8 bit playing cards

[JMB]

Came across this on Kickstarter.  Not bad.



http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/45166364/8-bit-bicycle-playing-cards-the-traditional-decks?ref=category

[Ginsu Victim]

While I understand, and have donated to, some Kickstarters....I don't see the need for crowd-funding this.

[JMB]

While I understand, and have donated to, some Kickstarters....I don't see the need for crowd-funding this.

I agree. A lot of kickstarter projects have turned into nothing more than people looking to sell a product with little to no financial risk to themselves. 

[Howard_Casto]

I also fail to see the target market for this.  I was expecting to see cards featuring famous 8-bit characters or something cool, but instead I see the low res bitmaps used for solitaire in windows 3.11.

No thank you.

[retrostark]

i on the other hand from everyone else think these are amazing. they company might not have needed to crowd fund this, but in the long run they are a neat little thing and i will be picking myself up a deck to have on my desk and show off.

[DaveMMR]

There's a website (thegamecrafter.com) where you can have these printed out for $6. (and they'll print on demand).  Heck they'll even let you sell it through their website. It might be a little less fancy but it's less risk.

That being said, they're kind of cool. But $10 just to get one measly deck of cards it a bit much, no matter how original the design.

[Howard_Casto]

Yeah I must be missing something because the D&D crowd has given us the ability to make custom game goods for ages now and it's much cheaper.  The dice are the only thing on that list that would be tricky, but I'm pretty sure there is a company that does that as well. 

I don't like these types of projects because they take advantage of kickstarter which is going to wear out the site's welcome real fast.  I would hate to see responsible projects that actually just need a bit of cash flow like the 90's Arcade Racer go away because people get sick of having to raise 30,000 dollars for some pieces of paper. 

[retrostark]

well thank you dave i saw your post just before i was going to back the kickstarter. i was only aprehensive to back it because it is $10 for one deck when you can get a normal biycyle deck for $1.

i think i will go ahead and use thegamecrafter.com instead because i checked it out and it looks quiet fair. thanks!

[DaveMMR]

well thank you dave i saw your post just before i was going to back the kickstarter. i was only aprehensive to back it because it is $10 for one deck when you can get a normal biycyle deck for $1.

i think i will go ahead and use thegamecrafter.com instead because i checked it out and it looks quiet fair. thanks!

You're welcome. I assume you're using your own design and not the creator's images, yes?    I did see some custom decks on the site already and some are charging $12 for a deck which gives them a close to $3/deck profit (they take half of profit after cost of parts if you sell on the site.)

(EDIT: I didn't take into account the tuck box, which adds another $3 to parts. Keep that in mind as well if that's important. This may bring it close to the $10 asking price of the KS items.)

Actually I think I may throw together a "custom deck" of cards to give out as gifts one day. If only I had that artistic gene.

[retrostark]

that's something i got dave i got that math mind (to an extent) and a good art gene, although i will still practice drawing almost daily. thanks for the help. wasn't necessary, but you did it just cause. thanks!

[Samstag]

I won't be sorry to see this "everything is better with pixellated art" phase run its course.  80's video game art doesn't turn me on because it's better than modern game art, it's the actual classic games I love because they're what I grew up with.

Kinda reminds me of this:

[Howard_Casto]

Honestly it bothers me a little as well.  Pixelization is NOT an art style.  What happen was that some of these games and the sprites in said games were so well done that they became iconic.  That status didn't come from the blockiness of the sprites or any particular look, but rather the quality of the games and the original art assets.  So when some random guy takes his own work and pixelates it, it can never reach that iconic status... there's no context.... there wasn't a game there, there aren't any memories associated with the work. 

Maybe I should explain it this way.  Somehow Andy Warhol made art out of paintings of soup cans and taking a photo and dividing it into four color blocks.  That doesn't mean that when you do the same thing it's also good art.  If anything it's a bit insulting to think that your copy is going to ever be as great as the original.   

[retrostark]

howard i understand and that guys are does not compare to anything else old game devs have created in their art, but i have to say open your eyes. right now in this day and age pixel art is an art style, and people are making a living off of it.

don't want to be harsh because i understand were you are coming from, but it's the truth.

[DaveMMR]

that's something i got dave i got that math mind (to an extent) and a good art gene, although i will still practice drawing almost daily. thanks for the help. wasn't necessary, but you did it just cause. thanks!

If you design something cool, put it up on the store.    Good luck!

[SavannahLion]

Slightly O.T.

The dice are the only thing on that list that would be tricky, but I'm pretty sure there is a company that does that as well.

Yeah, I remember when a local shop used to print and lacquer custom dice. Those sucked.

Looks like laser etching or a tiny CNC might work and it looks like the process places like Q-Workshop and  Chessex uses.

[Howard_Casto]

howard i understand and that guys are does not compare to anything else old game devs have created in their art, but i have to say open your eyes. right now in this day and age pixel art is an art style, and people are making a living off of it.

don't want to be harsh because i understand were you are coming from, but it's the truth.

People make a living off of it, but that doesn't make it art.  I know a guy that makes those plywood cut-outs to put in your garden that looks like people bending over.  He makes a lot of money off of it, but that doesn't make it art. 

Everybody in the art community seems to think "Jackson Pollock" is an art style as well.  It's not... only JP's work is good  (even his is sometimes questionable imho) and everybody else's is merely a copy, but that doesn't stop people from thinking that because throwing blobs on a canvas seems very easy and they are hoping they'll get their big break. 

I'm not saying that you can't create a pixelized  image and it turn out to be art... ANYTHING can end up as art.  But when somebody says they are a "pixel artist" I immediately roll my eyes and ignore them, because pixel art is rarely any good and when you limit yourself to such a... well..... limiting toolset it makes me think that you don't have any traditional art skills which are required to make good art... even good pixel art. 

I used to do a lot of pointillism.  I'd never say I was a "pointillist" though because a good artist does tons of stuff.  Not that I'm saying I'm a good artist, I'm just saying when you get into one niche and a low skilled niche at that you are falling dangerously close to the "craft" territory.  Nothing wrong with that, but it's something to be aware of.

Pixel art is a fad created by the hipster doofus crowd.  You don't see old people buying it because they didn't play video games and have no attachment to the "style".  In a few decades it will most likely die off because kids today play flash and 3d games that don't have pixelization.   A true art style is timeless.  Fresco's, Oil Paintings, charcoals, ect...  they've all been around for hundreds of years and will continue to endure.  Pixel art is so tightly linked to the gamer culture of the 80's and 90's that it probably won't last.  You may see that as special and that's certainly one point of view, but I think most people see it as just some trendy thing. 

[geomartin]

I was expecting something more like these...my son made a deck of them for me for a fathers day present in a digital media class he took in high school.

[retrostark]

howard yet again i disagree. anything really can be considered art. your friend for instance with the plywood cut outs. the is a form of modern art. pixel art is the same thing. there is a very good amount of websites for art that when you submit a piece of art it asks you what style and pixel art is one of the choices.

some college art courses art even beginning to use pixel art to teach color theory, because it is a good form of art to display and teach color theory.

[ChadTower]

Howard_Casto is taking this way too seriously and overthinking it.  It's a deck of playing cards.  Nobody has proposed a pixel art wing at the Louvre.

[retrostark]

thank you chad the price is a little unfair on the kickstarter, but if people like it.