I can't quite remember what stage of the project I was in when the prospect of actually getting my cards printed arose. Looking back at my Facebook messages, I believe it was sometime around late February and early March. The idea itself was causing me a lot of sleepless nights and anxiety, as I kept thinking about not only having to create the card dimensions and designs, but also the process and logistics of having an external printing company print my cards. I'd never had experience in that field, and didn't know about certain details like how long it would take for the cards to be delivered or how much they would cost, amongst other concerns.
I reached out to a postgraduate student who had worked on a card game themselves for their final major project, and they gave me lots of helpful advice regarding the logistics of having an external company print personalised cards.
I won't write down all the advice she gave me, but I will give a summary:
She wrote about every aspect of the process, such as the idea that it would be wise to choose a UK-based company as opposed to a foreign-based one, eliminating any need for importation fees. Doing this would also lower the overall cost of printing, postage and packing. Another aspect she wrote about was that all printing should be in CMYK rather than RGB, and that I should always print test first. It was advised that I leave a month, rather than half a month, before hand in for the cards to be printed.
There were a few reasons why a professional printer was needed. Firstly, the original plan was for all third-year Games Design and Art students to showcase their games at two traditional exhibition shows: the first being in Winchester and the second being in London. Representatives from a multitude of games companies would attend the London event, which made it a very important day in our degree lives. It was our time to show the best of our work, and hopefully get some recognition by the representatives of these companies. I believed that my audience at these shows deserved to play with professionally printed cards, which would also go a long way in making my game look professional and further proving my capability as a games designer.
Another reason to have my cards printed was that it would mean that I didn't have to print out a portion of the cards, saving me time in general.
The information below, which can be found on pages 23 - 24 of the black sketchbook, is all about my efforts to contact a professional card and token printer.
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Sketchbook page 23:
Flash card maker to make card decks
4 - 6 days to dispatch
74mm X 105mm
Token printers:
Lowest quantity is 1,000 at £23.30
WHAT I HAVE DONE TODAY:
Contacted Ivory Graphics by telephone with questions to see whether they can meet my card manufacturing needs. It turns out, they can only manufacture card decks at one size: 74mm X 105mm.
Therefore, they are only useful to manufacture cards of that size. However, I do need some cards at that size, and will be using them for that at least.
I need multiple card sizes, and their flash card builder is not very functional for my needs. Therefore, I shall 'build' the card layout in a separate document and upload them as a full image to their card builder, keeping the design I want and cutting off some of my workload. This can actually be done.
Their number: 01354 656 430
I can use their card builder to design and print my 1st place, 2nd place and 3rd place cards.
However, 'flash cards' are 7.4cm X 10.5cm, bigger than the 8.7cm X 6.3cm for the standard card size. This is fine, I can change the card size, as it doesn't affect the design.
We have done more searches for UK companies that produce playing cards, since my card
Sketchbook page 23:
dimension requirements vary. Both mission cards and character and rival cards are going to be bigger than this, so I ideally need a printer who will make this work so my finished game looks professional. If I have to, I'll make them myself.
No other UK companies turned up on my web searches, but I'll keep looking.
Basingstoke Talk Design & Print.
Another prospect we discussed is what we would do if we can't find a good printer. I considered sending my design ideas to a normal printer and getting them to print for me.
I then looked for companies that produce tokens, since Ivory Graphics don't produce them. I need them as an integral part of gameplay. So, I went online and found tokensdirect.com, a UK company based in Hertfordshire who print a large range of tokens, from plastic to card to metal. I read their mission statement, looked at what types of tokens they print, selected what I wanted and wrote to them for a personal quote.
We have since found more token printers.
Get 'success token' design off to the printers first. They need more time to manufacture their product as they are more convoluted than cards to make. This will take longer delivery time.
- Design them after old American (frontier) coins, adding a layer of historical accuracy
Too many state stars to fit on the coin
Date (1884)
Large rim
Stars
Late February - 06/03/2020 - present
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