Contours playing cards

[Olly Swinyard]

Hi, some of you may remember Contours from a Kickstarter campaign a couple of years ago. It failed to reach its goal twice, so thought I would give it one last try to get this deck made and see what happens. I have updated the design with some major and a lot of minor changes. I was planning on putting it back on Kickstarter in March but before I do wanted to share it here to see what you guys think and if you have any suggestion=s on what makes a successful Kickstarter. It is a dream of mine to get this deck made but am struggling to find a way to get it funded, especially with a now higher funding goal with the added gold foil tuck boxes printed a USPCC, Its pretty expensive.

Any help would be massively appreciated! Thank you

[IAmTheChin]

Kickstarter is a tough game so don't let a couple bumps in the road stop you. That being said I wanted to reference the Rarebit deck before you launched.
https://store.theory11.com/products/rar ... ying-cards
You're going to get a lot of comparisons which are going to slow/stop growth. If you're serious about getting this thing funded I would honestly suggest redoing the entire back design imho. It's a disappointing scenario but every successful designer has had to deal with some variation of last minute change due to a surprise of "oh shit that's already out there" moment. I'm literally living one right now with the Luna deck coming out. My Solstice deck featured an expanding tuck and the Luna tuck just hits way too close to home. You can either push through which for some scenarios is completely valid, or take a little extra time to make your design market fit. Either way best of luck. Just wanted to give you my two cents on the scenario.

[theCapraAegagrus]

Kickstarter is a tough game so don't let a couple bumps in the road stop you. That being said I wanted to reference the Rarebit deck before you launched.
https://store.theory11.com/products/rar ... ying-cards
You're going to get a lot of comparisons which are going to slow/stop growth. If you're serious about getting this thing funded I would honestly suggest redoing the entire back design imho. It's a disappointing scenario but every successful designer has had to deal with some variation of last minute change due to a surprise of "oh shit that's already out there" moment. I'm literally living one right now with the Luna deck coming out. My Solstice deck featured an expanding tuck and the Luna tuck just hits way too close to home. You can either push through which for some scenarios is completely valid, or take a little extra time to make your design market fit. Either way best of luck. Just wanted to give you my two cents on the scenario.

Everything this guy said.

It isn't an 'improvement' of the Rarebits, either.

[vasta41]

My 1st impression was "hey, this looks kinda nice. But I think I've seen this before..." So yeah, Alex hit the nail on the head.

[sinjin7]

If the Misc. Goods Co. deck had a love child with the Rarebit deck, it would look like this Contours deck. Alex Chin just completed the 3rd largest playing card campaign in the history of KS. He knows what he's talking about.

[Olly Swinyard]

Kickstarter is a tough game so don't let a couple bumps in the road stop you. That being said I wanted to reference the Rarebit deck before you launched.
https://store.theory11.com/products/rar ... ying-cards
You're going to get a lot of comparisons which are going to slow/stop growth. If you're serious about getting this thing funded I would honestly suggest redoing the entire back design imho. It's a disappointing scenario but every successful designer has had to deal with some variation of last minute change due to a surprise of "oh shit that's already out there" moment. I'm literally living one right now with the Luna deck coming out. My Solstice deck featured an expanding tuck and the Luna tuck just hits way too close to home. You can either push through which for some scenarios is completely valid, or take a little extra time to make your design market fit. Either way best of luck. Just wanted to give you my two cents on the scenario.

Thanks for the feedback. Looking at the rarebit deck now, I see the general similarities that relate to this back design but am not sure its similar enough to put people off? Especially with so many other playing card backs being more similar than these two. And that the rest of the deck are nothing a like. But maybe I'm just in denial haha.

I feel like a colour change from black and gold will be enough to avoid comparison?

[Bradius]

Rarebit is a well-known deck, so the back similarities are obvious. Others will make the connection. Honestly, the color change will not be enough. You just should modify your back design. Not the end of the world.

[TheGentlemanWake]

i immediately thought of the rarebit deck.

[vasta41]

It looks like you put a lot of work into the back and you have a nice one there. For me, the back might be the most crucial aspect of playing cards. But I'm really sorry to say that if you don't redo the back you won't stop hearing about how similar it is to Rarebits and you might not even get funded at all.

[Olly Swinyard]

Hi,

Here's another back design I've been working on. Is this more on the right track?

[vasta41]

I personally like this one! The only critique I have is the full bleed arms. I'm not quite sure how to fix this except maybe rotating the hands so they reach out of the arc rather than from the cards edge? But I think you're on to something with that back.

[RichK]

I like it too but find the moon, stairs, crossed swords, and cup out of place. Why are they there? They do work as a 2 way back top/bottom but not left/right if that makes sense. That's the part I don't like.

Yes you can say "What about the 4 suits?" but they are smaller and don't pop out as much as the 4 larger items.

[Olly Swinyard]

I personally like this one! The only critique I have is the full bleed arms. I'm not quite sure how to fix this except maybe rotating the hands so they reach out of the arc rather than from the cards edge? But I think you're on to something with that back.

Ok cool thanks! I put the hand like that so when you fan the cards it will give a longer arm effect, but ill play around with it

I like it too but find the moon, stairs, crossed swords, and cup out of place. Why are they there? They do work as a 2 way back top/bottom but not left/right if that makes sense. That's the part I don't like.

Yes you can say "What about the 4 suits?" but they are smaller and don't pop out as much as the 4 larger items.

The idea behind the deck is that each of the court cards have their own stories, with little objects in each design that give clues to secret relationships between each court card. I thought it would be a fun way to make the deck more interesting, with some clues being obvious and others being things you have to look for carefully, like matching amulets and missing jewellery on one court appearing on another. If that makes sense?!

The four symbols represent each court in a certain way. Like the Hearts courts stories are more about conflict (the swords) and the Clubs are more about tricks and sabotage (the cup). I was thinking of releasing a free pdf document that explains each of the courts hidden story or a small booklet, but not sure yet.

[vasta41]

I personally like this one! The only critique I have is the full bleed arms. I'm not quite sure how to fix this except maybe rotating the hands so they reach out of the arc rather than from the cards edge? But I think you're on to something with that back.

Ok cool thanks! I put the hand like that so when you fan the cards it will give a longer arm effect, but ill play around with it

I agree that that would have been a cool effect. But there are basically two types of people on this forum- people who don't care if the front and back of card borders match and people who do. I'm in the later group and the reason is somewhat aesthetic but mainly magic. There are many card tricks and effects that require upside-down cards and when the borders don't match they stick out like sore thumbs. The two lines making up the wrist might not be a huge offence but IMO, if it can be avoided it should be avoided.