Over the last week I’ve been working on improving the card frames for readability. Ive had a couple comments about the awkward yellow frame looking like a debug frame for former champions as well as icon placement and presentation feeling out of place. I hear ya loud and clear! Ive finally transitioned from the old playtest prototypes to test print prototypes. I’ve given them a more modern look and feel, and I think they’re turning out pretty clean. I’m still adjusting colors, fonts, sizes, etc. but I am inches away from ordering a physical test print to work on any touch ups. I’d love to know what you think and which version you’d prefer to play with!

Hi all, I realized I needed to make the Design Skeleton for my card game and figured I could record it and share it with others who maybe haven't heard of the idea yet. It's a great way to organize the cards I'm making and help give me direction and keep me on track for the new cards I'm creating. Let me know what you all think!

Working on the 32nd card made me think back to where this project started.

Back then I was serving in the military, and I was also a passionate TCG player. During short breaks, I kept thinking, "What if there was a card game you could finish in just a few minutes?" Every night I'd sit in the military library, sketching ideas for games played with only five or six cards. I think I threw away at least thirteen different prototypes.

After leaving the military, one day I was supposed to be paying attention in my engineering math class... instead, the core design suddenly clicked. I combined my favorite mechanics from previous card games I'd designed: a Speed system that determines who acts first, three-stage Defense that creates a satisfying snowball effect, and a simple objective—defeat three enemy cards to win.

That same weekend I visited a friend who loves TCGs. We grabbed some spare Pokémon cards, stuck Post-it notes on them, drew our prototype cards, and sleeved everything up.

(Seriously, I highly recommend this prototyping method.)

To my surprise, the very first playtest was fun. I'd made several card games before, but I'd never had a first test go that smoothly. Of course, a lot changed afterward. I experimented with different directions and eventually settled on players bringing seven cards and choosing five each game, which added much more meaningful decision-making.

Around that point I started thinking, "Maybe this is something I actually want to put out into the world."

So I began designing proper card frames at university—a clean white geometric style inspired by one of my older projects. Then came the worldbuilding... and the artwork.

Honestly, after finishing only three illustrations, I wanted to quit. Designing mechanics was much faster than drawing the cards, and it felt like the art would never catch up.

The reason I didn't stop was because someone from the Homemade TCG Discord kept helping me with playtesting. That encouragement made a bigger difference than they probably realize.

Eventually I reached my first milestone of 18 cards. Now I'm already working on the first booster expansion.

It's been a surprisingly long journey, and at the same time it feels like it's only beginning. Now I catch myself imagining things like community tournaments, custom playmats, and seeing other people build decks I never expected.

Creating TCGs has been the longest-running hobby of my life. Along the way I've met some genuinely great people, learned a lot about game design, and had countless conversations with others who enjoy making games.

To me, that's what makes TCGs special. You build decks alone, compete with someone else, and afterward everyone ends up talking together.

If you're working on your own homemade TCG, I genuinely hope you keep going.

And if anyone has a game they'd like another set of eyes on during July, feel free to send me a message. I'd be happy to help playtest.

Hi everyone!

I'm back again with another card to share, Malachite Sword. I am a big fan of this one, as the illustrator, Ivanwithvodka, has expertly captured the cross section look and colour of malachite.

The card's effect sounds really good (and it is), but one question you might have is in a game called Spell Chain, why wouldn't you want a card in your deck that deals bonus damage if a spell has activated. That's because this card is an artifact (defined by the grey backrgound). Artifacts are typically unaffected by buffs, combos, multiplers etc. as they effect other spells. So generally speaking, artifacts will have a higher damage floor, but lower ceiling, as is the case with Malachite Sword.

If you want to learn more about Spell Chain TCG, join the Discord and check out our Youtube videos. We are also live on Kickstarter, so if you want to get your hands on the first print run of Spell Chain TCG, be sure to back it. We also have a website where you can find all our cards - spellchaintcg.com

Discord - https://discord.gg/AmHES9dbdN

YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/@SpellChainTCG/videos

I'm really happy with the way it turned out and plan to commission from them again when possible.

What do you guys think? This will eventually have foiling over it when it get's professionally produced.

Illustration by miegotauras

If you would like to donate to this project to help commission artists, we do have a Ko-Fi set up: https://ko-fi.com/spiritmasterstcg

Since I am planning a playtest for Archiverra soon I am trying to streamline onboarding by providing starter decks/cards for new players as to not overwhelm anyone at the start. With this players can choose to either start by creating a few cards or jump straight into the matches.

This is 3 cards from a spider themed starter deck with cards created in the games card creator. I am quite happy with how these turned out.

I want to create 3 starter decks for the playtest to choose from. The spider deck is a kind of midrange synergy deck. What other themes/deck strategies would you like to have as a starter deck if you got to chose?

Game: MeleeMon TCG

I am just about ready to start a Discord for my self-made TCG, as well as the TableTopia prototype, to get playtest feedback and build a community leading up to my games official Kickstarter launch.

Essentially, I am looking for some insight on running a Discord and wondering what you would like to see in a discord about an upcoming card game you were interested in? I have no experience running any kind of community, not much experience with Discord in general, and am feeling a little intimidated by it.

Any thoughts would be wonderful and appreciated!

[Photos are of my game, the first one is a powerful card in my game, the second is a screenshot in TableTopia, the third is a promo image for the website.]

This is a sketch card I made to test some of the new card ideas (first image).

What do you think about including cards like this in the game as a "Not Rare At All" rarity?

There would probably only be one card like this in the entire 50-card pool.

Would that be a fun little surprise, or would it feel out of place?

I've done some fine tuning to my card templates. I'll add texture and pictures later.

This deisgn is fairly simple, and I've shown it in previous posts, but it's a key enabler in one of the starting decks I plan to make, which is focused on discard and draw synergy. Also, the card is supposed to let you discard and draw if you do, but I'm too lazy to fix it.

Changes:

I'm capitalizing on the top corners of the cards more by adding the faction to the top left.

Factions are no longer named after their color, both differentiating the game from Magic and giving the game it's own identity. They also each get a symbol, shown in the top left corner.

Red -> Fervor

Orange -> Unity

Yellow -> Glory

Green. -> Vitality

Blue -> Choice

Purple -> Resolution

I also added flavor text to make it more clear who the character is without pictures.

Thoughts?

I did more playtesting tonight to compare my resource systems. The new one feels much much better than the old.

The old resource system had players get two resources a turn to play cards or save them for next turn and get more.

The new system puts more emphasis on the location cards. start on the field before the game. They rotate and produce one resource at the start of your turn. If the resource isn’t spent, they rotate again next turn, gaining another resource. Up to 3 resources can be on each location. Turn the location card the other way to spend the resource.

Now back to the drawing board on the games mana curve!

Another placeholder background! Real ones coming soon!

Been working on a card game for a bit recently. Just started play testing but designed up a few cards over a couple days to get a feel for how i wanted to format stuff. Any feedback?

The UI and the themes are falling into place for Archiverra.

The matches now have a working UI to show both the board and a overall overview in a battlelog where players may follow the step by step progression of the game.

I am biased. But the game is starting to present some level of strategic choice both in card creation and game-play.

Looking forward to testing this game further -> Open Beta test is planned to start 4th of August and will be running for the whole month.

feel free to join the discord for mor info.

Hi everyone! I've been working on my own trading card game called Biome Battles, and I'd love to get some feedback from people with more TCG design experience before I get too deep into creating cards.

The Core Idea

Instead of players having life points, each player defends a Biome. Your Biome acts as both your deck's identity and your win condition.

Each Biome has 20 Health. As long as you control creatures, your opponent has to fight through them first. Once your creatures are gone, they can attack your Biome directly. Destroy the opposing Biome to win.

Games are intended to last around 20–30 minutes and be easy to learn, difficult to master.

Affinities

The game currently has eight elemental Affinities:

• Pyro (Fire)
• Hydro (Water)
• Phyto (Plant)
• Geo (Stone)
• Ferro (Metal)
• Cryo (Ice)
• Electro (Lightning)
• Aero (Wind)

Each Affinity will eventually have its own distinct playstyle and mechanics.

Core Biomes

Each Affinity has one signature Biome:

• Ember Peak (Volcano)
• Azure Reef (Coral Reef)
• Verdant Wilds (Jungle)
• Sunscar Dunes (Desert)
• Ironstride Colossus (A massive walking mechanical city)
• Frozen Expanse (Tundra)
• Stormshard Plains (Perpetual storms where lightning has magnetized the land, causing shattered pillars of earth to float)
• Skyreach Isles (Floating islands)

Current Mechanics

• Players begin the game by placing their Biome.
• Creatures can attack the turn they're played.
• Maximum of 5 creatures on the battlefield.
• Mana starts at 1, increases by 1 each turn, and caps at 10.
• Current card types are:
  • Biomes
  • Creatures
  • Items
  • Structures

Where I'm Stuck

The biggest thing I'm trying to figure out right now is the Biome mechanic.

My original idea was for every Biome to have a simple once-per-turn ability, but the more I think about it, the more I want those abilities to influence how you play your hand and manage resources, rather than simply giving creatures +Attack or healing them.

I want each Biome to fundamentally change how its player thinks and acts, not just make its creatures stronger.

Questions

• Does the overall premise sound interesting?
• What are some pitfalls I should watch out for with Biomes acting as both the player's "base" and their deck identity?
• Do you have ideas for making each Affinity feel mechanically unique?
• If you've designed a TCG before, what's one piece of advice you wish you'd known early on?

I'd appreciate any thoughts or critiques. Thanks!

Anyone got a valid invite link for the Homemade TCG Community Discord? I was a part of it, but I must've accidentally deleted it. Any link i try says its invalid or to try again. PLS help!

Nevermind...

Hi everyone, I hope you all had a great weekend!

I'd like to share the artwork and card, Water Prison. This card is great for dealing with Summon cards that have already activated. While Banish will destroy a Summon unconditionally, Water Prison is a card that let's you deal damage as well, providing you get the timing in a chain right. Water Prison also has the Water seal, so it can be buffed by other cards targetting Water cards. Moreover, if you run Atlantis in your deck (which allows you to move Water cards around the chain before activation occurs), you can easily get the timing right for the conditional effect.

If you want to learn more about Spell Chain TCG, join the Discord and check out our Youtube videos. We are also live on Kickstarter, so if you want to get your hands on the first print run of Spell Chain TCG, be sure to back it. We also have a website where you can find all our cards - spellchaintcg.com

Discord - https://discord.gg/AmHES9dbdN

YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/@SpellChainTCG/videos

Hey all! Sending along a bunch of designs I made for a game I’m working on (working title FatedFortune21- think blackjack with extra steps).

Some of the fonts and font placements differ on the cards because I’m trying things out to see what I like best. Latest change was working on custom text boxes for each frame that are less lazy than my originals so I can afford to increase font size. Also shifted to a 4 color palette for arts to try to go for more of a woodblock print vibe.

Any and all feedback is welcome and appreciated! Looking mostly on the graphic design side of things for now - rest will be solved by playtesting.

I just finished a couple of hours of playtesting my game with my fiancée, and while the resource management and other aspects felt good, the combat was the biggest issue. We talked through a few ideas, but each one seemed to raise new issues, and I'd like some feedback.

In my game, 2 of the card types are monsters and your user. Monsters have a cost, an attack stat, a defense stat, and a "surge" stat. A player has 1 surge action each turn where they can exile/banish 1 card in their hand, OR any number of monsters on their board to gain that amount of mana, so you can spend it on playing other cards. This is the main way you gain mana in my game, besides the few you passively gain at the start of your turn. They can be destroyed by battle or card effect. Cards can attack the turn they are played as long as it's not the very first turn of the whole game. When a monster is attacked and destroyed in battle, the attacking player gains particles equal to the destroyed monster's Surge.

Your user is basically the player's avatar and sits in the User zone, where you can either move it to your board or back to the User zone once during your turn. It has its own attack and defence stats and effects that it can use regardless of the zone it's in. It can't be destroyed or banished, but if its Def is lower than an attacking card's Atk, the attacked player takes damage equal to the difference. You can have up to 3 Monsters/User on your board total.

Battling works by the turn player entering their battle phase, where they can only play instants and declare attacks by choosing which card they want to attack with and the attack target. Then, the attacked player can decide to let the attack go through as directed or block it with another monster/user on their field, which changes the attack target to the blocking monster/user. From there, battle starts, and the attacking card checks to see if its Atk is higher than the attacked card's Def, and if it is, the attacked card is destroyed if it's a monster, or damage is dealt if it's a User. Each card can only block one attack each turn, and battles are declared and resolved one at a time. If the player being attacked has no monsters on their board, the turn player can declare direct attacks to deal full damage. The User does not count as a monster for this but can block a direct attack. After the turn player is done declaring attacks, they move straight to the end phase.

In testing, we kept running into issues where one of us had a high-def monster we couldn't beat over, and had to resort to waiting until one of us could capitalize or find an out. She especially found it frustrating when she had 3 monsters, but couldn't beat over the 1 or 2 high-def monsters, and was stuck not being able to damage me. One solution would be to include a "damaged" state where once a card is attacked, if it wasn't destroyed, it's def is treated as 0 for the rest of the turn, but I want to make sure I'm not overlooking other potential solutions to this issue. In my own playtesting and the time we spent playing together, the resource loop, card effects, and board building feel like they play well and are pretty fun to do. It's mainly in battle when things can slow down if both sides can't beat down each other's biggest Def card.

Any thoughts/input are very much appreciated, and I'm happy to explain/answer any questions about the game itself if it would help. Also, sorry if my names for things aren't original, I'm replacing some names with other games' counterparts to simplify the explanation.

The background is a placeholder