Why not make something creative?

I definitely feel the LCG has a major advantage over the CCG, for me personally, seeing as 90% of all the gamers I know are just as broke as I am! I hear a lot of talk about new licenses, but why not just make a new one up? there's so many gaming genres out there that don't get any credit. I'd really like to see some pulp-fiction style games, Maybe some espionage. My main focus is a turn from the generic swords and spells or ships and blasters that we as gamers have so highly accepted as the "norm." I'd love to see some Cyber punk, steam punk, or something that takes sci-fi a different direction. And maybe bring this to fruition but maybe implimenting some new and innovative game mechanics, that give characters more options that just doing battle to collect an objective, or to kill your opponent. Things that I feel are more real like Diplomacy, and running from creatures that would obvious eat you alive, and hiding from a military that trys to cover up your existance. Games that use mechanics to carry the story, not games that just a bunch of mechanics that have nothing to support. I feel like that LCGs have the most potential to redefine gaming in the "10's" by creating games that are not only fun and competetive but also very engaging to the sense that you want to know what happens to your favorite characters next. If you're reading this then you like me would like more girth to your card gaming, and want to be a part of voicing this opinion. So let's hear it.

Fantasy Flight has been one of my favorite game companies since I picked up DOOM at Origins '06(I believe it was that year) and I believe they will be paramount in carrying gaming to the next level. I just got Into LCGs starting with COC and am hanging up my magic the gathering robes, oh the thousands of dollars that will never be regained!

I completely agree with you.  I'd love to see a original IP in LCG format.  Something I could get in on the ground floor on.

JiveDinosaur said:

For someone having to finance the development of a new product, 'being creative' or 'original' is synonymous to creating a money sink without a reasonable chance of making a profit.

Additionally, there's already an incredible amount of available settings. It becomes increasingly difficult to think of something that won't be immediately criticized as being a 'rip-off' of something with an established fan base.

Test yourself: Could YOU think of something truly original that will appeal to a majority of gamers that has sufficient substance to serve a product line for a decade or more?

It's not like there isn't the potential for original properties in LCG, but the big issue is cost. Trying an LCG into an existing property especailly one that a company already owns or has access to is far cheaper than starting from ground zero. Would I love to play a cyberpunk style LCG, be it techno or Shadowrun-ish you bet! Same with steampunk, though wasn't Spoils somewhat in that genre? And that game didn't last very long.

There are plenty of opportunities for other LCG games, but just like ccgs, there is going to be a limit on the number of games before the market reaches an ussustainable threshold. We already know that FFG is making a fourth game they have hinted in such a way as to make it a certainty. It will most likely be based on an exisitng property, whether owned in-house or licensed, because one of the highest costs in development is the artwork. FFG has in-house designers who are already paid to create games, or else they hire someone like Eric Lang who already has an established relationship with them. But to come up with artwork for 160or so unique cards is going to cost them, at a guess, between $10-$20k, minimum. Maybe they are getting original artwork at $50 a pop, but that seems low to me (although, to be fair, I really have no idea what ccg/lcg artists are paid; maybe FFG gets "bulk pricing"). Being able to use older artwork minimizes the initial outlay for a card game, and gives it a greater chance to succeed. As many people have pointed out, most of the artwork for Warhammer: Invasion is taken from previous Warhammer games, and we're seeing the same art shwoing up in the WFRP line as well.

It would not surprise me if FFG created an all-new property for an LCG, but I don't forsee that as the next game they release.

The next (or the next-next) LCG game is most likely GW related: the relationship established between the two companies cannot last forever.

Having said that, I look forward to a Midnight LCG in the not-so-far future. There is a certain romance in a setting where evil rules with a spiked gauntleted fist.

jhaelen said:

 Indian wendigos/werewolfs Vs undead gunslingers in a Far West setting!

Mig el Pig said:

www.amazon.de/Werewolf-Wild-West-Apocalypse/dp/1565043405

Anyone else?