Welcome. If you came here finding info on how to make cards and improving your current card design, you have come to the right place.
Before I begin, I'd like to credit the wonderful people who made other card notable card tutorials and tips and thus inspired me to make this. These are very good sources of info as well when it comes to making card ideas.
Scaredgirl's READ THIS FIRST BEFORE YOU POST YOUR CARD IDEA! (
http://elementscommunity.org/forum/index.php/topic,5039.0.html)
Emerald Tiger and Kuraitou's Advanced How To make Good Cards Guide (
http://elementscommunity.org/forum/index.php/topic,15106.0/topicseen.html)
Oldtrees and Phantomfox's Card Design Theory (
http://elementscommunity.org/forum/index.php/topic,16655.0.html)
Essence's Unwritten Rules (
http://elementscommunity.org/forum/index.php?topic=5508.0)
This is meant to simplify card creation for newer players who don't understand some of the more advanced tutorials well. There are some sections that will use information from other guides, and I will credit as needed.
Key of abbreviations:Quanta Cost = QC
StatusEntries will be color coded to signify the current state of the section.
Bold Pink - Incomplete, usually due to time constraints. I will usually finish these later.Red - Just beggining, will usually need a lot of editing done.
Orange- Intermdiate, good but not "there" yet.
Green - Complete, needs little editing and polishing every now and then, but should otherwise be fine.
Blue- Improving, but needs feedback.
Journal Entry 1: Balancing Your Card.
I always consider balance the most important part of a card, because that is what will ultimately determine if it makes into the higher levels of card development.
First of all, is the card a Creature, Permanent, or Spell?
Chapter 1: Creatures
If the card is a creature, then take note of its attack. The higher the attack, the more damage it will do, and therefore the higher priority it has, correct? That is your first factor when considering quanta cost of a creature. For now, set the QC equal to your creatures attack.
Phantomfox states that Creature Value [ie Casting Cost] = Attack + Skill Value + HP modifier + Elemental bonus I will try to break down this formula.
As I have already stated, Attack is the first value of quanta casting. If you’re new, you probably want to start the quanta = to attack.
The next value is the skill. Now, there are a lot of skills, and it’s extremely difficult to list them all in a short time, but consider this first – “How valuable is my skill in a deck?”
Usually the most valuable skills are the ones that appear frequently in decks. In general, I tend to rate each of the major ability to increase cost by the following:
Destroy: 3
Precognition: 3-5
Freeze: 2-3
Passive Poison: X/2 (X being the amount of poison added.) + 1
Active Poison: 1
Lobotomize: 1
Gravity Pull: 1
Healing/HP Buff: 2 if everyone, 1 if only on self.
Burrow: Dependant on creature, but usually 0-1
Quanta Generation: 0
Damage to 1 creature: X+1, X being damage inflicted
Drain Health: X/2, X Being Health Drained.
Drain Quanta: X, X being amount of quanta drained.
If a decimal appears, round accordingly.
Immaterial: 2-3
Adrenaline: 3-X, X being creatures attack (if greater than 4) / 2, otherwise X=0
Airborne: 0
Remove Passive Skill: 1
Buff Ally: 1-2, dependant on buff.
Spawn Once: 1
Spawn Infinite: 2-3
Mass Creature Control(eg Pandemonium): at least 2
Permanent Control: At least 2.
Start with debuff (eg poison on self, frozen on self): -2
Revival: 0-1, dependant on power of creature.
Now, it’s time to consider the cost of the skill. If the skill is passive, then that means it can coexist with other skills, which you will want to look at when adjusting cost. A creature can also have one active skill that usually reflects the main purpose of the creature in some way. There can only be one active skill, and this skill can be lobotomized, so be careful! Many active skills often have an activation cost for them to trigger. The activation cost will affect the QC of the creture as well.
0-1: No change
2>: -1 to QC
Diff. Quanta type: -1 to QC
4>: -2 QC (It must be an important ability right?)
(Special Thanks to Oldtrees for ability alteration costs.)
HP: This should be considered carefully. After all, a 0 HP creature with an ability will be useless unless HP buffed correct?
Oldtrees states the following
0 HP: -2 to QC
1-5 HP : 0 to QC
6-7 HP: +1 to QC
8-9 HP: +2 to QC
10 and up: +3 to QC.
In general, you’ll want to follow this pattern for HP.
Elemental bonus is a pattern found by Phantom Fox that certain creatures just seem to have. Whether you choose to add to your formula is up to you. For newbies, ignore this section for your first few tries.
Fire: For every nine quanta, add 1 attack.
Earth: gets 1 free HP.
Aether/Life/Light =-1 QC.
I also should note:
Rainbow Creatures get +1 or +2 QC, due to the fact they can splashed into any deck. However if the card is a counterpart of a card already in the game (aka shares similar effects), you may want to consider a 3:1 quanta raito for the card cost, since Quantum Pillars produce 3 quanta in respect to the normal pillar's 1.
One last thing you’ll want to note is upgrade changes. Do I want the creature to be same? Weaker? An evolution? Or a new creature entirely?
Most creatures will have a -1 or -2 cost add to their QC. This is probably the safest way to go with an upgraded card.
Graviton Mercenary:
http://elementswiki.co.cc/cards-gravity/graviton-mercenary-graviton-guard/ If you wish to…
Improve your creature:
Simply add/improve, then change accordingly. Just don’t forget the -1 bonus. Cards like these usually have the same cost.
Flesh Spider :
http://elementswiki.co.cc/cards-death/flesh-spider-flesh-recluse/Revamp Upped
Start from the beginning, but be careful. You want the card to be similar. Stick with the same ability, but make it slightly different.
Toad Fish:
http://elementswiki.co.cc/cards-water/toadfish-puffer-fish/Weaken Upped
First of all, tone down the attack, possibly halve it. Then halve the cost and round up, as well as adding the upped bonus. You want the card to be cheaper to play and faster to get out but still superior to upped in some way, such as more rushable or quicker use of ability
Phoenix:
http://elementswiki.co.cc/cards-fire/phoenix-minor-phoenix/Above all, follow Zanzarino’s Golden Rule:
Keep it simple.While making complicated MTG-like cards is fun, you only have a small room to write the creature’s effect, and therefore may run out of room if a complicated effect is used. Also, complicated effects confuse players. I have played other CCGs and more often than not I have the problem of “I thought that card could do that.” Elements is one such card game that by keeping things simple, makes the game more fun. Remember that.
Chapter 2: Permanents
Section 1 : Before the Pillars, Swords, and Shields - The Ordinary PermanentIn this chapter of Permanents, I will discuss “ordinary” permanents – in other words, Permanents that do not generate quanta, or go in your virtual “hands” (weapons and shields). In a sense, these are like Spells that can be repeatedly used.
Usually, these permanents will do one of the following :
-Healing
-Draw Card
-Deal Damage to either player or creature(s)
-Stat boost (Currently only the Darkness card Eclipse is able to do this, but other cards have been proposed and are in various levels of Card Ideas)
-Spawn Creature (Again, no cards actually ingame that can do this, but there a lot of cards in Card Ideas based around this concept)
- In Death’s case, take advantage of Death effects.
- In Aether’s case, there is a card called “Mindgate” that lets you copy the first card of the opponent’s deck and draw it. Although this is similar to just simply drawing cards, I’d consider it a special case because it deals with an opponent’s deck.
-There will be other cases listed here eventually, but as of now the majority of Ordinary Permanents are usually in the above categories.
Since there are no stats or anything of the sort that creatures are easily able to be graded by, Permanents are a bit harder than creatures. So consider your permanent’s purpose, and stick with it.
HealingProbably the easiest mechanic to start with, because healing is usually essentially to any deck that isn’t beatdown (mass damage) or rush (lots of creatures). The only disadvantage to healing is that it can get OP rather easily. A straight out healing card like Shard of Gratitude is very simple, but it considered annoying by many players due to it’s mass regeneration when many are used. A slightly more complicated card like Emphatic Bond is slightly less simple, but more balanced.
So the first question presents itself: How do you want the healing to trigger?
*Regeneration (You gain HP at a certain point during your turn).
*Heal for cost (pay quanta to heal something)
*Strength/Weakness in numbers : The power of the healing is dependent upon other cards.
Next, do you want the card to heal creatures, you, or both? That’s up for you to decide but keep in mind that usually a card with a choice has slightly weaker healing (take a look at Light’s Holy Flash for example and compare it to Life’s Heal, the ratio is 10/20 but Light has the option to target creatures.)
Finally, cost. Based on playing the game, I consider healing permanents in this order of cost:
Regeneration > Strength in Numbers > Heal for cost
Heal anybody > Heal you > Heal creatures
Dealing Damage*Under construction!
Advice from the experts on how to improve this guide is greatly appreciated.
