Trying to explain Invoke to someone who speaks English as a second language.

Some things that you never think about till you have to explain it to someone who English is not their first lanugage.

So I have a very good friend of mine from Japan named Maaya. Later on when we start working on more video you will see more of her. (Well you are going to see a lot of her work... she does video editing) .. So we were talking about the video project today and she had asked to play Invoke because it will give her a better idea how she wants to set up the various shots. We started to play..  I want to mention that her English is really good.. But there are some words and phrases that slip through the cracks now and then.. So explaining a game like Invoke can be a bit of a challenge. During the process, I started to have to really think about how I explained the game. I really had to take a step by step and explain the "Why" you do something and not so much if the how you do it. Then I started to think, at what point is this different from having to explain to someone who has never played before.. What is a better way of expressing the concepts of the game... So I took some notes

• The why you do something is harder to explain then how to do something 
• Clearer and constant terms are needed .. such as subject vs target .
• Colours of the cards are a huge help. 
• Images on the cards are priceless. 
• A well written manual is helpful no matter how good you are at explaining a game. 
• Playing through 4-5 hands showing all the possibilities with out actually competing is also helpful . 
• Sometimes its better to have a group so they can watch the others play. 

So it was not long before she started to understand some of the more complex parts of the game. Once i described the game as a sentence it started to make sense. (Though the use of target cards needed some better explanation on my part) 

So there you have it.. what I learned from trying to teach someone how to play Invoke. 

Yes this means Invoke will be translated into Japanese soon ! (once the english version is working correctly) 

Invoke Card Game Prototype card have arrived

So I got the prototype to Invoke today !! I am loving what I see.. The cards are good quality and very easy to read .. I think that I am going to keep with the maker of the cards for future projects as well .

I have to say there is something about holding the real deal ... it does not matter if its a prototype or not .. I really feel like this is going to happen now!

The point of having a prototype 

So now I have a prototype ... now what ? .. well We play test .. the idea is that I need to go through every single card and see how I can improve them .. here are some factors that I'm a looking at .

• Layout 
• Font size and readability vs background and art 
• Spellcheck 
• Spellcheck
• Spellcheck (Yes I said it three times) 
• Working with rules 
• Artwork making sure there is nothing odd about the works
• Do people like the cards 

So what I am doing is when I show someone the cards I watch how they look at them ... I also ask if there is anything I could improve because I value their opinion .. Asking for their opinion is not a method of fishing for complements but actually giving them permission to pick them apart.. I have a good friend mike who is well known for telling you how it is ..(He does so with logic and a smile) and is able to do so in a way that is easy to understand .. People like that are the people who you want to give it to ... also teenagers who do the "It sucks" all the time .. because they will find the tinniest flaw and tell you about them .. 

Its very easy to get into your own head and assume that the projects are perfect .. I did not want to do that with Invoke .. I want invoke to be the best card game around. To make a card game of high quality I need to make sure that I rase my quality not just assume that I have it. 

Ok ... I'm going to employ my favourite lawyer to look at the rules ...(Its ok .. its only going to cost me dishes and foot rubs ... I'm married to her :) 

Oh and Invoke the Card game has an official Facebook page! 

Invoke Card Game Official Facebook Page

What is Invoke all about?

So here is the story about why I designed Invoke ..

A long time ago there was this new game called Magic the Gathering. I have to say that I really enjoyed playing with my friends deck and decided that at some point I was going to get my own deck. Well what happened was that I got the basic deck and two booster packs because that was all that I could afford .. I had a blast making a deck of Orcs and Goblins and it was a lot of fun.

Example of the Earth Card 

Well one of the guys who always comes to our game group was not really the sharpest tool in the shed. In most games we spent more time arguing with him because he did not understand the rules then anything else. Well once I saw the game ... he had to have it .. so he spent an obscene amount of money on the cards.

This is when I noted something ... "Mark" started winning ... A Lot!  Mark who was never a good player at any of the other games started winning at Magic a lot ... I mean all the time (not that he was a gracious winner either) . Mostly because he had a deck for every situation. A deck vs White, A Deck Vs Blue ... and every single rare card in the book. And he won almost every game.. Not with strategy but deep pocket power. It got annoying really fast .. and I was not the only player who felt that way. Just because you have the most money you should not be the best player ... At what point is this equal footing. Some of the best players I know got slammed by Mark because he happen to have one of those Ultra Rare cards that totally destroyed their strategies. But what do you expect when you spend $30 on a single card.  (I think my total deck was $25 or something)

So here I am ... this guy who was working two jobs just to make ends meet and all I had was one Ork & Goblin deck that really got trashed. Now you loose a game one , twice , 4 times and that is ok .. but with everyone else with disposable incomes vs a guy who felt guilty because I got an extra hamburger for lunch (Big splurge) you start to loose interest in playing. After all the playing field was not level. So my deck started to gather dust. I ended up giving my deck to someone ... I don't remember who.

So here I am many years later .. I'm working in a high end software company doing tech support. one of the software that I supported was a drag and drop  programming software. By Dragging components into an area you could make this software automate an action... Hummmm wait a second .. how could would it be to make a game out of that?

now wanting to be as far from work as possible when I design something like this I chose to have a Magical theme..

It works like this ..
Each Player on their turn draws up to 7 cards.. These cards then can make up a sentence

Fire + Sling = Fireball .. Attacking their target breaking on of the "Lifestones" 

What the players have to do is design the "Spell"  out of component cards provided.. The best part is that all players draw from the same cards .. so it becomes a game of wits and creative thinking not .. Who has the most expendable income. When a player gets a expansion pack .. all the players benefit from the investment.  I hope to have a print-n-play version of the game up soon .

I'm thinking this game is going to be good for people who want to teach logic to their children .. Hell adults are going to love this game.

I have deliberately not listed all the possible spells on this site .. though I am now and then going to be posting pages dedicated to one of the spells.  The idea is that I want you to come up with your own spells (and tell me about them) . I want this to be a game where creativity and thinking outside the box is the key to winning.

New backs for the card game Invoke!

So with changing the name I really wanted to do something about the backs of the cards .. after all I could no longer call the game "Spellslinger" ...

here is what I put together

Now I want to thank http://www.obsidiandawn.com for the brushes!

The Old Back.

So I would love to have feedback on what you think would be the best back ! 

Card Game Rename !!!! Spellslinger to Invoke!

So if you are looking for the card game Spellslinger ... you are almost in the right place ... only that its because we have changed its name to Invoke !

Invoke is a game about thinking outside the box .. Players combine cards to create "Spells" to try to destroy or steal other players "Life stones"! We have left a lot of the rules open ended to allow creative use of the combinations of cards. This is a game of creativity and whit..

 Its not the hand you are delt but how you play what you are given    

 This game will be available for Print and play in the next few weeks! The rules of the game will always be available for free on this website and various PDF Versions. We hope you enjoy the game!


Kevin C Mason
Game Designer , Game Illustrator , Artist , Body painter , Geek ,