Virmir-Cards Project

[Virmir]

Nah, I'd be better off redrawing the whole thing in that case, since I'd want to redo everything.   But as it stands, I still like the drawings, so will keep them.

And Tvorsk for tonight.



29/54!

[Virmir]

Will do Donnie's two tomorrow, hopefully.

30/54!

[Virmir]

And, I did.



32/54!

(Phew!)

[Donnie]

Haha! Awesome Virmir! And... uh.... sorry! ^_^;;;;;;

[Virmir]

You need not apologize for making awesomely detailed characters I want to draw.

Okay, second test printing is in!

Like last time, some issues.  Here are some pics.

http://gallery.virmir.com/main.php?g2_itemId=1819
http://gallery.virmir.com/main.php?g2_itemId=1828
http://gallery.virmir.com/main.php?g2_itemId=1822
http://gallery.virmir.com/main.php?g2_itemId=1825

As mentioned a few posts ago, the provider (The Game Crafter), ditched their old printing service/methods and got a new one.  Therefore these cards look like they have been printed by a totally different company.

Good things:

- They "feel" more like playing cards. A bit thinner perhaps, but these feel more like something I'd play poker with, and not title-deed-esque like the old batch.  I rather like this.   They are still a bit thinner, and less tough than normal playing cards, mind you, but still quite sturdy.

- Rounded corners!

- The print quality is better.  Comparing the old and new cards side-by-side, the old ones look a tad blurry now. Yay.

- My adjustments to the border look great.

Some reservations:

- As I tried to capture in the bottom two pics above, some cards are very obviously not centered well.  I'd say about a third of the 26 cards I had printed make me shift my eyes to various degrees.

- Some cards have sort of a rough edge to them.  It's not like they'll fray or anything, but there's just this weird crease to a few of them.

- The cards arrived just slightly bent...  I think it might be due to how they were squished in the packaging.  I am currently squishing them underneath a giant heavy jar of penny, so will report how well they flatten out.

- This printer is even darker than the last... I'm going to have to lighten these up even more for the next run.  Not a huge deal.

----

In short:  I'm pleased except for the off-centering.  It just plain looks bad, and looks to be a random thing.  I followed the rules when making the templates, and the cut edges are indeed outside the "safe zone", which means that even the off-center cards are inside the acceptable margin of error according the template.  I'm not entirely sure I like this margin of error to be so large, so will think about this more.

One possible solution is to design a background with less obvious borders.  I'm not really sure I want to do this though.

Thoughts and feedback appreciated.  We shall see.

[Tvorsk]

Well, you sure should poke them about it... Even assuming they have a typo here https://www.thegamecrafter.com/publish/production/game-card-production , and mean "2 mm", not "0.2 mm" this seems to be quite a bit more (tho, checking with a ruler would be a good idea, if only to tell them how much off-center it is). Also, consider that your order was one of the first after the swap, maybe they'll calibrate the machines better...

[Virmir]

Okay, to update with what was established in the chat:

The first print run was outsourced from The Game Crafter (TGC, who I'm currently dealing with), to a company called Superior Print On Demand (SPOD).  TGC terminated their (apparently) brief relationship with their company, and are now back to printing their cards "in house".

Unfortunately, TGC is notoriously bad at getting the blasted things centered.  They only guarantee the cards not to have anything cut off in the template's "safe zone".  Which unfortunately is a fairly wide margin of error.  This is a real shame because I *really* like everything else about their cards, and especially like how they will be sold directly from their site with no additional work from me once everything's all said and done.

However I have found SPOD's site, and I can order from them directly too.  The main problem with them is that I will have to order batches to be shipped to me, and then I have to ship them myself.... this would be a major pain.  Plus, looking at the original cards I got, I don't like they way the cards printed quite as much when compared to the latest batch, and they have square corners.  On the plus side, they are capable of getting the things centered fairly well. (Looking at the first batch, there are some slight centering issues, but not nearly as bad as TGC's.)

The Plan

I am going to order a test deck from SPOD with a bunch of color variations to see if I can get them looking right.  If they manage to impress me, I will consider ordering a "limited run" from them (maybe 15-20 decks or so, depending on interest) which I will sell and ship out personally.

I will also be ordering another test deck from TGC with adjustments to the cards for darkness.  Assuming I like SPOD, TGC will be a "fall back" for people who don't mind the off-centering, or after I run out of cards from the limited run.

If I find another printer, will certainly try them as well.

* Virmir is going to have tons and tons of reject-cards lying around...

[Tvorsk]

* Virmir is going to have tons and tons of reject-cards lying around...

Now you just need to find a way to use these... hmm, what about the "Weird Out the Brother" plan?

[Virmir]

Either that or rob vaults and leave behind the ace of spades to taunt my pursuer...

[KaiAdin]

Now you just need to find a way to use these... hmm, what about the "Weird Out the Brother" plan?

I imagine something like from the first harry potter movie... cards flying in from every orifice of the house the next time he steps into Virmir  Living room... Cards flying in EVERYWHERE!

ANyway... ack that sounds like a Pain in the behind Virmir... isnt there some *other* website offering to make cards at all?

[LurkingWolf]

Or like "The Dark Knight."  Something explodes, and Virmir cards fly everywhere.

[Virmir]

Okay!  Enough talk.   More cards.



34/54!

[Dragyn]

Awesome.  I like it.

[Virmir]

35/54!

[Virmir]

CARD REPORT '10

My order from SPOD came in *extremely* quickly.  This pleases me.  (TGC hasn't even shipped yet, as of this writing.)

New pictures!

http://gallery.virmir.com/main.php?g2_itemId=1837
http://gallery.virmir.com/main.php?g2_itemId=1840

Pictured are only about 1/3rd of the cards.  I sent in three variations of most, and what is pictured is the set I like the best.

To be honest... I'm very surprised!  These turned out quite nice.

- The blasted things are much better centered!  There are some centering issues if you look for them, but they did a much better job than TCG.

- Corners are rounded, and the cards "feel" nice.

- Very few cards have a tiny errant dot of blue or red randomly on them... almost like an ink splatter or something.  These are few and far between and barely noticeable, and I don't think this is a big deal.

In short... based on this printing, it looks to me that SPOD is my best bet to deliver a quality product.  Unfortunately this means I will have to ship out orders myself, which as I mentioned before, would be a huge pain.  I'm going to see how the next set of cards ordered from TGC comes back, and then make some decisions.

EDIT: BONUS QUESTION!

SPOD offers a custom tuck-box printing (i.e. a nice little box you can stick the cards in).  This looks really cool.  Do you guys think it'd be worth paying a few dollars more for this? Will probably only cost $2 more or so.