The Creator and Founder
Hi! I am Edward, and I like games!
Mixing my love for games with enthusiasm for design, business, and technology, I started my entrepreneurial endeavors by creating the Joyful Couple brand. Over time, the earned experience allowed me to step up my "game" and to make my long desired dream a reality - to create an actual, functional card game.
In a nutshell, that is how Spheres of Life card game and Joyful Games project came into reality.
Creating the Spheres of Life
Join me in the process of how I created the Spheres of Life - starting from the idea all the way to getting the final version to you!
The idea!
Obviously, the first thing is to do is get an idea! Luckily, for me I had this idea of creating a fantasy card game for several years, but due to many reasons, I did not dare on trying to make one.
But then, like magic - AI tools allowing to "draw" pictures using only your words, made it possible to put my ideas on "paper". So, now was the right time to start working on making this a reality!
The Concept!
Now, that I had the idea and the tools to realize it, the real work began. The first step is making the concept - the rules, the design style and as this is a fantasy game - a brief backstory tying everything together.
But to do that, we need to get inspiration from somewhere right?
For the world-building I let my mind delve into fictional worlds, like Lord of the Rings, World of Warcraft, the Grimm Brothers' fairytales, and mix it with mythology and a splash of actual history from ancient history to medieval times.
This mix of worlds - real and fictional - allowed me to blend it into something unique, yet still familiar.
Rules and Gameplay!
I now have the general idea and concept figured out. Great! Now it is time to figure out the core of the game - the rules!
Again, some inspiration is needed to set the stage. So for the rules and gameplay, I gathered inspiration from many games I had played over time. Starting from more modern card games, like Exploding Kittens and Unstable Unicorns, to TCG games, like Yu-Gi-Oh and Pokémon, to even more traditional games, like Poker.
This assortment of many games, with their unique rules, goals, and play techniques, allowed you to create rules that combine competitiveness, strategy, a bit of luck, and chaos while still letting you play it at a fast pace.
The Design!
As a fantasy game, the illustrations naturally needed to be vivid, professional, and in line with the theme. But there is a big problem - these illustrations are complex and expensive.
This is not a problem for large publishers, but it is an enormous obstacle for small indie publishers and creators! That is until AI text-to-image tools, like DALL-E, Midjourney, Adobe Firefly, and others, became a reality.
These tools are invaluable for small indie publishers and game designers by allowing them to create stunning images without spending tens of thousands of dollars.
Of course, you still need to put a lot of time and effort into making it all work. Overall thousands of images were generated until I got the style that makes sense and fits into the style of the game's world.
Assembling the Details
When the concept, rules, and illustrations are ready, then everything must be assembled into the final package.
That means to make all the cards not only nice to look at, but also functional. That means to choose the right materials - for the cards, box, instruction booklet. To adding features making the whole experience better for you, and removing the features that does not make sense.
That means, testing everything, and finding the flaws (there always are some). Then, going back to the drawing board and improving it.
For example, the initial version of the game was made with 55 cards, but when playing it, it was clear that it needed more cards, especially when playing with 4 or more players. Then another problem arose - the paper was too thin. So, a new type of paper needed to be ordered. And those are only a few examples.
The Final Package
After almost a year of planning, thousands of illustrations, hundreds of hours of designing and assembling everything into a product. Then, after more testing, several versions and improvements, the game was finally ready!
The final version is packaged in a premium hard cover box with foil print elements. The game has 110 cards with beautiful illustrations, and an extensive instruction booklet with 26 color pages.
And I truly hope you are as excited as I am about the Spheres of Life and its future! If the main game - the Mythical Forest will be successful, then be sure to expect booster packs, expansion boxes, and much more!
Thank you!
If you have made it this far - thank you! You are awesome!
I hope you enjoyed going over the process of how I made the Spheres of Life. Of course, a lot more happened over the course of making the game, but in a nutshell, these were the main cornerstones of making it a reality!
As this is my first "Major-Game" project, I would appreciate any kind of feedback or support from you!
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- How Can I give feedback?
You can either send a message at info@joyful-couple.com, or you can leave a review on the product listing page.
- How Can I support the project?
Preferably, you can buy the game, but other than that, you can:
1) Share this webpage with your friends, or even better - make a video about Spheres of Life;
2) Go to the merch page and buy our merch;
3) Simply by playing the game with your friends.
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Enjoy and Become the Savior of the Forest!