Vivikin: Digital Creatures
A Trading Card Game that I've been engineering and itterating upon in my spare time.
The Challenge
The Template Scaling Problem: Engineering a standardized card graphic layout that handles massive text variances, variable asset arts, and changing resource costs without breaking card layouts.
The Visual Parsing Problem: Ensuring players can instantly read crucial card information—like type, element, and mechanical effects—from across a busy tabletop under varying lighting conditions.
The Solution
Over the years i've been redesigning the card layout. Each itteration felt more streamlined than the last. Making sure every element has the right amount of contrast was very important for cards that contained a lot of information. Zoneing out each element to give them all breathing space was important to create a intuitively readible design.
The Results
While I eventually left this project behind, the design lessons I learned from all those card layouts has proven invaluable. I have integrated much of what I have learned in my later projects and still look back at them from time to time for inspiration. Maybe one day I'll make a fully polished TCG and I'll have this project to thank for it.