A different kind of game design than what I’m used to

I’ve just got back from my short summer holiday in Paihia with a couple of close friends. A lot of my BF’s friends are really into gaming which includes video games as well as card and board games. They make anything competitive. So on this trip, particularly because it was raining lots, we played games.

One that I enjoyed was called Dixit. It involves storytelling and beautiful playing cards featuring surreal drawings. It was perhaps not the mechanic of the game that I liked so much but rather the versatility of the cards. We could write our own rules.

It got me thinking about a great gift idea for our friend. This particular friend has an outdated opinion that I’m a terrible gift giver, so this little project is my attempt to prove him wrong.

What I am making is a series of playing cards which are small enough to take with you anywhere and versatile enough to play multiple games with, and of course create your own. There will be 52 cards (if moo.com allow me to print two cards in addition to their standard 50 pack of business cards). Each one will have a number, suit and a large picture.

It has taken me hours to come up with 52 images which are unique but can fit broadly into a set. There is a range of lowbrow art, interesting photos and a couple of references to geek culture. I can not imagine how long it would have taken the illustrator of Dixit (or any elaborate card game) to not only come up with the individual concepts but draw them all as well. I have infinite respect. All the images I’ve used are borrowed, but even though I cheated the task has been difficult for me.

“Oh I already have a card with a red balloon on it.”

“As much as I love this image, maybe he won’t.”

It’s also quite hard knowing that this friend is a perfectionist when it comes to design. I can’t work out whether a red or black stroke looks better on the red cards and if the bottom should be opaque or solid with a square picture above it. Given all the other projects I was meant to complete over this break I think at some point I will have to stop spending time worrying about these details and just get them printed.

Here is a random selection of what the cards look like at the moment:

UPDATE: Moo are letting me print an additional 10 cards free of charge. The downside is they are straight edges, not rounded like I was originally going to do. The upside is the deck is now complete and I even had enough cards to make jokers. A couple of the final cards below: