Community Card Design [Card Posted.]

[TheManuz]

traitor/traitorous(spelling?), belongs to the side with the most creatures. Maybe a  creature?

Wow, i really like this!!! Obviously it should be a little cheaper/stronger than other creatures, because of its "hobby" 

[Rutarete]

Posting to keep tabs. Ijust got back yesterday and have a funeral today,so don't expect any idea submissions from me for this one.

[Zaealix]

An idea I came up with was a card that disabled that life bar warning thing. Can't decide if it's a spell, permanent or creature, or even what element...Perhaps it goes hand and hand with that traitor card?

[Jenkar]

An idea I came up with was a card that disabled that life bar warning thing. Can't decide if it's a spell, permanent or creature, or even what element...Perhaps it goes hand and hand with that traitor card?

From : Concept Crypt :
"All health points are concealed to both players. Poisons both player each turn. Lasts 3 turns."

I've already thought of it :<.

[ZephyrPhantom]

An idea I came up with was a card that disabled that life bar warning thing. Can't decide if it's a spell, permanent or creature, or even what element...Perhaps it goes hand and hand with that traitor card?

From : Concept Crypt :
"All health points are concealed to both players. Poisons both player each turn. Lasts 3 turns."

I've already thought of it :<.

Not everybody has access to the Concept Crypt thought, so it's a bit easier to come up with the same ideas.

On that note - if two concepts proposed on this board are really similar, I may merge them on the poll.

[mildlyfrightenedboy]

Skill Ideas:

Dragonbane
Poison the target Dragon for three damage points.

Time Rift
Revert the target creature to its original stats.  Can only target your own creatures.

Burden
The target creature's skill cost is doubled.

Turbulence
The target Airborne creature's skill is changed to "Turbulence : Gain -1|+1 per turn.  Attack can drop below zero."

Burn
The target creature's skill is changed to "Blazing : Generate  each turn" and it is poisoned.

Necromancy
While this card is in play, all creatures with Undead gain +1|+X.  X is the number of creatures with Undead or Necromancy that you own.  Does not stack.

Choke
Your opponent can not generate quanta or heal for one turn.  Does not stack.

Rebirth
All creatures lose any status effects.  (Poison, Aflatoxin, Adrenaline, Immortality, Gravity Pull, Momentum, etc.)

Assimilation
Play the card that has been played the most during this match.  If there is more than one most-played card, it is randomly chosen from all cards that have been played.

Mob
Add one extra row of creature slots.  This card can only be played if your creature slots are full.

Saboteur
The target creature gains the skill "Saboteur - Delay one random permanent per turn."

Passive-Aggressive  (I know that this isn't even close to the actual definition of the term.  Bear with me.)
If the target creature or permanent has a passive skill, it gains a random active skill.  If it has an active skill, it gains a random passive skill.  If it has no skills, it gains a random passive and active skill.

[Hyroen]

An idea I came up with was a card that disabled that life bar warning thing. Can't decide if it's a spell, permanent or creature, or even what element...Perhaps it goes hand and hand with that traitor card?

From : Concept Crypt :
"All health points are concealed to both players. Poisons both player each turn. Lasts 3 turns."

I've already thought of it :<.

Ideas in the Concept Crypt may stay there unless suggested here. Ultimately the first one to post the idea on the forum is the creator.

Aside, access to the Concept Crypt is not that difficult to attain:
1) Show you are a motivated and/or talented Card Creator and want access.
2) PM me your gmail account/google docs account.

[EvaRia]

Oh, are you basing this off my post in the Idea Factory?

I tried to do this before, but didn't get enough attention...

If you are basing it off this, thanks for the bump, I suppose.

If not, it is REALLY similar.

I mind as well put up my post as a reference:

These are the steps that I use to craft an idea.
In general, when I follow the steps in this order, the cards are the best.
In this example I'll use my newest card idea, Mirror Golem.

Step 1 - Concept

The first step is to think of a concept. This is basically an idea of a single effect that is unique and different.
In this case, the first thing I thought of was the "Reflective" passive. When your concept is unique and interesting, and provides something new to the game, people will like it.

Step 2 - Delivery

There are several ways to bring the "Reflective" mechanic in the game. The goal of figuring out your delivery is finding out which card type will create the least redundancy in the game.
I had 3 options:
Spell: A spell that would give the Reflective effect to a creature. I chose to avoid this route because it would be too similar to Quintessence.
Permanent: A permanent that grants your creatures Reflective. I chose to avoid this because it is redundant to Cloak and is more difficult to balance.
Creature: A creature that already has Reflective. I chose this route because it gave me the most options and lets me fill a unique niche.

General Pros and Cons of the three routes:

Spell: Spells are the most versatile route. When a spell does something, you can use it on anything, and it has the bonus of being unstoppable except by Silence. Most of my favourite ideas are spells.
Permanent: Permanents are remains in play abilities. They generally affect the whole field. They are also very fragile to any kind of permanent control. However, many abilities may become overpowered if they affect the whole field indefinitely, so you need to be careful.
Creatures: Creatures have the most room to work with, with many different balanceable variables, but they are generally fragile. Many creatures may become too complicated, however, if you take it overboard in mechanics.

Step 3 - Theme

At this point I have decided that I am creating a Creature that has the passive ability Reflective.
Now I must work on the theme of the card.

There are several sub-parts, especially in creatures.

A) Name
The name dictates what the rest of the creature will be based upon, so be careful. I chose "Mirror Golem" because that was what came to mind when I thought of a creature that reflects. If I chose a different name it would be a different card. In spells and permanents the name is less important, but make sure to pick something thematically appropriate.

B) Element
Now that I have a Mirror Golem, what element does it belong to? I decided that I somehow attribute glass and mirrors to Aether, so that's what I picked. If I picked an element like Death however, it would have been thematically out of place. If I wanted to make a Reflective Death creature, I would have to consider changing the name.

C) Art
Even if it's a filler, at least make something that looks vaguely like it. This makes the card look more complete and thought out, and enhances the theme.

D) Thematic Support Abilities
More for creatures, you may want to add abilities secondary to your original concept. An easy pick is Airborne.
Since Reflective is passive, I chose to give it a growth ability to match Lava Golem. Thematically, A Mirror creature would become stronger with , so I chose that as the cost.

Step 4 - Balancing

The next thing you do is to balance your card to the current metagame. Basically you change a variety of factors to reach a target cost.

A) Cost/Play Speed

Cost of 0-2 is "Splashable" or "Quick".
They can be easily powered off mark or off Novas, and are generally weak to compensate for it. If you don't splash them,m then generally they are designed to hit the field quickly or whenever they need to, since you always have the quanta for them.

Cost of 3-5 is "Standard"
They can no longer be easily splashed into decks, but fit easily into any duos that already exist with them for some extra damage or support. This is my favourite range, and this is where Mirror Golem fits.

Cost of 6+ is "Dedicated" or "Late-Game"
At this point you aren't just adding it for support, there's a specific function the card plays. At this range you need to either dedicate a large amount of your deck into getting this out quickly, or you add only a few copies for late-game quanta usage.

B) Fragility
How easily should it die?
Usually this means the HP amount.
The less HP it has, the more things can kill it in one hit. Since Mirror Golem has reflective already, I chose to make it fragile with only 2 HP. Likewise, I made it's growth ability not give HP so that it doesn't become excessively difficult to get rid of later.

C) Power Niche

This should be adjusted to match the Cost.
1-3 ATK: Weak. Usually there's an ability that makes these worth playing. Usually they are not there for damage but rather have an ability that needs to hit the field as soon as possible. 3 attack however has an Adrenaline niche so it makes them playable in Life duos.
4-7 ATK: Midrange. These are the general damage cards that fit into decks the easiest. Most popular for rushes.
8+ ATK: Heavy hitters. Sacrificing play speed for damage potential, these are the kinds of cards the bust past Stalls.

You generally want to put your creature in a niche that isn't yet filled.

D) Ability Strength/Cost.
I could've made Ashine cost 3 and give like +5/+0. But that kind of ability is pointlessly powerful.
Make sure your ability is well balanced in that sense.

Step 5 - Community Feedback

Post your idea! get some feedback on how it could be improved. Even if you think it's perfect there's always something to work on.

I assume that this will cover everything up to balancing.

One other thing before my pile of ideas:
This thread needs a sticky.
Otherwise, it will need to be bumped way too often.


My Brainstorm:

- Damage done is converted to quanta.
- Damage airborne creatures.
- Creature Max HP increase.
- Attack increases based on deck size.
- No summoning sickness. (Swift)
- Spell Miss Rate (Evasive)
- Card Searching
- Attack Decreasing

I may think of more.

[Pineapple]

Aside, access to the Concept Crypt is not that difficult to attain:
1) Show you are a motivated and/or talented Card Creator and want access.
2) PM me your gmail account/google docs account.
3) Live somewhere other than the People's Republic of China.

But yeah, I agree with Hyroen. In addition, there can be two thematically different cards with the same mechanic, but that can be refined during the theme/tweaking phase, so we don't need to fill this thread with more than one copy of each mechanic.

[ZephyrPhantom]

Oh, are you basing this off my post in the Idea Factory?

I tried to do this before, but didn't get enough attention...

If you are basing it off this, thanks for the bump, I suppose.

Huh, I knew I had seen this somewhere before, but I forgot who did it. Well, thanks for the format and ideas!

[EvaRia]

Oh, are you basing this off my post in the Idea Factory?

I tried to do this before, but didn't get enough attention...

If you are basing it off this, thanks for the bump, I suppose.

Huh, I knew I had seen this somewhere before, but I forgot who did it. Well, thanks for the format and ideas!

A few things to note about your order:

Putting "Theme" in there is a tad bit redundant. The theme is generally attached to the name given.

So I would order it:

-Concept (The way you're doing it now is fine).

-Delivery (Or as you say, Vehicle. It's noteworthy though that sometimes a mechanic under one card type can still have multiple deliveries. For example, you can have a creature with an ability or a creature that grants abilities. It's best to include as many options that you can think of into the poll, and add others that are mentioned. Or, simply have multiple polls to gradually shape the idea.)

-Name/Element (The order on this one is iffy. In my mind having both at the same time works best. Sometimes you will find a name that works well and have an element to go with it, but sometimes the mechanic fits best within an element and needs a name to go with it. Having a poll to select both at the same time lets you do both. Art can just be chosen/created to match the theme.)

-Thematic Support (Some cards can be given secondary mechanics to support the theme. Easy examples are Airborne and Poisonous, although other examples apply.)

-Balance (Tweaking using the Power/Speed/Fragility formula. This can be done by an individual or by the community).

[OldTrees]

-Delivery (Or as you say, Vehicle. It's noteworthy though that sometimes a mechanic under one card type can still have multiple deliveries. For example, you can have a creature with an ability or a creature that grants abilities. It's best to include as many options that you can think of into the poll, and add others that are mentioned. Or, simply have multiple polls to gradually shape the idea.)

We will need a period of suggesting potential vehicles.
Timing, Aiming, Platform, Uses, Delays, Costs, Side Effects ... are some variable parts to vehicles.

Sidenote: Delivery (Package Mechanic) might be better terminology than Vehicle (Rider Mechanic)