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[Mephansteras]

Hey all,

I have a card game I'm working on called Dungeon Denizens. It is a deck-building game (where a large part of the game is building up the deck that you use throughout it) and that means it has a LOT of cards in it. 1047 just for what I consider the 'basic' set of the game. Of course, a lot of those are just duplicates of the same card, but it's still a pretty daunting amount.

The link in the name up there goes to a thread I have on it over on Board Game Geek, that gives a decent rundown of the game and some examples of the cards and how stuff works. But the basic idea is that you are the overlord of a Dungeon who is trying to become the most feared in the land. Kind of like the old Dungeon Keeper games, except that there is more interaction with the overland civilizations than just heroes invading your dungeon. Although that happens too.

Right now I'm just working with hand written note cards, and they work ok for prototype testing. But I'd love to turn this into an actual game with real artwork and the like. But to do that, I'd need people to actually make artwork for it.

There are about 145 unique pieces of art I'd need for this game. That's quite a lot, but it might be manageable if I had a decent set of people doing the artwork.

Would any of the many talented artists here be interested in a project like this? I'm not sure exactly how far I'm going to go with it. I might try to get it published, I might try to do a small print run of a few hundred copies. It's a bit up in the air right now, and I can't really promise to pay all that much. Depending on the amount of cards I someone did I might be able to give you a copy of the game when it's done, though. At around 20 decks per game, that's not particularly cheap to get printed out. And having a game with your artwork in it would be pretty fun, I'd think.

If people are interested we could start talking about logistics and whatnot. Right now I'm still very much in the testing and development phase, and I don't know how much of the game is going to change before I'd be at the point where actually printing out a prototype would be reasonable. But I figured it's best to at least start planning things in advance.

Anyone interested?

If you are, how much art would you be willing to do?

If possible I'd like to have at least some consistency in the artwork. So while different people would have different styles I'd at least have all the cards in a given block (say, Human Settlements and the like) be by the same person.

[Lofn]

I'd be happy to give it a shot.

[lordnincompoop]

I hope you realise the gravity of this request - especially considering how difficult it'd be to get consistent art for anything involving two or more artists. This artist group here is rather ragtag (and I mean this with no offense intended, honestly) too, and I remember a card game pitch like this before that went down the drain because of it.

There is also a large volume of art involved with making a card game - in M:TG alone, I'd expect there to be thousands if not more pieces of art, all cropped and downsized to fit the scale. That requires commitment, time and above all immense effort (made even more unlikely by the fact that everything for this will be pro bono).

That said, I'd be willing to contribute with some card art (just not right now; maybe in a week or two), but I don't think I have the art style or use the medium you're looking for. If you're fine with pencil, however, I'll be here and I'll be willing - just tell me what I need to do and by when.

EDIT: Fixed ramblings.

[Mephansteras]

Yeah, I know that art styles are going to be pretty different. But Magic got through it pretty well, and there is actually a lot less art here. Only about 150 total pieces for the base game. There is considerably fewer unique cards in a game like this than a CCG.

Plus, if I can get the same artist to do all of the art for a given set then things won't look quite so odd.

Here is the basic breakdown of art that is needed for the base game:

2 Card Backs (One for Dungeon Decks, one for Overland decks)
16 Loot cards (4 Ore, 4 Arms&Armor, 4 Goods, 4 Food)
37 Monster cards, divided into 6 themed sets with 6 types each + the starting Monster
18 Dungeon Sections
27 Overland Raid cards, divided into 3 themed sets with 9 types each
45 Overland Attack cards, divided into 3 themed sets with 15 types each

As far as timing goes, I don't need anything immediately. Like I said, I'm still in the early prototyping and development phase. But since making art takes a fair amount of time if this project does get enough people to work I'd like to make sure everyone has enough time to do their part.

Theme-wise we're going Fantasy with a dark humorous tone to it. The basic monster card is the Grunts, which are a group of rather simple-minded by hard working pig-men. I don't want to go super-cartoony, but I don't think we need realistic art either. A middle ground is probably best for this sort of thing. But, again, I'm ok with a bit more variety in style. A more realistic look for landscapes, like villages, is probably just fine.


Here are a few cards with some art ideas, if that helps people get a feel for the project:


Squirlverines - Monster - Beast
Cost: 2
Entice: 1 Food
Strength: 3
Special: Immune to Card Discarding effects

One of the more popular monsters during my last test session, these guys got a reputation for being unbeatable when defending on a Narrow Bridge. Their special is pretty useful against other players, since most of the time when a discard effect is used the Player targeted gets to pick which card gets discarded. The Squirlverines can be chosen without having to actually discard them.

Art: A cross between a squirrel and a wolverine, they're small but very viscious

Scrying Pool - Dungeon - Section
Cost: 3 Goods
Ability: View an Opponent's Hand OR View the top card of the Attack Deck

Very useful for planning. While any cards an opponent used to defend themselves last round are still in front of them, you don't always know if they have something saved up in case they get raided by another player. This lets you figure that out, or you can see the top Attack card so that you know how much you need to save for defense.

Art: Obviously a pool of some sort with a reflection. I'm thinking that it'd show some human soldiers gathering for an attack

Narrow Bridge - Dungeon - Defense
Cost: 2
Ability: Plus 3 strength to one defending monster

A very popular card last game, the Narrow Bridge makes defending your dungeon quite a bit easier. As long as you have a creature to use it on, at least.

Art: Monster defender holding off a group of human soldiers on a narrow bridge over a chasm. Could be Grunts, or maybe Squirlverines.

Floor Spikes - Dungeon - Trap
Cost: 2
Strength: 3
Special: Cannot target flying creatures

Floor spikes are a Trap, which are great ways to defend yourself without using creatures. They're cheap for the strength, and unlike most of the Defense cards they don't need anything else to work. However, there are some monsters which are Immune to traps.

Art: Maybe just the bloody tips of the spikes poking through the dungeon floor? This one probably has a good bit of leeway to it.

[lordnincompoop]

Only about 150 total pieces for the base game. There is considerably fewer unique cards in a game like this than a CCG.

That's still a considerable amount of art. It might be mitigated somewhat if you have enough artists, but it'll definitely take a while.

You seem like you know what you're doing, though, so I'll leave it at that.

Here is the basic breakdown of art that is needed for the base game:

2 Card Backs (One for Dungeon Decks, one for Overland decks)
16 Loot cards (4 Ore, 4 Arms&Armor, 4 Goods, 4 Food)
37 Monster cards, divided into 6 themed sets with 6 types each + the starting Monster
18 Dungeon Sections
27 Overland Raid cards, divided into 3 themed sets with 9 types each
45 Overland Attack cards, divided into 3 themed sets with 15 types each

As far as timing goes, I don't need anything immediately. Like I said, I'm still in the early prototyping and development phase. But since making art takes a fair amount of time if this project does get enough people to work I'd like to make sure everyone has enough time to do their part.

Theme-wise we're going Fantasy with a dark humorous tone to it. The basic monster card is the Grunts, which are a group of rather simple-minded by hard working pig-men. I don't want to go super-cartoony, but I don't think we need realistic art either. A middle ground is probably best for this sort of thing. But, again, I'm ok with a bit more variety in style. A more realistic look for landscapes, like villages, is probably just fine.

Noted. However, a good idea might still be a sample artwork or a picture roughly detailing the style you want; "realistic", "super-cartooony" and "middle-ground" are unfortunately rather relative terms.

Floor Spikes - Dungeon - Trap
Cost: 2
Strength: 3
Special: Cannot target flying creatures

Floor spikes are a Trap, which are great ways to defend yourself without using creatures. They're cheap for the strength, and unlike most of the Defense cards they don't need anything else to work. However, there are some monsters which are Immune to traps.

Art: Maybe just the bloody tips of the spikes poking through the dungeon floor? This one probably has a good bit of leeway to it.

Perhaps a blueprint of a floor spike mechanism?

[Jopax]

I'd be willing to help, but i'm not sure if i could qualify for anything but some monsters, or that my style would be fit for a card game, also not much time for artsing now so it would probably be very slow.

[Mephansteras]

Here are a few bits from the DF Fanart thread that I think have a good style for this game.

Nice landscape: http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=1604.msg2628985#msg2628985

Character's whose style might work: http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=1604.msg2621293#msg2621293

Pretty good monsters: http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=1604.msg2560362#msg2560362

Not exclusively those, of course, they're just ones I recall seeing recently.

[Askot Bokbondeler]

i'd love to participate, i'm a pretty decent draughtsman with a decent hand for realistic characters, but i'm terrible with landscapes without a proper reference.

that said, i'm loving the grunts, i'll try to wip up a few designs for them just to show off a bit

[Ultimuh]

Watching the progress of this very nice card game come to life. 

[Mephansteras]

i'd love to participate, i'm a pretty decent draughtsman with a decent hand for realistic characters, but i'm terrible with landscapes without a proper reference.

that said, i'm loving the grunts, i'll try to wip up a few designs for them just to show off a bit

Cool!

The image I have in my head for the Grunts card is three grunts standing next to one another. One is just munching on an apple or something, one is a warrior with a slightly askew helmet looking kind of confused, and another is holding a pick and looking a bit disgruntled.

Feel free to come up with other ideas, but the main concept behind them is that they are fanatically loyal and a bit too stupid to realize that they're being used. And that they're working for slop instead of real pay like the other monsters. (Grunts are free)

[Ultimuh]

I wish I could be of help, but my own artistic skills are lacking.. compared to what I have seen on these forums.

[Max White]

So, our resident toysmith is making a card game?
Watching, for sure.

[Mephansteras]

I wish I could be of help, but my own artistic skills are lacking.. compared to what I have seen on these forums.

Mine too, hence me asking for artists.

[Akigagak]

Hmm.... I've got very little to do besides exercise and look for non-existent jobs. I can do an attempt at one of the Dungeon cards, and maybe the card backs, as an example of my style.

Any particular one you want, or should I just take the one of the ones you used as examples?

[Mephansteras]

You can just grab an example one for now. Those are probably good ones for people to play with. That way we can see different interpretations of them and get an idea for how people's art style mesh.