I'm part of 3J games (a for fun game company that releases games that can be downloaded for free). We're working on a time travel card game with ccg deck construction and we've posted the card templates online. I'd appreciate any feedaback (good or bad) on the design. You can view them here:

http://freewebs.com/3jgames/pre001.html

I am not sure about the black edges. It sure looks good initially but i find that the balck edges wear out faster. (they pick up scratches more than other colours. Underneath the black ink there is usually a white card.) The best colour for the edges is white is you want durability.

Does anyone agree with me on this one?

They're gorgeous, Jesse. Marc, I think the black isn't part of the card--it looks like the card stops with the colored edge and the rounded corners.

This looks like a cool game and I'd be interested to hear more about it.

it's hard to judge effectiveness, the cards are dominated by blank boxes and the overall objective is unknown. here are a some of basic considerations.

- with the scant text this isn't yet a problem, but be careful that an enthusiasm for swirly patterns and gradations don't interfere with legibility.

- even with very little information, things are starting to feel just a bit crowded. does everything need to be in a seperate box and does every box need a heavy stroke treatment? boxes are an easy way to create instant relationships between graphic elements, but when a page is well designed the relationships are clear without them. when you can, imply rather than specify the box.

- don't stretch type. typefaces are designed with particular proportions; when they are pulled to fit a space, the result is conspicuous and compromises legibility. even nondesigners will notice that something seems wrong, the way we notice when people's faces are distorted.

- it isn't clear whether the card edge is the outer black rectangle or the inner rounded corner rectangle. either way, the colour should extend beyond the trim edge by an eighth of an inch and the trim edge should be indicated by crop marks.

good luck. remember, we're all counting on you.

What do you have in mind for how a free Collectible game would work? Is it really collectible, or is it just that you can make your own deck?

The borders seem awfully big. Magic used to look like that, but it was just a lot of wasted space, so they changed their layout. Gives the card a more modern feel. Don't know if that's what you want, but I guess with a time travel game it could look like anything!

Its not collectible, as its completely free obviously. It's just a deck construction game like a ccg. Thanks for the input, I'll take everything into consideration, thanks.

I think we would have a better idea if the designs work or not if we see some real card text. Form follows function, and how you present the information will depend on the rules of your game and what information is relevant on any one given card.

The cards look nice! But I have two comments:

Right now the cards feel too crowded due to the heavy strokes and big fonts. The spacing between your picture box, "type" box beneath, and text box is too big, as is the spacing in general. Tighten that up, reduce the fonts, and reduce the stroke width, and it will probably look better, but you'll need some text and art to see for sure.

The other comment I have is that you have a little "card suit" circle in the top right of the card---like the little purple swirly on the event cards. If you place them on the top left of the card, when people fan them, they can see the type of the card more easily (especially if they're colorblind).

The cards should feel comfortable in your hands. No more than 2-3/4" wide. I like the oversized "Lost Cities" playing card template, but they can become kind of bulky and expensive.

Try to use narrow fonts, so you can accomodate more text per square-inch of text area.

Concentrate on readability and graphics crispness.

The edges could be any color as long as they are protected from misuse.

Seems like you want them to fit into regular sized card sleeves. This way people can print them on regular paper and sleeve them to make them more sturdy and last longer.

Tom

The worst thing I'd say is a) the design feels a bit generic - I like the GOAL and the sideways card just because the layout looks different from the CCG norm b) I'd have to echo the comments about stretched type and say the fonts overall don't thrill me c) I'm similarly not fond of the color for the Combatant cards - the others all seem to be primary, how about red intead?

Other than, they seems decent enough - the icons appear simple and likely easy to differentiate, and overall there's a strong "sci-fi" flavor to the look.

The cards look ok although they remind a lot of Starwars CCG the old one.

If you want it to be a free game, plz make the cards a little more ink friendly. And also try to make them fit nicely on an A3 or an A4 page.

Afterall, we are gonna print them right?

For the card back don't give to much sweat still. I the game plays well, most people will stick the fronts on Magic commons that they can find a lto for a small amount of money and are durable a lot. So you can consider of making their size compatible to the current CCGs.

One thing:

If it's a download, print and play game, try to use white background so that people will save on the ink and toner (less solids, full colour etc).

A good graphic designer will be able to design effectively using only spot colour.

a tabletop printer uses cmyk and doesn't print spots

someday i might go into a rant about the difference between font and typeface, or how justification is only one type of alignment, or how the additive colour system of the screen can seduce the uneducated eye and never match perfectly the subtractive colours of ink.

but not today.

instead, i want to say that i think it's a great idea to develop free games for distribution over the net. we are all interested in your game and hope it turns out well.

Well I am not an expert but i like it.
Cards are full colored and very good presentation. Congrats!
By the way, what is theme of game?