"The BEST CCG/TCG ever!" is LIVE

I have discussed the concept with a couple designers... and both agree that there is not anything like this CCG/TCG on the market today. But I wanted to discuss it with more designers. I just felt it was *dumb* targeting people at random and sending Private Messages to them in order to get some feedback.

The forums at http://www.oflegendsandlore.com/ are a better way to get game designers who are interested in the collaborative aspect of the project and also others who are interested by the challenge of the project.

This approach allows me the freedom to talk about the project to many designers... And obviously it allows designers to contribute to the project and also discuss with each other the various concepts or merits of the project!

My self-published game is called "Quest Adventure Cards(tm)". The website is http://www.questccg.com/

I believe there is another card game that is simply called "Quest". I did not use a POD, I had the game locally produced at a printing shop and then packaged at a specialty packaging company who can packgage all kinds of wrappings. In my case, they made my boosters!

We have our very SECOND designer who has registered to be part of "The BEST CCG/TCG ever!"

Note: I have also posted some *Research* information on a few games. They are not CCGs/TCGs but stiil it's worthwhile examining them to better understand them! I will be posting more information tonight...

Hi Rich,

Well I would need like DOUBLE the forums to be able to post Ideas, Research, Artwork, etc. It would just be inconvenient to have to set up that many forums for just ONE (1) game.

It's not like there is one single forum, registered designers have access to currently 7 forums and there will be more, such as one about Graphic Design (still will need to add - but I'm not searching for G.A. - yet). When the time comes, I will reach out to some graphic designers (I know of a few).

I still plan to be active on BGDF but I am accepting members who are interested in the project further!

Note: Also the forums are private for vetted designers. I don't want all the game information to be up to be viewed by the public...

Note 2: I also have attachments such as rulebooks for other games that I want accessible to designers. So we can look at other examples of games and brainstorm new ideas...

The purpose of the project is to create "The BEST CCG/TCG ever!". The goal is to have designers give their input on all types of matters regarding the CCG/TCG. So much like on BGDF, you can talk about mechanics, theme, general game chat, game ideas. As such we (the community - because I'm just the administrator and I'm sure there will be topics to vote on issues related to the game) are looking for two (2) types of designers:

1. Designers who are interested in the *Challenge* (To design The Best CCG/TCG ever).
2. Designers who are interested in CCG/TGC design.

Knowing fully well that CCGs/TGCs are money losing propositions and that most publishers are not interested in them, this community goal aims to produce a very NICHE CCG/TCG that is somewhat distinct in theme. I can assure you that the theme is NOT Fantasy, Science Fiction, Superheroes, Manga, War or Zombies.

There are also very few games in the project's theme and there are NO CCGs/TCGs. We disclose this information to help reassure designers that we are not interested in other CCGs being designed. If you are designing your own CCG, more power to you. We are not competing against your design. Our focus is on our very SPECIFIC CCG/TCG.

BGDF members who satisfy one (1) or both of the constraints (in terms of interest or challenge) are welcomed to register for designer access on the http://www.oflegendsandlore.com/ website (it could take a day or so if I am busy) and then be granted access to the forums. For now the only public forum is the "Welcome Lobby" where visitors (not vetted designers) can introduce themselves to the community.

That is another point, the forums are considered *private* in nature - so not everyone can view the contents of the forums. For now, we have a total of seven (7) forums in which members can discuss the different aspects of the CCG/TCG. The Research forum will be a hotspot because that's where we will be talking about other games having a *similar* theme. Obviously none of them are CCGs/TCGs but it still interesting to talk about games that have a similar theme.

Because the forum is somewhat *private* (not open to everyone) only vetted designers can partake in the topics posted. You can talk about whatever aspect of the game you want and this will be considered private. Meaning, the whole world will not be able to read your messages only the members of the community will be allowed to do so. I think I'd like to keep the open-door policy but private to outsiders philosophy...

We are asking for no information upon registration and if I know you from BGDF, I can promote you to "Designer" status to enable full access to the forums. It may be early to discuss conventions and trade shows (the reason for address inquiries) however such matters will need to be discussed. I feel that certain members in local cities might be able to demonstrate the product (in conventions or trade shows) and that can be done on a per locale basis. There is no reason for someone who is in Canada needs to fly down to Boston if we have a community member who is willing to attend a convention in the Boston area (for example). Obviously this is much further in the future... Hopefully we will have such challenges!

The *theme* is confidential but made available to registered designers. So there are no levels of access, once you register and get vetted you have full access to the forums. And therefore you can read all of the topics that are available to the community... And I hope to have contributions from members such that we can together design "The BEST CCG/TCG ever!" The goal is to create a CCG/TCG of a specific theme and nature and bring the design to the market. We hope that by having a community approach (several contributors) that we might be able to persuade a publisher to publish our product. This is obviously only down the road, so to speak, but it's part of the goal of the project.

Knowing that the CCG/TCG market is DEAD and that barriers to entry are very high, we hope that a community effort will help us surpass those challenges and allow the CCG/TCG to make it's mark in the tabletop game industry. Like I said there is no CCG/TCG with the nature of the project on the market today...

As far as time is concerned, I'm sure everyone is busy with their own projects... So perhaps brushing up with the topics, seeing what areas interest a designer most, etc. are all ways to focus one's attention to the project. There are some big challenges (especially in the CCG/TCG market). It is my belief that by collaborating together, we can design a SUPERIOR product that will make it's way onto store shelves...

But enough of my blabbering...

Well we picked up two (2) members interested in this project. One of which is a talented artist who shared his Deviant Art page. At the moment, we are not looking for artists, we will most probably need one or a couple Graphic Designers for card design.

But it's still very early. Right now we are exploring other games, their mechanics and rules. Our research section is where the hot topics are for the moment... We as a community want to share concepts and other games that can *influence* our project.

So we're getting more designers who are interested in our project!

I've picked up people who have never even posted on BGDF! We have one artist that never has said a PEEP on BGDF... And he posted up his Deviant Art page and his contact information for... Guess what? "The BEST CCG/TCG ever!" We have testimonial from another designer who has joined stating that the concept is really interesting... We have also got another designer who likes the idea of contributing towards a CCG/TCG. It's something he's interested in.

My NDA is simply to protect the community working on the project. It's also a way to protect designers from feeling that their contributions are not being protected. We don't want PUBLIC knowledge of the project... Like I said, we have picked up members who are not even members of BGDF... So you can imagine how many people actually visit BGDF as GUESTS.

Remember I too speak FREELY about ALL my other projects. But this one is uncharacteristically different. We have a sort of *mission* statement. Our goal is for our CCG/TCG to be BETTER than say Pokemon (as an example).

And as such the community should have the right to protect their project. Dropping the NDA would be like making the project open to the WORLD... We don't want that yet... Only for designers who want to contribute to the project.

I don't know why people are so paranoid about an NDA that keeps the PUBLIC out of the loop - and assure the designers the right to some privacy while collaborating?! It's meant to keep all those guest visitors from knowing the inner workings of the project... It's also a great place to market your skills as an artist or graphics designer.

I have seen projects with TONS of Artists that work for FREE on a game that may never get published. And those artists are not crappy artists. So for once instead of having ONE designer with a whole army of artists, I'd like to have a project with several DESIGNERS working and collaborating together to make the project a reality!

What do you really have to worry about? We have one designer who is designing his OWN CCG... And he joined! You'd think he would be the one so worried. He's not. He knows that the NDA is not to bar him from working or developing his game further... It's simply there to protect the community of designers from the public.

We don't want the game to be PUBLIC until it's ready to be so... So if you want to discuss the project you do so via posts on the http://www.oflegendsandlore.com website/forums! It's as simple as that...

So we are currently discussing factions for the CCG/TCG. No big surprise it makes perfect sense to have some form of logical division in the game. Other topics of interest are types of cards, game context cards, scoring and victory points.

Most of these are typical parts of most CCG/TCG. Never the less we are discussing them in the context for the project.

Currently we have shifted our attention from Factions, to what are called "Site" cards. They originate in the most unusual TCG - Lord Of The Rings (LOTR TCG). Specifically these *locale* based cards can be used very strategically while playing LOTR TCG. They even have their own *language* which is a bit daunting for a new player.

So although LOTR TCG is fantasy - and our game is not, those cards are proving to have interesting "catch-up" mechanics which we are discussing further... For those two (2) reasons we are talking more about LOTR TCG in the context of our CCG/TCG...