Just a little sneak peak at a TCG largely inspired by MTG that I'm working on for my OC worldbuilding project called " Tyranoth " I'd love to know your thoughts.
I have a basic idea of the core rules where each player essentially cycles through a deck of 20 different cards (type not quantity necessarily) and starts with a random hand of five. The system plays very much like MTG but with some of the more complex mechanics cut down so it can be optimized for potential forum play. Each faction would present with it's own resource mechanics and playstyle. Without further ado,
Meet The Legion
Remnants of a fallen empire whose armies now serve myriad lords, the legacy of the mighty valradic legion exists through all former imperial territories. A faction focused largely on early game supremacy, with units focused around a strong and devastating offense early defeating an unprepared enemy within the first few rounds of turns. Always on the march, the legion generates resources through power projection rather than direct control of a land, meaning a player must decide between deploying cards or generating Requisition Points (RQ) each turn. The legion features arguably the strongest lower tier troops and they are geared towards rapidly gaining momentum with heroes and auras(spells) focused largely on buffing the strength of the "army" (deck). A lack of distinct defense and weakness to attrition leaves the legion vulnerable to a patient and cunning adversary.
Card Gallery
(Spell card - error stats)
(This is a pilot draft deck - whose stats/cards may be changed later for balance reasons - More factions soon give me your thoughts ! )
I have a basic idea of the core rules where each player essentially cycles through a deck of 20 different cards (type not quantity necessarily) and starts with a random hand of five. The system plays very much like MTG but with some of the more complex mechanics cut down so it can be optimized for potential forum play. Each faction would present with it's own resource mechanics and playstyle. Without further ado,
Meet The Legion
Remnants of a fallen empire whose armies now serve myriad lords, the legacy of the mighty valradic legion exists through all former imperial territories. A faction focused largely on early game supremacy, with units focused around a strong and devastating offense early defeating an unprepared enemy within the first few rounds of turns. Always on the march, the legion generates resources through power projection rather than direct control of a land, meaning a player must decide between deploying cards or generating Requisition Points (RQ) each turn. The legion features arguably the strongest lower tier troops and they are geared towards rapidly gaining momentum with heroes and auras(spells) focused largely on buffing the strength of the "army" (deck). A lack of distinct defense and weakness to attrition leaves the legion vulnerable to a patient and cunning adversary.
Card Gallery
(Spell card - error stats)(This is a pilot draft deck - whose stats/cards may be changed later for balance reasons - More factions soon give me your thoughts ! )
Looks really good. Love the art and the concept behind it. Looking forward to see more.
Well, you said to share our thoughts, so that's what I'm about to do. I'm a game developer myself, specializing in card games, and in looking over this, I am aware of just how critical it seems, so... brace yourself. I'll get the most severe stuff out of the way first.
I actually disagree about the artwork. Most of it doesn't really hold up to scrutiny. Crowd shots look like they just copy and past the same faces and poses over and over (most obvious with Legion Griffin Riders), the chords on the ballista have no idea where they're going, and whatever made these has a tenuous grasp on how many fingers humans have. Legion Excubitor is just straight up stabbing himself through his upper chest, even when you account for the furry pauldron.
Normally I wouldn't nitpick so deeply, but this art style is not very friendly with mistakes like that (and there are many others I didn't mention). That's one of the risks you run with using AI generated art for these sorts of projects (not even getting into the ethical debate surrounding it for these purposes).
I'd recommend putting some sort of AI disclaimer on the cards somewhere so that it can at least be measured by its own standards at the very least.
Now for the mechanics I'm seeing: Ad Victorium, Canpagn Escalation, and Field Ballista (and possibly others) all involve tracking effects across some number of turns. Without some kind of code to track this (I didn't read anything about this being a proper video game, so correct me if I'm wrong), these effects are difficult to track. There's a reason Magic does use many effects like that. Instead, they have effects that persist as long as the card is in play. That way it only takes a glance at the board to know what kind of game state one is in.
Lastly, this is a bit of a true nitpick, but the Caesar quote on Aspiring Auxiliary, while really good and fitting, throws me off. Is this a historical fantasy that takes place in our world or its own self-contained universe? I hate to say that about it, because the quote is really good for that card, but it does take me out of the setting.
Now then, after all that criticism, I'm desperate to say something nicer about it, but I need a better idea what you plan to do with this game. What are your goals with this? Is it something humans interact with physically? In the forums? In character? (You didn't make any mistakes on this front or anything, I just wanna know more!)
Willing to hear if I'm out of line on anything I've said here.
I actually disagree about the artwork. Most of it doesn't really hold up to scrutiny. Crowd shots look like they just copy and past the same faces and poses over and over (most obvious with Legion Griffin Riders), the chords on the ballista have no idea where they're going, and whatever made these has a tenuous grasp on how many fingers humans have. Legion Excubitor is just straight up stabbing himself through his upper chest, even when you account for the furry pauldron.
Normally I wouldn't nitpick so deeply, but this art style is not very friendly with mistakes like that (and there are many others I didn't mention). That's one of the risks you run with using AI generated art for these sorts of projects (not even getting into the ethical debate surrounding it for these purposes).
I'd recommend putting some sort of AI disclaimer on the cards somewhere so that it can at least be measured by its own standards at the very least.
Now for the mechanics I'm seeing: Ad Victorium, Canpagn Escalation, and Field Ballista (and possibly others) all involve tracking effects across some number of turns. Without some kind of code to track this (I didn't read anything about this being a proper video game, so correct me if I'm wrong), these effects are difficult to track. There's a reason Magic does use many effects like that. Instead, they have effects that persist as long as the card is in play. That way it only takes a glance at the board to know what kind of game state one is in.
Lastly, this is a bit of a true nitpick, but the Caesar quote on Aspiring Auxiliary, while really good and fitting, throws me off. Is this a historical fantasy that takes place in our world or its own self-contained universe? I hate to say that about it, because the quote is really good for that card, but it does take me out of the setting.
Now then, after all that criticism, I'm desperate to say something nicer about it, but I need a better idea what you plan to do with this game. What are your goals with this? Is it something humans interact with physically? In the forums? In character? (You didn't make any mistakes on this front or anything, I just wanna know more!)
Willing to hear if I'm out of line on anything I've said here.
I have no particular input on the deck/game itself, but I do want to point out that the images combined are worth about 70MB+ in size (around 3MB each). People with limited data who view this topic may end up eating through their data unwittingly. I recommend scaling down the images to no more than 600-800 pixels in width and saving them as .jpg! It'll make everything load in faster and be friendlier to people who may not have unlimited access to the internet. 
ConnanBell wrote:
Well, you said to share our thoughts, so that's what I'm about to do. I'm a game developer myself, specializing in card games, and in looking over this, I am aware of just how critical it seems, so... brace yourself. I'll get the most severe stuff out of the way first.
I actually disagree about the artwork. Most of it doesn't really hold up to scrutiny. Crowd shots look like they just copy and past the same faces and poses over and over (most obvious with Legion Griffin Riders), the chords on the ballista have no idea where they're going, and whatever made these has a tenuous grasp on how many fingers humans have. Legion Excubitor is just straight up stabbing himself through his upper chest, even when you account for the furry pauldron.
Normally I wouldn't nitpick so deeply, but this art style is not very friendly with mistakes like that (and there are many others I didn't mention). That's one of the risks you run with using AI generated art for these sorts of projects (not even getting into the ethical debate surrounding it for these purposes).
I'd recommend putting some sort of AI disclaimer on the cards somewhere so that it can at least be measured by its own standards at the very least.
Now for the mechanics I'm seeing: Ad Victorium, Canpagn Escalation, and Field Ballista (and possibly others) all involve tracking effects across some number of turns. Without some kind of code to track this (I didn't read anything about this being a proper video game, so correct me if I'm wrong), these effects are difficult to track. There's a reason Magic does use many effects like that. Instead, they have effects that persist as long as the card is in play. That way it only takes a glance at the board to know what kind of game state one is in.
Lastly, this is a bit of a true nitpick, but the Caesar quote on Aspiring Auxiliary, while really good and fitting, throws me off. Is this a historical fantasy that takes place in our world or its own self-contained universe? I hate to say that about it, because the quote is really good for that card, but it does take me out of the setting.
Now then, after all that criticism, I'm desperate to say something nicer about it, but I need a better idea what you plan to do with this game. What are your goals with this? Is it something humans interact with physically? In the forums? In character? (You didn't make any mistakes on this front or anything, I just wanna know more!)
Willing to hear if I'm out of line on anything I've said here.
I actually disagree about the artwork. Most of it doesn't really hold up to scrutiny. Crowd shots look like they just copy and past the same faces and poses over and over (most obvious with Legion Griffin Riders), the chords on the ballista have no idea where they're going, and whatever made these has a tenuous grasp on how many fingers humans have. Legion Excubitor is just straight up stabbing himself through his upper chest, even when you account for the furry pauldron.
Normally I wouldn't nitpick so deeply, but this art style is not very friendly with mistakes like that (and there are many others I didn't mention). That's one of the risks you run with using AI generated art for these sorts of projects (not even getting into the ethical debate surrounding it for these purposes).
I'd recommend putting some sort of AI disclaimer on the cards somewhere so that it can at least be measured by its own standards at the very least.
Now for the mechanics I'm seeing: Ad Victorium, Canpagn Escalation, and Field Ballista (and possibly others) all involve tracking effects across some number of turns. Without some kind of code to track this (I didn't read anything about this being a proper video game, so correct me if I'm wrong), these effects are difficult to track. There's a reason Magic does use many effects like that. Instead, they have effects that persist as long as the card is in play. That way it only takes a glance at the board to know what kind of game state one is in.
Lastly, this is a bit of a true nitpick, but the Caesar quote on Aspiring Auxiliary, while really good and fitting, throws me off. Is this a historical fantasy that takes place in our world or its own self-contained universe? I hate to say that about it, because the quote is really good for that card, but it does take me out of the setting.
Now then, after all that criticism, I'm desperate to say something nicer about it, but I need a better idea what you plan to do with this game. What are your goals with this? Is it something humans interact with physically? In the forums? In character? (You didn't make any mistakes on this front or anything, I just wanna know more!)
Willing to hear if I'm out of line on anything I've said here.
Wow, I certainly didn't expect a game developer to show up on here but honestly Connan I'm glad you did ^^ and also I'm very open to criticism so you certainly didn't ruffle any hairs if anything I found your critique valuable and it certainly gives me food for thought. This is more or less a side-project of mine, whether or not it'll be brought to any sort of tangible fruition is in itself a matter of self-contention but really my idea was to run it atleast temporarily as an open ended TCG optimized to be used in roleplay forums or chats, I would however, like to eventually turn it into some sort of a video game (though that might be a bit overly ambitious given I have absolutely no experience in both tabletop and video game design let alone coding
).My reasons for using AI art primarily pertain to avoiding using anything that is "copy-rightable" per se, and I can't exactly afford the commissions on a project of such a scale which will require A LOT of art, the decision to use AI there was born primarily out of convenience because well this isn't something that's exactly "out" yet or would be in the future, the problems with the artwork is something I can live with since it's meant to portray a general theme or feel and I'll just assume inattentional blindness and most people not applying extensive scrutiny to the art will cover up for those, I don't imagine this project will take off immediately (Flash game TCG's also had some horrible art, but it didn't inherently make the game unplayable). There were some AMAZING options for the art, especially for the ballista but then between putting that in without a specific reference or permission and AI, the AI art was more convenient for me to do.
My more extensive focus will be on the game mechanics and structuring rather than the art which is something I truly struggle with since I have this generalized idea for where I want to take this game and the faction mechanics. Tyranoth is my OC low fantasy world building project, the world is modelled after our own (in the vein of Warhammer fantasy, mount and blade, game of thrones etc.) and would be the general setting of the game, as for that quote - it's meant to be anecdotal but I can see how it'd be distracting especially with a faction named the legion haha, this will be remedied. What I eventually want to do is create a system that can be used quite freely and in an "open-source" kind of way and for people to contribute their own creations/cards/decks to the universe (within reason and inside the confines of Tyranoth's core rules and mechanics)
It's an ambitious little project and really this post was meant to share what I've been mulling for the sake of small talk.
@Sanne - You're right, I didn't expect the cards showing up as they did, I will resize them in any further updates.
I see where you're coming from, but I'll admit, as an artist myself, I'm always uneasy when I see AI in use in stuff. It kills my enthusiasm, especially when I see people treating it like an "easy mode" button on these types of things. I know won't be a commercial product, but it's a pretty contentious subject for reasons I won't get into here (I will explain if asked, but take it to PMs, as I don't think anyone else came here for a lecture).
I'm also unsure of what the issue would be with using "copyrightable" images. I don't have anything to say on the topic, I just don't know what you mean.
Have you managed to get any play testing done on this, or are you still just at the prototyping phase?
I'm also unsure of what the issue would be with using "copyrightable" images. I don't have anything to say on the topic, I just don't know what you mean.
Have you managed to get any play testing done on this, or are you still just at the prototyping phase?
Very much prototyping out here, I was hoping it'd Garner enough interest for inquiry for people to help codevelop/write it before we play tested the first "edition" in the forums.
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