23: Left 4 Dead: The Card Game

[Fengol]

I'm going to promote my new card game. This'll be interesting as I can explore rather different blogs and websites I've already found relating to board games and board game design. Before I can do anything though, I need to get a hold of Value and ask permission for to use their IP.

I'm also investigating the costs to get a printing shop to professionally print my cards. I definitely want to have a couple of sets at rAge.

What I really need is a good writer to help me polish up the rules...

Homepage
http://mailowl.co.za/l4dcardgame/

Downloads
Cards
Rules

Links
http://forums.steampowered.com/forum...d.php?t=972355
http://boardgamegeek.com/thread/447528

Dev Diary
03/09/2009 - Emailed Gabe Newell, Managing Director of Valve Software
11/09/2009 - No response from Value, continuing with project
17/09/2009 - Started revamping cards thanks to new graphics card
18/09/2009 - Created homepage for game, still need to upload all sorts of stuff
18/09/2009 - Emailed Board Game Designers Forum asking for review
22/09/2009 - Created a thread on Steam in the L4D forum about the game
22/09/2009 - Started work on new card layout
25/09/2009 - Received great idea for placeholder cards for players and decks
26/09/2009 - Went to get cards printed on 300 mg card. Found mis-alignment between card front and backs. Have to recreate card sheets.
30/09/2009 - Created a thread on BoardGameGeek about the game (although I realise it's probably too late for the competition

[vii]

Maybe adding some good flavour text to the cards would make 'em just that tad bit more awesome...

[Fengol]

Originally Posted by vii

Maybe adding some good flavour text to the cards would make 'em just that tad bit more awesome...

Most of them have flavour text, but I'm definitely open to more if you post them here

[Nandrew]

This is going to be quite an interesting exercise, considering that you'll probably be heading through several different channels when compared to a standard videogame.

I hope that your exploration of these websites proves fruitful!

[Fengol]

I am a bundle of nerves, I've just emailed Gabe Newell, Managing Director of Valve Software, a copy of my game and asked permission to use their material and to publicize it.

[Nandrew]

Awesome! Mentioned this on Gtalk already, but give us the e-mail correspondence when you're done, so that others can learn from it. ;)

[vii]

Originally Posted by Fengol

I am a bundle of nerves, I've just emailed Gabe Newell, Managing Director of Valve Software, a copy of my game and asked permission to use their material and to publicize it.

Heard anything yet? I'm on the edge of my seat to hear a reply?

[Fengol]

nope, not a sausage. Although I get disapproving stares from Dislekcia, I feel I'm doing the right thing. I'll wait until the end of the week before making some decision on how to proceed.

[dislekcia]

Originally Posted by Fengol

nope, not a sausage. Although I get disapproving stares from Dislekcia, I feel I'm doing the right thing. I'll wait until the end of the week before making some decision on how to proceed.

I think you should just keep working on the game and keep lobbing it at random people, send it to Valve (see if you can find a L4D team head - or there's always Robin Walker) and ask for feedback and crits, don't just say "Yo, can I do this?". Rather go "Hey, I've done this and want to make it more awesome please!"

[dammit]

Originally Posted by Fengol

nope, not a sausage. Although I get disapproving stares from Dislekcia, I feel I'm doing the right thing. I'll wait until the end of the week before making some decision on how to proceed.

...So what have you decided?

[Fengol]

Blew the dust off my blog and created a project page for my game as a central point to link to from the steam forums and boardgame design websites http://mailowl.co.za/2009/09/18/l4d-card-game-uploaded/

Still no reply from Gabe at Valve Software so I'm going to try emailing some others. Also need post a couple of forums.

Spoke to Minuteman Press last night about printing some decks of cards; going to see them on saturday.

[Fengol]

Created a thread on the Steam forum for my card game http://forums.steampowered.com/forum...d.php?t=972355 although I'm nervous because of the poor reception Dammit got for her game.

[Fengol]

Your thoughts would be much appreciated on comments from the Steam forum

Originally Posted by HaLfCrAzEdCaNuC

Kinda reminds me of MtG.In fact your cards have almost identical backgrounds as my Alpha and Beta MtG cards. Rules are quite easy to understand. This is a game anyone can learn to play in about 15 minutes. Good job!!! If this goes retail let me know.

Originally Posted by Mike_D

yeah, looks a lot like mtg

I'll admit I used Magic Workstation to create my cards and so it WILL look like Magic: The Gathering. Should I create completely unqiue cards or stick to a familiar layout?

[dislekcia]

I'd play with the format of the cards a little, see what you can come up with.

Being based on a shooter, I'd immediately think of messing with HUD elements. Making the graphics on the card take up the most of the space and having "overlays" that show you what to do or how to play the game that look similar to the way tutorial info is shown in L4D. Those messages on the black popups and surrounding halos on "objects".

You'd probably need to create a bunch of icons and then use those consistently for people to understand and form links with the game. What about using crosshairs for monster health? 3 crosshairs = 3 health and weapon damage is just +crosshair? That sort of thing.

[Fengol]

Old Witch card


New Witch card


Trying to move away from the M:TG look, I value your opinions

[Nandrew]

I like it! What I would basically recommend is slapping just a thin border around the whole thing, but the information conveyance seems to be quite solid.

[Fengol]

Ever since I previously posted about changing the layout I've been thinking about the border. Is it necessary? What does it provide? Wouldn't the cards have a more contemporary/modern feel if they didn't have a border?

Why do you suggest adding a border?

[SkinkLizzard]

I would say a border tends to unify everything and help show it as a single entity
rather than slightly disjointed, not really necessary seeing as they'll be printed so the edge of the cards kinda serve the same purpose.

[dammit]

Because a card is essentially an image, a border often acts as a frame, which can work well, though is not necessary. Up to you. Either way, I really like the new designs :D

[dislekcia]

I like the new layout!

All I'd suggest is upping the text size on the rules text a little and moving the focus of the image up a little to accommodate that, so the witch would be higher up the card with more space for the text.

I've been thinking about borders too. To me the best reason for borders seems to be the way they give cards a similar appearance, meaning they're harder to see when you accidentally glimpse their undersides. But TBH, I don't think that's a big deal with the way this game works, so experiment with and without borders and see which looks best. A black border with a white stroke around the image and some "extra" splats might make the card stand out a little more, but then again, the new design feels nice and different without the borders.

Decisions, decisions ;)