TCG Interview #56: Oracle

I spoke with the creator of Oracle! Here are his answers to my questions:

Q: Please describe your trading card game!
A: Oracle is a PVP trading card game that involves the use of 4 types of cards including creatures, arenas, spells and item cards! Play creatures on your side of the field to damage your opponent! Augment your creature’s power with items and spells or warp the whole battlefield with arena cards. Every card has an ability, and you can chain different abilities from each type of cards to create devastating combos! The choice is yours! This game is action packed, easy to learn but difficult to master! come join the oracle today!

Q: What inspired you to create your own TCG?
A: It’s quite a funny story actually. When I was younger, I saw some of my friends playing uno and I asked them to teach me how to play but they all refused for some reason! So, I told them that I would create my own game and not teach them how to play and that Is what I did. I created the first version of oracle tcg , which Is what I based the current version of oracle on. Here are some of the cards I recreated for the current version of oracle:

Q: What TCGs did you grow up playing as a kid?

A: Honestly, I didn’t really play any card games when I was younger. I created oracle as I thought the idea of making a whole game by drawing would be fun and challenging. The only tcg I really played was uno but that isn’t the type of game oracle is.

Q: What sets Oracle apart from other TCGs?
A: Since I don’t have much experience playing many TCGs, I feel that oracle is unique as it doesn’t really follow the TCG norms. Although it has similarities with other famous TCGs, oracle is its own thing entirely, from the art style to the card layout to how the game works. For instance, oracle is based around activating abilities whenever you want to, to create strong combos. Playing the game consistently might allow one to spot patterns and play cards at the right time in order to create a nasty combo. It involves critical thinking and a lot of thought while playing. I think oracle is so much more than what meets the eye and I think you will to if you give it a try and master the game.

Q: How did you come up with the name Oracle?
A: I actually didn’t come up with the name, one of my friends did. She asked me what I called the game, but at the time I didn’t have a name. She then says “call it oracle. It seems like an oracle type of game “I laughed it off initially but at a point I just decided to google what oracle meant and an oracle is basically someone who provides prophetic predictions or precognition of the future. I felt like that really resonated with the game and oracle involves playing cards at the right time in the right order to create stronger combos, so in a way, you need to be able to see into the future and know what combos you can make by just reading card abilities and then playing cards a specific way in order to create said future.

Q: How long have you been working on the game?
A: I started creating the cards in November 2022, so about 6 months now. It took a while to create the rules and come up with new cards as I had to juggle that with schoolwork as creating cards was quite time consuming.

Q: What is the illustration/design process like?
A: It Is a 4-stage process. Firstly, I get inspiration from anything. It could be a tv show, an object in my house, pretty much anything. Once I get inspiration, I sketch out the idea in my sketchbook and make it as rough as possible initially, and then as I understand what I want with the character, I start narrowing down the drawing and adding key features into the character until I have something I’m happy with. After that I just draw the card layout and then I draw the character onto the card and add its ability and stats. Lastly, ink the pencil lines in and then I colour the card in. Colouring the cards takes the longest time as I am very precise when it comes to colour schemes, and I feel like the colour of. Card can really give off a certain type of vibe so it’s really important to colour it accordingly.

Q: What are your future plans for Oracle?
A: I honestly don’t know this yet. So far, I’ve made a lot of cards, but the ratio Is a bit off. For instance, I have way more creature cards than item cards, and I have only made about 5 arena cards. I think when I have made a solid amount of each card type, then I can release the game. Also, since the game is still a bit new, I need to playlets it a bit more.

Q: Will you be at any upcoming conventions?
A: Unfortunately not. I don’t think I have the time to do so. Maybe sometime in the future though, who knows!?

Q: Do you have any advice for someone looking to make their own TCG?
A: Firstly, Be unique! It is your own game. Create what you want to create, not what someone else wants you to add in the game. Secondly, ask for feedback from many different types of people. This will give you a range of ideas and perspectives which you can use to try and make your game something that anyone can enjoy, even if they don’t usually play card games.