With Customizable Card games constantly coming out with new content, as well as entire new games coming out and others completely dying, we see a lot of diversity in rules and communities. One thing I've noticed that sees less diversity is the actual card. Most games that are successful tend to have a set template that follows:
As seen above, these are 4 different games that all met success (though the Dragon Ball Z card game died as the anime reached its end in America) all use the same basic layout to show these 3 things. The name is at the top of the card, typically towards the left side. Below the name is a picture showing what the entity that the card represents is supposed to look like. Below the picture (sometimes below more identifying information such as type) is a text box that tells you what kind of effects or abilities the card has that can affect the game.
Well no shit. You really are talented at pointing out the obvious.
Sure maybe we've grown accustomed to it and maybe some people have picked up on the resemblances between games, but I assure you many out there just haven't taken this kind of thing into account. Most people don't bother noticing because when they do take on multiple customizable card games they're just so used to the one that they play that they just naturally are used to the placement and don't bother questioning it, or even worse, admiring it.
So what? How is it important?
Well the first thing about it is the ease of use for people who play multiple games. As I said people just become accustomed to the format of their cards so when they look at a card from another game, even without know the rules, they can usually identify very quickly what the card's name is, what the entity is supposed to look at, and where to read the ability/effect. What goes further is that this is a tried and true formula, dating back to the origin of the first CCG, Magic the Gathering.
Since the genre is categorized as a Collectible Card Game or Trading Card Game, it's natural that the first thing people need is the identity of the card. Anyone who has traded or bought a single card should appreciate this aspect as you typically don't ask for the card by its effect text or other attributes, you ask for the card by name. I'm not too knowledgeable on other languages around the world, but with English we're taught to read from left to right and top to bottom. With something that has text on it we'll look at the top left corner out of habit simply because it's how we receive text-based information. It's no coincidence that a game that seconds as a collecting and trading hobby has the main identity of the card be placed where you would first logically start reading.
But people often identify cards by their artwork? Why isn't that first?
Well I don't play Vanguard but I believe it actually does put the artwork before everything else on the card. That aside, I'd say the reason that the name is first is because it is the first way to identify the card. Sure, when you're looking for a card you want you'll know the artwork, but without the name what would you ask for, "That one card with the picture of a black robed man with a staff"? No, you'll ask by name. Those who might now know the picture will be looking for the card name that you asked for. Not only is it easier to ask for the card by name, but usually the name is easier to distinguish than like-pictured cards or cards with more than one piece of artwork with subsequent releases.
So if that's the case, why is artwork important at all?
As far as gameplay goes, the appearance of something usually isn't at all important. But I'm sure none of the CCGs that exist today would be as successful without the artwork that comes with the experience. It's an aesthetically pleasing aspect of the card that further identifies it. Some of the first video games were text-only games where the only thing you had on your screen was text explaining the situation that you as the player were in, and those days are thankfully behind us because it's not as fun without something that we can enjoy looking at. But if you insist on this point please feel free to tell me which successful CCG you play that is absent of artwork.
So why should the artwork be between the name and effect then? Since relaying information is supposedly so important shouldn't it be the other way around?
Not at all. The picture is still an important part of identifying the card and gives the players a buffer between the name and gameplay aspect of the card. Putting the picture on bottom would essentially put all of the text in one spot and while some people might find that to be more convenient or productive, it also serves as a way to jumble all of the information into one spot and take away from the experience by belittling the artwork and thought that went into the creative aspect of that card.
This also comes back to a point from earlier. Many people can identify a card by the picture and most people have an easier time recognizing an upside-down picture than reading upside-down text. If the card sees a lot of play and people have become accustomed to the artwork of specific cards, then they have an easier time identifying the card when it is played on the other side of the table because of it. Positioning the artwork closer to the top puts the image closer to the opponent even if it is only a couple of inches. They don't need to center their eyes passed the large text box to see the picture and instead can identify the card faster, making the game more streamlined and fun for everyone involved.
Well those 3 things aren't the only parts of the card. What do you have to say about them?
No they're not. Most CCGs also have a numeric and/or mathematics aspect to it. Like Dungeons and Dragons and various other D20 based games, many CCGs base strengths and weaknesses on various numeric values displayed on the card.
As we can see here, most of the numbers on these cards are aligned to the right side of the card. As a matter of fact, out of the cards above, the only time you see numbers that aren't aligned to the right are numbers that aren't relevant to the actual game at all, a weakness aspect to a specific card type, and a representation of which stage a card is at, the latter 2 being markers that help the identity of the card.
Mewtwo EX's weakness to Psychic is something of a character trait in the card game and while I personally believe that the aspects on the bottom of a Pokemon card should swap sides (Weakness, Resistance, and Retreat cost to the right, with the EX rule text on the left) it would likely alienate the existing players for the layout to be changed at this stage. For Krillin, the Number 3 displayed on the left side shows that he is a stage 3 card, meaning he cannot be played until the first 2 stages of Krillin have been played, which makes this number a method of identifying the card itself (example: Stage 3 Krillin).
The main similarity that we can see is that almost the entirety of combat-based numbers are aligned to the right. In Magic and Yu-Gi-Oh, the numbers in the bottom right corner represent their ability to perform in combat with the opposing player or creatures and are even put in a similar order (Power and Attack before Toughness and Defense). In Pokemon, the numbers on the right are all used for combat with the HP representing how much damage it can take and the numbers that correspond to the Attacks show how much damage they deal to the opponent. Dragon Ball Z (and similarly the Dragon Ball GT card game) show Power Levels on the right side. These, through conjunction with the rules and Scouter cards help players identify how much damage they can do to the opponent with Physical Attacks, and can increase or decrease in stages based on events that take place during the game.
So they're similar, but since you're such a smarty pants I want you to explain why it's the most logical layout.
I'll admit this one has me a bit stumped. My personal opinion would be that since Combat in most Customizable Card Games sets itself apart from other aspects of the game considerably, it makes sense to have the cards display combat-based mechanics in such a way that it stands out more. While I covered that we're naturally going to be reading from left to right, having something that starts on the right can also catch our eye when set apart from everything else there. It wouldn't be a leap to say that this was done in order to let the player know the significance of that aspect of the game specifically and helping to bring focus to that portion of the card when needed.
So now we've covered Names, Art, Effects, and Combat aspects of the cards. That's almost the entirety of every card and we can see here how almost every game follows a similar trend that not only communicated information to the player effectively, but does so in a way that is nearly uniform to other card games. The main thing I didn't cover here were aspects that are more unique to each game (methods of summoning cards, for example) which obviously don't always need to be uniform due to the drastic differences between rule sets.
So what did we learn here? Nothing? Then you wasted your time reading this. What I hope you walk away with is a higher appreciation for the layout of whatever card game you decide to play. If you play multiple CCGs I think that appreciation is well earned, and if you transitioned into a new CCG because of prior experience with another this also is something to be thankful for. While it is easy by a long shot to say that most of the CCGs followed the footsteps of Magic, that's definitely a GOOD thing. When Magic the Gathering was created, they were really on to something with the layout and it works like a charm.
Card art; It's just as important as anything else because these cards are meant to spark our imaginations. Probably set in the middle because the way our minds work is basically the order that the cards are set up. Here is something, what does it look like? Okay, then what does it do? I honestly think that a card game could manage if the name came after the artwork, but it would probably mess up our thought process.
ReplyDeleteAs for numbers listed on the right, it follows the same rules. Here's information, what are the maths? Oh, okay, right here. besides the DBZ one (which I think is set up like it is because of how much information is involved) they are all mostly on the bottom right, meaning the last thing we read but the most important for processing. The Pokemon card is set up like it is because of their attacks system. You'd have to keep the numbers for each attack even with the attack itself or else, confusion out the wazoo.
Really good info. Keep up the good work :)
Oh, I forgot to mention an example you should have used. Card art would be equivalent to art on a game board. Imagine playing candyland with a plain white board and cards that just had numbers on them. It's just not as magical feeling. There's not a sense of "I'm in this really cool looking place!!" and that really sucks.
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