Naroom eXodus

4 cards with art, the first 2 from FlameRaven (Beth Zyglowicz) and I actually think these, although not her best work, are rather well done.

Whyrl's image is Koriko, which is actually used in TG as a magi:

I didn't really like blitz (Jeffry Ransom)'s Sikad (which mean "shit" in a number of Asian languages), but after I put in the background, it turned out rather good looking.

So, both the FlameRaven cards and blitz's card will make it into EF, although I think I'm going to rename the Sikad to something less insulting, yet still retains the Cicada meaning.

Nar-ry an image for eXodus

Only one Nar eXodus image, and I think the card looks good if a bit blurry. Oh and I think the art is by blitz (Jeffry Ransom), but I'm too lazy to check at the moment. Hopefully, blitz will confirm it over the next few days.

Recipe for Frostbite

People wonder how find all these great artwork. Well, for most of them I don't. I make them. Some of them aren't really up to scratch, but for custom cards, I guess they are passable. Let's take Frostbite Ickle as an example.

1. Start with the creature.
The reason why there are so many repeat creature types is because it's easy to modify an existing piece of art. That and also players have been asking for more of their favourite creature type. So, the Frostbike Ickle starts with an Ickle...

2. Add modifications.
I really don't like those ears as wings on the Ickle, so let's change them. Proper wings? Now where have I seen those recently... ah, I know... this image:

That's from Rich Werner's site. Nice pair of wings there. Add that to the Ickle image... now all that's left is the background.

3. Choose a background.
This is a flying creature. All I have to do is provide one backgrounds - not too difficult, let's steal a Holmberg one from somewhere... say the calendars.

Now put them all together.... and because it's Frostbite draw in a mouth...

And there you have it... how to make fake MND card art 101.

Why am I posting this? People have been asking me if they could make their own custom cards. Basically, text is fine and all, but artwork is always a pain for most people. Well, see, it's not exactly rocket science now, is it?

FlameRaven have given her permission to use her RP card artwork. Here's some of them...

Boots in the Teeth

Most of the eXodus images are hard to handle. There were a couple that weren't even coloured for KT so I ignored those. Of the 2 that are coloured, they were done with crayons again. Urgh. Lots of work.

I have no idea who SSJ Hyren is, but that's his artwork. He is listed as Doe2. The background is Holmberg's.

For comparison, here's the original boots picture done in crayons or what looks like it anyways:

This was done by Pirate Number 42 or Pirate Girl on the engine. I just found out that she's Raegan Walters so that's going on the card, with an edit in all 3 places that it's posted. I also updated it to the Exodus Flight artwork as well, which is a boon. The background there is by Holmberg. The boots isn't too bad and I think will be getting into Exodus Flight.

Teardrops falling from my head

Mal is the main designer of the Nar cards for TG and one of them is Uloron's Teardrop. I envisioned it as a frozen teardrop sorta like crystalise but more teardrop shaped. Zacko offered to draw it and before he disappeared, he sent this in:

Of course, the Nar cards tend to have a bluish outline instead of black, so I had to change that. The black was replaced with a bluish grey, the outlines with a pale blue and here's the teardrop, slightly refined.

Well, it looks boring and stuff. First off that has no background, so I had to find one to add. Finding one for Nar though isn't too difficult. It's also supposed to be falling and somehow I have to convey that. So more edits... and of course, the image looks too 2D, so I had to attempt to make it more 3D... and I think this is where I failed. Anyways, here's the final result:

Not exactly bad, but not as perfect as I'd like it to be. Oh well.

MND events on gEngine in April

Featured Game #2 MND

MND is the featured game on gEngine and will be featured until midnight central (US) time 3rd April 2005. While the game is featured, players need not need to use up their valuable tokens to play the game.



Keeper's Question #3: Tony

TONY is the follow-up to the Keeper's Question series of competition. Keeper's Quest will be a set of 4 promo cards designed specifically for gEngine based around the artwork from the puzzle game of the same name. Now you get to have your chance to design the third card of the series, TONY. The rules is available at Novelty's Custom Cards Forum and entries for the competition should be posted at that same thread. The grand prize winner will get 5 copper tokens and an automatic win for the April's Elder's Legacy tourney being held on gEngine.



Elder's Legacy MND Tournaments

Congratulations again to Malovis for winning March's MND Elder's Legacy tournament. He gets 15 copper tokens for winning the tournament.

April MND tournament open for sign-ups! Rules and the sign-ups for the next tournament is now open at CCG Workshop Forums. The prize pot for this tournament is also 15 coppers to be given out at the beginning of May.