JT Manning
Game Designer - World Design
TCG Design
Magic: the Gathering Custom Projects
Amytha (Evolution of Merith)
Made to solve a design problem with uniqueness in identity in a four color set.
I took each color and assigned a card type they could play strongly with and then made mechanics for each faction that cared specifically about excluding the most natural part of the color they lack.
Example being for NoGreen, making artifacts care about the thing they share with green but would be uniquely tied with green the best, which is counters.
Another would be having NoBlack have removal options only if you invested heavily in making your lands use abilities and be creatures.
Moxtober
A design series I engage in every year, where you make a card every day for the month of October based on a one word theme for each day.
These designs were made to intentionally show cards that would either be in custom sets I had previously worked on, or ideas from my own personal mythology and literary works.
Merith
Made to solve a design problem in three-color sets attempting to make a strong limited environment while also having cohesion.
Like Tarkir, each wedge color combination has it's own identity, but each was tied to a specific playstyle that fit the colors, and formed what a kingdom's identity would be if that was the case.
For example, Remat is Blue, Green, and Red, which are colors that bring unpredicatability, so the style of play involves chaos, to play along with the nomadic nature of their scientific society.
Additional Projects
Timechasers
A custom Asynchronous card game I created which plays along the lines of Netrunner.
The goal of one character is to maintain the timeline of cards and inventions/technologies while fighting against the setbacks of time.
Players bring two decks, one as Keeper and one as Seeker, and switch game styles between games.
Runes of Legacy
Systems/Encounter Designer
Designed and implemented a combat system to go in tandem with a spell crafting system for all enemies and bosses to derive from.
Tested and iterated on many forms of systems with a gameplay-focused mentality. Maintained data sheets for the player, level progression, enemies and bosses.
What I Learned:
Not every mechanic or good idea can make it into the game. Just because it is doable and viable doesn't mean it inherently makes the game better.
UX is a very important part to making systems shine. The way things look and feel can determine if a thing gets made or not.
