Wednesday, June 13, 2012

Challenge #6: Enter the Dragon

Happy Wednesday, designers!  Before I give you the next challenge, I want to talk a bit about the feedback system.  Under the current system, only the top few entries get any comments.  That's not very helpful to the many people who didn't submit a winning entry.  Some of them are experienced designers wondering what I didn't like about their card.  Others are relatively new to design and need feedback to improve their skills.  In any case, these people also deserve to have their entries discussed.

To fix this problem, I'm trying out a new opt-in system for feedback.  For every challenge, I'll pick one non-winning entry for public discussion, and write a separate post describing what went right and wrong with it from a design perspective.  If you're willing to have your entry featured in this way, put the word "critique" in the subject line of your e-mail submission.  I'll try to pick a different person to critique every week, so that everyone who wants to can get a chance.

And now, the design challenge.

Enter the Dragon



The vast majority of dragons in Magic are red.  There have been exceptions, but many of those cards are old, weird, and would never see print today.  Your task is to design a non-red dragon.  The ideal card will feel distinctly non-red and distinctly dragonish.  

E-mail your card to tweetforcealpha@gmail.com by midnight (Pacific Time) on Sunday, June 17.  The winners will be posted on Wednesday,  June 20.  This challenge is open to everyone.  One entry per person.  Please specify your preferred name or pseudonym.  Entries may be edited slightly for consistent templating.  If you are interested in having your submission publicly critiqued, put the word "critique" in the subject line of your e-mail.

14 comments:

  1. Replies
    1. Especially because it's hard to read between the lines of the prompt while still staying within the prompt. Like, making a dragonfly card (one of my first instincts) doesn't fit.

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    2. All I want to do is remake Canopy Dragon.

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    3. Yo, I don't mess around. If we want Team Goblin Artisans to crush GDS3, we need everyone hitting the proverbial design gym hard. I'm talking power ballad training montage. You feel me?

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    4. Firebreathing Bruce Lee wants you to get PUMPED.

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    5. I'll be honest, I've been watching a lot of Yuen Woo-Ping (and other related) films recently, and I just am not interested in Bruce Lee. As a philosopher and as a person, he's certainly fascinating, but I'll take the controversial opinion that his movies don't stand up to those of Donnie Yen or Jackie Chan. Still, fire-breathing Bruce Lee is still probably in a tier of his own...

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    6. Yeah, his films were not the greatest. But his martial arts skill was.

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    7. I'm pretty happy with the direction I took. It's the very first thought that came to my mind when I thought of "non-red Dragon" and it's a very resonant and recognizable concept. Here's hoping my execution passes muster.

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    8. Oh, is it all right if we suggest ideas for future contests here in the comments?

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    9. Yes, although I'm fairly unlikely to use them verbatim, as the person who came up with the challenge would have a significant advantage. What would be more helpful was general feedback on what sort of challenge you like: "I want to design cycles!" "I want to redesign old cards!" "I want to design commons!" etc.

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    10. "I want to design things that aren't mythic rares!"

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    11. "I want design challenges that involve flavor text in some way!"

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    12. Fair enough.

      "I want to design something that reinterprets an existing keyword mechanic in a new context!"

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  2. Yeah I found this hard. The only thing I could really think of is that dragons like treasure and tried to top down a sleeping dragon on a pile of treasure from there.

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