Your fun fact about the semi-standard TCG card size is, I believe (but could be wrong), misleading. 2.5 inches and 63mm are very close but not the same. It is the milometer measurement that is exactly correct, likely because Magic was first printed by Cartamundi, a Belgian company. If your card game is printed at 2.5 by 3.5 inches and not 63mm by 88mm it will be very slightly larger than most, and possibly incompatible with gaming paraphenalia made tight with tiny margins of error.
This has knock on effects with other facts in the video which are (again, very slightly and likely insignificantly) made inaccurate by relation to the measurement. At the 300 dpi, a standard sized card will be about 745 by 1040 pixels.
@@fastpuppy2000 This is what happens when you try to use feet as a unit of measurement! Joking aside, this is very good info - a lot of printers I've run into (primarily US based) do use the 2.5 x 3.5 poker card measurement, and it's close enough to fit in card sleeves (except maybe some perfect fits), but tcg cards do seem to be standardized just a few pixels smaller. In most cases the difference should be well within your margin of error whichever size you make the file, but for making more professional prints, this is absolutely important info. I've pinned the comment - thank you for the correction / added context!
I can't recommend enough automatizing playtest cards. It's easy enough to make a couple cards at first, but the amount of time you lose even just copying and pasting text or dragging an image, especially every time you have minor revisions, is going to accumulate *a lot*. If you're using Photoshop, google "data-driven graphics". It's really easy to set up. You just create "variables" to replace layers' text, visibility and even images. Then, import a .csv (if you use Google Sheets, there is an export option that gives you this format) with the columns named after the variables and there you go. You can export ALL the data sets as individual files with one click. Then, everytime you change anything, you just import and export again. I haven't used other image editors, but even something as simple as loading the text from a file will be a life changer.
I haven't made a good process for myself to do this, which is the only reason I didn't include it in the video. It's a bit less important in very early design (but only a bit). With the number of revisions you'll go through in playtesting a game, I agree this is absolutely important. Having some kind of system to pull the info in from a spreadsheet format is going to save a ton of time. Good call!
Thank you for your dedication to educating those of us who wish to develop their own TCGs and entertaining game design enthusiasts in general. Your efforts are much appreciated. :) I greatly enjoy your videos and frequently reference them when I revisit my own TCG pet projects.
New TCG Academia !! Please keep up the dope videos man. I watch your stuff everyday, even outside of making a TCG for myself. Love your analysis on this stuff.
This is exactly what I was looking for. I don't know why but I hadn't thought about simple text blocks representing cards for the earliest stages of game development. Thanks for the vid!
Thank you! I know a lot of this video is pretty familiar stuff to someone who's been doing design for a while, but there was a point where I was starting out that this would have helped a lot, so I'm glad someone in that position found the video useful!
My man I formally request a server or forum to have the chance to talk with you and other fans. I still wish to pick your brain, and you might even enjoy it!
Something like that is pretty close to the top of my list of things I'd love to do for the channel. Up to now, I haven't realistically had the time - I'm not even keeping up with the schedule I'd like for the basic video releases. It's definitely something I'm keeping in mind, though, and I'd love to get it up and running as soon as it feels realistically doable.
A few basic lines of essentially description code (a'la html) can get you a basic frame in MSE. Then you can pile features onto it with autocorrect, splitting text boxes, mana symbols, auto-reminder, and a lot of other things. (note: this isn't a game engine. No actual game logic will be present just the looks of the card itself.)
It's been a long while since I've used MSE, but it's definitely a great tool! Probably should have at least given it a shout-out in this video. Especially being able to handle symbols is a really valuable feature when making cards.
@@tcgacademiaif you write a very basic sorting script you can have them auto-sort into colours and by alphabet or whatever. You will also he able to see your test set in a neat table. Not to mention that you can make a card in 30 seconds since all the boxes just need to be typed into. There are also prebuilt exporters for your cards, and you can even print them directly from an MSE dialogue.
Thanks for mentioning it - I didn't even know it was a thing! I have done some basic code-based frame designs in the past, and might come back to it in the future. Although at this point in where most of my games are at I find Photoshop-adjacent programs more useful (especially for actually making the frame designs), but the larger the card pool is, the more useful it is to have something a little more purpose-built.
Your fun fact about the semi-standard TCG card size is, I believe (but could be wrong), misleading. 2.5 inches and 63mm are very close but not the same. It is the milometer measurement that is exactly correct, likely because Magic was first printed by Cartamundi, a Belgian company. If your card game is printed at 2.5 by 3.5 inches and not 63mm by 88mm it will be very slightly larger than most, and possibly incompatible with gaming paraphenalia made tight with tiny margins of error.
This has knock on effects with other facts in the video which are (again, very slightly and likely insignificantly) made inaccurate by relation to the measurement. At the 300 dpi, a standard sized card will be about 745 by 1040 pixels.
@@fastpuppy2000 This is what happens when you try to use feet as a unit of measurement! Joking aside, this is very good info - a lot of printers I've run into (primarily US based) do use the 2.5 x 3.5 poker card measurement, and it's close enough to fit in card sleeves (except maybe some perfect fits), but tcg cards do seem to be standardized just a few pixels smaller. In most cases the difference should be well within your margin of error whichever size you make the file, but for making more professional prints, this is absolutely important info. I've pinned the comment - thank you for the correction / added context!
You forgot Tabletop Simulator! Its great for playtests around the world, takes a little training but worth the investment and runs well on most pc's
Definitely need to put some time into learning the ins and out of TTS - it's a really useful tool if it's configured properly.
I can't recommend enough automatizing playtest cards. It's easy enough to make a couple cards at first, but the amount of time you lose even just copying and pasting text or dragging an image, especially every time you have minor revisions, is going to accumulate *a lot*.
If you're using Photoshop, google "data-driven graphics". It's really easy to set up. You just create "variables" to replace layers' text, visibility and even images. Then, import a .csv (if you use Google Sheets, there is an export option that gives you this format) with the columns named after the variables and there you go. You can export ALL the data sets as individual files with one click. Then, everytime you change anything, you just import and export again.
I haven't used other image editors, but even something as simple as loading the text from a file will be a life changer.
I haven't made a good process for myself to do this, which is the only reason I didn't include it in the video. It's a bit less important in very early design (but only a bit). With the number of revisions you'll go through in playtesting a game, I agree this is absolutely important. Having some kind of system to pull the info in from a spreadsheet format is going to save a ton of time. Good call!
2:44 HUH
Woah, a new TCGAcademia video? Let's go.
Im using excel lol 😂 I found much easier than having to print or write on paper, so far so good
A fellow excel fan! It's great for prototyping!
I cant believe i got foot fetish jumpscared on a tcgacademia video LOL
😆
Thank you for your dedication to educating those of us who wish to develop their own TCGs and entertaining game design enthusiasts in general. Your efforts are much appreciated. :) I greatly enjoy your videos and frequently reference them when I revisit my own TCG pet projects.
Thanks - always great to hear these videos are useful!
@@tcgacademia Of course! 😊👍
Great vid as always. Always nice to know another printer option.
And don't eat with scissors. They're a nightmare to clean.
Somehow eating with scissors is one of the least weird things about Shiori.
Tabletop Simulator is also great for playtesting; I often end up messing around, lol.
Absolutely! TTS definitely deserves a mention - it's a fantastic tool for playtesting.
New TCG Academia !! Please keep up the dope videos man. I watch your stuff everyday, even outside of making a TCG for myself. Love your analysis on this stuff.
Feet
"Promo sm"
NanDeck is also a great program for the second playtest. For the 1st dry erase cards in sleeves.
Great video. Informative and entertaining as usual.
Watching this as reference for my digital card games making.
Very helpful, thank you! ❤
Thank you for this
This is exactly what I was looking for. I don't know why but I hadn't thought about simple text blocks representing cards for the earliest stages of game development. Thanks for the vid!
Thank you! I know a lot of this video is pretty familiar stuff to someone who's been doing design for a while, but there was a point where I was starting out that this would have helped a lot, so I'm glad someone in that position found the video useful!
My man I formally request a server or forum to have the chance to talk with you and other fans. I still wish to pick your brain, and you might even enjoy it!
Something like that is pretty close to the top of my list of things I'd love to do for the channel. Up to now, I haven't realistically had the time - I'm not even keeping up with the schedule I'd like for the basic video releases. It's definitely something I'm keeping in mind, though, and I'd love to get it up and running as soon as it feels realistically doable.
@@tcgacademia I can be the discord mod 😎
A few basic lines of essentially description code (a'la html) can get you a basic frame in MSE.
Then you can pile features onto it with autocorrect, splitting text boxes, mana symbols, auto-reminder, and a lot of other things. (note: this isn't a game engine. No actual game logic will be present just the looks of the card itself.)
It's been a long while since I've used MSE, but it's definitely a great tool! Probably should have at least given it a shout-out in this video. Especially being able to handle symbols is a really valuable feature when making cards.
@@tcgacademiaif you write a very basic sorting script you can have them auto-sort into colours and by alphabet or whatever. You will also he able to see your test set in a neat table.
Not to mention that you can make a card in 30 seconds since all the boxes just need to be typed into. There are also prebuilt exporters for your cards, and you can even print them directly from an MSE dialogue.
Do you use Nandeck?
Thanks for mentioning it - I didn't even know it was a thing! I have done some basic code-based frame designs in the past, and might come back to it in the future. Although at this point in where most of my games are at I find Photoshop-adjacent programs more useful (especially for actually making the frame designs), but the larger the card pool is, the more useful it is to have something a little more purpose-built.