Broken Unicycle Card Deck - Humorous Really Dorky project

[James Johnson]

As I continue to work on my crazy detailed untitled card game with fantasy characters, I diverted for a little bit to put together another card deck I’ve wanted to make for years now.

A couple of years ago, I created an art book, Really Dorky, that had these weird characters and even weirder biographies in it. One of the woman's biography talks of her giving birth to her own mother and found out later she was adopted. A man was diagnosed as being ambidextrous, but only with his right hand.

The humor of the portraits, I thought, would make an interesting card deck... and so here we are!

I didn’t think I could make something to measure up to as iconic as what Bicycle cards are, so Broken Unicycles it is. Will be kickstarting it soon as USPCC/Cartimundi opens to get costs and production info. Want to make an inexpensive deck for the masses to enjoy

I have a really funny idea for the card back I’ll post after it’s complete, but in the meantime, I hope you like the style I put together

[James Johnson]

And the Pips

[BaconWise]

I loved seeing those for the first time on your site. It's awesome to see them in card form now. It's quirky and ridiculous, so it's right up my alley! The only thing I might suggest would be to tidy-up the font for Broken Unicycle or perhaps add some detail as it seems a bit flat at the moment. I look forward to the launch!

[James Johnson]

Totally. I honestly threw the text together in the Broken Unicycle logo after staying up until 7am working on everything. Plan on creating a font specific to the deck when it’s ready to be kickstarted

[James Johnson]

UPDATE...

So I finally finished the back card design... pretty tricky as I kind of hid a little message into the artwork as something extra fun to make for this deck.

When you fan the cards in your hand, the overlapping cards will help reveal the word DORKY, kind of a subliminal message and one that may make your friends question your taste in cards! LOL

Hope you like the concept and tell me what ya think!

Working now on the tuck case. I would love suggestions if you have them. Should I go Uber elaborate or simple in design, do I need an embossed case, etc... anything you think that will make this an enjoyable deck to own.

[Bradius]

An interesting deck. Also an interesting fact that I am a unicyclist and used a unicycle to get around college. I remember one time going to class in the rain in my unicycle once with my books in one arm and holding my umbrella in the other and thinking this would make for an excellent photo.

Also, to be a good unicyclist, you have to be a quite athletic person with insane balance and strong legs and stomach muscles. It may look dorky, but they are very physically fit.

[James Johnson]

Boy don’t you know it! It’s been awhile since I’ve rode one, fun as heck. What led me down the path on this was seeing a few of my Bicycle decks on the shelf and thought there isn’t any love out there for unicycles! Putting the Really Dorky series together with a guy face planting off his uni as a joker, I mean, a card deck that needed to be made!

[James Johnson]

For everyone to see what I plan on doing for the tuck case...something completely different that I’ve every seen for a deck of cards....an Animated Slip Cover. Posted the quick video on Reddit, here’s the link....

https://www.reddit.com/r/playingcards/c ... ame=iossmf

Planning on having one of the extra cards also be able to animate for any magicians or fans of this in general.

Let me know what you think, want to make this a very fun deck to own

[RichK]

Not a big fan of the idea. To me all I see are his hands moving. Maybe if you slid the deck out of the top.

Plus you lose the front of the tuck too. And how much extra will it cost us to pledge for the deck. That can't be cheap.

[James Johnson]

Thanks for the feedback Rich.

Actually I have two versions planned.... one with the outer sliding feature and the other a standard tuck deck. With the plastic screen, on top of the tuck case for it, one of the extra cards will be set up with the animation effect for those wanting to use it as either a magic trick or just to fool around with. I didn’t show it in the video, but what you really want to do is agitate the tuck case inside the slip case so it looks like he’s peddling in place sipping tea, but you get the effect if you slowly slide it on or off.

Cost wise, I’m hoping the slip case won’t add more than a couple dollars to it as the other option, USPCC has some suggestions and I am trying to find some other options to keep the price down and make production quick for it

[James Johnson]

Updated the look of the deck...well, still updating. I got some great feedback wanting the pip cards to pop a bit more so I’ve been playing with the card design a bit. Would love any suggestions or feedback.

[rousselle]

Just my tuppence: I like the illustrations, but they don't seem to match the feel of the typography (your indexes moreso than the text in the banners). Part of the issue is the coloring; your illustrations are shaded while your number cards, indexes, and even the card backs have bold, high-contrast coloring. Part of it is the typography itself; the illustrations are exaggerated and distorted, while the fonts are straightforward and, well, standard. (They are also a little difficult to read, I think because you chose to make them bold and set them up with two outlines.)

The other issue I see is that the number cards, using the Two of Diamonds above, have way too much going on. You have the index rank and suit, plus the huge, angular pips against a round backdrop, with a banner announcing the rank with text, plus a large numerical representation of the rank. It's overkill.

So, here's what I recommend you consider instead: choose a font for your indexes that is clean and easily readable, without the fancy embellishments. I'd favor thinner, and probably sans serif or, like the text you use in the banners, very subtle serifs. Remove the banners on the number cards, and probably reduce the size of the pips a little bit. simplify the number of elements on your number cards. Then, consider playing with your color palette a little bit to see if maybe a little muting of the colors on the backs and the number cards helps their elements to tie in better with the illustrations on the courts.

Now, also consider this: I like what I see here. There's a great deal of promise with this deck. The illustrations are quite tasty. The theme is robust and has great personality. And, I did not spend this evening typing this up because I take great glee in criticizing your design. Quite the contrary. I offer these thoughts in good will, hoping that I'm articulate in voicing what I see. You might choose different ways to address what I'm seeing. You might even choose not to address them at all, as you see fit. But, I think there's a lot of potential here, and if the backs and number cards match the courts faces, you've got a winner on your hands.

Really, really great potential here. I look forward to seeing how you develop this.

Cheers!

[caniveski]

An imaginative deck, i too would remove the banners on aces and numbercards, I'm not sure the circles enclosing the diamond pips are needed either. Looking forward to your other deck as well !

[Bradius]

I'm not sure the circles enclosing the diamond pips are needed either.

I kind of agree, but I think what he was going for was the tires on the unicycle wheel and to fit some of the circles and ovals enclosing some other designs. If you look at the back design, the white circle and oval actually form a sort of unicycle shape. I remember drawing something similar myself years and years ago.

[James Johnson]

Well, I’ve been hammering out the new final version of the deck, will post the update soon... but in the meantime, I thought I would post what the new Ace cards look like. Hope you enjoy

[Eric Lee]

You wouldn't happen to be a Practhett fan would you? That's what your AoS reminded me when I looked at it. Looking forward to this deck. We need more fun, humourous decks out there.

[James Johnson]

You wouldn't happen to be a Practhett fan would you? That's what your AoS reminded me when I looked at it. Looking forward to this deck. We need more fun, humourous decks out there.

Good lord it’s been so long since I’ve been on here, hasn’t it? So sorry it’s taken so long to respond....

Thank you for the very very kind words of encouragement and support!

So some updates...

I’ve been ridiculously busy on finalizing the Broken Unicycle deck, (literally redesigned the cards 7 times until I think I nailed what I wanted to do with the packaging, artwork and overall feel of the deck) and am working on the last of the animation for its commercial I’ll post on Kickstarter when I launch.

I’ll post the FINAL design in a couple days as I have had everything okey from USPC and I went ahead and added a texture wallpaper design behind the card faces and want to make sure that doesn’t screw up the go ahead.

Think everyone will like what I FINALLY came up with.... lots of cool features with the whole package for sure!

[MaxPower]

I’ve been looking forward to these for a long time. Whatever you’ve settled on is sure to be fantastic. Please post a preview link to your Kickstarter when it’s ready.

[James Johnson]

Will definitely let everyone know. My stupid OCD kicked in big time, trying to finish up the animated commercial for the launch, it’s over 3000 frames and just have some bits here and there to finish before I can finish unleash everything.

Why do I torture myself so? Lol

[James Johnson]

Been quite awhile since I posted any updates on this card deck... been hard at work trying to get the Endavail deck(s) done to launch hopefully this fall. With all the buzz about that deck I thought I would hold off launching the Broken Unicycle deck until afterwards so hopefully I can make myself more visible to the card market out there and increase the chance of its success Kickstartering it.

So one update... I’m looking at finding a company that can reproduce the bust I created for any of the serious collectors out there. I made it so you can remove the helmet and put the tuck case ( or anything else you want ) inside of the head. The lowest option is plastic, going up to a resin model and ultimately a bronze cast. Again, just have to find who could make any of these possible.