Beastie: The Card Game
Artwork Needed



In a past poll, I asked if anyone would be interested in doing artwork for this card game I was working on, and I seemed to have generated some interest from people, so here are the details on what I have planned.

About a year or so ago I developed a card game as a final project for one of my classes in the Game Art and Design program at the Art Institute of Pittsburgh, And it seemed to be popular during the game testing.

The card game itself was based on a game idea and story I developed much earlier called 'Beastie', a story of a group of people discovering the existence of familiars: magical creatures who served one person or a whole family line for generations, until they disappeared mysteriously centuries ago and are now no more than legend and fantasy, until they suddenly reappeared. The game concept is where you fight other players in order to gain as many familiars as you can; being a good guy or bad guy was up to the player.

The cards themselves were made on normal index cards and had just the basic information and stats on them, but they lacked any sort of decoration or artwork, because at the time it was a combination of lack of time and just the level of work I would have to go through.


Now, I still have all the materials, cards, and information for this card game and at some point I would actually like others to possibly try the game and maybe even help with it. I thought of doing the artwork myself, but I was suddenly hit with an idea: one of the reasons why people like myself like card games like "Magic: The Gathering" is that the artwork on those cads look amazing, and the artwork itself was done by many people and with many different styles. So I thought to myself, 'I wonder if anyone here would be doing something like that?'

So I asked that question to the people in my poll and it seems that there are plenty of people who would be interested, so this will give you some of the details of what I'm thinking.

There are around 50 cards, each separated as familiar cards, items, events/situations/requirement events and magic.
If someone would be interested in doing art for one or more cards, they could send them to me and if I accept the art, I would use it for the "final" of the cards.

There would be no limit on what cards a person could choose or how many they would want. There wouldn’t be a deadline for when the artwork is due, so I would take them as they would come. There would be some specifications necessary for the artwork since I would most likely have to do some resizing and so one for the cards.



This is purely volunteer, I don't want to pressure anyone into doing this.

I won't turn down anyone based on "artistic talent" since I am looking for a variety of art, so anyone and everyone is welcome to contribute if they would like to.

There is no limit on what cards a person could choose or how many they would want.

There is no time limit, you can get these done whenever you can/

If you are interested, then I ask you to send me a note or email, that way I know who is interested.



Requirements for the art:
Firstly, I would like to have these in full color, shaded or linework will not work in this case. However, you can color these digitally or traditionally, whichever you prefer. If you can’t color them, you can ask me to color these for you, just give me what kind of colors or information you had in mind.
Secondly is that I need fairly big pictures, at least 700x600 or there about. Keep the format as landscape if you can, as this will help with any editing I may need to do. Try not to give me any huge pictures, 1000 pixels is about the biggest I will accept.

Now these won’t be the only cards, I do plan on making more with any luck. However, you are welcome to come up with ideas for card, again, make sure to send me a note with any suggestions and I will take a look at them.

There is no time limit for when the art is due, so you can send them to me whenever you complete them.



Game Mechanics

Story

Familiars, mythical creatures that have been a part in many cultures all throughout history, their existence has long since faded into legend; many scholars now in modern era disregard all the legends regarding these magical creatures.
However, something has caused many of the familiars to return; while some go to find new masters to serve, many of these people have gone out to search for more familiars to increase their power.
Now a struggle has begun between two groups of people; those who are trying to release the familiars from their servitude and those who are trying to enslave all of them for power.

Which side are you on? Will you help those that willingly serve you, or will you enslave them all for the power they hold?



The Cards


Familairs:

- Familairs have Attack, Defense, damage, elements and Health points
- When a familiar loses (HP reaches 0), the familiar is taken by the winner (enslaved or liberated)


Situations:

- a separate card deck that all players have access to
- the player draws a situation card every turn, but the player can also cast the ‘Call Situation’ spell to draw another card.
- All non-kept cards, after use, are stuck under the deck.

Situation cards include:
- Requirements
- Artifacts
- Magic (stored or instant cast)
- Other familiars
- Effects and Events


Artifacts:

- Magic items with special effects when in use (equipped), artifacts use mana to be equipped.
- Effect player and/or familiars
- Limited number allowed: two per familiar and four per player

Examples of artifact effects include:
- Increase player/familiar HP
- Mana increase
- Increase Attack/Defense
- Add elements



Starting the Game

- each player chooses a starting familiar at random
-Starting familiars: Ruby, Oni, Scarlet and Malthera
- each player gains a Health Point Meter and sets the starting HP to 300
- Each player gains 300 mana, ten 10s and two 100s
- Each player gains a Spells list
- Starting familiars must be put into play during the first turn

- HP can be restored per turn by magic, items or situations
- HP Max increases by magic or items
- Player gains 10 mana each turn
- More mana can be gained from magic or situations



Process of Play

"Draw" – Cast – Attack

"Draw" Phase
- the player takes 10 mana from the mana pool and draws a card from the Situation Deck

Cast Phase
- the player casts magic, summon familiars and equip artifacts
- The player can only cast one spell per turn from the Spells list
- The player can only place one familiar in play per turn
- The player may add any number of artifacts into play per turn

Attack Phase
- attacking is optional, this can be skipped if the player chooses
- the player chooses the target to attack and sends familiars
- players cannot attack on their first turn

Attacking
- the attacking player chooses a player to attack (the target player)
- the attacker chooses which familiars in play that are attacking
- the target player chooses which familiars in play are to intercept the attacking familiars

Familiar battle:
-Intercepted
- compare the attacker’s attack value with the interceptor’s defense value
- if attack is higher than defense, damage is dealt to the interceptor
- if defense is higher than attack, damage is dealt to the attacker

-If a familiar’s HP reaches zero:
- regardless of whether the familiar is an attacker or interceptor, the familiar goes to the winning player. All artifacts that are on the familiar also go to the player. The familiar and the artifacts go to the player’s hand.
- the player who now owns the familiar must spend the casting cost to put the familiar and artifacts back into player.
- The familiar’s HP is fully restored.

-If no attack is intercepted
- attack deals direct damage to the defending player

Sample battle
Attacker sends three familiars
Defender sends two interceptors

Attacking familiars:
A1) 5/4 HP 100 Damage: 20
A2) 3/3 HP 10 Damage: 10
A3) 6/7 HP 30 Damage: 30

Defending familiars:
D1) 5/4 HP: 100 Damage: 10
D2) 6/7 HP 200 Damage: 20

Compare Attacker’s attack with Interceptor’s defense

- A1 vs D1
- A1’s attack is 5, D1’s defense is 4. A1 wins and deals 20 damage to D1

- A2 vs D2
- A2’s attack is 3, D2’s defense is 7, D2 wins and deals 30 damage to A2
- A2’s HP is now zero, A2 goes to the Defending Player

- A3
- A3 is not intercepted and deals 30 damage to the Defending Player


Elements

Familairs can also have elements which modify their attacks.
Beating elements deal double damage
Elements are used in Familiar vs. Familiar battles, elements do not affect the player.

The elements include Neutral (or no element), Fire, Ice, and Lighting. A familiar can have one, a combination of Fire, Ice or Lighting, or all three. Some familiars can also have a Healing element.

Opposing elements

- if neutral, then there is no effect
- Fire beats Ice
- Ice beats Lightning
- Lightning beats Fire

Sample battle

Attacking familiar:
5/5 Damage 20 -Fire Element

Defending familiar:
4/4 Damage 20 -Ice Element

The Attacker’s attack beats the Defender’s defense, since the Fire Element beats Ice, the damage is increased to 40.



Magic and Mana

- casting spells, putting familiars into play and adding artifacts cost mana
- mana is gained from the ‘mana pool’
- all mana spent also goes into the mana pool
- Mana is separated into two denominations: 10s and 100s



Winning the Game

A player wins the game by either:

- gaining all the familiars that are in play, disregarding the familiars that may still be in the situation deck

- or -

- defeating all other players



Card List

Familiars

Oni (Character reference: [link] [link] )
Malthera (Character concept: [link] )
Scarlet
Ruby
Muramasa
Ifirt (Try to avoid Final Fantasy designs)
El-airah (rabbit)
Kit (some creature that would represent stealth)
Nemo (Not my character Nemo)
Concord (A hooved character of some kind)
Alexander
Shedir
Golem
Cacophony


Artifacts

Bracers of Stealth - Familiar Artifact
Fire Amulet - Familiar Artifact
Ice Amulet - Familiar Artifact
Lightning Amulet - Familiar Artifact
War Axe - Familiar Artifact
Training Bonds - Familiar Artifact
Spirit Armor - Familiar Artifact
Bracers of Speed - Familiar Artifact
Bracelet of Life - Familiar Artifact
Shackles - Familiar Artifact
Vampire Sword - Familiar Artifact

Ring of Regeneration - Player Artifact
Alchemist Set - Player Artifact
Bishop's Charm - Player Artifact
Amulet of Life - Player Artifact
Magic Pendent - Player Artifact
Ethereal Armor - Player Artifact
Spy Glass - Player Artifact

Events/Requirements

Stream of Life - Event
Mindblow - Event
Misplace - Event
False Orders - Event
Fire Storm - Event
Divine Aid - Event
Song from the Wood - Event
Mists of Time - Event
Illness - Event
Treasure Hunt - Event
Miracle - Event
Lost - Event
Cursed Artifact - Event
Uneasy Alliance - Event
Summon Ceremony - Event
Moonlight Prayer - Event
Energy Drain - Event
Poison - Event
Steal - Event
Hurricane - Event
Energy Bank - Event
Starlight - Event
Enslave/Liberate - Event
Supplies - Event
Entangle - Event
Earthquake - Event

Exchange - Requirement
Camp - Requirement
Appeasement - Requirement



Card design prototypes
Prototype 1 - [link]
Prototype 2 - [link]

Example Cards
[link]


Artwork So Far:

~zaiqukaj
- Concord - [link]
- Stearm of Life - [link]

~snowfyre - Kit - [link]

~CasanovaUnlimited
- Ice Amulet - [link]
- Lightning Amulet - [link]

*hunterbahamut
- Oni - [link]
- Enslave/Liberate - [link]
- Bishop's Charm - [link]

~T-M-Krisnack
- Uneasy Alliance - [link]

~Shinpai
- Vampire Sword - [link]

~Drakkena550
- Ifirt - [link]

*Bri-Rock
- Mists of Time - [link]

~kuroryushin
- Scarlet - [link]
- Ruby (WIP) - [link]

*madmick2299
- Golem - [link]
- Cacophony - [link]
- Muramasa - [link]