Show Posts

This section allows you to view all posts made by this member. Note that you can only see posts made in areas you currently have access to.


Messages - Ithry

Pages: 1 ... 3 4 [5] 6
61
Making Cards / Re: Newbie questions about printing
« on: September 16, 2016, 01:00:53 pm »
Turnaround time is about a few weeks to your door, depending on area. The card printing itself is usually 3-5 days-ish, depending on volume and the amount of orders they have. You can get more specifics here:

http://www.printerstudio.com/shipping.aspx

http://www.makeplayingcards.com/shipping.aspx


62
Making Cards / Re: Newbie questions about printing
« on: September 14, 2016, 12:59:16 am »
Glad to help!

63
General Discussion / Re: TSSSF Spinoffs in Other Fandoms
« on: September 14, 2016, 12:58:36 am »
Touhou Project, of course! I had a (ponified) set queued up for this year, but it looks like it will end up being next year!

64
General Discussion / Re: Banned Cards List
« on: September 12, 2016, 10:08:15 pm »
The Chocolate Pony (Chocolate Pony Promo 1):
It's a general unwritten rule of card games that powers that skip player's turns are a no-no. The Chocolate Pony more or less reads "You, you, and...you don't have fun." Coupled with the fact that SOME players get to play their turn normally makes this one even more unfun. As written it technically reads "If you play a Pony with a food-based name, then you don't have to skip your turn and can play other cards normally." As intended I imagine it's supposed to be "You can only play cards with food-based names." but I'm not positive of this.

Party Prize (Chocolate Pony Horse Famous 2015 Promo):
As much as I adore the flavor-mechanics on this card, activating every power on the grid when it is played is more often than not completely overpowered. Players seem to have fun with it though, so I may add it back into my deck from time to time.

Ahcyknnt (Indiegogo):
Another unwritten rule of card games is that the cards are immediately readable (in the intended language). New players never know what it does and I can never remember. No one I have played with has ever been excited to decrypt a cipher, they just want to play the game.

Bunny Hare Rabbit (Gracious Givers 2):
If the grid is big enough to trigger this card, then it is likely that its resolution will take forever and bring the game to a halt as one player spends an unbearably long time trying to figure out the optimal board state.

I Was a Teenage Pinata, All Changes Are Permeant, You Made Eye Contact, Ties That Bind (Chocolate Pony Promo 3, Chocolate Pony BABSCon 2015, Everfree RAT promo, FoE Fanfic):
Ship cards are played under Pony cards, so they are illegible in this state and no one ever remembers that they are active. There's a reason official Ship powers only last until the end of the turn at most.


65
Making Cards / Re: Newbie questions about printing
« on: September 12, 2016, 08:46:26 pm »
it has me wondering if I should order a box for these things

I'd imagine the tuck boxes they ship in aren't super sturdy and won't fit sleeved cards if you're going that route. You could always order a few card boxes on Amazon. I use a 1000 count longbox that you can get at your local game store (or Amazon) for a few bucks and that's worked out well for me so far: https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CnsoKWwVMAI7fQv.jpg

Without a tuckbox, sites like Printer Studio just ship the cards shrink wrapped in a standard shipping box.


66
Making Cards / Re: Newbie questions about printing
« on: September 12, 2016, 11:54:32 am »
I'm using the site that HPP linked on their site. I'm assuming that they're a fairly good place to do business, yes?
They're fine, though their prices have raised a bit lately. You could also use Make Playing Cards. Since you're printing such a small print run, the prices wouldn't be much different, if at all. If you use Make Playing Cards, they have two "Poker" sizes, standard and metric. Standard is slightly larger and what the original HPP Core/Expansions and many of the older fan cards are. Metric is slightly smaller and what 1.1.4 Core and many of the new fan cards are (Slice of Starswirl Academy, Bronycon 2016 promo, Lunar Shine/Sweet Cream's group printing of 1.1.6 Core). Sleeving solves the size problem, so up to you who to use. Standard is what Printer Studio prints out at.

standard: http://www.makeplayingcards.com/design/custom-blank-card-traditional-size.html
metric: http://www.makeplayingcards.com/design/custom-blank-card.html

Would there be any discernible difference if I chose 310 gpm over 300?
Yeah, linen finish is noticeably different than smooth. Current cards are 300 gsm smooth.

Is there any advantage to choosing fully plastic cards?
Not that I can think of. If you're worried about long term damage, just sleeve them.

Are there any additional cards people would recommend printing out along with all of these?
May as well print out all of the official cards like the workshop cards and con promos as well if you weren't considering it. Cupcakes! from It's Practically Canon has finished art. As far as fan cards, Inconvenient Trixie and the Children of Kefentse promos (Pardon Our Dust, Online Chat Room, and Dizzy Frizzy, Patron Saint of Shippers) have full bleed files on Shipficbooru you can use. Alternate art Druid Fluttershy is on there as well.

67
Showcase / Re: GLAB Exclusive...
« on: September 11, 2016, 12:38:48 am »
Exciting! Any way one might be able to acquire these if they aren't attending either of those cons? I should be at Bronycon, but checking just in case!

I assume Holding Out For a Hero means "break up 3 ships involving a Pony with the Villain keyword" not "break up 3 ships using a Pony with the Villain keyword", right?

Also I'd advise removing the Foal keyword from those Pony cards. While TSSSF does feature foals on some of their cards (Cutie Mark Crusaders: Matchmakers!, Suspiciously Romantic Random Picnic, etc.), they are always aged up on Pony cards as to not imply any relations involving underaged characters. While this is the main reason I advise it, there's also nothing in the set that cares about that keyword. Since I don't believe anyone else will be using it, there's not much of a reason to future proof for this either.

68
Showcase / Re: Made Our Mark Mini Expansion
« on: September 10, 2016, 12:18:13 am »
What if someone else gets the card instead and I've never heard the song they chose?

A note from my Design Journal about Captivating Song: I used the phrasing "join in" and not "sing along" to include players who might have lost their voice or are otherwise unable to speak. The player using her power can decide what "join in" constitutes, though generally things like dancing would be considered fair game for "joining in". This phrasing was also used so that a player cannot sing a song that no player knows to make everyone discard Goals.

As of right now, I'm not planning on going to any cons other than local ones (so yes, I live around the Dallas area), so I don't know if I'll be in the same con as you anytime soon.
I'm considering selling sets online, though I'm not sure if I will yet. Keep an eye on the social media. With any luck, I'll be at Nightmare Nights next year!

(I mean, I don't know if I'd drop a grand on just a dozen or so cards, but you get the idea.)
Don't worry, they're not going to be anywhere near that much lol.

69
Showcase / Re: Made Our Mark Mini Expansion
« on: September 09, 2016, 06:39:47 pm »
@Raribot
Thanks!

@Lord LunaEquie is me
Hello! Glad you like my sets! Sweetie Belle was fun to design. I usually don't like meta cards that much, but she ended up working out really well!

I won't be at Nightmare Nights this year, but if everything works out, the Cutie Mark Crusaders Forever! card will be given out by Nightmare Nights in some capacity! I still have to contact them about it, so hopefully they will be willing!

I'm planning on selling my cards at conventions, so I'd appreciate if you didn't print them out. Obviously I can't stop you, but I've only put up watermarked bleedless cards in an attempt to deter people from doing so.

I'll be at Running of the Leaves Con later this year selling the sets Made Our Mark, Wonderbolt Nights, Equestrian Girls, and Shipping and Handling! If you'd like to see new card releases and where I'll be vending at, feel free to follow me on social media (or just check back here periodically!):
https://twitter.com/mailordermare
http://mailordermare.tumblr.com/
https://www.facebook.com/mailordermare/
http://ithryskylark.deviantart.com/gallery/

70
General Discussion / What Are Your Favorite TSSSF Cards?
« on: August 24, 2016, 01:20:36 am »
What the title says: What are your favorite cards of each type (official or fan-made) and why? I couldn't pick just 1 of each, so I did a bit more:

Pony
Babs "The Breaker" Seed (Cutie Mark Criminals): This is liable to be my favorite card in the whole game, and it's not just because of Babs. Probably the best title/art to mechanics Special power. She just straight up punches dudes out, and sometimes that's all you need.
Speed Racing Spirit (FanPon): The best card in the FanPon set, and it shows. Spectacular art, great flavor text, and the best, most effective, meaningful, non-Start card static power mechanically in the game! It's simple and something all players should care about, so no one will forget AND it's beneficial so she's likely to stay in play.
Tracy Cage (4 Chan Promo): Why punch dudes out when you can just stab them? While not the prettiest card in the game, It probably has the most straightforward power name to mechanic I can think of. Also stellar flavor text. Never >4444get.
Spiritualist Feather Tip (Uprising): A solution to a problem that's been long awaited. Clean and elegant. Deals with any problems your local fan created set might cause. Great flavor as well.
Honorable Mention - Applejack's Parents (Hearthswarming): Because they went there.

Goal
Self-Insertion (Core): I'd think that this was one of the first cards made in TSSSF, because damn it needs to exist, and it does. Why have one of the best mane 6, when you can have three?
Performance Anxiety (FanPon): Cards that touch on the lewder side of this game are usually great, but I think this one is the best!
Recolor (Extra Credit): Amazing example of top-down design, or bottom-up design, whichever it was. Simple.
Honorable Mention - Legally Distinct Human Crossover Fic (Slice of Starswirl Academy): One of my favorite TSSSF card names. It's almost as if a longer name was needed to justify the set, and thus this card.

Ship
Uprising Against the Robot Uprising (Promo for Sherclop Pones): I'm a huge fan of Friendship is Witchcraft, and this card makes the series proud. My favorite card name in the game.
All Good Things Must End (So Long and Thanks): I love a good out, and this card does it perfectly. I don't even lose for it! Also friendship.
Delusion (My DA Gallery, Western and ArFaise): I absolutely love the art on this card. When is this getting a physical print? I need it in my deck.
Honorable Mention - Gotta Ship Fast (Sonic set): It gets a laugh every time it hits the table. Sometimes you have to put ponies in a relationship in an extremely quick manner.

Start
Fanfic Author Laura Hartley (Slice of Starswirl Academy): Elegant mechanic to support an elegant set. Also super menacing art.
Fanfic Author Twilight (Core): A classic. No TSSSF without her. Also best mane 6.
Dizzy Frizzy, Patron Saint of Shippers (Children of Kefentse Promo):  A labor of love. Also a legit selection because I didn't work on the whole thing.
Honorable Mention - Maybe Fanfic Author (My DA Gallery, Western and ArFaise): I love the naming scheme on this card and have been trying to come up with something similar ever since.

EDIT: Added Spiritualist Feather Tip to the Pony list.

71
Card Mechanics / Re: TSSSF Playtest Sheet
« on: August 17, 2016, 01:29:30 am »
The playtest group I normally test TSSSF with visibly reacted negatively when they saw the playtest sheet (one of them physically recoiled) and more or less asked to stop the game after three turns. After a few turns, we had learned enough to give plenty of feedback on the sheet.

According to your original post, the main points of this sheet are: 1. To see how often Goals are won and 2. How hard they were to achieve to determine game "flow". Based on this and general playtesting experience, we produced the following notes:

-Numbers without context isn't that useful. Things like number of Goals is nice, but knowing which Goals are active, were achieved, etc. is much more useful. Names are generally more important than numbers.

-Notes should be taken after the game (Usually. Hotfixes for the sake of testing is fine). The information, concerns, etc. that stick with players at the end of the game is the most relevant.

-Taking information down during the game slows it down, players don't have fun, and in extreme cases forget what is going on in the game. Taking down information during a turn took twice as long as it took a player to perform a full turn. Since end of turn information had to be recorded as part of this sheet, gameplay was stopped every turn so that the information recorder could catch up.

-TL;DR: The best way to test is to play a lot. See what works and what doesn't. Notes will come naturally from playtesting. Most versions of games I test for work are ideally tested hundreds of times each version if possible. Obviously this isn't possible for everyone, but I'd imagine you've played enough TSSSF to have some good intuition on set testing and game flow.

This is not to say that a playtest sheet is irrelevant, just not to this extent. To help, our group broke down each element on the playtest sheet and noted why we felt it was relevant or irrelevant to general testing:

Build: Relevant. Obvious reasons.
House Rules: Relevant. Obvious reasons.
Date: Irrelevant unless one is compiling data from multiple versions or possibly over long periods.
Number: For active playtesting, number is irrelevant. If one is playing so much that it affects gameplay they probably shouldn't be playing as this affects good playtesting.
Initial Goals: Point value isn't relevant, but what Goals are active are. You can glean point value from the names and what Goal requirements are is much more relevant to game flow than the point value.
Hand: Irrelevant. This is almost always 4 Ponies and 3 Ships (in my experience at least).
Draw: Somewhat useful but time consuming to track, especially with Pinkie Pie powers. Just some general information on how often digging for many cards to achieve certain Goals is useful and how often this occurs.
Search: Same as Draw, but with digging for answers.
End: This info can be gleaned from other sheet information. Not particularly relevant.
Used: Same as End, but slightly more relevant. What cards were used is much more relevant than the number of cards used. Somewhat like Draw and Search in that many cards used can be interpreted as using powers to achieve Goals, though without knowing which cards were used it's hard to say.
Grid: Irrelevant unless board wipes occur. What cards are on grid are somewhat relevant (like static powers), but not so much number.
Discard: Irrelevant. Information can be gleaned from other data.
Won: As stated earlier, which Goals are won is much more useful information than number of Goals won, though number can still be relevant.
Replaced: Irrelevant. Hardly any Goals refer to this and without knowing board state it's hard to say if they were used to get rid of hand, deal with threats, or deny player's possible power usage.
Duds: Irrelevant. In my experience, this hardly ever happens.
Notes: Extremely relevant for reasons stated above.
Score: Relevant. Obvious reasons.
Goals: Overarching information like this can be relevant, especially as it can be recorded after the game is over. Most relevant is Goals achieved, followed by discarded, then active.
Pony: Same as Goals.
Ship: Same as Pony.

I hope this information will be useful to your research. Please let me know if you'd like any clarification on anything or if you have a newer sheet you'd like my group and I to test out!

Playtest sheet: http://i.imgur.com/lDKZUjG.jpg (Rodeo was the only achieved Goal):

72
Showcase / Re: Miscellaneous Cards
« on: June 13, 2016, 11:59:22 am »

73
Showcase / Wonderbolt Nights Mini Pack
« on: June 12, 2016, 01:31:09 pm »
Wonderbolt Nights is a 4 card set featuring the main characters from the episode Wonderbolts Academy as we see what they might do during their off time. Designed by me and with art by Arcadian Phoenix!

This will be available in limited quantities for free at Bronycon and will be sold later this year at Running of the Leaves Con!


74
Making Cards / Re: Making THE MOTHERLOAD of TSSSF cards
« on: May 27, 2016, 09:50:11 pm »
Personally, I wouldn't be interested. The HPP long box doesn't fit all of the official cards sleeved, not to mention it wouldn't fit all of the official cards along with any number of fan cards. 

(Less relevant is the fact that I already have all of the official non-hard-to-find cards.)

It may sell well as a one-stop buy, depending on price.

75
Conventions / Re: BronyCon
« on: May 18, 2016, 12:31:08 am »
Sounds good! I'll also have 9 (ish) new cards to give out as well!

In the spirit of Mark Rosewater's set teasers, I'll mention some information about the cards coming out!

-A card you've already seen.
-A card with a pretty solid power.
-A card that pays homage to a well known person associated with Horrible People.
-A card where the only limit is your IMAGINATION.
-A popular show line, now in TSSSF form!
-A card featuring a prior antagonist.
-A card featuring one of the mane 6 after hours.
-A card that would make Jack the Ripper jealous.
-A card designed with fun in mind.

Pages: 1 ... 3 4 [5] 6