Feedback on card styles wanted.

[Onionsoilder]

I am currently working on a board game about trading in the Caribbean around the 17th century, and I'm playing around with different text layouts for the cards I'm using. I was wondering which of the styles that I have looks better either because of cleanliness, flavor text, overall feel, etc. So far I have 3 different possible styles, though I can always change them or make new ones.

It would be greatly appreciated if you would vote for which one you like best, and if possible post why you like it as well as any suggestions you would make to change or improve it.

Spoiler Card Styles :

I have gotten permission from the mods to post this thread, in case anybody was wondering.

 

[Earthling]

The leftmost, or first in each category, definitely look best to me. Board game cards should be simple and recognizable, unless you intend to have like thousands where additional detail may be needed or doesn't seem to get repetitive.

 

[Fuzzz]

The cards on the right have the best mix of flavor on the top and rules on the bottom of the card. You immediately know where to look for information when you're playing the game, without losing the 17th century Caribbean feeling.

 

[Abaddon]

This is how i'd do it...

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Most flavorfull entrance, then hardcore stats to the player can quickly identity what is actually going on.

 

[Earthling]

Abaddon's mish mash actually looks really good to me too. I do like having "Reward: X Wealth" and "Bounty: Y Wealth" spelled out that way, if it'd be consistent across all these types of cards that would be good. The rest of the flavor Depends a bit on how many of these cards there are and how different. Generally, I'd say it's most important that the keywords are the biggest and standout the most, a little flavor text just as Abaddon has is about right. The words like, say Blackbeard should have the Biggest Font by quite a bit on that card, players could quickly recognize the "Blackbeard card" and scan down to the bottom if they need to check the stats/wealth.

 

[ParadigmShifter]

Obviously you need a pic of Blackbeard as well.

I like #3 best

 

[Abaddon]

While I am glad you like it, I am stealing the idea from Magic the Gathering.. but considering how successful that game is, its probably not a bad idea!

The importance is to have enough flavor to allow players to immerse themselves in the game, but the card not be so fancy they are stuggling to work out what it does/means.

Thus a split. Flavor with a standardised "stat" at the bottom.

 

[Atticus]

The leftmost, or first in each category, definitely look best to me. Board game cards should be simple and recognizable, unless you intend to have like thousands where additional detail may be needed or doesn't seem to get repetitive.

This.

 

[Onionsoilder]

Hmm... I could do a cross between the flavor and the mechanical. It seems like the simple ones are quite a bit more popular though. Would a hybrid approach be best, or just stick with the clean and simple?

 

[lordsurya08]

I like the third (right-most). It looks clean and not too cluttered while providing information in a easy-to-read way.

 

[cardgame]

I like the first one and the 5th one the best.

That is to say, the leftmost one in the first selection and the middle card in the second.