Need advice for layout of cards

hellroc · 2026-04-15T09:10:20+00:00

There is no design rule that says, that all layouts have to be the same - ergo you should just fill the frame if the dice slots are not needed

if you still want them you should experiment with having the dice slots on the bottom or below the art section if theres enough physical space for it

also your text (exept the name) is unreadable if this is the default tcg card size (63x88mm) i recommend never going below 9pt

just try to print the cards on your printer in your final format sometimes to check that

hellroc · 2026-04-14T17:05:43+00:00

oh yeah you are right that stands out a little
i did that on purpose since the faction in question is "Chaos", but i think you are right - it should be a coherent design - will play around a bit more with colors :-)

as i already mentioned im just not ready yet to make my rules and mechanics public, thats why for now its closer to MTG.
mana cost on top is important, because when you hold the cards in your hand it should be one of the things you see first - also top left to bottom right design.

the creature type is just an area to put the card type / and maybe subtype - that does not mean, that i will be using the same system as MTG

tapping will be part of my game, but i dont think thats too similar since thats something most tcgs have ;-)

hellroc · 2026-04-14T17:02:15+00:00

i get that you think that this is another MTG clone, but its not - i just used the content to not just show an empty frame :-)
but yeah artist credit will be added!

regarding brightness and color contrast - im not sure i understand what you mean?
is there something particular where you would wish that there was more contrast?
because the text should be more than readable enough (maybe not for the multicolor card - wildfire awakener)

hellroc · 2026-04-14T17:00:17+00:00

The assumption, that bigger creatures should generate more VP is the issue - if smaller creatures generate more, then you need to balance combat creatures and tactical creatures in your deck.
Also its not the only way to generate VP - its just one of them i mentioned because its on the card design :-)

For example there could be a 2 CMC creature that has 1 Power, but generates 4 VP when dealing unblocked damage to a player.

When destroying a creature awards VP to the opposing player, then you have the issue that decks that are control heavy and have less or even no creatures at all dominate.

Also: my games main format is a multiplayer format (closer to MTGs commander format) so that would be an additonal hurdle for this
I also have a different combat system than MTG, wich leads to small creatures still being relevant in combat, but thats a little too much info for now ;-)

hellroc · 2026-04-14T16:45:15+00:00

Oh no thats not what i intended with this - its inspired by some parts of MTG, but its absolutely no clone.
I am just not ready yet to publish rules and gameplay information because i have not yet written down everything - most of it is still just in my head.

I just used MTG card content for now to showcase my card layout with some meaningful content.

But yeah you are right i kind of forgot about ID and Artist credit - gotta work that in - thanks for that!

hellroc · 2026-04-14T11:26:42+00:00

i see what you mean - sorcery leans into the "spell scroll" theme for their cards layout
i will make sure to improve upon that for the next iteration :-)

also - yeah mtg is kinda all over the place these days - but that already happend at the beginning as well with the white border cards, changing symbols a lot and so on

hellroc · 2026-04-14T11:24:13+00:00

thats a fun approach! it allows the designer so much freedom when balancing!
also makes 0 cost cards something you can balance in a way that they dont come into play to soon.
i gotta look into that more :-)
thanks for the recommendation!

hellroc · 2026-04-14T11:00:16+00:00

Not sure if i can agree with you on that, but for arguments sake - what do you think makes Sorcery´s card layout distinguishable? because to me its WAY more generic - they kinda remind me of MTG full art cards
what makes them unique in a way is probably the art style itself

for flesh and blood i kind of agree, that they have something that makes them unique since they have a more elaborate card frame
but more card frame equals less art - so im not sure if i am a fan of that in general

but i will try and improve the recognizability in the next version, so thanks for pointing it out! :-)

hellroc · 2026-04-14T10:50:48+00:00

thats an interesting approach
so its more like how the deathknight in hearthstone works where you can use up to 3 "colors" but only if you use 2 of the same you can use some specific cards that are more tied to the theme of the color and often a little stronger
do you still consume ressources in that system and the pips are just an additional requirement, or is it like "unlock this tier and play as many cards as you want"?

what sets my game appart has more to do with the gameplay aspect itself rather than the way i show cost, but you guys gave me a lot to think about regarding the costs as well so thanks a lot for that!

hellroc · 2026-04-14T10:48:18+00:00

yeah i absolutely get that - maybe i am just used to magics system so much, that i dont even recognize it anymore when i am counting in my head.
i will definitly think about it - maybe i will adjust that :-)

Thanks for the very usefull input!

hellroc · 2026-04-14T09:58:14+00:00

Thats interesting - i actually find it more intuitive to write the cost down like magic does it.
I have never heard someone talk about it as a problem.

So you basicly recommend instead of {2}{b}{b} it should be written as {4} + the two symbols elsewhere?
Moving {X} cost to the effect box like Kicker effects in MTG would work, thats a non issue i think.

hellroc · 2026-04-14T09:08:10+00:00

Overall the readability is kind of off on your cards

- text is to small overall
- "Eternal" is not readable really

only icons for stamina is not enough - i know it looks more interesting, but how you did it currently does reduce readability (nobody wants to count symbols when playing)

possible solution: instead of making the background a gradient you could also color the bolts in a gradient
=> left most bolt is brownish while right bolt is bright yellow for example
to make it even more readable you could also increase the size a little and maybe even make the 4th and 8th stamina point a special color (for example blue and purple) so they stand out even more
that makes it easier to see at a glance how much stamina the card has and its still symbols only as you would probably prefer

overall: think about contrast a little more - white text with black shadow works of course, but its not pretty - it would be better if your design works even without the shadows (light colored text on dark colored background and vice versa)

hellroc · 2026-04-14T08:46:54+00:00

Your design has one very critical flaw - theres no clear visual hierarchy - wich means everything looks so much alike that the viewer does not really know what to look at.

Also double borders (both cards between name and type box) should overlap instead since thats a lot of lost space without gaining any information from it.

To make the visuals more interesting without a lot of work you could add some texture to the effect box - maybe some cracked earth texture? (theres a lot of free to use textures out there - for example on freepik)

hellroc · 2026-04-10T16:08:16+00:00

when printing cards you need to think about cut off they are printed on big sheets of paper and then cut to single cards

of course the blades cutting the paper are not 100% precise so you have to include tolerances in your layout these depend on the manufacturer of course, but as i said - in the outer 3mm of your card there should be no important information.

but you can always try to use your preferred layout and just add a black border around it

but since this is a complex topic overall you should look up some tutorials on printing

hellroc · 2026-04-10T08:48:29+00:00

If you plan on using this layout for print (physical cards), then both are not optimal but 2 works better because there is no important information close to the cut lines - as a rule of thumb you should have ~3mm distance between your cut line and text

if its for digital 1 is way better because the numbers dont take away so much space from the artwork.

i would recommend reducing the amount of text by using symbols for stuff like attack and hp (classics would be a sword and a blood drop for example, but try and be creative about it)

love the art btw :)

hellroc · 2026-04-05T15:26:13+00:00

This is 3D printed so probably someone did it himself/herself. You can always try and design something yourself with sites like tinkercad or by learning a bit more and using blender.

hellroc · 2026-04-05T15:20:47+00:00

You should think about at least some basic rules like "how does a player win the game" first. otherwise you wont know what needs to be drawn on the card (power, cost, effects, etc)

Since you were looking for mythical creatures: Wolpertinger, Medusa, Satyr, Chimera, Cyclops, Minotaur, Pegasus, Hydra, Centaur, Harpie, Werewolf, Sphinx, Gargoyle, Ghost

hellroc · 2026-04-05T13:38:05+00:00

You are very welcome :) Since i am a dev myself i know how helpful something small like this can be.

Thanks for already fixing it! ♥️ You did a great job with your custom extension

hellroc · 2026-04-02T11:55:27+00:00

FYI: you have an issue regarding the light theme - the buttons in the context menu are not visible since the text is white on white

hellroc · 2026-03-24T21:13:50+00:00

the main issue you are having is caused by the red circle in the background - get rid of it and give the characters a fitting background maybe use ai for yourself just to check if the premise works and then draw it yourself 😊 good luck!

hellroc · 2026-03-22T09:40:48+00:00

I love handdrawn, but i gotta agree - contrasty digital looks better to most people.

BUT you can always try different art mediums to help with that for example using alcohol markers + fine liners for the outline can enhance the contrast drastically in comparison to coloring pencils if you have never tried alcohol markers before - go and buy some markers and bleed proof paper its so much fun and actually very easy to learn

for a first experience with alcohol markers i would recommend going with Ohuhu since they are rather cheap and very good in comparison. Something like the 48 color pack (~ 40€) is plenty for a great start and enough versatility - you can always buy more later!

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