Fluff: Arcane vs Wushu

[CharonsHelper]

I have a duelling card game that I'm working on. It'd has pretty fast gameplay (5-15 minutes per game) and is based on a pretty blatant R-S-P system with different elements. (Water > Fire > Ice > Air > Earth > Water) You pick up cards from the 5 different decks based upon what your foe has in their hand (each element has different backs - so it's blatant) but each element has combo moves if you have 2+ of the same element. (starting hand is only 3 cards)

Anyway - my big question to the boards is whether the fluff (art etc.) would be better off being the classic medieval style mages or more Wushu style (Avatar benders' style).

The mechanics being identical, which would seem more appealing to you as a player/consumer and why?

[Otomodachi]

Personally I'd be happy with either as the FLUFF, they an both be cool.

In terms of the ART STYLE, I am super burnt out on overly anime-d art. Like, Avatar: Last Airbender's characters had noses, actual noses, for example.

[danzibr]

Ooh. Yeah, if it's anime looking art on a card game, I think that'll turn people off.

Coincidenntally, I'd personally prefer arcane.

[Lethologica]

Lots of Wushu aesthetics to choose from besides animesque.

You can succeed either way as long as you're thoughtful about it.

[Brother Oni]

I'd recommend the medieval arcane style as if you use a Wushu style, you're probably going to have to eventually address the pedants' question of 'why are they using the 4 Greek elements instead of the 5 Chinese ones?'.

[CharonsHelper]

...going to have to eventually address the pedants' question of 'why are they using the 4 Greek elements instead of the 5 Chinese ones?'.

Why? I don't think that Avatar the Last Airbender ever did.

Anyway - I'd probably go with a semi-realistic look either way, though I'd probably use at least some stock art to keep the cost/price down.

I think that most people are much more willing to pay $10-15 for an unknown game which takes a few minutes to play than shell out $25-30 for one with slightly higher production values. And frankly - I want it to be a good bargain. I like the idea of having a good value product.

I'm still debating on the idea of having a board & tokens as easy reminders of the core rules (keep track of your 3 health & slots for each elemental deck - explaining what trumps what) or having just cards to keep the costs down even more. With just cards even the POD production cost per unit (discounting artwork/design) would only be about $4-5 without volume discount and at 1,000 copies would be about $2, but I do think that the board/tokens would add something.

[Brother Oni]

Why? I don't think that Avatar the Last Airbender ever did.

Avatar had the time, medium and luxury to build an entire world explaining why they chose a traditional Greek element system (or the Japanese system minus an element). From the description of what you're doing, it seems to me that you're attempting to do the same using the space equivalent of flavour text on Magic the Gathering cards, unless you include a world explanation pamphlet or similar with your game, like the booklets that come in MtG bundle packs.

Ultimately, it's your game in the end, so please take my comments only as a suggestion.

[Kitten Champion]

I would say - assuming the execution is the same quality either way and without any supporting research - that a Wushu style would be more distinctive, which is certainly something to consider.

Though personally, I would make a prototype sample of both and then get some feedback. It's difficult to assess without seeing what you have in mind.

[Tvtyrant]

I have a duelling card game that I'm working on. It'd has pretty fast gameplay (5-15 minutes per game) and is based on a pretty blatant R-S-P system with different elements. (Water > Fire > Ice > Air > Earth > Water) You pick up cards from the 5 different decks based upon what your foe has in their hand (each element has different backs - so it's blatant) but each element has combo moves if you have 2+ of the same element. (starting hand is only 3 cards)

Anyway - my big question to the boards is whether the fluff (art etc.) would be better off being the classic medieval style mages or more Wushu style (Avatar benders' style).

The mechanics being identical, which would seem more appealing to you as a player/consumer and why?

As long as the art style was distinct either is fine. If you go with mtg/pathfinderived art or modwrn animesque bishi art I wI'll probably walk away. I get way too much of that in my hobbies as is.

Now if you did medieval flat art or traditional Chinese painting styles I would buy them just for the look.

[CharonsHelper]

As long as the art style was distinct either is fine.

Since it's a short and relatively lite game, should I just go goofy? Or off the wall?

Say - playing as some sort of little elemental monsters with a cutesy Pokémon style look?

[Siosilvar]

My advice is don't edge too close to anybody else's territory or your players will wonder why they're not playing that instead. Pokémon does Pokémon best; you can go for cute little monsters but pulling the Pokémon style will just end poorly. Likewise, just like others have been saying, if you go arcane-fluff then you'll need to distinguish yourself from standard fantasy and MtG in some way; if you go wushu then don't pull too much from anime or Avatar.

[CharonsHelper]

Pokémon does Pokémon best; you can go for cute little monsters but pulling the Pokémon style will just end poorly.

If I did that - I certainly wouldn't try to copy them - I was just using the word as short-hand for the weird/cute monster look. Pokémon certainly isn't unique there - they're just the most widely known.

Plus - it was just the first thought in my head. I'm just starting to think that I should avoid both the arcane & wushu looks and go with something more off-the-wall.

For something like an RPG people want something somewhat more familiar, but for something like a short card-game, off-the-wall might be better.

[danzibr]

I like the retro art of Boss Monster.

[Psyren]

Traditional Chinese painting sounds like it would stand out readily.

[CarpeGuitarrem]

I'd recommend the medieval arcane style as if you use a Wushu style, you're probably going to have to eventually address the pedants' question of 'why are they using the 4 Greek elements instead of the 5 Chinese ones?'.

As mentioned, the Japanese elements are also Fire, Water, Earth, and Air, with Void replacing Aether.

Though I would totally go for a wuxia game that used the wu xing. It's even better suited for an RPS game, since the wu xing are envisioned as a cycle.

[Knaight]

Traditional Chinese painting sounds like it would stand out readily.

Old style woodcut would also work well, in a similar vein.

[Honest Tiefling]

Your artist must be talented to do all sorts of art! But I think good art and good fluff is probably going to stand out over bad, even if its overly common. Better to do something well then to try to stand out and suck at it.

However, what of Indian art styles? It can be quite lovely, you have a massive body of mythology and stories to get inspiration from, and it's not done very often (at least not in the English-speaking world). As a bonus, they too used the classical elements.

[Knaight]

Your artist must be talented to do all sorts of art!

The nice thing about going for classical styles is that there's an established body of work in the open domain - you don't necessarily need an artist skilled in some pretty niche styles.