PAX East Trading Cards [Canceled]

PeasantDave

Update 1/25/2013
We will not be doing trading cards this year... but that means buttoneering at PAX East!

Original Post
Sorry it's taken me so long to get a post up here. I've been waiting on a couple factors to be sorted out. While I've enjoyed putting the trading cards together and meeting all the awesome PAX goers, I simply won't have the time and resources to organize it this year. The truth is that I spend a considerable amount of spare time (and some money) to make sure it happens every year. The cards are made mostly manually and the number list is also handled manually. These things could certainly be automated, it would just shift the work to a programmer, which would probably be me anyway.

I'd like to thank all the awesome people who have helped me put this together the last three years. I couldn't have done it without you.

I will have a box of cards with me at PAX, so if you've missed some we can meet up.

Update (As there has been some interest in reorganizing)

Here is how it has been organized:

1. Template is created. The template is a PSD file and made to trading card size. It has a variety of layers to make choosing badges as easy as possible. For the Magic: The Gathering theme we also had layers for the mana symbols. I can provide last year's template plus any assets that would be helpful. Mostly you would have to change the year on the back of the card and potentially add new badges.

2. We tell Jakprints (or any printing company) that we are going to make 100 separate orders. How should we make said orders, and can we have a discount? I believe there was a different company that looked much cheaper than Jakprints.

3. Everyone designs and orders their cards. It needs to be done with photoshop due to the complexity of the files (and in the past GIMP didn't handle CMYK). I've used a team of incredible volunteers to help with this part, but I estimate about half of the participants need assistance creating their trading cards. During this phase the organizer also distributes card numbers and confirms requested numbers to avoid collisions.

4. Everyone brings their cards to PAX. There are one to three meetups to exchange cards, but it is also a great opportunity during other major community events: Pre-PAX Dinner, Pokecrawl, Post-PAX-Dinner, Magical Mystery Tour, etc.

Shoot me a PM and we'll see what the best way to share assets is.

zerzhul

I think it's a little premature to call it "canceled" unless you're unwilling to let someone else take up the organization of it. Most (if not all) of the community events and items have changed hands over the years as different people run out of time or resources to put them on.

Thanks for all your work over the past few years Dave, you certainly kept it going very well

I think this would be a great opportunity to talk about whether or not someone wants to take up the mantle of trading cards going forwards, or if the community wants to shift to another "trading" item for East. Could even do buttons, as those at east haven't had the opportunity to do those yet.

Spicosaurus

Ive only been to PAX East once before (last year) and have never seen the trading cards. Are there pictures of them? Are they of all the forum posters?

zerzhul

Spicosaurus wrote: »

Ive only been to PAX East once before (last year) and have never seen the trading cards. Are there pictures of them? Are they of all the forum posters?

http://forums.penny-arcade.com/discussion/151144/east-pax-east-trading-cards-2012-you-can-mail-your-cards-again/p1

wee

What? Noooooo! This is going to be my first year at PAX East and I was looking forward to participating! Well, okay... I'll just bring my buttons from Prime, then.

itzerokewl

This doesn't mean cards are dead, there is a dedicated group of people who have been working with Dave behind the scenes as helpers...I would love to take this over, but unluckily with the many time constraints I have I can only offer to be a helper. Maybe if there's a group of people willing to go in together to get this thing organized?

LedaXI

Aww, that's disappointing. I didn't get a chance to participate last year. I just didn't have the time. Not that I'm guaranteed to have the time this year, either. I won't count it out, yet. I know we have a great group of people here.

crazysteve5575

This is a pretty neat idea. i was at pax east in 2010, and i am attending again this year. If this kicks off id like to participate.

What needs to be done to organize this. Do you use the same templates every year? do you change them? I dont have a tun of time, but i could help.

zerzhul

East 2010 and East 2011 used the same template, with people making new cards for East 2011 using "revised" for their number (so if you were #22 in 2010, you were #22R in 2011). East 2012 had a new template, and thus a new numbering series.

Thunderous_T

Programmer here, I don't have a ton of free time always, but if someone decides to take up the mantle on this I can definitely lend a hand with data management/automation type tasks.

crazysteve5575

It looks like most of the work was done previous years, just a bit of "copy" and "paste" from what im seeing. Maybe the OP can elaborate on what needs to be done to organize this. Im not a Photoshop wizard, but i could edit the template a bit if i get some suggestions from the group. I would think we would want to keep it basically the same, with minor changes indicating the year. or maybe we go a completely different route this year. I made one template like this in the past 1987 Tops baseball card fore reference you can see it here. I dont think i have time to really completely rebuild the template (nor do i know where to start) But im willing to take suggestions.

tvethiopia

if we didn't change the template, it seems like the biggest part would be issuing card numbers and maintaining the database of which card numbers belong to which people. someone may also want to reach out to jakprints about arranging the discount code we have used in the past, although we could just let people order from wherever they like and find their own prices. last year a number of people (myself included) tried other printing options with reasonable success, however jakprints is good people and has been very accommodating of us in the past, so it might be worth maintaining that relationship.

crazysteve5575

I think the template should be changed, if even slightly to indicate the year

PeasantDave

Here is how it has been organized:

1. Template is created. The template is a PSD file and made to trading card size. It has a variety of layers to make choosing badges as easy as possible. For the Magic: The Gathering theme we also had layers for the mana symbols. I can provide last year's template plus any assets that would be helpful. Mostly you would have to change the year on the back of the card and potentially add new badges.

2. We tell Jakprints (or any printing company) that we are going to make 100 separate orders. How should we make said orders, and can we have a discount? I believe there was a different company that looked much cheaper than Jakprints.

3. Everyone designs and orders their cards. It needs to be done with photoshop due to the complexity of the files (and in the past GIMP didn't handle CMYK). I've used a team of incredible volunteers to help with this part, but I estimate about half of the participants need assistance creating their trading cards. During this phase the organizer also distributes card numbers and confirms requested numbers to avoid collisions.

4. Everyone brings their cards to PAX. There are one to three meetups to exchange cards, but it is also a great opportunity during other major community events: Pre-PAX Dinner, Pokecrawl, Post-PAX-Dinner, Magical Mystery Tour, etc.

Shoot me a PM and we'll see what the best way to share assets is.

Jindrax

I've got a bit of time that I can help out with organizing.

I had an idea for a theme and put together an example to see what everyone thought. It's based off of the old Pokemon TCG. url="http://i.imgur.com/LqIJt.jpg"]Card Idea[/url

itzerokewl

So, since we're now past the beginning of the year, I figured I would see if 1) there is interest in creating cards and 2) any interest in helping organize a team to spearhead the card creation project (seeing as it's a project too large for one person.)

I think for simplicity sake, we could just use the template from last year, maybe add an "R" or something to the card number for those that made cards last year, but since we're getting a late start easier is going to be better.

Thoughts?

Of course, if Dave still wants to head up card creation for one more year...you know me...I'm in!

Jarretttheguy

if it comes down to us printing them at home, I'm down. Won't look as pretty, but this sounds like a lot of fun.

Frugus

I would like to thank Dave for all his great years of service!

I am sure we can get someone else to pick up the torch, it can be a team effort. I may not have that much time to dedicate, but I can do some sweet Excel kung fu if it can be of any use - I'm thinking about the number assignments, automated messages or e-mails to send to people if needed be, etc. Once I set things up it should be easy for anyone to use.

zerzhul

My thought on the matter is to take this year, as you say, and do the Revised label, maybe changing the logo to east13 in that one spot.

vicechan

I had fun at the trades last year, but I do think this does need to pick up some momentum for last year.

I have a fat stack of my own cards from last year. The two trades that I went to last year felt quick and sorta impersonal last year (I was in an insane hurry for one of them, true) and I'd like to see something where we can talk to each other more.

If there's not a lot of newbie interest, I don't know if I really want to go through the effort of updating my cards.

So...to not complain and not offer solutions... Lurkers who are interested in this speak up! And would people be interested in a fun trade activity (or even just a meal together) so we can do more than just stand in a circle and wait for more people to show?

Or maybe it's time we do a easier to manage tricket like buttons? But I abkdjfklad love these cards!

xenard

I would love to do this again and help out wherever I can.

katstrawder

Newbie lurker speaking up - "I am interested!"

punzie

I support using last year's template and adding the revised R for people who had cards last year.

EchoZero

I had a whole stack of cards (still have plenty if anyone wants mine) but ibwas unable to attend all the meetups and only found i think maybe 10 ppl to trade with. I love the idea but had some trouble with it. I gave out more of them as a business card for people to be able to contact me.

zerzhul

what's odd is that with buttoneering at pax prime we only have one or two scheduled meetups but I seem to trade with people all damned weekend. At pax east I have traded a lot of cards, but definitely not as much as button trading. I think the cards just aren't as visible so it's not as obvious that someone is participating. Need to take the holyyakker approach and have cards all over your head or something

xenard

I found placing my card in the badge holder worked well.

PeasantDave

zerzhul wrote: »

what's odd is that with buttoneering at pax prime we only have one or two scheduled meetups but I seem to trade with people all damned weekend. At pax east I have traded a lot of cards, but definitely not as much as button trading. I think the cards just aren't as visible so it's not as obvious that someone is participating. Need to take the holyyakker approach and have cards all over your head or something

At PAX East 2010 I made a hat out of giant card that seemed to help. I found most people just weren't looking for other cards. There are also less people taking part in the card trading than buttons, so you are truly seeing less people.

itzerokewl

Frugus wrote: »

I would like to thank Dave for all his great years of service!

I am sure we can get someone else to pick up the torch, it can be a team effort. I may not have that much time to dedicate, but I can do some sweet Excel kung fu if it can be of any use - I'm thinking about the number assignments, automated messages or e-mails to send to people if needed be, etc. Once I set things up it should be easy for anyone to use.

You sir, have some very strong Kung Fu! This sounds great, and super helpful.

I do agree with the comments that have been made previously, it does seem that sometimes it is difficult to trade cards, mostly because they are not as visible as the buttons are at Prime. I have also tried the bade holder and it has helped some, but really we just need something that screams "HEY YOU GUYS...I HAVE CARDS TO TRADE...FIND ME!!!!!" Not sure what the solution is at this time, but something to think about.

Khadour

Hmmm . . . maybe a card trading button that can be worn to indicate cards to trade, perhaps with a flashing LED?

zerzhul

Well, there was that girl at pax that made a dress out of magic cards. We could all make clothing out of our cards, and then remove one at a time as we trade and replace it with the card we traded for!

Yes I know this isn't feasible, but goddamnit it sounds good on paper!

shadowfae

I didn't participate last year, but was hoping to this year. I hope it turns out to be practical to get it organized.

aneksi

Agreed, I always miss out on the trading cards and I was really looking forward to it this year..

katstrawder wrote: »

Newbie lurker speaking up - "I am interested!"

vttym

I've got a bajillion from last year, since I gave away exactly 4 at PAX. So I'll have them on me again this year. Just know that I'm now an undercon if you go just by my stats on the card

jonxp

So does it look like this won't be happening this year? If not, and if people still want to trade something, it's not too late to start a PAX East Buttoneering event. While I won't be there, I can add the event to the site and start a thread for it. I'll need input on times and places for meetups, though.

N13

Does anyone use apps for exchanging data? I like Bump, but it needs a large enough user base to be useful. There are other options, the most interesting one being "My Name Is E" (now Cardcloud), which seems to let you actually design a "card".

jonxp

N13 wrote: »

Does anyone use apps for exchanging data? I like Bump, but it needs a large enough user base to be useful. There are other options, the most interesting one being "My Name Is E" (now Cardcloud), which seems to let you actually design a "card".

Hrmmm...that's a really good idea. I do something similar with the Buttoneering app (you can tap phones to see each others buttons), but it may be worth looking into making a purely virtual "collecting" app like that. Especially since you can actually turn it into a game with scores (something that is difficult to do with buttons and cards).

macrogeek

I have cards left over from year 1. If people do trade this year I'll bring them. However...if buttoneering does start up...I would totally get some made. I've never been to prime and it's one of the things I think would be really fun to participate in.

Lady Lilybell

I would join in buttoneering if it starts. I have a stack of cards left over also.

katstrawder

I would join buttoneering.

jonxp

By popular demand (meaning no one said no yet) PAX East Buttoneering

AboutLastNight

If anyone has cards left over, I would love to trade buttons and such for them. This is my 3rd year going and I've never traded for them!