I spoke with Claudio, the creator of Primal TCG. Here are his answers to my questions:
Q: Please describe your trading card game!
A: Primal is a turn based team building game you play against an opponent. You win by attacking your opponent directly and inflicting them 10 direct damage. The more turns pass by the stronger the characters and strategies you can put in play. The most exciting part of the game is when the characters start using Ability cards to get an advantage on the opponent, that will determine who takes the win. It’s fun battling with your opponent and they are responding to your ability cards with their own.
Q: What inspired you to create a TCG?
A: Well the gameplay that Primal uses came from an older game, the Naruto card game. I really loved that game and was upset to see it stop being supported. Even after it stopped being supported by Bandai people played it and made their own fan made cards and fan tournaments. That showed me that I wasn’t the only one that missed the gameplay from being alive. The gameplay is what inspired me to create Primal TCG.
Q: What TCGs did you grow up playing as a kid?
A: Yugioh and Naruto CCG. They were a big inspiration in creating Primal TCG. I liked the archetype approach Yugioh brought and the turn and team based approach that Naruto CCG brought.
Q: What sets Primal apart from other TCGs?
A: The phenomenal art and solid gameplay. One of the greatest thing against current TCGs is that you can’t OTK an opponent because of how the winning condition is set up. Also it is a turn based game where the longer the game progresses the stronger characters and strategies you can play against your opponent to win.
Q: How long have you been working on the game?
A: I started working on Primal in May 2020. Since then I made the effects and selected the archetypes to showcase for the first card set, Awakened Primordials. It will contain 4 main archetypes: Cayne Pirates, Micromons, Pleaguis, and Draginked Dragons.
Q: How did you come up with the name Primal?
A: Originally I thought of calling it Prime because I thought the gameplay was prime rib. But one of my close friends that helped me start making the game thought the name was wack and suggested Primal. So I went with it and it stuck to this day.
Q: What are your future plans for the game?
A: Since Primal is based off simulations to discover what the Primordial Elemental Crystals do I would like to create different card sets for each simulation. The first card set, Awakened Primordials, is based off simulation A which is for the land of Arizal.
The next simulation is B. It stands for the land of Bethesda. I plan on calling the set Battlers of Bethesda. It’s meant to support Fire, Terra and Air elements since they didn’t get that much power in the first card set, Awakened Primordials.
Q: Which conventions will you be at this year?
A: We will be at Collect-A-Con Long Beach August 20-21 and at Collect-A-Con Kansas City September 17-18.
Q: Do you have any advice for someone looking to make their own TCG?
A: To look for a team they can reliably trust. A good team size is 3 people. If they can’t build a team then they need to look for instant gratification in some way to keep their fire going. I luckily had a close friend that would play primal with me and give me great feedback when something didn’t feel right with the game or when he wished something awesome would happen in the game to be rewarded.
Also I would say that making a skeletal lore will help you in designing effects and in what the art should look like. Following the basic structure of a hero’s journey would be good since so many great stories use that structure.
Last thing I suggest is to try to create your prototypes as soon as possible to practice and test the game. You need to get some photoshop skills if you don’t have any.
For more, check out @primal.tcg on Instagram, as well as their Kickstarter which launches August 20th! https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/raikirito/primal-trading-card-game-tcg-awakened-primordials?ref=discovery
Another great interview! I've looked into this TCG a bit, and love the art style so much!
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