Surf Monsters from Outer Space by Krista Madden (KS)

[The knave]

There is a very unique card deck called Surf Monsters from Outer Space. It has a 1950's B-movie style to it. The card back is a variation of the old television test pattern that would be on the screen when the station would stop broadcasting at night. There is a nice design on the tin and the tuck box. Anyone else pledge for it yet? Check it out: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/tobecontinued/surf-monsters-from-outer-space-playing-cards-0

[Don Boyer]

You pledged for this?  Well...it's not really my cup of toxic sludge.

First, let's consider the title.  "Surf Monsters from Outer Space."  What I see on the courts and Aces are a bunch of images stolen from notable movies of the past several decades, everything from Metropolis to the Wizard of Oz to cheesy '50s B-movies to the Rocky Horror Picture Show - no "surf monsters" to be seen anywhere.  There's such a shortage of originality, there are two court cards, the Jack of Clubs and the King of Hearts, that have nearly identical images on them!  And they all appear on a "decorative" background that looks like someone tossed some watercolor paint on the wall and let it drip for too long, using colors more commonly found in infected wounds.

The one attempt at real originality is in the placement of the pips on the spot cards - but unfortunately, "original" and "good" are not the same thing.  They look terrible and hard to read, with no actual single color to any of the suits or even the individual pips, all thanks to that same disease-ridden pattern used on the background of the courts being recycled to act as the filler material for the pips on each card.

The idea of the test pattern for the deck back isn't a bad one, but it might have looked better if a) it, too, wasn't in those diseased colors previously mentioned, b) it wasn't a one-way design and c) it wasn't simply copied from the original instead of being altered to fit the medium - the original design had a width-to-height ratio of 4:3 or 1.33:1 (NTSC standard), while the back of a playing card turned sideways is 7:5 or 1.4:1.  With the test pattern centered in the middle of the card, this leaves the top and bottom of each card blank and devoid of any pattern beyond the puke-a-tronic background.  A real artist could have altered this design to make it fit the card - this designer either chose not to or couldn't.

Tin box not withstanding, this deck isn't worth even close to $12 a pack, which is the non-early bird price for a single pack.  I could guess just by looking at the teeny, tiny goal amount that the deck was being produced by MakePlayingCards.com, so we're looking at computer-printed as opposed to using an offset press - I'd be hard-pressed myself to say that such a deck is worth the price of admission.

This is actually the second attempt for this project.  Madden made the first attempt only earlier this month, letting it run for just under a week before pulling the plug - I'm guessing it has to do with the $4,500 goal and higher per-deck price.  That attempt raised a mere $311 and the current version is standing pat at $318 on a goal of $880, with funding being flat for nearly the past week.  Kicktraq is predicting the same fate for this project as for the last.

[Kristamadden]

Dear wanker,
Puke-o-tronic and disease ridden are your underpants. You are a wanker.   .  <----this is you
I'm flattered you've written such a love note for me, have you made any decks?
Krista

[Don Boyer]

Dear wanker,
Puke-o-tronic and disease ridden are your underpants. You are a wanker.   .  <----this is you
I'm flattered you've written such a love note for me, have you made any decks?
Krista

You even lack originality in your insults, having to borrow from my description of your deck...

I have consulted on many deck designs, in fact, some rather successful ones (nearly all of Uusi's projects, plus Randy Butterfield's most recent design, Midnight Bowling).  I'm working on a deck project myself with an artist - but it's secret for the time being; I won't be introducing it until it's ready for release.  I'm not an artist, never claimed to be one, but I do know about what makes good design for a deck of cards from extensive experience using and collecting them.  As such, I've probably had a hand in the creation of more decks than you've even played with in your entire life.  But that's just a guess.

Now, if you're done with your opening salvo, perhaps you'd be interested in discussing ways in which your deck can be IMPROVED?  Bear in mind that what I've offered are my opinions, and there are other opinions around here to be had, if you ask, any number of which could be used by you to take your deck and make it into something far more interesting and successful.  A professional would take what I've said with a thick skin, realized that there are issues with the design and opened a dialogue to make it better - are you a professional?

[HolyJJ]

Krista, hello and welcome to PCF.

Rants aside, on a serious note, based on your decision to relaunch the deck sometime soon, I'm assuming that you've done a bit of thinking and/or research into why the deck didn't fund this time. Any findings that you'd care to share over here?

Although the project didn't fund this time, it didn't do as badly as some others in the past. If you want to see some disasters, then search on kickstarter for "Weer'd One playing cards" and also "counting the cards" (http://www.playingcardforum.com/index.php?topic=7495).

Those are projects where the creators really had no sense of connect with their target audience, and what makes a deck of cards work.

[chas0039]

Speaking of projects that were clueless when targeting their audience, this has to be a record:

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/621848535/kimye-playing-cards?ref=discovery

Makes me proud to be part of a group with such good taste as to ignore this project.

[Don Boyer]

Speaking of projects that were clueless when targeting their audience, this has to be a record:

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/621848535/kimye-playing-cards?ref=discovery

Makes me proud to be part of a group with such good taste as to ignore this project.

Now what I absolutely LOVE about that project is how the creator is not only trying to create his first project, but has never backed a project before - in other words, he has zero personal experience about how Kickstarter actually works, but doesn't let his utter cluelessness sway him from diving in feet-first!  Three days to go and only $40 raised on a goal of $8,300, a number he probably pulled out of his ass since he's never made a deck before and has no idea what it actually costs.  All that, and he doesn't really concern himself with the potential that the Kardashian-West family might actually want royalties for their use as the royals for this deck!  He states that the project was "ultimately not for profit" - which he's using to try covering his ass legally from being sued, but doesn't realize that it puts him in violation of the terms of service for Kickstarter.  All that, and for only $20 for a deck...

[CherryNukaCola]

Don't forget the estimated delivery of May 2015.