So You Want to Make a UVS Card?

So you’ve managed to win the Yu Yu Hakusho: Dark Tournament wish event, eh? And now you’ve selected as your prize the holy grail of gamers everywhere: getting to make your very own UniVersus card. What does that mean, exactly? And how do you even make a card like that? Buckle up, I’m here to fill you in!

Top Down or Bottom Up

When Game Design starts building cards we have to choose between whether we’re building a “top down” design or a “bottom up” design. For a top down design we start with a theme or concept, like, “This card represents Yusuke from Yu Yu Hakusho” and build the card to fit that theme. For a “bottom up” design we start with mechanical goals and apply a theme later. For example, “traits will matter in booster draft.” Since you’ll be building a single card, the “top down” approach is likely a better fit as you won’t have the full context of the expansion set the card will become a part of.

Mechanics and Card Type

Now that you know which way you’ll be designing your card, you can settle on mechanics and card types. Perhaps you already have a desire to build a certain kind of card, an Attack that obliterates the opponent, or a Foundation that lets you catch back up if you start to fall behind. Or perhaps you’ve got a mechanic you’re really keen on, but you’re not sure the best card type for the mechanic to go with. This is your time to explore this space, including through conversations with the game designers that will be helping to get your card across the finish line. We’ll provide you with a template to fill out the stats on your card, you complete your design, and then we start the next phase…

Developing Your Card

Once card “design” is completed, we’ll pick up the task of “developing” your card. This is the space where your card goes through the most changes as we hammer on it through playtesting to ensure the card is balanced, fun, and fits the themes of the world(s) it will be located in upon release. You’ll get communication from us on progress, though we may not be able to fill you in on every detail as some elements of the development have to remain secret to protect important information about upcoming releases.

Making it Look Good

While Game Design works on the mechanical elements of your card, our Creative team will be hard at work bringing the card’s visual identity to life. They’ll work on concepting a visual design or art concept, contract with artists to bring it to life, and guide those artists through the various stages of initials, sketches, full color, and finally the final illustration. By the end they’ll have a card looking so sharp it’ll take your breath away!

Reveal to the World

Once your card has successfully gone through Game Design and Creative, it moves to our Production team to be made, then is sent out to be distributed to players everywhere. You’ll get a copy to hold in your own hands, and perhaps even an opportunity to write about your experience making the card!

Good luck to everyone participating in the Wish Tournament! Be sure to catch the event live on our Twitch Channel this weekend at Twitch.tv/UniVersusCCG

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