Rotters Deck

[fireshaper]

The next deck by Mandrake Playing Card Company is a zombie themed deck with custom pips and royalty called Rotters. Art is done by Gregory Welter. I'm not sure if I'm going to use the black or white back, but the consensus so far is the black looks better. I'm planning to make these live on Kickstarter next month (just in time for Halloween).

[Don Boyer]

Oh, my...

I'd advise against it.  Seriously.  Based solely on the art you've presented here, you're more likely to fail than succeed.

Zombies as a deck theme are TIRED.  USPC has done TWO zombie decks of their own, never mind the countless ones they've printed for others.

If you are going to approach the zombie genre as a deck theme, you need to be either different (in a good way, not simply different for the sake of being different) or better than what came before.  The art you're presenting here tells me this deck is neither.  It has different art styles between the backs and the courts!  The courts are somewhat more realistic while the backs are cartoonish.  The dividing line between the courts was very popular back in 19th century Europe - not so much since, though, especially on this side of the "pond."

There's been some really great zombie decks out there (and lots of crappy ones, too), and there's nothing to make this deck stand out from the crowd at all.  You would need either the most rocking, ass-kicking artwork put to playing card paper or you'd need some other kind of hook or gimmick to make this deck work - or you could go with a cheapo printer and set your goal so low, it's nearly impossible to fail, in which case, why bother, because your profit margin divided by the time put into it would probably not even reach minimum wage for tipped employees, never mind a decent return on your investment.  You'd be better off working at a diner during the slowest shift.

I looked at the artist's website you linked to.  He's capable of much better than this.

[ecNate]

Agree with Don here 100%, but my bigger concern is you still haven't fulfilled your past project.  Still waiting for mine anyhow after you have had them for 2.5 months, the only thing saving you is you had listed October delivery.  Still, this doesn't inspire confidence on backing again no matter how good/bad the future deck is.

[fireshaper]

Agree with Don here 100%, but my bigger concern is you still haven't fulfilled your past project.  Still waiting for mine anyhow after you have had them for 2.5 months, the only thing saving you is you had listed October delivery.  Still, this doesn't inspire confidence on backing again no matter how good/bad the future deck is.

Nate, unfortunately my first Kickstarter campaign was a bit of a mess. I didn't make enough money to have MPC do the fulfillment and even after the fees and everything I didn't have enough to ship a majority of the decks. So I'm having to ship them using my own money (which is already budgeted for other things). Everything is boxed up, I just have to buy shipping labels from the PO, which I'm trying to do a few at a time as I get paid. I did post an update about this on the project page already.

Thanks for the criticism, I know Zombie decks are a bit of a faux pas around here, but I also know that they have a huge following. My wife is a huge fan and wanted me to design a deck featuring them. What exactly do you think isn't up to snuff? Is it just the whole package that you don't like?

[Don Boyer]

Nate, unfortunately my first Kickstarter campaign was a bit of a mess. I didn't make enough money to have MPC do the fulfillment and even after the fees and everything I didn't have enough to ship a majority of the decks. So I'm having to ship them using my own money (which is already budgeted for other things). Everything is boxed up, I just have to buy shipping labels from the PO, which I'm trying to do a few at a time as I get paid. I did post an update about this on the project page already.

Thanks for the criticism, I know Zombie decks are a bit of a faux pas around here, but I also know that they have a huge following. My wife is a huge fan and wanted me to design a deck featuring them. What exactly do you think isn't up to snuff? Is it just the whole package that you don't like?

Yes, huge following.  But again, so heavily overdone.  You need to make a deck that's head-and-shoulders ABOVE the entire rest of the market if you expect your deck to get any significant positive attention.

But first and foremost - do NOT even THINK of launching before you've fulfilled your last project!  It doesn't inspire confidence and even as things are, it will be a strike against you when you attempt to launch another project - two strikes if you haven't finished fulfillment.

Use your experience on this project to better prepare your budget for the next.  Be prepared to explain to people what you learned, where you went wrong and how to avoid it the next time around.