I spoke with the creator of Source! Here are their answers to my questions:
Q: Please Describe your trading card game!
A: Source is a strategic collectible card game that you want to collect cards to create a more powerful a dynamic deck. We like to describe it as a Massive Open Role Playing Action Game. In the Source Universe there are incredibly unique characters with deep and rich lore, all with their own unique talents, abilities and play-style. Players get to choose their team and synergize their playing field, all while developing their realm with Source Coins to power their realm in order to win the game. Source CCG features several game modes for players from various levels of experience to join in the fun to grow with us and the card game!
Q: What inspired you to create your own TCG?
A: Our card game is the creation from two people, Mark and Kolton. Both of us grew up watching all kinds of anime, like Dragon Ball (Z/Super etc), Yu-Gi Oh, Digimon etc and playing card games such as: Yu-gi-oh, Pokemon, Magic: The Gathering etc. As well as board games: Dungeons and Dragons, Warhammer, Power Rangers etc. and video games: DOTA 2, League of Legends etc. We wanted to bring together the best elements from so much awesome content growing up, which brings us to Source: Collectible Card Game!
Q: What TCGs did you grow up playing as a kid?
A: Well I sort of gave away the fan-favorites above. This is Kolton typing - so speaking for myself I grew up playing Pokemon first. I even went to Saturday Pokemon duel days at our local On Cue store - we would duel for Pokemon Badges, it was some serious stuff! I then went on to play Yu-Gi-Oh and absolutely loved it, despite the obvious balancing issues it had from the gates (it made it fun honestly). And then the classic, Magic: The Gathering. I would also go onto to play the Dragon Ball Z card game too, which also is an inspiration for our game too.
Q: What sets Source apart from other TCGs?
A: There are several factors that set us apart from other games, all while still feeling very familiar to other games. First, our card game has an anime concept behind it. The Characters in our Card Game have an incredibly deep lore, and our card game tells a story through the characters play-style. Secondly, our game is paced very differently. What I mean is in our card game all players are playing at the same time, each turn. There is an exception as each turn players rotate an initiator token - this indicates who gets to initiate combat first this turn. Players are constantly interacting and engaging in gameplay. Third, is the way our game is designed. Players are managing the Source Coins as they are both the energy for abilities and the resources required to build technology. Our game is designed for both competitive play and also for extremely creative play.
Q: How did you come up with the name Source?
A: Again, this game is a passion project between two people. So because of that, the original name of this game was two other names before we decided on Source. Actually, there are two affinities in our game that are the first couple original names of the card game! Instead of getting rid of the names, we just made them the energies themselves in the game (which we call Affinities). We will leave you to guess which ones! We decided on the name Source because our game has a story to it. Source is to be discovered in our game, through playing it and being involved in our journey as we present to you the fullness of this project. Remember, the card game is just the beginning! Source is where all things come from, and so must all things connect to Source!
Q: How long have you been working on the game?
A: We have been working on this game for just around 5 years now. So, quite some time! The game started as a story for an anime, which took the first year or so to make. Then we pivoted and started getting it into a card game, and getting that took another year to a year and a half. And since then, it has been us developing the assets and art, and piecing it all together! So technically the game itself has been in development for over 2 years, but the story itself has been in development for just about 5 years now.
Q: What is the illustration/design process like?
A: This is still Kolton typing, I am the creative director of the game. All of the illustrations started out as very simple designs I would make in ProCreate. I would then take various textures from Affinity design and create backdrops and overlays and combine the ideas from Procreate and Affinity Design together into a stable diffusion AI software called Mid-Journey. I then have my images diffused, and combined and refined into a certain model that I have been training the diffusion process to create. I would take those images and further refine and bring out more colors and textures in Affinity Designer again. Full Disclosure: All of the images are created by me, a human, and I do use AI stable diffusion as a refining tool. Both Mark and I understand many people feel a certain way about AI and we want to be transparent that it is part of the creative process, however the art work and concepts are created by me! I also created all of the card design and UI you see all by hand in Affinity Design Vector Art Program. We want to let our game and creativity speak for itself!
Q: When will the game officially be released?
A: We have a very tentative date of late 2024/early 2025. We are indie developers and we just rolled out our social media platforms all while finishing up the website. We are launching our alpha game testing and feedback phase November of 2023! During this time, we are hosting demos in Tabletop Simulator via our Discord server and getting feedback to further refine mechanics and build the best user experience for our game prior to the manufacturing of the physical cards. So come join us! Feedback testers will get a thank you gift in time for helping us in such a crucial phase of the game!
Q: What are you future plans for Source?
A: Source is a completely functional standalone Card Game. But it also has a future Tabletop Board Game expansion. As aforementioned, we are indie developers, which means we aren’t backed with the finances to produce this game in it’s full just yet. We do plan to grow our following, and launch an initial kickstarter to get our card game out first and foremost. Depending on the timeline and circumstances, we want to offer the Tabletop Expansion via another crowd-funded campaign or any possible sponsorships to allow us to give the full game. The Source game in it’s full is a Tabletop Top game with Miniatures that players control, the card game is still vital to perform moves for combat. The Card game is completely functional just the tabletop gives further immersion. Aside from that we can officially introduce our Lore Keeper who is another player that controls NPC characters and quests in a quest deck, giving an entire story for other players to engage in while also playing the base Source Game. So we would absolutely love the support to bring you all the fullest experience! We are building the tabletop game up in Tabletop Simulator, but currently will only be offering the Card Game demo experience for now.
Q: Will you be at any upcoming conventions?
A: Sadly we will not! Both Mark and I have been moving to new places and have been establishing ourselves again. We hope to be on our way to conventions next year for 2024 with the goal to be fully on the road for 2025 to travel to as many conventions as we can! Honestly we just are taking the steps right now and bringing awareness to our project because we are too excited to not share this with any strategic card/board game enthusiast. We would love any help on getting to a convention near you! Q: Do you have any advice for someone looking to make their own TCG? A: My advice is to truly have fun with it. While making this game, I focused on what got me excited and pushed me to think outside of the box. I would challenge myself and have fun with different ideas. But most importantly is to just start. It can be too easy just getting caught up in ideas and not getting anything created. Sometimes having fun can mean taking a step back from our own thinking, and challenge ourselves to see things from many perspectives. You will know when you get ‘something’ you can appreciate, then from there continue to build onto that.
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