The Great FAQ Revival Project AKA CC crowdsouces data to make his life easier
As most of you probably don't know, deep in the shadowy bowels of King Flamingo Megiddo's secret cave, a few of us feathered folk have been hammering out a new, improved CCC FAQ thread, since as most of you probably do know, the current one is messy and all-round unhelpful.
It's come a long way since its inception, but so far has been lacking community input, which is why this thread is here. So let me pose these to you, CCC regulars and sometimes-ers alike:
What, if anything, would you like to change about the current FAQ thread?
What is the most personally influential piece of design advice you've been given?
What is the most personally influential design article you've read?
What, to you, is the most difficult thing about custom card creation?
If you create renders, where do you source the art?
In addition to this, I have personally embarked on a corpus-based study into ability order on permanents, the results of which are detailed below. There are some known issues, and likely a lot of unknown issues just to spite me, so any help would be appreciated greatly.
I'd probably scrap it and start again entirely. There's some good material to be used there but I'd like to modularize it a bit more. I'd envision it to be something like this:
Introduction to card design (something like the two linked articles, but more condensed - a guideline of good practices if you will)
Judging and evaluating custom cards (I'd consider this just as difficult as creating custom cards; some guidelines would be good here too)
Other useful guidelines and references (things like what you posted above with ability orders, or common rules questions - the real FAQ section if you will)
I thought about whether example cards should be included, but it's not too hard to find examples of good and bad design just by browsing through the forum.
Sir Aureus' signature is a very good piece of design advice.
On the card order, I think ETB abilities go all together (ie. kicked with normal ones); Joraga Warcaller and Kangee, Aerie Keeper have the static after the kicked replacement. I think activated abilities go after triggered ones; Everflowing Chalice.
I also think this is a bad idea. There are too many random outliers like Inferno Titan which has activated before triggered and the incredibly similar yet differently-formatted Corrupt Official and Pygmy Troll. It could be because Pygmy Troll was originally a Weird Trigger that they fixed up but couldn't be bothered changing the order for. In Fire Titan's case, it's probably because it looks nicer and is not a tiny ability after a wall of text. Regardless, even Wizards can't keep it perfect between all their cards, so I don't know how well trying to document order is.
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
If you're having creature problems I feel bad for you son
You got 99 attackers but I'm blocking with 1.
The Winner is Judge | 7
This Winner is Also Judge | 6
Club Flamingo | Lots
Order seems to depend a lot on flow of abilities. Abilities that "rely" on others go first - see Golgari Brown-Scale, Oracle of Mul Daya, or the recently spoiled Borborygmos Enraged. It's more about seeing patterns like that than having this enormous complicated flowchart.
Introduction to card design (something like the two linked articles, but more condensed - a guideline of good practices if you will)
Judging and evaluating custom cards (I'd consider this just as difficult as creating custom cards; some guidelines would be good here too)
Card Design 101 needs to be handled carefully. Most of it is nuance - best taught through experience rather than reading - and MaRo has done it all already.
Modular is also an LTB effect though so that might explain it. I think we have to disregard keyworded abilities because they do all kinds of funky things.
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
If you're having creature problems I feel bad for you son
You got 99 attackers but I'm blocking with 1.
The Winner is Judge | 7
This Winner is Also Judge | 6
Club Flamingo | Lots
What, if anything, would you like to change about the current FAQ thread?
It's overly useless. Design has changed a long way since 2007. Design isn't about cool ideas anymore. It's all about innovation, aesthetics, and elegance.
What is the most personally influential piece of design advice you've been given?
Don't worry about the story behind your cards. Worry about how your mechanics evoke it.
What is the most personally influential design article you've read?
The GDS2 is basically a magic pill that doubles your design knowledge. It's a great read and it's packed with design advice and rules of thumb. Anyone who designs cards should read this.
What, to you, is the most difficult thing about custom card creation?
I will keep it simple - vision. Far too many times, I see cards that are individually cool, but they make no sense in a larger set. This is why I browse Custom Sets, because I'm looking for the designer with a knack for vision. Anyone can learn Magic design if they are diligent, but learning vision and focus is far harder.
AKA CC crowdsouces data to make his life easier
As most of you probably don't know, deep in the shadowy bowels of King Flamingo Megiddo's secret cave, a few of us feathered folk have been hammering out a new, improved CCC FAQ thread, since as most of you probably do know, the current one is messy and all-round unhelpful.
It's come a long way since its inception, but so far has been lacking community input, which is why this thread is here. So let me pose these to you, CCC regulars and sometimes-ers alike:
Additional cost restrictions; Emblazoned Golem
Introduction to card design (something like the two linked articles, but more condensed - a guideline of good practices if you will)
Judging and evaluating custom cards (I'd consider this just as difficult as creating custom cards; some guidelines would be good here too)
Other useful guidelines and references (things like what you posted above with ability orders, or common rules questions - the real FAQ section if you will)
I thought about whether example cards should be included, but it's not too hard to find examples of good and bad design just by browsing through the forum.
At any rate, count me in.
[Clan Flamingo] Tier Archivist
[15:21] <@CC> Remember, if you argue, you are an idiot.
Untrophied Wins:
Perfect MCC Scores: 2
---------------------------------------------------------------
On the card order, I think ETB abilities go all together (ie. kicked with normal ones); Joraga Warcaller and Kangee, Aerie Keeper have the static after the kicked replacement. I think activated abilities go after triggered ones; Everflowing Chalice.
I also think this is a bad idea. There are too many random outliers like Inferno Titan which has activated before triggered and the incredibly similar yet differently-formatted Corrupt Official and Pygmy Troll. It could be because Pygmy Troll was originally a Weird Trigger that they fixed up but couldn't be bothered changing the order for. In Fire Titan's case, it's probably because it looks nicer and is not a tiny ability after a wall of text. Regardless, even Wizards can't keep it perfect between all their cards, so I don't know how well trying to document order is.
You got 99 attackers but I'm blocking with 1.
The Winner is Judge | 7
This Winner is Also Judge | 6
Club Flamingo | Lots
[Clan Flamingo] Tier Archivist
[15:21] <@CC> Remember, if you argue, you are an idiot.
Untrophied Wins:
Perfect MCC Scores: 2
---------------------------------------------------------------
That quote is the section header.
Inferno Titan and Corrupt Official are both activated before triggered. So are the hatchlings, but Rakdos Ringleader is reversed. On closer inspection, so are Beacon Hawk, Falkenrath Exterminator, and Fiend of the Shadows. Coincidentally, all of these are saboteur abilities. But I will agree that this is largely an exercise in futility. The project was born of curiosity rather than any desire to make an authoritative list.
Ultimately, abilities are ordered simply to make parsing easier. They imply "do this, and then do this" and in turn make the card easier to play.
You got 99 attackers but I'm blocking with 1.
The Winner is Judge | 7
This Winner is Also Judge | 6
Club Flamingo | Lots
Does anybody have any strong opinions for, against, or about this?
It's overly useless. Design has changed a long way since 2007. Design isn't about cool ideas anymore. It's all about innovation, aesthetics, and elegance.
What is the most personally influential piece of design advice you've been given?
Don't worry about the story behind your cards. Worry about how your mechanics evoke it.
What is the most personally influential design article you've read?
The GDS2 is basically a magic pill that doubles your design knowledge. It's a great read and it's packed with design advice and rules of thumb. Anyone who designs cards should read this.
What, to you, is the most difficult thing about custom card creation?
I will keep it simple - vision. Far too many times, I see cards that are individually cool, but they make no sense in a larger set. This is why I browse Custom Sets, because I'm looking for the designer with a knack for vision. Anyone can learn Magic design if they are diligent, but learning vision and focus is far harder.