Business Cards Again!

I'm making some new business cards over on my Orbital / Primeval page, and the standing tradition is for my friends to suggest and vote on which thematic variations on the outline of a platypus should go on the cards for each new batch. Name the ones you think look coolest in the comments if! You! So! Desire!

ANIMALLUM: Video Directions

While I tally up the platypus votes from yesterday's b-card election shenanigans, here is a video you can see that I made describing how ANIMALLUM is played. I mean, the directions are in the box, but, you know, some people are more visual, y'know?

Animallum: Animal Abduction

WOOHOO! Got the first printing of what will from here on out be referred to as Orbital / Primeval's new card game Animal Abduction! Check out those decks, yo! I've got some higher-quality pics of the what the game looks like when in play comin' vury vury syoon!

Animallum: Alien Civ (The Goss Cloud) and Earth

WHEW!  Game = DONE!  Everything went off to the printer yesterday, and I should get the first copy in the mail in about two weeks.  After I play test it with some friends, I'll order some in bulk and make them available to order online.

These are two more card back designs for alien and Earth resources.  Each of these have a little bit more in the way of symbols on them in the final versions that show what types of resources you can trade for what in order to rescue the Earth animals.

I'm EXCIIITEEED!!!

Animallum: Alien Planets (Bokem, Trima Selvet)

Movin' forward with this card game, yo!  Here're the back designs of two of the decks for alien resources.  The reddish moon I've calling Bokem, and the planet orbiting three stars I've been referring to as Trima Selvet...though, I don't think their names will be referred to in the game.

Animallum: Earth Animals (Even-Toed / Hoofed)

Here they are!  The last bunch!  This group of even-toed ungulates made me really happy for some reason...I think the Bongo (number three above) has made it onto my favorite animal list!  From here on out, as far as the card game goes, I've just got to finish designs for both sides of the playing cards, then it'll go off to get prototyped!  Final stretch, now!

1.  Moschus moschiferus
2.  Rusa alfredi
3.  Tragelaphus eurycerus isaaci
4.  Antilope cervicapra

Animallum: Earth Animals (Marbled)

Group number nine:  Animals with marbled patterns on their bodies.

1.  Urolophus cruciatus

2.  Neofelis nebulosa

3.  Atelopus certus

4.  Vormela peregusna

Animallum: Earth Animals (Mutated)

This collection of animal blokes happen to all have mutations typical (as infrequent as they are) for their species:


1.  Crocodylus siamensis (Albino)
2.  Ovis aries (Six-Legged)
3.  Micrurus tener (Two-Headed)
4.  Chaerilus celebensis (Two-Tailed)

Animallum: Earth Animals (Cool Pants)

I know what it looks like...it looks like I ran out of animal categories.  Cool pants?  Cool pants!  These are animals with cool pants!  I actually really liked the idea of making this category...I mean, you know, they're animals...and they have cool pants...

...ugh...

1.  Kiwa hirsuta
2.  Ailuropoda melanoleuca
3.  Anisocelis flavolineata
4.  Okapia johnstoni

Animallum: Earth Animals (Red Faced???)

So, um, I drew a category of animals who are forever blushing:

1.  Sagittarius serpentarius
2.  Cacajao calvus
3.  Agama agama
4.  Trosia fallax

Animallum: Earth Animals (Hemophagous)

Well, I'm at least halfway there with the animal groups for this card game!  I haven't decided if I'm going to do eight or ten groups, but I'm kind of leaning towards eight.  With three more groups, I could be finished with the major art for the game, except for the images on the cards' backs.  Got any ideas for animal categories?  Maybe I'll use one!

This batch of blood suckers consists of the following:

1.  Geotria australis
2.  Calyptra thalictri
3.  Diaemus youngi
4.  Geospiza difficilis septentrionalis

Animallum: Earth Animals (Troglobytes)

More animals!  This group-o-four's defining characteristic is their propensity for cave dwelling.  From left to right:

1.  Orthriophis taeniurus ridleyi
2.  Eurycea rathbuni
3.  Satan eurystomus
4.  Cambarus zophonastes

Animallum: Earth Animals (Gliders)

The next batch of animals for the upcoming card game are none other than representatives of Earth's gliding creatures:

1.  Ptychozoon kuhli
2.  Cypselurus callopterus
3.  Rhacophorus annamensis
4.  Anomalurus pelii

Animallum: Earth Animals (Semi-Aquatic)

This is the next batch of Earth's animals for the card game.  Like I mentioned in the previous post, each grouping of animals is somewhat general and not divided biologically like mammal, reptile, etc.  Aliens have grouped the animals behaviorally.  Wednesday you saw the "insectivores" and, today, you have some animals that are "semi-aquatic."  Stay tuned for more categories!  (Also, if you have any ideas for animal categories, throw 'em in a comment!)


Of course, I had to find a way to get platypus into the game...haha!


From left to right, we have...


1. Varanus niloticus
2. Ornithorhynchus anatinus
3. Triturus cristatus
4. Pteronura brasiliensis

Animallum: Earth Animals (Insectivores)

Alright, so here's the concept of the card game I'm making.

Aliens have made first contact with a future Earth that has just begun traveling through space.  Unfortunately, the aliens that have found our planet value it for its biodiversity and immediately loot Earth for a great deal of wildlife.  In their economy, things that are valuable because they are rare on Earth are of no value because, throughout the galaxy, one can find many planets, moons, and asteroids with extremely high abundances of these Earth-rare materials.  Instead, their economy is based on something that is rare in the galaxy:  variety in life.  This is what made Earth seem like an untapped treasure chest.

Now, we want to get our wildlife back!

The problem is that we have nothing to trade with the looters, so Earth has turned to the help of three other alien civilizations that do have rare resources we can use to get our animals back.  In exchange for diamonds, gold, and iron, these benevolent societies will give Earth agents resources that they can use to bust our native creatures out of alien zoo banks.

I'll explain more about the mechanics of this 2-4 player card-based game in another post, but, for now, I'll say that every player is assigned an alien zoo bank to trade for our wildlife, and these zoos contain Earth animals according to various categories.  For example, this batch is made of insectivores (from left to right):

1.  Zaglossus bruijni
2.  Myrmecophaga tridactyla
3.  Tamandua tetradactyla
4.  Manis tetradactyla

In other words, each of the zoos assigned to players will have one insectivore.

Other categories right now include troglobytes, gliders, and semi-aquatic.  I'd like to come up with 8-10 categories so that each zoo will contain 8-10 animals...not human-assigned categories, like mammal and reptile, but categories that have more to do with behavior than biology.  Looting aliens, after all, might not categorize our animals  based on anything more than initial appearances.

Animallum: Alien Animals

Alright, we're almost to the core concept of the game I'm designing now.  These three alien critters are a sort of wild card in the game...you won't see them very often, but having them is good.  I haven't come up with names for them yet, but they each come from different alien worlds in the game.