Rebecca Murdoch

CRYSTAL SEARCH CARD GAME

Packaging and Card Design

YEAR

2022

CLIENT

Endless Dungeon

ROLE

Graphic Design & Packaging Design

Graphic Design

Packaging Design

LOCATION

Paris

BRIEF

Design a promotional card game for Amplitude Studio’s video game Endless Dungeon.

The design needed to have a premium feel and align with existing brand guidelines and the game’s art-deco and minimalist aesthetic.

Deliverables included nine hero cards (incorporating existing character illustrations), two board cards, a card back, and packaging (outer sleeve and inner tray).

All designs had to adhere to production specifications, including budget, printing constraints, and quality control processes.

Create a card game to accompany Amplitude Studios' video game, Endless Dungeon.

The card game was to be sold in a special physical edition of the video game as well as distributed as part of influencer and press kits to promote the game, and serve as a giveaway item at events.

The brief was to craft a "premium" design incorporating the art-deco and minimalist themes from the video game, while also remaining consistent with the art direction of other marketing materials.

The project consisted of nine hero cards featuring existing artwork of characters from the video game, two board cards, a card back, and packaging design.

DESIGN

Created a design with an elegant golden linework to reflect the game’s art-deco, minimalist style and evoke a premium feel.

Designed the packaging to mirror the game’s core objective of escaping a space station by unlocking doors. The continuous line motif wraps around the packaging planes to create a “sealed vault” effect. Sliding out the inner tray “unlocks” the vault and reveals a golden interior and a hidden lore message.

Crafted the hero card designs to incorporate varied illustration sizes and text lengths while maintaining uniformity. Designed motifs to create “locked door” effects for the board cards and card back. Incorporated the logo motif onto the card back that would be visible through the packaging’s diamond cut-out.

Collaborated with brand and art teams to ensure art direction coherence, adherence to budget and print constraints, and quality control verification throughout prototyping.

PRINTING CONSTRAINTS

PACKAGING DESIGN & PRINTING CONSTRAINTS

During quality control before production, the design had to be reworked to adhere to printing constraints for the selected gold foil material (minimum line thickness requirements).

The golden foil interior of the outer sleeve was also removed to accommodate budget constraints.

Endless Dungeon is a space-western themed video game about a cast of colourful characters that are marooned on an abandoned space station and searching for an escape.

The station is full of secrets and relics from an ancient mystic race called the Endless and the motifs and designs throughout the station hint at their lingering presence.

These motifs are inspired by art-deco and minimalist designs and they blend together with the overall art stlye to create an elegant and mysterious atmosphere in-game.

The card game brief from the team was to craft a "premium" design incorporating the art-deco and minimalist themes from the video game, while also remaining consistent with the art direction of other marketing materials. The brand team also provided other benchmarks to guide the design in terms of placement of text and logos.

REDESIGN FOR PRINTING

FIRST VERSION

CARD DESIGNS

The set includes nine hero cards, two board cards, and a card back.

For the hero cards, a minimalist golden frame was designed to clearly highlight card numbers while flexibly accommodating illustrations of different sizes and text of varying lengths.

For the board cards and card back, the golden linework was designed to resemble locked doors to reflect themes from the game and echo the packaging design.

The card back design was also adapted around the logo placement to ensure it would be visible through the packaging’s diamond cut-out when the cards were stored.