One thing that I think is useful to share with many TCG designers is what Mark Rosewater says in his article "Quite the Rarity": While designing the Magic the Gathering cards, the rare ones usually are more complex to understand than the mythic rares, because you as a designer want to make that special moment of pulling out a mythic from your booster emblematic, so the high level of complexity that could cloud the positive emotional effect of that lucky draw is often taken away. They are indeed more powerful and iconic than the rares, but not always they will be the top complex game pieces you have in your game.
I have thought about this recently. It does make more sense to put complicated cards rather than powerful cards in the rare slot. You don't want players to be forced to open so many packs that it just isn't an appealing option anymore. Not everyone can buy boxes and boxes of your game after all. Powerful commons just makes the game more accessible
Exactly. It also can send you down a different creative route as you analyze your cards to make sure that there are sufficient "easy effects" at low and high level cards, and then do the same for complex effects at low and high level too. It may inspire you to write effects you hadn't previously considered.
i've been watching your videos all day while working on my own tcg because i've had 4 tcgs i've just deleted everything for them because of being overwhelmed by how much there is to do on a tcg but watching the talk tcgs gives me much more of a grip on what i need to do and i just wanted to say thank you for the very helpful videos.
Never delete everything. Even if you stop designing a game and put it on the shelf, you can always come back to it later or use ideas from one of your old games into your new game. Inspiration comes from anywhere
And you can dig them up and appreciate how far you've come from that point, too. Even if nothing is usable (but there is always something useful in old ideas)
Long time lurker, recent subscriber. I have to say, the enthusiasm you have for your content is contagious, I get pumped for my own TCG whenever watching your videos. I'm glad this video went up, this is the primary thing I've been dreading in my TCG.
I feel this is a topic that gets overlooked when I am searching through youtube. I'm glad to hear that this topic seems to be overlooked accidentally and not because it doesn't interest anyone. Thank you for saying something today. I am often a lurker, as well.
If it is your first project, then a stand-alone card game might be the best way to get your feet wet. I recommend in one of my previous videos to actually try designing a board game first. Unlike a TCG, a board game has a good stopping point where a TCG can carry on forever, constantly expanding.
Wow, this is a short talk TCG lol. And I think I get what you mean so the card rarities are more like the game Settings in a video game of where you have easy difficult hard and really hard, so your card effects should be easy to understand for common cards a little bit more complicated for uncommon cards, and a little bit harder for each rarity. So if I understood that right, OH BOY I got some card effects to rewrite
You got it spot on. This is something I didn't follow in my first set, exactly. But I did know to put accessible cards in the common slot, cards that mix well with others. A few complex ones may have slipped through, though.
Hold up, I'm not a fan of Yugioh, but let's be fair here. Yugioh isn't the wall of text card game because of complexity, Yugioh is the wall of text card game because of the lack of keyword word abilities. It has ZERO of them. They avoid them when possible, because they don't want "geek speak" as they put it.
True, but for new players, just seeing the wall of text can be quite intimidating. I used to play yugioh a lot a few years back. I remember it fondly, but it was tiring to have to read the paragraphs of card texts to just find out it had a similar effect to a card I was already using.
Sorry, it's out late this Monday, but there were some editing issues that had to be resolved.
One thing that I think is useful to share with many TCG designers is what Mark Rosewater says in his article "Quite the Rarity":
While designing the Magic the Gathering cards, the rare ones usually are more complex to understand than the mythic rares, because you as a designer want to make that special moment of pulling out a mythic from your booster emblematic, so the high level of complexity that could cloud the positive emotional effect of that lucky draw is often taken away. They are indeed more powerful and iconic than the rares, but not always they will be the top complex game pieces you have in your game.
I have thought about this recently. It does make more sense to put complicated cards rather than powerful cards in the rare slot. You don't want players to be forced to open so many packs that it just isn't an appealing option anymore. Not everyone can buy boxes and boxes of your game after all. Powerful commons just makes the game more accessible
Exactly.
It also can send you down a different creative route as you analyze your cards to make sure that there are sufficient "easy effects" at low and high level cards, and then do the same for complex effects at low and high level too. It may inspire you to write effects you hadn't previously considered.
2:58 I spent ages on designing this card 😂
Also damn he got those fancy cameras
The tone change with the camera switch bugged me. I'm not sure where to continue like that. But if you don't mind it, then I just might.
Great observation! I think most people forget about beginner players when deciding card rares.
Ive been worried about what makes a card more rare. This is a good video to help my tcg. Thanks
I'm pleased you found some use in my video.
What is your TCG about?
i've been watching your videos all day while working on my own tcg because i've had 4 tcgs i've just deleted everything for them because of being overwhelmed by how much there is to do on a tcg but watching the talk tcgs gives me much more of a grip on what i need to do and i just wanted to say thank you for the very helpful videos.
Never delete everything. Even if you stop designing a game and put it on the shelf, you can always come back to it later or use ideas from one of your old games into your new game. Inspiration comes from anywhere
@@travisbuschette8609 Yeah i learned that the hard way however i am still incorporating ideas from my old tcgs into this current one.
And you can dig them up and appreciate how far you've come from that point, too. Even if nothing is usable (but there is always something useful in old ideas)
Keep everything you make. Starting new is never true. You are always starting with more experience than before.
Thanks for the kind words.
Long time lurker, recent subscriber. I have to say, the enthusiasm you have for your content is contagious, I get pumped for my own TCG whenever watching your videos.
I'm glad this video went up, this is the primary thing I've been dreading in my TCG.
I feel this is a topic that gets overlooked when I am searching through youtube. I'm glad to hear that this topic seems to be overlooked accidentally and not because it doesn't interest anyone.
Thank you for saying something today. I am often a lurker, as well.
Funny how you posted this while I'm making cards
Oh good, I'm not too late to warn you about the rarity thing then.
@@ShardTCG perfect timing
I kinda feel that that rarity mistake applies to my tcg lol.
Me too lol
I have made this mistake as well. But we learn and get better.
We need a video on a combat systems its so hard to get away from MTG or Pokemon combat
That would make a good video, thanks.
I'll look into different battle systems and see what looks interesting.
@@ShardTCG Thanks to you as well for all of the great videos!
Interesting video. I am trying to figure out if I want to make TCG, LCG, or some sort of stand-alone card game.
If it is your first project, then a stand-alone card game might be the best way to get your feet wet. I recommend in one of my previous videos to actually try designing a board game first. Unlike a TCG, a board game has a good stopping point where a TCG can carry on forever, constantly expanding.
Wow, this is a short talk TCG lol. And I think I get what you mean so the card rarities are more like the game Settings in a video game of where you have easy difficult hard and really hard, so your card effects should be easy to understand for common cards a little bit more complicated for uncommon cards, and a little bit harder for each rarity.
So if I understood that right, OH BOY I got some card effects to rewrite
You got it spot on.
This is something I didn't follow in my first set, exactly.
But I did know to put accessible cards in the common slot, cards that mix well with others.
A few complex ones may have slipped through, though.
@@ShardTCG I gotta look over all my cards now lol
Haha, good luck!
Hold up, I'm not a fan of Yugioh, but let's be fair here. Yugioh isn't the wall of text card game because of complexity, Yugioh is the wall of text card game because of the lack of keyword word abilities. It has ZERO of them. They avoid them when possible, because they don't want "geek speak" as they put it.
True, but for new players, just seeing the wall of text can be quite intimidating.
I used to play yugioh a lot a few years back. I remember it fondly, but it was tiring to have to read the paragraphs of card texts to just find out it had a similar effect to a card I was already using.