After watching a lot of Rusty Lake playthroughs, especially those of Jesse Cox and Dodger, I was inspired to create a mock-up for a eire card-based game in that vein. My vague concept for the game would be that players take on the role of a group of siblings returning to an old family mansion and by drawing and activating cards uncovering unsettling family secrets.
The game mechanics are pretty vague at the moment, and the card text just link to playing more cards. I don’t have a clear victory condition in mind, the game would probably be more of an experience where you collectively uncover and create the story of the game. But there would have to be some strong mechanics to differentiate it from a straight-up roleplaying game.
This was an interesting design process since the graphic card elements and illustrations emerged at the same time. Usually I finish one element at a time, and part by part reaching the finals piece, this time around I went back and forth between the graphics and the illustrations. While it was interesting to keep adjusting the design and optimizing it, I never felt like a component was done and I kept coming back to stuff to that I should just have let be.
These are all the cards I’ve finished at this time. I was aiming for an late 1800’s early 1900’s feel, partly because that’s the time period I had in mind for the narrative, but also because a lot of graphics from that era feel at their core a little eire, maybe subconsciously caused by Lovecraftian stories in that era. But I didn’t want to go overtly dark or creepy with the graphics, which is easily done when working with that time period. Too me it just gives off a Tim Burton/Goth-kid vibe that I am not looking for.
In hindsight I wish to rework the graphics. After doing some print tests I noticed they are not properly sized, they also felt a bit too simplistic when I return too look at references from that era. So when I come back to this project I would like to redo the graphics, illustrating some sort of environment cards and character cards. I sort of lost steam on this project when I was attempting to paint environments, my technical skill was just not on the level I had in mind. That’s a skill I must improve before returning to this project.
