Icon Alerts for Special Abilities

jeff 2016-01-19 18:55:24 UTC #1

One playtest suggestion from last year — Origins, I think — was to use a colored indicator when one of a card's resource icons also triggers a special ability. @Kevin mocked up these two options, for a card that triggers when its maneuver icon is used. Which option do you like better?

JustinDJacobson 2016-01-19 19:26:24 UTC #2

Definitely 1. Option 2 is too subtle. (Took me a couple of looks to see what it actually was.)

Brainiac4 2016-01-19 22:10:05 UTC #3

Agreed that Option 1 is better. I'm wondering if my colorblind friends would miss this, though.

Would it be crazy to have the icon be a different shape if it triggers, in addition to the color?

Psypher 2016-01-20 00:03:06 UTC #4

Wow...took me quite a while to spot the difference. Option 1 is easily better than 2, but there's still room for improvement. Could stand to benefit from a bit more green/shading than what's currently present.

Kevin 2016-01-20 21:50:01 UTC #5

Will add another version tonight.

edit- here are two other versions (color blind friendly). The small dot motiff would present itself the best IMO, preserving the clean aesthetic. Keep in mind these are ganna be quite prevalent on the cards, it's a popular mechanic through out the decks.

jeff 2016-01-21 15:29:39 UTC #6

Nice concept to address the color issue. I like the more subtle one, here, although I'm the outlier that liked the more subtle one of the last pair, too, so my opinion's obviously suspect.

In both versions, though, I like the way the green circle repeats in the card ability, and ties them together. That's a nice touch.

Brainiac4 2016-02-01 00:08:43 UTC #7

I can't tell if the green bracket is intended to only go on the ability with the triggered effect. I think it is, based on what's been said before.

I think the more subtle version is too subtle. @Jeff, with no disrespect, I think you're the worst possible audience for this - you know that you're looking for something, so subtle cues work fine.

For me, when I was playing, I was focused on the icons as I was shuffling through the cards in my hand and trying to make sense of them. And I was ignoring the rules text to some degree, since I was trying to remember the rules for the game itself, which made processing the additional information for rules exceptions on the cards kind of hard.

Also, remember that your players will be seeing only the edge of all of their cards except the one in front, so the signal on the icons needs to be pretty strong to point the player toward the rules text on the card.