Calendra, Part #11: The Rule Guide Cards

This is an image of the original design behind a Calendra Rules Reference Card. It shows where cards should be placed on a table, and details all of the different strategies used in forming a victorious hand in the game! This card features Autumn

❖ Version History ❖

15th of July, 2020
Almost all of the necessary pieces of Calendra have now officially been put into design. We have all 120 main cards designed, we have the back side of the design completed, and now there is only one major piece left for the elements of the cards: a Reference Card to showcase rule notes to help players who need a reminder about their goals and task to accomplish are in the game. I do not put a serious amount of effort into these designs at first. It is merely my objective to get something that worked for the time being that I could touch up later. For this concept, I concentrated all effort into the frame and text that needed to appear on the cards. Before long this is what I came up with:

  • This is an image of the original design behind a Calendra Rules Reference Card. It shows where cards should be placed on a table, and details all of the different strategies used in forming a victorious hand in the game! This card features Autumn
  • This is an image of the original design behind a Calendra Rules Reference Card. It shows where cards should be placed on a table, and details all of the different strategies used in forming a victorious hand in the game! This card features Spring
  • This is an image of the original design behind a Calendra Rules Reference Card. It shows where cards should be placed on a table, and details all of the different strategies used in forming a victorious hand in the game! This card features Summer
  • This is an image of the original design behind a Calendra Rules Reference Card. It shows where cards should be placed on a table, and details all of the different strategies used in forming a victorious hand in the game! This card features Winter

To be completely honest, these cards came out better than anticipated. I really liked the layout and way that the card could be colored to showcase the season without needing to say anything else.

The cards each only need to transmit a few pieces of information, but the details that do appear tell a lot more than one might realize up front:

1. The cards show all five major methods for winning a hand of Calendra

2. The cards show how the field of play is organized, and reminds players of the difference between Garden and Court zone when a card is played.

3. The card shows what season a player is playing as, and hints at what color cards you should be seeking out as that player.

4. Though it could be explained in more detail, the reference card also distinguishes the difference between winning a round of Calendra and winning the Game of Calendra.

Though I am really happy/proud with the appearance of this batch of rule card designs I would unfortunately later come to decide that there are a wealth of things about this card that could easily be improved. For one thing, the color was too bland, the season title should still appear in text on the card somewhere to help aid those who are colorblind, there are some unresolved issues with the font, and size of the information are all details that need tweaking, but we will save that conversation after we get ourselves further along in this design history. For the time being, the most important task at hand is getting everything made enough so that a design prototype could finally be ordered for investigation. Only one more major Design item was blocking our path to this order: The Box. Stay tuned for more Design Journal to hear about it and very soon return to our narrative about the rule card designs.

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