Christmas is just around the corner, and everyone is on the hunt for unique and interesting presents to buy each other, but few presents mean as much as the ones we make ourselves.
Card games are very fun and surprisingly easy to make if you have a good idea, focus on creativity and are shrewd about how you prepare and print cards. Many successful games got their start with test runs, such as Cards Against Humanity and Magic: The Gathering.
If you have an idea for a cool game, want a special gift for your friends and family or just want to make something unique, here is how to get started with making a homemade card game.
Step One: Think About Your Concept
The ideas part is exceptionally fun, and before you look to start printing, it is a good idea to know what you want to do with your card game.
Most of the best and most unique card games have a unique central idea or they look to fix a problem you have with other card games.
The popular game Yu-Gi-Oh attempted to make a card game that did not need a resource card, unlike Magic: The Gathering and the Pokemon Trading Card Game, which had Land and Energy cards respectively.
The only limit here is your imagination, so think about what you find fun in a game, and start to think about themes, concepts and game rules.
At this point, if you can write your rules, do so, but feel free to adapt and adjust them as you make your cards and come up with more ideas.
Step Two: Making Your Cards
There are so many ways to make your cards, from drawing and writing the text on them yourself, or using image editing or desktop publishing programs such as Photoshop and InDesign to design cards.
All of these are fine for a homemade game, although to get them printed they need to be a digital file so you may need to scan cards that were made by hand.
The key thing to consider when making these cards is to maintain a uniform style throughout. The most important part of your card design is the card back for this very reason.
As card games are about randomness, every single card that goes into a deck needs to have the same back otherwise you can tell when some cards are being played.
Make sure every card that you are making has a consistent size unless they are not going into your deck. Typically trading card games use what we call “small card”, which is 55 x 85 mm, but of course, this can vary.
Just remember that for a trading card game you will want to shuffle them and that’s easier with smaller cards.
As for the front, being clear is more important than the style of your cards. Make sure that the card’s name, any text on the card and any numbers or symbols that are part of the game’s rules are easy to read.
As for card images, you can use stock images when you are just starting, or feel free to draw and add your art in. Both have been used to great effect in hundreds of games.
Design enough cards to make your game work, then set them up individually as a two-page PDF document, with the card front and universal card back set to your requested card size.
Step Three: Printing
Once you have a consistent size, it is time to print them out. You can print trading cards the same way you print flash cards online, by arranging an order with an effective and trusted printer.
From there you can choose your quantity, card size (A7 or Small Card is highly recommended here), as well as your finish and whether you want them to be laminated.
Once you are ready, place your order and once it arrives you are the proud owner of a brand new, unique card game!
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