped, and thus when our final deadline for all our designs to be finished by should be. I've also set up a Google Drive under the details:
Email: projectkryat@gmail.com
Password: k1p3l3l3
So that we can share art and other assets between each other.
Discussion
We had a group call to discuss what direction to take our game in. We all went away over the weekend and came up with any more ideas we could think of to discuss in our call on Monday. There was a lengthy debate over whether to make our game a board game or an RPG, but we've ultimately decided to stick to a board game for now, as it will be easy to prototype, and we won't need to create as many rules and think so extensively for it. However, that's not to see that we'll be getting rid of the RPG elements completely. Some of the rules we came up with will incorporate RPG elements, like players having stats which will affect how they can play the game.
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For our board, we're going to use a rough version of what I had planned last week; a board with hexagonal spaces for the player to traverse. The board will be split up into 4 sections; the swamp, the woods, the taiga, and the tundra. However, I think there should be more variation in the environments, so I'll need to research into Slavic Mythology, as per Jake's GDD, to see if there are any other environments that might make sense in this context. We've yet to come to an agreement on whether the player's movement should be freeform, or determined by a dice roll. I'll need to argue for a dice roll, as freeform movement seems to unrestricted, but perhaps it could work in practice? Jumping off of item cards, Max created what we've decided to call Action Cards. Action cards help to add a little variation to the game, by creating situations such as encountering a rarer creature, or coming across a poacher who will steal your creatures. These will be activated on random spots throughout the board, as will normal encounters with creatures. We decided against using environmental obstacles for players to pass through, in favour of a more free and open board. Of course, this is subject to change should we need more challenge for the player, and it may serve the experience of going on an adventure better.
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I mentioned RPG elements earlier. We've thought about different stats that the player could have and how they could affect gameplay. There were my previous ideas from last week, which prompted other thoughts, such as changing the outcome of an Action Card. Players could also become better at catching creatures. Using the stats I created last week, I came up with this ruleset:
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Strength: +1 dice roll (increased chance at catching creatures)
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Agility: +1 dice roll (Increased movement)
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Technique: +1 card draw on a bad action card
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Next steps involve creating a paper prototype in order to playtest how effective our rules and gameplay are. If they're not any fun, then we'll have to rethink what we have, or iterate upon our design.
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We also decided what our roles would be throughout the project. These can be interchangeable, and we'll be helping each other with different bits throughout, but we've decided that:
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Dylan: Mechanics/World
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Max: Design/Models
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Kat: Creature Ideas/Art
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Me: Design/Art
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I also have a lot of organisation work to complete, such as filling my personal journal, creating a Trello board for the team so that we know what tasks need completing, and creating a marketing website for our game, but I imagine this will come a bit later when we start creating finalised designs.
Discussion with James
In our Thursday session with James, we discussed the idea we agreed upon on Monday. We detailed how we planned for players to move throughout the board, but James questioned whether we really need the board. It was mainly being used for visualisation purposes, but James suggested that this could be done with our planned player pieces, and players could be guided to certain areas through the use of cards. Players would then proceed to that areas deck, as we had planned before, and attempt to catch a creature. Rather than just being spots on a board, the Event cards we had also planned for could be drawn every turn, to dictate what challenges would be occurring throughout the game.
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Removing the board and dice for movement has allowed us to think about other ways our game might be played. Using Movement cards, players could be directed to different areas. This would make the game purely a card game. However, we could also remove these, and go for a more DnD approach, with one person acting as a DM and guiding the players throughout different locations. This would effectively let players choose their own way of playing, and will help us branch out to a wider audience. Players could also play competitively or cooperatively. In competitive, players would race to collect as many creatures as they can, and get the highest score, whereas in co-op players would work together to get above a certain threshold. This will need more clarification, which I will be working on next week.
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James stated an important point for us to think about: Our pieces should be MODULAR. That is to say, whatever elements pertaining to a certain group of card should STAY IN THAT CARD. So using the Creature cards as an example, things like their rarity, the dice that need to be rolled to capture them, and their scores, should stay within that field of Creature card.
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Other additional bits we thought about were players and their characters, and what stats they might have. We talked about how players might be able to capture creatures in different ways, such as through befriending or subduing it, which would net the player different points. The players might then have different abilities which support different styles of play, such as another roll for befriending a creature. We could also make player mats with the characters and their stats as extra equipment, as well as a GM screen with the rules and some pretty art. We can also create a Bestiary like I designed last week with slots for the cards for players to collect.
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As for how many creatures we are making, we've decided to go for 10 individual creatures, with obvious duplicates depending on the rarity:
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Common: 4
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Uncommon: 3
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Rare: 2
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Mythic: 1
The creatures will also have points reflective of what rarity they are.
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Based off of this, we have made some Actionable Targets:
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By next week, me, Dylan and Max will have worked out the basic mechanics. This includes:
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Creature cards​
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Use some base values for scores and capturing as necessary​
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Event cards
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Will need to come up with some scenarios that fit a woods​
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Movement cards
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Will also need to think of suitable locations to guide the player to​
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Kat will have designed 2 creatures
Slack Discussion Thursday
Following our talk with James, we discussed the points we went over with him. I made a list of the basic flow of our game, and what mechanics and card there would be, so Dylan and Max would know what to work with. I recommended leaving out player stats for now, so we could work out what mechanics players would be able to influence first, and Dylan agreed, showing what mechanics he had been working on. At James' recommendation, I suggested Dylan look at the Pathfinder Adventure Card Game, and Elder Sign, for further inspiration on how to structure and design our game. I also told Dylan about Phil's request for a secondment during week 5, and got Dylan's confirmation, which I have relayed to Phil.
Slack Discussion Thursday
As Kat is doing the creature design, I've also asked of her to think of basic information to go along with her designs, such as the creature's name, rarity, and maybe some flavour text or description of the creature too. I've also detailed how many of each rarity we are going to need, and roughly how detailed designs should get as they increase in rarity. I've also made sure that everyone has access to our project's scope plan, and also a list of milestone dates that must be adhered to if we're to complete the project on time.
Slack Discussion Friday
I've made sure to check with my team to see if they think the milestone dates I've set are reasonable, and I've had no objections, so we are going to be operating by these times from now. Of course, I'll be wary about the amount of work getting done and adjust accordingly. I've also instructed Max to work with Dylan on the design and mechanics for next week, as in order to complete our project's scope, I need to know how long it'll take for different companies to print and ship our products. Based off of my findings, I will adjust the milestone dates and scope, but I've mainly projected everything to be finished by Easter, so that we have that month to get things printed and shipped.
Slack Discussion Friday
We've also had brief discussion about the rulebook to go along with our game. Max has expressed interest in designing the rulebook, and me and Dylan have brought up the use of Adobe InDesign for such practices. The milestones I've set aside should allow for adequate time for Max to learn InDesign, and then start working on the production of a rulebook. I'll most likely be setting this time for after our second playtest, where most mechanics and rules should be decided. Dylan also brought up the fact that our cards will basically be acting as a Bestiary, so there's not much of a need for a book of it. This will save us some time in terms of designing and producing other items, as well as cutting down costs, but I'm still gonna keep it at the back of my head in case we have enough time and money to print it.
Slack Discussion Friday
I've also made sure that everyone is aware of the final deadline I've set for all the design work to be finished: 25th March. This is so that everyone has their whole Easter off not doing any work, and also to allow adequate time for printing cards and any physical pieces we need for our game. Dylan also intends to buy the Pathfinder Card Game, in order to become better acquainted with the rules of the game, and how they could apply to ours.
Slack Discussion Friday
Kat shared a design she made for a woodland creature. I love the overall aesthetic of the creature, and the mushroom on its head is adorable, but I'm not sure about the detailed fur. The style is quite different to what she showed me earlier in the week of the first creature she has designed, so I'm going to need to talk to her about what style should go with the game.
Slack Discussion Friday
Max has shared a design of all the pieces we will need to include. This includes any dice in order to capture creatures and perform any other actions on the movement or event cards, the creature, movement, and event cards, and also player pieces. Dylan has also provided some examples of how some cards might work. I like the concepts he's come up with so far, and have instructed him to keep coming up with concepts around our Woodland level. He's expressed concerns about movement becoming too random, as have I, so maybe we could limit the number of cards that instruct players to travel to another area?
Product Research
Although having Easter should be enough time to get all our products printed, I need to look at various services to see how long their shipping is, just to make sure, as well as what their pricing and requirements are. Cards will need to be certain sizes, miniatures can be made out of different materials, and so forth.
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Cards
Our cards will need to fit predetermined specifications set by us, or perhaps from a template. When printing cards, there are different areas on the card which must include different bits of imagery and text.
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Bleed Zone
This is where the design gets cut off. The background of the card should continue into this space to allow for tolerances or mistakes.
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Trim Line
This is where the design gets cut.
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Safe Zone
This is where all the imagery and text on the card should stay within.
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Sizing
Different services will offer different sizings, but from what I've seen briefly, there are pretty standard sizes like:
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Poker: 2.47" x 3.47"
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Bridge: 2.25" x 3.47"
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Custom
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Colour
Most services seem to require designs in CMYK format.
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File Type
Different file types are accepted (TIF, TIF LZW, DCS, EPS), from different software, mainly in the Adobe Suite
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Paper Type
Cards are printed on 300gsm paper as standard, so that they have weight and thickness, but this can be increased depending on what you want for your card
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Packaging
There are also different kinds of packaging, such as Tucks, which are what you can store your decks in, or other items such as metal tins and velour cases.
Bicycle Custom Printing
Custom Printing | Bicycle Playing Cards (bicyclecards.com)
Bicycle Custom Printing has a custom catalogue which details their requirements for designs and the service that they offer. They also offer the printing of different types of decks:
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Magic
Make your dream deck of cards a reality. Playing cards that are created and used by Magicians with the options to design the backs, faces, colors, and tuck.
Minimum Order: 1000
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Specialty
Make your dream deck of cards a reality. Playing cards that are created and used by Magicians with the options to design the backs, faces, colors, and tuck.
Minimum Order: 1000
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Promotional
Playing cards that are perfect for universities, businesses, corporate gatherings, wedding favors, and more. Design the backs, faces, colors, and tuck.
Minimum Order: 100
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Each deck consists of 56 Cards:
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52 playing cards
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2 Jokers
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2 ad cards
We don't really have a use for the Joker cards, but maybe if we come up with a brand image we could use the ad cards for additional marketing come the WSA arcade event? This would require additional time to create these images, but it could be well worth the effort.
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Bicycle Custom Printing offers tuck cases to hold the deck of cards in. These can be customised, both the outside, and the inside. They can use foil for extra sheen, or embossed for texture, and images can even be applied to the inside of the box. Finally, custom seals can be made to bring the design together.
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Again, this adds extra elements that I hadn't considered. If we were to use these tuck boxes, it would require extra time to design. All this might end up pushing the milestone I set to have all our designs finished back to after Easter, which then may not provide adequate time for the product to be shipped. I'll have to see about this next week.
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Bicycle Custom Printing has laid out guidelines that must be adhered in their custom catalogue:
Completeness
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Digital Artwork File Guidelines
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Mac is preferred, with limited PC applications (I'll have to check with James what this may mean, or email them myself)​
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Applications Setup
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Files should be prepared using Illustrator, Photoshop, InDesign or ArtPro™ software programs. Colour should be set up to CMYK or spot colours according to final product. PMS colours should be correctly indicated. All art must be linked to a file rather than embedded into the layout page.​ (I'll also need to check what this is referring to. I'm confused if they mean include all the art assets and typography separately rather than pre-designed?)
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Photoshop
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Preferred file formats include: TIF, TIF LZW, DCS, EPS, CMYK or LAB colour. Supplied resolution should be 300dpi for continuous tone and 1200dpi for bitmap. Maximum density is 280%. Please provide layered files.​
- Please ensure that all files are complete including all fonts (Adobe Type 1, Screen and Printer Fonts, Bitstream or Open Type Face preferred), linked material, and high resolution graphics.​
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- Transfer Media
- ​File transfers should be made using uspc.wetransfer.com.​​
- Proof Approval
- We will provide a digital proof to you that represents a model of your final product after receipt of your art.​
- Underruns/Overruns
- Orders will be considered complete by plus or minus (10%) of the contracted amount and the purchaser will pay for the actual amount delivered.​
- Packaging
- Decks are packaged in custom tuck boxes and cellophane shrink-wrapped unless otherwise specified.​
- Delivery
- FOB: Erlanger, Kentucky, prepaid and add​
All in all their service seems good, though a lot seems to be based off of getting a quote through contacting them. We don't have all of our designs and such ready, so this may difficult, so I think prioritising what our card designs will look like, right down to their specifications, will be necessary in order to solve this problem.
Aura Print
Custom Playing Card Printing - Aura Print (aura-print.com)
Aura Print offers much of the same services as Bicycle Custom Printing. There's:
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Size
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Poker (64mm x 89mm)​
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Bridge (57mm x 89mm)​
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Tarot (70mm x 120mm)​
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Oversized (89mm x 146mm)​
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Custom​
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All cards come double sided
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Paper
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Silk (standard)​
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Uncoated
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Recycled
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Kraft
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Colorplan
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Colour Core
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Paper thickness
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300gsm (standard)​
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350gsm
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400gsm
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700gsm
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Lamination
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Matt to front (Matt on front only)​
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Matt to both sides
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Gloss to front (gloss on front only)
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Gloss to both sides
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Soft touch to front (soft touch velvet)
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Soft touch to both sides
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Rounded corners
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3.5mm (standard)​
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6mm
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16mm
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Artwork is uploaded via email or their own portal
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There's no minimum order provided by Aura Print, which may be more ideal since we're planning on using 3 50 card decks instead of 52 card decks. However, I don't see a system for providing duplicates of cards, so I'll need to confirm that too. They also provide templates, which may help speed up the process of designing these cards.
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They also provide their own specifications to be followed:
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Artwork to be supplied at no less than 300dpi at 100% scale
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PDF, JPEG, or TIFF in CMYK colour range
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Checking their service, a deck of 50 cards comes to about £115.95, with 3 of them being £134.95. This would be so that the game is playable at the arcade event, but James did say about selling copies, so this figure would potentially need to be increased:
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20 copies: £213.95
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30 copies: £260.95
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40 copies: £306.95
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50 copies: £352.95
(Figures are all at standard settings)
Of course, realistically, I don't imagine selling this many copies, so it might not even be necessary, but I'm keeping these figures here for future reference depending on future discussions with James and my team.
MPC
Custom Playing Cards Printing Game Design Company (makeplayingcards.com)
MPC's services are a bit different to the others that I've seen today. They provide a lot more options to choose from, but they're largely similar to what I've encountered already. Going off standard settings:
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Card stock (paper quality): (S30) Standard Smooth
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Size of deck: Up to 55 cards
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Print type: Full colour
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Finish: MPC game card finish (matte)
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Packaging: Shrink-wrapped
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MPC also provides a chart detailing the costs per
number of deck (see right)
If we're going for enough for one game (3 decks), then the cost should be £11.85.
MPC also offers production of tuck boxes, similar to Bicycle Printing Company, but they also provide products such as booklets, which is another of the items we're looking to create. There are a variety to choose from:​
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Saddle sewn
Folded
Cross folded
Bound
A saddle sewn booklet would be ideal I think, but depending on how many rules and mechanics we have, we might only have need for a folded or cross folded booklet. This will yet to be known till later in our project when we have begun designing the rulebook.​ For now I'll take the value of 1 booklet as £3.60.
I've also looked into tuck boxes, which would be a nice addition to wrap up our deck of cards. MPC offers a variety of different options, such as card quality, where designs are printed, and finishes. MPC even provides a template to use, which we can upload into software like Adobe Illustrator, and create an appropriate design to then reupload for printing. As with the booklet, I'll assume we're printing 1 copy, which will come to £8.50.
Taking into account everything that we can purchase here for our project, as well as the shipment for all these items, the total cost for cards, a rulebook, and tuck box would come to £32.45 at standard shipping. This takes approximately 19 - 22 business days, which is within the month that I expected it would take for products to be shipped. Of course, if necessary we can always go for express shipping, but I intend on making sure that everything is designed and ready for printing by the milestones I've set above.
3D Printing
As we intend on making 4 miniatures for players to use whilst playing our game to help visualise their location in-game, we'll need to make use of some kind of 3D printing service, as we won't have the time to model these ourselves.
University of Southampton
3D Printing Service: Welcome and Introduction (sharepoint.com)
Here at Southampton, the University has a 3D printing service that the students can use. There are different prices depending on if we make use of the workshops ourselves, or get the staff to print our products for us. Taking into account our time, it'll be easier if we get the staff to do the printing, but this will also be more expensive, so I'll have to try and find out a rough estimate of how long printing will take, which will affect the cost.
