Quote from: vixentorgames on June 03, 2014, 01:07:13 AM

15K will print both decks, pay for the boxes, coins and dice, and cover transaction fees, to boot. There's even a margin for uncollected pledges. I reran the numbers a half-dozen times to make sure, because the last thing I need is to get stuck with less money than I need to pay the bills.

Last time I got a quote was March of 2013. To do a 2 deck branded run- same art work, just different color was $14,500. That's not including any tax. KS/Amazon fees should be close to 10%. that would put you at $16k plus. Then add the coins, dice, boxes, US shipping, etc. International shipping doesn't help either. That's a direct subtraction from the funding. If your International shipping adds up to $1,000, then you possible funding drops to $14k. You will have a lot of decks leftover, and may profit in the long run, but you will be short on the project.
I wish you the best. Good luck.

It's entirely possible that you got a different quote than I did. When I say that 15K will cover both decks and all the add-ons, plus shipping and Kickstarter fees, I'm not guessing. I've done the math. It's not a miscalculation. It's not ignorant optimism. I'll have no problem paying for everything, even if I fund right at 15K on the button. Even if international shipping is $1,000.

As Magic Orthodoxy has pointed out, we're going live Sunday, June 1, at 1PM CST. As he also pointed out, you can be notified when the project goes live if you sign up at the Prefundia page:

http://prefundia.com/projects/view/plug ... cards/1409

We are definitely going with USPCC for this attempt.

Thanks again for everyone who helped make this redesign work so well.

Interesting observation. I'll try it without the serif on the 1. However,that's a change that will have to be made later, because I just picked up the demo decks. I'll be sending them out this weekend.

The wanted poster deck is at the printer, and in a couple weeks I will have 24 demo decks. I ordered these decks because I have seen the quality of Liberty Playing Cards, and they are damned difficult to tell from a Bicycle deck. The only difference I have seen is that Liberty uses a slightly stiffer paper stock. The finish is, to my untrained fingers, identical to air cushion.

So anyway, I am buying demo decks in order to send them to people that card people trust. I am hoping to find ten to twelve people to whom I can send decks, so that those people can do reviews or just talk about the cards and people listen. I have a few people in mind, but could use some suggestions.

So if you were filling in the blank in this statement:

"If [blank] likes these cards, then I guess I will give them a shot."

Who would fill your blank?

Well, that settles it then. That's how I will finish out the Rusted Tin deck. Thanks for your help, Don.

I am really glad you're bringing back this deck. I hope the redesign turns it up to 11.

For this tuck, I think I get where you're going, but this does not work for me. It's all washed out, so I have trouble seeing the design. And it's, like, super green.

Yeah, Derp, I think we're getting down to the land of 'can't please everybody.' I had a lot of people telling me they loved the barbed wire, and several suggestions for a faded paper backdrop.

But maybe that straight line art idea is what I need for the second deck. I've been so focused on getting the wanted poster deck ready that I haven't had time to commit to the rusted tin deck. That suggestion has a whole bucketload of merit. I'm going to try that today.

Syrus, that's basically the place where the border exists on a standard deck of cards. It can't go out to the right or left, unless I do that dodge-around like I originally did with the barbed wire, and then it wouldn't be a 'poster' any more, because I would have to clip the corners around the numbers. If it moves out to the top and bottom, it will create a dissonance between the top and the sides. Right now the border is the same width all the way around.

Work is going well on the aces. Thought I would post up the ace of hearts. I'll be replacing the ace of spades on the tuck box with the cow skull here.



The four skulls will be wolf (spades), cow (hearts), horse (clubs) and buzzard (diamonds). I'm not going to be posting them here - I think these are one part I have covered.

I would like to see what you guys think of the jokers. The last one is the art card - I'm pretty happy with that, though I will be changing the background to the lighter paper I'm using in the rest of the deck. Same with the jokers - everything is getting rid of the barbed wire frame and using the wanted poster backdrop.

I just finished updating the pips for all four suits, which means I'm about to start drawing a whole lot of skulls, if three counts for a whole lot. Here are the cards with the suits refined:







Feedback would be wonderful.

Holy crap, dude, that's a great idea!

And I know someone is going to groan, but I'm TOTALLY putting barbed wire on those skulls.

Some of you may have noticed the Plugged Nickel cards didn't hit their funding goal. In fact, we missed by a hell of a lot. Part of that was my lack of marketing ability, but more than part of it was, no doubt, due to the design. I got a lot of good advice here before I started the Kickstarter, but I would really love to come back and get more help to make these as great as I can.

I'm going to start with the number cards and work my way through, picking the deck apart and putting it back together again. And if I can find a way to increase the appeal of the Rusted Tin deck (which I like a lot, but willingly concede it could be a lot better), that would be even better.

So this is the eight of spades:



Here are some things I know I want to do:

1. Lose the barbed wire border and replace it with a line, but perhaps something with some flavor to it. I'm thinking old wood, bent nails, chunky metal, that kind of thing. Right now this is all just sketches.

2. Figure out the big pips. They're kind of overdosing on barbed wire, and I know that didn't go over very well. Maybe something still thematic, but not as irregular.

3. Bigger numbers, and bolder corner pips.

Any other advice or suggestions would be thoroughly welcome and much appreciated.

That is some useful feedback, Don. I will revisit the corner pips. Thank you.

Quote from: vixentorgames on February 23, 2014, 09:22:04 PM

Yoyo, I am not sure what you mean by misguided subject matter, but the 'talented artist' part makes me smile, so thank you.

I believe he's referring to the discussion that took place on the Design/Dev topic for this deck.  Many people like the execution more than the elements being created in the design - most specifically, the barbed wire was not well received, if you recall.  Some are also a bit weary of seeing skulls and bones in custom decks, there's been so many.

It's not impossible that you're creating the Edsel or the Tucker of custom deck design - something that was beautiful but misunderstood by the market.  Since we all know what happened to the Edsel, you might want to look it over a little more and consider some of the criticisms that were offered.  Of course, you can always just stick to your guns and go for it; after all, who are we but a tiny fraction of the overall marketplace, right?

Don, I don't think you guys are a tiny fraction at all. I'm not trying to cater to any one market - heck, I'm not trying to cater to anyone at all. I know the barbed wire was not a big hit over here. If I had known about this place when I was designing the cards, they probably would have come out differently. By the time the deck was posted here, all the art was done. Plus I love barbed wire. I have barbed wire tattoos. They are bitchin.

I also have seen, from the short time that I've been here, that the audience at The Discourse prefers decks with a more traditional look, something that more closely resembles old-school cards. I came at the entire design from a completely different direction - I grew up on D&D and Thundercats, and so my personal taste in art is heavily influenced by Larry Elmore and Frank Frazetta and Brom, art where there's no such thing as too far over the top. I love the new dragon deck from Albino Dragon - the skull on the back, the lightning bolts, the painted dragons on the cards - and they're not going over really well, either here or at UC.

I do realize that hardcore collectors are going to be less interested in my cards because of the skulls and barbed wire. I kind of regret that, but at the same time, I also know that my personal taste is more Judge Dredd than Downton Abbey. Nothing against a traditional, more refined look at all. I just like skulls and barbed wire.

Thanks for clearing that up. It wasn't really bothering me - I really was smiling at the 'talented artist' bit. I have a myopic tendency to only absorb the parts where people are saying nice things to me. It's how I make sure to never learn anything.