LogFAQs > #938989984

ParanoidObsessive posted...

It's part of why I could only watch the Crisis crossover a few months back in bits and pieces as YouTube clips rather than watching the whole shows - the acting and writing really is that bad for all the shows as far as I can tell, and it's kind of painful to watch.

I've found that a lot of shows and movies look better when you just watch clips instead of the whole thing.

ParanoidObsessive posted...

Granted, I'm not expecting film-level quality from throwaway CW shows, but at the very least I'd prefer something on the level of Agents of SHIELD (with the ideal being something closer to the Netflix shows) rather than something that's about on par with everything else on the CW (ie, bad, and aimed at shitty teenagers).

Now you're sending mixed messages. Agents of SHIELD seemed every bit as bad if not worse than anything on CW. The acting and writing killed my interest almost immediately.

ParanoidObsessive posted...

Edgy teens would probably lap it up, and you could totally sell it in Hot Topic.

Now that you mention it, I'm trying to recall ever seeing CCG booster packs sold at Hot Topic.

ParanoidObsessive posted...

My suspicion is, you'd be tapping into the same sort of market that buys stuff like this:

http://www.amazon.com/Epic-Spell-Wars-Battle-Wizards/dp/161768029X

The problem is, something like that would probably be extremely niche, even in the niche hobby that is CCGing. So you might not be able to turn it into profitability.

That's really the board game crowd at that point, so basically just comics and games shops if enough of those still exist.

I guess my best option is still to create a moderately successful media property then create a CCG based on that since original concepts don't seem to do particularly well anyway (then again, a lot of the franchised stuff flops as well)

ParanoidObsessive posted...

I really liked the original L5R card backs, but they got screwed over when the International Olympic Committee decided that they own the entire concept of interlocking rings and sued them over it:

While the interlocking rings are a great visual and tie into the name, it's not a particularly illustrative concept. I kinda prefer the coin/token look even if the game name looks stupidly out of place. The backgrounds for both cardbacks are trash, though.

The new cardbacks look neat. The individual symbols don't look like coins so it ties a little nicer to the game name, there's no huge name, and the background fits the setting.

ParanoidObsessive posted...

The one cool thing about L5R (and you can kind of see it in the new version pictures) is that there are different colored card backs (in the original black and green versions, in the new versions there's white, red, and ones with different art on the back). This is because certain cards have different functions in the game, and you can tell which cards are which by the backs. So they're functional as well as aesthetic.

I also tend to like card backs for games that show factionality (like the old Star Wars CCG from the 90s where you had Rebellion backs and Empire backs), though those work best in games where players have to choose opposed factions and have less individuality when it comes to deck building (ie, you can't play an Empire deck against an Empire deck in the Star Wars game, and you can't use Rebellion cards in Empire decks). But there's not a ton of games like that, because players tend to prefer the idea that they can use any card in any deck, and play any deck they want rather than having to pick a side opposed to their opponent(s).

I like the concept of multiple cardbacks to some extent. Yes, it can add a richness to the theme in a game with clearly established factions, but it also leads to issues like having to make more general cards multiple times. Decipher's SW CCG is a good example because instead of just making one card for something like a blaster that could be used in either faction's deck, they had to make a card for each faction. Something like that adds to the annoyance factor when it comes to the collectible component. And in general, one of the problems I've had with strictly-factional CCGs is that -- excluding the fringier, box-set sort of things -- the factions are generally combined in booster packs (for pragmatic reasons). In a CCG without that kind of rough divide, having a mix is more justifiable but it makes less sense when something just straight-up can't be used.

As for the different cardbacks in L5R, would they be in the same deck (meaning that both players would have some clue as to the next card) or did you have multiple decks in a game?


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