Official Card Design Contest - CLOSED - Winners Reveal inside

[Kapo]

Welcome to the Official Anniversary Card Design Contest!

 

 

THE CONTEST HAS ENDED.
To see all winning entries, CLICK HERE
 

 

 

 

Anniversaries are special opportunities – and we like to take this head-on and really show that Skylords Reborn is for the Community, by the Community! A contest like this has often been suggested, now is the time to ask you for your card development ideas.
 

In this contest, you are called to submit your idea for a new card,
which will be presented to high-ranking jurors for judgement.

The jurors for this will be the designers @Hirooo, @RadicalX and @WindHunter – for those who don't know, these are the guys who are calling the shots in the SR Team about what makes the cut for new content.

Important note: Of course, there is no obligation for the SR Team to make any entry into a real card. But, a good idea that really fits into the game has a lot of power, and your idea will be heard, seen and judged anonymously and without any barrier of entry.

The contest starts with the reveal of this post and ends on the 1st of January 2023, 23:59 CET. Submit your entry through Discord (DM to Kapo#0116) or the Skylords Forum (DM to @Kapo). I will anonymize the entries, present them to the jury, and after a voting phase the winners will be revealed.
 

Rules:

• Your idea must be a new card (NOT a rework of an already existing card or a Promo card)
• Units and buildings must be fitting for an already existing model (this is a technical limitation, but re-texturing can do wonders)
• Unfortunately, we also can't allow for Fire/Frost or Rainbow-cards (or any other outside the known factions, due to technical limitations)
• You are asked to create the fully upgraded version (see below: Things you don't need to add)
• By entering, you are giving away your card idea with permission to modify it  – the final design may differ from your submission here
• You are limited to a maximum of TWO entries - if you win on both, you will recieve the higher price
• You are asked to use the following template:
   

Quote

Name: [Name of your card here]
Tier & Orbs: [like: T4, Nature Nature Fire Fire]
Type: [Unit, Spell, or Building]
Power: [Number]

Hit points and Size: [Number] plus [S, M, L or XL]
Attack value and Type: [Number] plus [melee/ranged and counter-type]
Spell Effect: [for spells, what does it do]

Passive Abilities: [for units and buildings including a description of what they do – like: Swift, or Rapid Construction, if any]
Active Abilities: [list clickable abilities here, including a description of what they do - like: Disenchant on Gladiatrix, Shield of Winter Witch]

Explanation of idea behind the card: [Elaborate your design. This is the most important part of the entry.]

Note: If you are not expierienced with the right numbers for power, attack, or hit point values, just estimate from existing cards - your idea will not fail if the numbers are a little off. Also, if the template doesnt fit to your idea, just ignore the parts that are not applicable.

Things you don't need to add:

• Rarity
• Upgrade Levels (submit a fully upgraded design)
• Number of Charges
• Artwork for the card

At the end of the contest, we may make a compilation of the entries – by participating, you automatically agree to be included in that.
 

Suggestions:

In preparation for this contest, we asked the jurors to drop some hints on what is needed for a good design.

• You might not want to create a new super-powerful card, but a card that's interesting. Maybe it fills a special niche case in a faction (like Burning Spears), or it is special, or meme-worthy (like Easter Egg).
• Balance is important! The best cards are useful, fill essential roles, and are not overpowered.
• If you design a T1 or T2 card, think about PvP implications.
• Fit the card to the faction: Think about the intentional strengths and weaknesses of each faction. Potentially, you see an extremely missing card in an arsenal, but that could be part of that faction's design. Also, breaking core rules of the game requires a very, very, very good reason. For both topics, see: Design Philosophy Document.
• You are allowed to submit a legendary (neutral) card, but please note those are much harder to design and balance properly.
• You may present some optical aid to the jurors: On https://smj.cards/creator you can easily create your own card-mockup:
   

Voting and Prize Tiers:

PLATINUM TIER

Platinum tier are creations that REALLY could be considered to be added to the game. They must not be all-around perfect, since someone who is not on the SR team cannot know about every problem faced when implementing cards. Platinum entries are cool, captivating and would be a great addition to the game.

Platinum tier winners will win a low-grade promo of choice (e.g., Fallen Skyelf, Lyrish Knight or Rogan Kayle) or Ultra-Rare of choice of similar value (Infect, Forest Elder etc.). Should your card some day make it into the game, you will get it for your own collection.
 

GOLD TIER

Gold tier suggestions are cool and interesting suggestions, but are lacking significantly in ONE (but only one!) way:

• Unbalanced design with no way to repair that
• Clearly impossible to implement 
• Too niche to be worth the implementation
• Not fitting for any faction or into the game
• Not really a fitting, existing model in the game
• etc.

Gold tier winners will win a Booster, accompanied by an (good) Rare or (medium) Ultra Rare card.
 

SILVER TIER

Silver Tier suggestions are solid suggestions, but are lacking in more than one way to make it into the game. For examples of what could cause issues, see the mentioned list above.

Silver tier winners will win a Booster.

          

We are looking forward to your designs! If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to ask.

Best regards,
Skylords Reborn Team

 

Edited January 11, 2023 by Kapo

[Majora]

Looking forward to the designs! 

[Deadman]

Cool, something I can't do but I look forward to the results 😀

[Hrdina_Imperia]

Holy Moly, time for that PROMO MAGMA HURLER! Kidding of course, but really nice way to flex some of those imagination muscles.

[Dutchy]

I have made multiple cards and will update this post when I create more. I have not yet decided which ones I will be sending in for the event, so I will be collecting them here. 
The artwork seen on the cards is "stolen" from Magic the Gathering cards.


Serra will be using the Firedancer model. 

Gift of Immortality: Activate to crate a summoning zone around Serra. Own units within a 20m radius will be immune to death. Lasts for 10 seconds. Reusable every 40 seconds.
Gift of Insignificance: Activate to transform up to 10 enemy units within a 20m radius into pigs for 15 seconds. Affected units may neither move nor attack. After 5 seconds they will be retransformed if being attacked. After the effect wears off, targets are immune against Oink for a while. Reusable every 20 seconds.
Siege: Deals 100% more damage against structures. 
Swift: Moves at high speed.



Skyelf of Lightning will be using the Skyelf model.

Lightning strike: Every 1,6 seconds, unit casts a lance of lightning that deals 134 damage to enemies.
High Guard: Activate to bind to a friendly building. Cannot attack while bound.
Electric Flow: The affected building will become static and deal 100+8% to enemies attacking the building. x% is based on enemy total health. 



Skyelf of Rejuvenation will be using the Skyelf model. 

Nature Blade: Every 1,6 seconds, unit casts a lance of lightning that deals 150 damage to enemies.
High Guard: Activate to bind to a friendly building. Cannot attack while bound.
Rejuvenation Beam: The affected building will becomes a well of youth and heals friendly units within a 30m radius for 6% of their total health every 2 second. 




Voice of the Forest will be based on the Sunstrider model.

Poison Tip Arrows: Every 2.5 seconds, unit fires arrows at enemies that deal 76 damage. The arrows are embittered with a strong toxic substance that severely poisons a targeted unit and slowly decreases its life points by 30 per second. Lasts for 10 seconds.
Multishot: Unit may shoot at three targets at once.
Regeneration: Unit constantly regenerates 24 life points per second.
Swift: Moves at high speed.



Forest Mare will be based on the Lyrish Knight model.

Ensnare: Activate to cover an area of 20m radius around Forst Mare in roots that fetter enemies to the ground. Rooted units are immobile but still able to use ranged attacks and special abilities. Affects ground targets only. Lasts for 15 seconds. After the effect wears off, targets are immune against Root for a while. Reusable every 30 seconds.
Swift: Moves at high speed.
Stomp: Tramples small units.

[Toshio]

Hello there! new contest, new submission) Sharing my idea!
Name: [Lost Creeper]
Tier & Orbs: [T3, frost, shadow, shadow/frost]
Type: [Unit] Power: [150] Hit points and Size: [2500] plus [ L ]
Attack value and Type: [2000] plus [melee and S]
Passive Abilities: [Hateful Death (R) , Gifted Death (g), Swift, Revenant's Doom]
Hateful Death (R) - fire affinity, on death works as AOE, locked to death location Infused witchcraft of Warlock.
Gifted Death (G) - nature affinity, same as above, but AOE heal. Numbers i think, will be good, same as for Crystal Fiend, but cos of AOE effect - up to 3300 hp.

Explanation of idea behind the card: [Ok, first of all, since 2009 or so, since I had seen this unit in hands of AI, i said - I need it! The idea - endgame, strong self confident unit, that can be crowd up like Twilight Creep and take place of t4 units on rpve 9 mission (as Creep can). Thus it cost more than average and has only 8 charges. It covers up really poor t3 units pool of LS, gives them so needed heal and works with idea of "shadow" orb in LS - same as most shadow units it is playing with after/near-death mechanics. Why stats of card is so high? Lost horrors. This card must compete with them. Balanced? I think yes, cos

1. 3 definite orbs will limit player's deck build.

2. Not that much charges and high power cost for L unit

3. S counter. Not very good at late stages, but definetly will be helpful in campain and 3-rd line of camps in rpve.

The general idea - same as it's now in AI hands - scary unit that can wipe out small units, so it must be focused, but hard to kill and scary to be killed first - thus keeping enemy in tension. This also may be great in late stages of PvP ]

Edited December 18, 2022 by Toshio

[DefAnske]

already love the ideas, but for clarification: I think you are supposed to send the ideas directly to Kapo, so they can be judged anonymously.

[Hrdina_Imperia]

I guess we should send our card ideas via DMs, but hell, people are sharing their ideas and I wanna do that too 😄

Name: Cursed Tree
Tier & Orbs: T2, Fire and Nature
Type: Unit
Power: 110

Hit points and Size: 1000 & L
Attack value and Type: 1300 & ranged (L counter)

Passive Abilities: Miasma Balls - Every 3 seconds, unit hurls a ball of infected miasma, dealing 195 damage to enemies in a 8m radius around its target, up to 330 in total. Enemies hit by the miasma are cursed: for the next 5 seconds, they will take extra 30% damage from entities infected by the Twilight curse. 
Active Abilities: Transformation (standard)

Used Magma Hurler model as a base. The rocky parts are twilight greenish, the central 'fire' has the twilight yellow.

Explanation of idea behind the card:
Since the EA times, I always hated playing the Twilight. The faction seemed so good looking, so 'cool' if you will, but playing it was always a misery for me. The recent changes made by SR made it great again (pun not intended) and well, since now I play it plenty, I feel there is something missing for the early game of Twilight. Twilight faction lacks ranged options on second Era, only such unit currently being Deathglider (flier, papermush HP), if we don't count 'pure' cards. Cursed Tree is wannabe solution to that problem. It also serves as a 'middle point' power wise between the lower units and Vileblood.

It offers good damage and potent support/buff effect for other Twilight cards, alongside the upside of being a ranged attacker. Downside and a means to balance it are no knockback and high power cost. 
Its effect means that the card is still greatly useful even into later stages of the game, and once it loses its usefulness, Cursed Tree can be Transformed into a higher tier unit. The Miasma Balls effect only working for other Twilight units/buildings should also make the card not too strong in PVP, but since I am completely oblivious to this part of the game and its metas, I cannot be 100% sure. 

And, then there is the biggest upside of it all - another card using the ALMIGHTY MAGMA HURLER MODEL!

 

[Kapo]

Just now, Hrdina_Imperia said:

I guess we should send our card ideas via DMs, but hell, people are sharing their ideas and I wanna do that too 😄

Yeah, you should, but I'm really hyped that people want to share what they come up with ... 😃

[Octochicken]

Only two entries? 😬

I guess I'll have to see who my favourite babies are.

[Hrdina_Imperia]

43 minutes ago, Octochicken said:

Only two entries? 😬

I guess I'll have to see who my favourite babies are.

This is truly the biggest challenge in the contest 😅

[Dutchy]

ye, I have so many designs still in my head. It will be difficult to pick 2 and send those in 😕

[Hrdina_Imperia]

This is just a fun side card, but I have this dream of a squad consisting from 6 small Juggernauts 😄

[UltDragon]

Pure Shadow card, was thinking if it would also drain friendly units, but then wouldn't be that viable.

Main weakness is ranged entities.

Penumbra Shroud: [Power: 60] Activate to engulf own entities within 20m radius in a deep shadow. Those entities will be hidden from hostile players and cannot receive commands except move. This unit deals 50% more damage as long the ability lasts. Lasts for 15 seconds. Reusable every 60 seconds.

Essence Drain: Unit is surrounded by the anti-life aura that deals 120 damage to every hostile unit within 20m radius every 2 seconds.

Life Stealer: 100% of the damage dealt by the unit will be added to its life points.

Edited December 19, 2022 by UltDragon

[Little_Ducky]

My dream card, a flying turtle 🤭

Edited December 19, 2022 by Little_Ducky

[Riviute]

For all those who would like to submit their idea and are struggling with a nice picture for it to make it look a bit more nice (I know the picture is not that important but for the submitter it might be a little boost in confidence) i really recommend you using the Art-AI DALL-E-2. 

DALL-E-2 is an artificial art program where you just have to describe what you want to be drawn. For example: "A giant dragon with black wings is flying over ruins" then it takes a couple of seconds and it then will present you 4 pictures that you can use freely. You need to have an account there and with the initial account you get 50 generated pictures groups for free, and each month you get additional 15. 

Here is the link if you're interested

https://openai.com/dall-e-2/

Here is an example of something the AI created for me, this is obviously not my entry to the contest but this is still insanely cool. You can also tell the AI in which artstyle they should draw. As mentioned before its completely for free and its super fun!

[Deadman]

I changed my mind and with the https://smj.cards/creator this is quite fun, but I have no serious ideas and my idea doesn't even deserve silver lol, but when it is "completed" I'll send it to you Kapo 

[Mynoduesp]

Mock-up #1:

Blessed Dispel Magic
Ignite the soul of target friendly unit immediatly removing all effects from it and become immune to all major debuff effects, but the unit will die as soon as the effect runs out. Additionaly, the target taunts hostile units within a 25m radius for 5 | 6 | 7 | 7 seconds. Lasts for 20 seconds. Reusable every 15 seconds.

Gifted Dispel Magic
Ignite the soul of target friendly unit immediatly removing all effects from it and become immune to all major debuff effects, but the unit will die as soon as the effect runs out. Additionaly, units within a 25m radius will be immune to all major debuffs for 5 | 6 | 7 | 7 seconds. Lasts for 20 seconds. Reusable every 15 seconds.

Elaboration:
Back in the days I was playing pure fire in PvP. I was by no metric good at any point, but it still performed better than in PvE. Nowadays, pure fire is not only viable, its actually good, thanks to SRs additions and balance patches. But I always felt like someone's left out... Moloch.
The fat turtle has a special place in my heart, he's like your 5 years old cousin playing with the unpluged controller when the older kids playing mario party. He's trying, but will never win.
This is how I came up with the concept. Even if chaining Cleansing Ritual will keep a tank form dying, the turtle will get left behind after one uses its soul for ones purifying lust.

The card is meant to give heavy fire decks the ability to let the turtle shine in glorious battle, but also give the player a deal with the devil - an unethical trade for the life of one for the greater good.

After a few reconsideration  or even  in addition to other numeric adjustments would make the card flexible enough to see it in other decks as well. A.e. moving Root Network decks.

Addition:

Yes, this would make Tempest fun to play.

 

Mock-up #2:

 

Workaholic [15p]
Switch into this mode to work restless until the bitter end. The next building played within a 25m radius will be construced nearly instantly consuming the unit in the process. The unit will die as soon as the effect runs out. Lasts for 20 seconds. Cannot be switched back.

Senior Engineer [15p]
Switch into this mode to become a more efficiant worker. Playing friendly buildings within a 25m radius refund 40% of their power cost. Cannot be switched back.

Field Specialist [15p]
Switch into this mode to gain advanced knowledge in material science. Friendly structures within a 25m radius take 40% reduced damage. Cannot be switched back.

Elaboration:
Buildings are cool, just a shame they suck have a limited viability. These lyrish workers want to change that and put some real effort into their art of construction giving you the option to build them aggressivly and keep them from demolition through hostile forces.
Many support cards for this archtype already exist, but are either too restricting or lack a binding element - which Lyrish Workforce tries to be. Being able to instantly construct any building for an upfront cost may be able to push agressive buildings into a fun-to-play spot.

Upgrades undetermined, I don't want to mess up all those sweet rations. You're already a nerd if you're looking for them. :^)

Addition:
Make Kobold Inc.  please.

 

On 12/11/2022 at 1:56 PM, Kapo said:

You are limited to a maximum of TWO entries

Affinities don't count as multiple entries, riiiiight? 😄

Edited December 25, 2022 by Mynoduesp

[Kapo]

19 minutes ago, Mynoduesp said:

Affinities don't count as multiple entries, riiiiight? 😄

As long as you dont squeeze two completly different cards into one card that way, affinities should be allright

Edit: also, dont forget to use the template 😉

Edited December 19, 2022 by Kapo

[Little_Ducky]

11 hours ago, WaterMelonLord said:

I changed my mind and with the https://smj.cards/creator this is quite fun, but I have no serious ideas and my idea doesn't even deserve silver lol, but when it is "completed" I'll send it to you Kapo 

there's gold & silver tier, I think my entry is so useless it'd be rock tier 😄

 

[Hrdina_Imperia]

Card idea #2 which is on the serious note. Though I am still very on the fence, whether or not go for something else. Ahh, those decisions, decisions... 😄

Name: Worldship
Tier & Orbs: T2, Nature and Shadow
Type: Unit
Power: 280
Hit points and Size: 2700 & XL
Attack value and Type: 2400 & ranged (M counter)

Passive Abilities: 

Ash Cannons - Every 2 seconds, 4 ashen turrets deal 60 damage each to enemies in 6m radius, up to 100 total.

Sail Catalyst - Unless this unit is surrounded by at least 4 friendy Nature, Shadow or Amii units within 25m radius, it will gain the Slow debuff.

Elusive - The duration of the immobilizing effects of Freeze and Paralyze is reduced by 10%.

Active Abilities: 

Blessed Temporal Field - 70 power
Activate to create a temporal field centered on the unit with a diameter of 25 m. Allied small and medium units within this field are immune to knockback effects, while also taking 30% less damage. Lasts for 20 seconds. The heavy load of the temporal generator means, that Worldship is unable to be healed during the effect. Reusable every 40 seconds.

Infused Temporal Field - 70 power
Activate to create a temporal field centered on the unit with a diameter of 25 m. Allied small and medium units within this field gain 70% siege damage, while also taking 15% less damage. Lasts for 20 seconds. The heavy load of the temporal generator means, that Worldship is unable to be healed during the effect. Reusable every 40 seconds.

Uses Battleship as a base model.

Explanation of idea behind the card:
Amii as a faction is still quite the blank slate, so it's hard to come up with actually researched propositions. But I will still try to make a case for Worldship, new Amii heavy support vessel. First thing first, it's the second XL T2 unit after Harvester, but it will not take over his sweet spot, as Worldship flies - thus losing some of the advantages of this type, while having the ability to navigate some obstacles. As it's main role is to support small and medium ground troops, it also gains a Slow unless it is near such units. 

The idea is that Worldship will be spearheading attacks on enemy camps, shielding units from damage and knockbacks, or buffing them to deal faster with enemy buildings, especially spawners. Hefty bound price and extra power needed for the ability means the unit will be expensive, but worthwhile tool for Amii decks, while also synergizing with pure Nature and Shadow cards (small and medium units only). It shouldn't be an answer to every scenario, but might be most useful against heavily defended points. 

Another balance factor is that it is unable to be healed (self, globally, shamans etc.) while the Temporal field effect is activated. Means you cannot just attack-move in the middle of the camp and sit back. Numbers probably need to be tweaked (no wonder), but I think the basic idea behind it could serve as an interesting addition to Nature/Shadow decks. 

Also playing with the idea, that the Temporal Field could be a toggle (while also disabling attack of the unit, for balance). 

 

 

[Dutchy]

Wanted to make my own card just for fun 😄

 

[Timatijs]

Hi fellow Skylords! Im kinda new to this, but I was thinking, if we have Wheel of Gifts then why not we have Wheel of Curses. It would still give some buffs to ally units, but would also buff enemy units in some way, to give a bit more challenge for those Rpve lovers out there. (Also would work in campaign)

Name: Wheel of Curses
Tier & Orbs: T3 shadow, frost, frost/shadow
Type: Building
Power: 180
Hit points: 2000

Passive Abilities:

The Cursed Shrine - If Wheel of Curses is present in game then buffs from Wheel of Gifts will be ignored and wont be given to ally units. 

Curse of Leech - Once activated, enemy units will gain 10% leech of their max attack damage, but your own units will also gain leech 10% of their max health instead of attack, in addition your own units will leech friendly or unfriendly unit once per 15 seconds.

Curse of Shield - Once activated, friendly ally shielding will last only 60% of the original duration, but will be 40% stronger, in addition enemy unit shields will last 30% longer, but will take 20% more damage from all sources.

Curse of Bravery - Once activated, friendly units that are on their own will gain Bravery curse. Effected unit will gain 60% damage buff of their max attack and also will gain 30% increased damage taken in addition if unfriendly unit is alone it will gain 40% buff to damage dealt and also decreases damage taken by 30%.

Explanation of idea behind the card:

I always wondered why there isnt a different kind of wheel, that would not only benefit your own units, but also enemy units a bit, to make gameplay more challenging and interesting, there for I created this card.

Its a T3 Lost souls building type card (since I dont see a lot of use in Lost souls building cards) that would benefit both sides of the game. I also though if this card would be present with Wheel of Gifts then that would be too strong, there for I gave the card that passive that wont allow play the Wheels of Gift.  

Each curse is different and plays around healing, shielding and those one unit decks decks, so you would have to improvise and and think which curse is better and which one to keep active and which you wont want to keep active since players run different decks and it might benefit you, but might now benefit your allies. Since I have seen that you can almost permanently keep up your shields on units, but with healing its not that strong so maybe like a passive leech on units that drain life from nearby units would be cool and interesting,

And since the Batarial nerfs (he is still strong, but not that strong), I though maybe it would give some love also to him with that Bravery.

[Lendam]

Hello, here are my 2 cards :

Rotten Wolf :
- Unholy Cloud : The wolf scratches, causing the bloody boils to explode on him and create a poisonous cloud filled with disease. Inflicts 400 damage per second divided among all enemies in the area
- Unholy Bite : Inflicts a bite on the target whichpoisons it, the unit loses 15 health every 1 second.
- Stench : Enemies can smell the wolf's corpse, causing them to not fight properly and reducing their damage by 25%.
- Hungry as a Wolf : Enemies can smell the wolf's corpse, causing them to not fight properly and reducing their damage by 25%.

Furious Gobelin :

- Throw dynamite : Every 3 seconds, the goblin throws a stick of dynamite that deals 120 damage to enemies within 5 meters of the target.                                 

 - Back Ashe: Activate: Put all the dynamite available in the barrel attached to his back, this attack will be the last. The goblin will explode on death or 10 seconds after activation.                 

- Powder smell : The unit deals 150% more damage to buildings.

I'm sorry in advance if there are any mistakes, I use a translator because I don't speak English. Thank you !

Edited December 20, 2022 by Lendam

[Adoaver]

Hey everyone, I just recently started playing and wanted to put in my idea for a new frost support card.

Name: Magus
Tier & Orbs: T2, Frost
Type: Unit
Power: 120

Hit points and Size: 620, M
Attack value and Type: 360, ranged
 

Passive Abilities:

Ice Barrier - Every 7 seconds, unit bestows a barrier of ice on a friendly unit which absorbs up to 250 units of damage. The barrier will slowly decay 10 points per second.

Snowball - Every 3,5 seconds unit casts a ball of snow that deals 65 to enemies in a 5m radius.

Active Abilities:

Freezing Winds - Activate to slow down enemy movement and attack speed for 10 seconds.

This will use the shaman as a base model, textures to be changed to match the frost aesthetic.

Explanation of idea behind the card:

I've always been a big fan of frost cards, but activating the shield mechanic could be tedious at times. My inspiration for this came from using the Shaman. I used this comcept of a healing caster and transfered it to its frost variant, the Magus. The unit will provide all around support for its allies by bestowing an ice barrier to absorb incoming attacks while having an active ability to impair enemy movement and attacks.