How to Create Custom Cards for Your Game Prototype

I create quite a few prototypes of card games and board games of my own design. I am often making custom cards for these prototypes. Here is a simple rundown of how you can create custom cards for your own game prototypes, easily and economically.

[Design Review] Sylvion

I've posted a new video review to YouTube, embedded here for your convenience.

[Kickstarter] Entropy

 I thought I would bring to the attention of my readers a really interesting looking card game that I am currently backing on Kickstarter.

[Design Review] Between the Shadows, an expansion for Star Wars: The Card Game

Hey, sharing something a little different today. This is a review of an expansion to Star Wars: The Card Game from Fantasy Flight Games. In this video, I will not explain how the basic game works, so if you are completely unfamiliar with the game you can probably skip this video. Otherwise, I hope you enjoy!

[Design Review] The Hobbit Card Game

Here's another short video review for a fantasy-themed, trick-taking game by Fantasy Flight Games.

[Design Review] Adventure Time: Card Wars

Check out my video review for this simple and fun collectable card game.

[Design Review] Ascension: Apprentice Edition

Trying something a little bit different here. I spliced some video clips together so that I could give a pretty good run down of how this game works before giving my thoughts on the game. I'm curious to get feedback on this approach to game reviews. Feel free to leave a comment below.

I'm Back and I've Got New Games!

Hey! It has been a long time since I posted anything to this blog. I got married and moved into a new house about six weeks ago, so things have been hectic. I thought I would get back to blogging sooner than this, but it just hasn't been possible. I don't know when I'll get back to posting regularly like I was. I'm hoping to do so in January. In the meantime, I've got some new games and expansions so I thought I would do some "unboxing"/preview videos, since people seemed to enjoy those in the past and they don't require as much work as writing articles. Today I'm looking at Smiley Face and Tsuro of the Seas. Enjoy!

[Design Review] Dominion

What is Dominion?

This is a “deck building game”, a relatively new concept in game design. Trading card games like Pokémon or Magic: The Gathering have allowed players to build their own decks to bring to their games for some time, but the idea behind a deck building game is that players build their decks from a common pool during play. Here is how it works:

[Design Review] The Resistance

This is another video post, for a very specific reason. Enjoy!

[Stacking the Deck: Summoner Wars] Mage Storm

This is the third in a new series of Stacking the Deck articles, focusing on the game Summoner Wars. If you’re not familiar with this fun tactical card game you can read my Design Review here. In each of these articles I’ll present one deck, talk about my process in creating the deck, and some strategies for how to use it effectively. For my first article I built a deck with the Tundra Orcs faction, and for my second article I used the Jungle Elves. This time I’ll be working with the Deep Dwarves. For some details on how deck building works in Summoner Wars refer to my first article.

[Stacking the Deck: Summoner Wars] Rain of Arrows

This is the second in a new series of Stacking the Deck articles, this time focusing on the game Summoner Wars. If you’re not familiar with this fun tactical card game you can read my Design Review here. In each of these articles I’ll present one deck, talk about my process in creating the deck, and some strategies for how to use it effectively. For my first article I built a deck with the Tundra Orcs faction. For my second article I’ll be using the Jungle Elves. For some details on how deck building works in Summoner Wars refer to my first article.

[Stacking the Deck: Summoner Wars] Fortress of Ice

This is the first in a new series of Stacking the Deck articles, this time focusing on the game Summoner Wars. If you’re not familiar with this fun tactical card game you can read my Design Review here. In each of these articles I’ll present one deck, talk about my process in creating the deck, and some strategies for how to use it effectively. For my first article I’ll be building a deck with the Tundra Orcs faction. But first, let’s talk a little bit about how deck building works in Summoner Wars.

[Design Review] Summoner Wars

What is Summoner Wars?

This is a tactical board game where cards form a major component. Basically, each player gets an army, represented by a deck of cards. Most of those cards are soldiers of one kind or another. You play your soldiers on a board that is a very simple 8x6 grid. You and your opponent take turns moving your soldiers around the board and attacking each others’ soldiers. Each player has a special unit that begins play on the battlefield, called a summoner. If you can defeat your opponent’s summoner, you win the game.

[Design Journal: Mega Man TCG - Classic Set 5] Perfect Dark

Recently, I had the privilege of taking the lead in designing the newest set of cards for the Mega Man Trading Card Game. The set is called Classic Set 5, and it is based on the fifth game in the classic Mega Man video game series. I’m now posting some Design Journal articles that will discuss some of my process in creating these new cards for the game, and offer previews of some of the new cards. This is the fourth of those articles. In the first article I talked about building synergies among minions. In the second article I talked about expanding the “Marked” and “Trap” mechanics. The third article previewed one of the most iconic bosses from the game. In this final preview of Classic Set 5 we’ll be looking at one more character card that is both new to this set, and breaks a long standing precedent.

[Design Journal: Mega Man TCG - Classic Set 5] A Sudden Reversal

Recently, I had the privilege of taking the lead in designing the newest set of cards for the Mega Man Trading Card Game. The set is called Classic Set 5, and it is based on the fifth game in the classic Mega Man video game series. I’m now posting some Design Journal articles that will discuss some of my process in creating these new cards for the game, and offer previews of some of the new cards. This is the third of those articles. In the first article I talked about building synergies among minions. In the second article I talked about expanding the “Marked” and “Trap” mechanics. Today we’ll look at one of the new character cards, and how I developed the character’s theme and mechanics.

[Design Journal: Mega Man TCG - Classic Set 5] On Your Mark, Get Trapped, Go!

Recently, I had the privilege of taking the lead in designing the newest set of cards for the Mega Man Trading Card Game. The set is called Classic Set 5, and it is based on the fifth game in the classic Mega Man video game series. I’m now posting some Design Journal articles that will discuss some of my process in creating these new cards for the game, and offer previews of some of the new cards. This is the second of those articles. You can read the first article here.

[Design Journal: Mega Man TCG - Classic Set 5] Call Me Joe

I’ve all ready posted quite a bit on this blog about the Mega Man Trading Card Game created by my brother. I posted a Design Review and several Stacking the Deck articles focused on the game. Recently, I had the privilege of taking the lead in designing the newest set of cards for this game. The set is called Classic Set 5, and it is based on the fifth game in the classic Mega Man video game series. Over the next few weeks, I’ll be posting some Design Journal articles that will discuss some of my process in creating these new cards for the game, and offer previews of some of the new cards. This is the first of those articles.

[Open Design: Mercenaries #9] Our Progress So Far

It’s been three months today since we started our Open Design project here with the card game Mercenaries. I thought this would be a good time to review what we’ve done so far and consider where we should go from here.

[Stacking the Deck: Mega Man TCG] Shortcut to Victory

Following up on the previous two Stacking the Deck articles, this third article will present yet another team and deck for the Mega Man Trading Card Game. If you’re not familiar with this fun TCG you can read my Design Review here.