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Looks pretty nice... The creator is the same as in the Leonardo project some years ago. Although that deck looks quite nice as well, there were some issues on that campaign if I remember correctly.

I kinda find this deck boring and plain in black and white, plus it is a Dent de Lion project, easy pass!

Considering the theme and the potential, the art is a letdown. The Jinni deck showed much better art design for the middle eastern theme. This is an easy pass for me, though I backed their Leonardo 2018 project.

I like the back well enough but I'm not into the court cards. They remind me of the courts on all of the decks from Skymember Presents, basically artwork that looks like it was done by some amateur in high school. I feel like if I squint hard enough I can almost see the notebook paper it was drawn on.

Easy to see what the backs and name is inspired by - 1001 Aladdins.

MagikFingerz wrote:Easy to see what the backs and name is inspired by - 1001 Aladdins.

I'm not sure if you are joking but both of the 1001 Aladdins and this deck are named after the One thousand and one nights, which is an old and famous collection of Arabian fairytales. Surely you knew this?

Some pics:

CupcakeBaron wrote:I like the back well enough but I'm not into the court cards. They remind me of the courts on all of the decks from Skymember Presents, basically artwork that looks like it was done by some amateur in high school. I feel like if I squint hard enough I can almost see the notebook paper it was drawn on.

I agree; stylistically the artwork feels very amateurish, but I guess since they're going for that 'homemade' aesthetic it seems somewhat fitting and at least the design is consistent throughout the deck as a whole. But overall, this one is just not for me

With that said, even if this deck was one that appealed to me, I'd adventitiously avoid the campaign and any other associated with Dent-de-Lion for how he handled the debacle of his previous Leonardo MMXV deck - sure, he and his fam/company can change their creator name and re-brand as many times as they'd like, but it's still the same people behind this project and I can't & won't support a creator I don't trust, especially one that has so little disregard for accurate representation of their product(s) and honest transparency in informing backers by disclosing any and all critical changes made to the project that greatly diverge from what was initially promoted/promised to be delivered and therefore expected from backers. I can forgive & forget a lot of minor indiscretions, but when you're taking money from people I think the very, very least you can do is to have the balls & a shred of integrity to be upfront and honest with the backers who put their faith in you and supported your project to make it a reality to begin with.

/rant

Räpylätassu wrote:

MagikFingerz wrote:Easy to see what the backs and name is inspired by - 1001 Aladdins.

I'm not sure if you are joking but both of the 1001 Aladdins and this deck are named after the One thousand and one nights, which is an old and famous collection of Arabian fairytales. Surely you knew this?

Yes, but surely the similarities in the back design isn't from the same fairytale collection?

PipChick wrote:

CupcakeBaron wrote:I like the back well enough but I'm not into the court cards. They remind me of the courts on all of the decks from Skymember Presents, basically artwork that looks like it was done by some amateur in high school. I feel like if I squint hard enough I can almost see the notebook paper it was drawn on.

I agree; stylistically the artwork feels very amateurish, but I guess since they're going for that 'homemade' aesthetic it seems somewhat fitting and at least the design is consistent throughout the deck as a whole. But overall, this one is just not for me

With that said, even if this deck was one that appealed to me, I'd adventitiously avoid the campaign and any other associated with Dent-de-Lion for how he handled the debacle of his previous Leonardo MMXV deck - sure, he and his fam/company can change their creator name and re-brand as many times as they'd like, but it's still the same people behind this project and I can't & won't support a creator I don't trust, especially one that has so little disregard for accurate representation of his product(s) and honest transparency in informing backers by disclosing any and all critical changes made to the project that greatly diverge from what was initially promoted/promised to be delivered and therefore expected from backers. I can forgive & forget a lot of minor indiscretions, but when you're taking money from people I think the very, very least you can do is to have the balls & a shred of integrity to be upfront and honest with the backers who put their faith in you and supported your project to make it a reality to begin with.

/rant

Yikes... Thanks for sharing, looks like they really screwed the pooch with that one. The fact that they have rebranded since really irks me, future backers may not be aware of their previous campaign and that's the kind of info that could sway them towards not pledging. Gonna add them to my mental list of creators to avoid in the future(right after Bocopo/Kevin Yu).

PipChick wrote:Some pics:

I must have Gio's decks burned in my mind because at first look I saw "BOOB NIGHTS" on tuck.

Dear community members,

Soleil from Art Playing Cards here.

Thank you for posting my project 1001 Nights. I felt like responding to this thread as there are some issues mentioned that I would love to clear up. Ever the optimist I would love for APC to be a part of this community.

My dad and decided to join forces under the name Art Playing Cards after each doing own decks (Leonardo MMXV and Glitch Original) to work on Glitch 2.0 and Leonardo MMXVIII. Now I hand drew 1001 Nights and he designed the coin and some other add-ons.

Regarding the “rebranding”: We learned how much work is behind every campaign and decided to join forces, and as artists we agreed on a name to do it under. We never hide our names on Kickstarter, adding both of us as collaborators. We are artists and our name is our business card.

We made a mistake with our Leonardo MMXV Platinum Edition deck in 2015. The deck wasn’t gilded as we promised, because this turned out to be impossible with our design. We did not update the backers about this design change. This was obviously a mistake. There is no excuse for that. We were newbies. We apologized and offered an instant refund. We transferred the refunds right away over paypal. We made a mistake and tried to remedy it. Should we never make a card project again?

We love the custom playing card world and this medium. I would love to get your feedback and your input on our future projects. I hoped this small world would be supportive and make each other better.

I wish for you to see how we have been trying to make up for our mistake and talk to us as fellow humans with feelings and imperfections.

Thank you for reading this.

And thank you for feedback and support.

All the best,
Soleil

quick question Soleil: when you say that you offered refunds on that particular project, was that publically to ALL backers of the campaign that pledged for those decks? or only extended to those that noticed and were peeved enough to request for the one that they deserved??

another question: was the project paged updated and changed to accurately reflect the actual deck that was produced?? Actually, is there any public acknowledgement on the project page anywhere? I scrolled through hundreds of comments and, even though there were several from backers expressing discontent, not one from your father publically responding to them... why? Did he think if he ignored those backer complaints it would just go away and people would forget? Regardless, what's done is done and I'm really not trying to rehash the ignominious failures of a project long past - actually, I'll even concede that perhaps mistakes made may be chalked up to inexperience, but ignoring backers and refusing to stand up to take responsibility for those mistakes by publicly acknowledging them and expressing sincere apologies speaks volumes to his character and integrity.

Now, I'm not saying you & your father shouldn't ever create and campaign for funds of a playing card project never ever again, but there's no doubt that his reputation (and by extension, yours) have been tarnished as a result of the way he handled the whole thing and it would take a lot for me, and perhaps a portion of the community as well, to regain trust in you and your company - as of now, I personally just can't forgive and forget so easily and, as I had already stated, can't support a creator I don't trust - maybe one day in the future, but just not now.

best of luck on your campaign and I genuinely hope to see that this project proves to be one of complete and total transparency, if nothing else but for the sake of the backers that have decided to support you thus far, by fulfilling any and all promises made to prove that you are a creator that can be fully trusted by the community. It might seem like these are very unattainably high standards we're expecting from and holding you to, but that's exactly what continuously pushes the community to be better - because from one fellow human being to another, that's all we can hope for is to just be better - not perfect, but better.

Thank you so much for taking your time to respond to me

I think you are correct about our communication. We have been working hard to better this and hopefully will get to a point where all our backers feel valued and heard.

We have learned great lessons in manufacturing cards, testing several major printers and we have learned what works and who is best for what.
I will do my very best in being completely honest with my backers - thank you for being kind and not jumping to all sorts of conclusions.

Honestly I appreciate that this community is so honest, and I just want to be a part of it and become better at doing what I love to do...

yes, despite having to face hard truths at times and contrary to what that may feel like, you'll find that this community is actually quite supportive and there's honestly nothing any of us want more than for everyone to have a good, if not boring lol, KS experience to get great decks from reputable creators and we commend the effort made in reaching out and engaging with the community.

Thanks for coming onboard here to explain , admit the shortcomings and be willing to take the criticism. That takes guts! Good on you!

We had a very painful experience earlier this year with a designer (who shall not be named) was so defensive of his project that he refused to have his project even promoted here . It got to the point where he attacked the members verbally and the owner had to step in to shut down the thread.

I hope both you and you dad will consider using this forum to get feedback in good faith for future projects in the drafting board section. That's always one of the most exciting part of this forum for me.

Idk these kinda suck.

I may be in the minority here, but I quite like these designs. The simple execution seems more like woodcut print style to me than amateurish, and the art designs are actually very clever with how the mirroring flows on the courts without being repetitive. I see a lot of artistic effort and time going into these. Owning 200 decks with standard pips, I'm always interested in a different take on those as well. No accounting for taste, despite what 2P might say.

*DISCLAIMER* I know nothing about Middle Eastern/Persian culture, so I have NO idea if this art style is reflective of anything culturally or historically accurate. My opinion is entirely based on personal taste.

Eric, thank you for being so welcoming - I am really looking forward to showing you guys future decks.

Two Piece, thank you for your open feedback - maybe I'll get you on the next one

Winged Potato, thank you so much for stating your view - that is exactly the look I was going for - I love woodcuts and recreating that for playing cards was quite a labour of love. Thank you for seeing that and taking your time to tell me - warms my heart and motivates me to keep going!

I like this design. Simple? No way! This design is 100 times better than a design of every single standard deck. I'd better spend money on this deck than accept a gift of 100 super-duper-hype standard decks sold for $20 each retail.

Good luck with the campaign!

p.s. update: @soleil, Be yourself! Be proud! Don't try to be liked by everyone! Do what you like!

montenzi wrote:This design is 100 times better than a design of every single standard deck. I'd better spend money on this deck than accept a gift of 100 super-duper-hype standard decks sold for $20 each retail.

very, very true - I honestly could not agree with this more +1,000

I'm surprised at the dislike of the art - it's a bit simple, sure, but I think it's objectively good

hsbc wrote:I'm surprised at the dislike of the art - it's a bit simple, sure, but I think it's objectively good

That would be subjectivity...

soleil wrote:We made a mistake with our Leonardo MMXV Platinum Edition deck in 2015. The deck wasn’t gilded as we promised, because this turned out to be impossible with our design. We did not update the backers about this design change. This was obviously a mistake. There is no excuse for that. We were newbies. We apologized and offered an instant refund. We transferred the refunds right away over paypal. We made a mistake and tried to remedy it. Should we never make a card project again?
Soleil

Soleil, I was probably one of the most vocal members here in expressing my distaste for the first Leonardo campaign, and I'll explain why later in this post. The problems with your first campaign were not limited to merely missing gilding. You also promised an iridescent finish and printing by the USPCC, and neither of those very important features were included either. When we pointed out these omissions to your father, his response was basically that features such as gilding, iridescent finish, and USPCC printing are unimportant, interchangeable features to an artist such as himself! Yet it was these "unimportant" features that were the very basis for charging significantly more than the standard decks. In all fairness, I contacted your father and I was issued a prompt refund for two Platinum decks.

Here is why I took such strong issue with your first campaign: When I requested my refund from your father, I sent him an email explaining to him that there are many collectors who never open their decks, so there would be no way for them to realize they did not receive the deck that was advertised to them, for which they unnecessarily paid so much extra money. Your refund offer was announced only here at UC. I urged him, both through posts here at UC and in my email to him, to announce his mistakes on his Kickstarter campaign and offer refunds for all his supporters, not just the ones here at UC. Your father never responded to this by email to me, and he stopped posting here at UC after that as well. He posted fifty one (51!) Updates on Kickstarter after the Leonardo campaign ended. Fifty one opportunities to make things right. And not once did he admit his mistakes, apologize, or offer refunds on Kickstarter, even though he had 51 chances to do so. The fact of the matter is that your father promised unique, expensive features for the Platinum deck in order to charge and receive a premium from his backers, and then after the campaign ended and he already had our money in hand, he purposely made the decision to omit the gilding, iridescent finish, and USPCC printing (because such things are unimportant and interchangeable to an artist such as himself) and kept the extra money in his pocket. Furthermore, he limited his exposure for refunds by only posting here at UC. For me, this extends well beyond what can be repaired by excuses that you were newbies and regrets of poor communication.

I give you credit for even coming back to UC, although only time will tell if it was because you truly want to set the record straight and become a positive member of our community, or just want to squeeze a few extra dollars out of us again. Everyone makes mistakes, it's how they deal with the inevitable mistakes that reveals their characters. Should you never make a card project again? Of course you can. I even think your design and theme are decent. But even though I make the easy choice not to support anything related to your father, I nevertheless wish you well on the 1001 Nights campaign and I'm sure you will find other UC members more forgiving than me. It will take more than 1 or 2 campaigns to make me trust anything from Dent du Lion again, but I truly do hope this campaign leads you towards that path, good luck.

Thank you all for being part of this journey!

Montenzi - thank you so much for your encouragement! Coming from fellow designer, this means so much.

Sinjin7, thank you for taking your time and being nice to me. I do agree with a lot of your message. There were good reasons why the printer was Legends, which was communicated and the feedback was positive for that anti-change. The fact that we thought we could guild the decks was a newbie mistake - Legends couldn’t guild decks printed all the way to the edge and we did not research this before - it just didn’t occur to us... I do feel great regret how we handled this. I believe you are correct about the fact that we should have communicated from the start. I do believe we really learned our lesson and have been very open in our projects since and have communicated every issue as soon as they arose.

I am honestly so thankful the way all of you have been welcoming me “back” and are willing to discuss these issues. I surely want to be a part of this community. If anybody has any “bob-the-builder” feedbacks for 1001 Nights I am all ears

Thank you for your well wishes. This project is so dear to me.

I hope that you can build a positive reputation by learning from your mistakes, and being more diligent in knowing what can and cannot be accomplished, as well as improving communication and customer service.

If you screw this up, I will destroy you.

Maybe.

Probably not.

Thank you TwoPiece, your earnest comment is appreciated, and well noted....

TwoPiece wrote: If you screw this up, I will destroy you.

Welcome to the forum, @soleil

montenzi wrote:

TwoPiece wrote: If you screw this up, I will destroy you.

Welcome to the forum, @soleil

I just wanted to thank all of you for supporting 1001 Nights! Especially the UC backers who have reached out to me with their kind PM’s. You guys are the best (heart emoji)

1001 Nights is a bit different than almost all of the playing cards of interest here - it’s not ornate or shiny or black or gold! But it is a big body of work. Yes it is modern and not what one would expect from our Disney-ized Aladdin 1001 cartoon expectations. But my designs run true to the playing card world and the Arabian Nights… and I appreciate the comments from those who see that.

We are currently at 80% funded - and once we are funded in the next days we will move on to the first stretchie - and this is a big one! A paper stock upgrade - from Bicycle Standard stock to Bee Casino stock. This will add great value to the deck, and will make it all the more collectable.

Thank you all again for your encouraging messages and being part of this journey

Hey you guys - we are funded ! What a whirlwind! Thank you all so much for your support