Card Creating Programs

I don't know if there is a program that exists, but it would be nice to have a card creating program (like a database) that puts the card's information into a word or graphics program. I can think of something that may work for Word itself, although it would be a lot of work to put forth and don't have any other programs besides word and photoshop 7.0 (which I am still trying to figure out as well.)

Anyone have any ideas?

-Steve

Why do you need to output it to Word or a Graphics program?

You can easily do the layout in MS Access if you want and then print to a PDF. From there it's easy to convert each page to a JPEG or something if you want.

Can you be more explicit about what you are trying to do?

One of my designs right now is in Access. I do the layout of the card background, etc. in a graphics program, put that into an Access form or report layout, and then overlay fields on top if it as necessary.

-- Matthew

I would be willing to pay for a good program if it did what I wanted it to do. What you are describing sounds like it would work pretty good.

You can easily do the layout in MS Access if you want and then print to a PDF. From there it's easy to convert each page to a JPEG or something if you want.

Mostly I'm thinking of a time saving way to make cards. I usually type and add pics in Word in the specific 9 card file (or the 6 card format that is used for the card sheets that can be ordered from here) and that isn't that bad but I figure a database that exports that stuff into a word or graphic program would save time.

That's one of my problems. Access is my least known office program (well maybe it's tied with publisher) so I know next to nothing what you can do with it.

Nope, I'm done creating CCG's for the present. Just doing the all in the box now and this is for a proto so it doesn't have to be pretty.

I thought about the mail merge and figured it could be pain setting it all up but that's the only way i could think of as well.

Thanks for the comments and help.

-Steve

Aye, that's precisely why I'm going the route I am.

I'm using Visual Basic, which will allow me to rotate as needed, thankfully. The app is engineered to be easy to use with just a small set of cards that are part of a larger boardgame, with repetitive cards that have ranks and suits, and with CCG-type cards. You can change any graphic, background, category, etc., and it automatically populates through the cards.

The part that's slowing me down (as usual) is a simple-yet-powerful interface. I originally figured I'd be done with it in April or May (in my spare time), but it's looking like July/August.

-- Matthew

If you use an appropriate one-to-many or many-to-many relationship, you can keep the card data for each card in one and only one time, but you can multiply it as many times as you want.

That's a standard feature of a relational database.

Consider, for example, a business database where I want everyone from a given company to have the same address. I record each person's name once with their company name, then I record each company address and name once in a different table. When I merge them, the company address is repeated as many times as there are applicable employees.

If you keep multiple copies of the same card it defeats the advantage of having the database often because you have to remember to edit each field on each card (unless you have a universal find and replace function). But either way, there are extra steps.

With the one-to-many or many-to-many relationships, you can have a single table with the names or ID numbers of the cards and you simply edit that table and add the ID number or something to add another copy of the card to the printout. Additionally, with a little visual basic scripting you could probably just type in something like (where the colon is actually a representation of a new field):

Card A:15
Card B: 5
Card C: 1

and it could create the ID number table for you. That would require a script, a card template form, and a table listing the number of copies of each card to display.

That's a standard feature of a relational database.

Yeah... at that point, you have three sets of tables. One table has the raw data (everything that could possibly appear on the card), one table has the individual cards (created through links to the raw data), and one table has one record for each card printed (which, as you say, can be manipulated through a script, so that I don't have to manually create or delete records to add or remove cards).

The problem, such that it is, is that I maintain a couple of databases at work. But I'm not really trained to do that... it's just something I fell into doing because no one else was able to do it, or had the time. So (a) I spend enough time at work dealing with databases, albeit spending much more time and energy than someone who is actually experienced at doing so, and (b) when I get home, the last thing I want to do is muck around with relationships and scripts. By dinnertime, one level of relationship is all my little brain can take.

This is where FastLearner's program comes in. If he does all the work, and all I have to do is punch in numbers, then bring it on!

Of course, now he's got our hopes up and our expectations to meet... :)

www.ccgmaker.com

looks like it might be useful

Danog

Largely only if you want to design prototype magic the gathering cards.

I'd say stick to page layout or database software.

I'm surprised that people occasionally seem to be stumped by designing cards. I am by no means a graphic arts whiz, but I've been able to make perfectly functional playtesting cards pretty quickly and straightforwardly. It is possible that either folks are searching for an optimal way of doing things (like Matthew's program), or production-quality, in which case I can't help, but here's a simple recipe to whip up some cards:
(note: I use cards that are 2" x 3"; change the dimensions if you want poker-sized cards -- 2.5 x 3.5)

1. Open a document in a simple drawing application; I use a draw application in AppleWorks 5.0, but presumably PowerPoint or Excel would work just as well. "Paint" might even work, but you need something with rulers.

2. Draw a rectangular box that is 2" by 3". Make it a solid color, or use one of the fills that you like.

3. Make another box 1.8" by 2.8", preferably with rounded corners. The background should be white.

4. Drag the small box on top of the big box, offsetting it by 0.1" from each border.

5. Now, add the text to the inside of the white box by creating a separate text box for the title, icons, flavor text, abilities, etc. Also, add clip art if you want. Put values of cards and/or icons in all 4 corners if possible. Use a couple of different fonts for title text and rules text, but not more than that. Don't add extraneous flavor text unless you're designing a CCG, in which case such things are apparently seen as necessary for some reason or other...

6. Now select the whole object and drag it up to the top left corner. This will be your card master.

7. Copy the card and paste it three times, placing the copies in the same vertical position but offsetting them by 2", 4", and 6" respectively.

8. Now select the entire row of cards. Copy it, and paste it twice, offsetting it down by 3" and 6", respectively.

9. Now, go back and edit the text entries for the individual cards.

Voila! You have 12 cards ready to print out on a standard printer. After printing, cut with scissors, or a paper cutter. To make more sheets, just go back and edit all of the entries on the cards (but make sure you save each sheet separately!)

Making a full page of cards probably doesn't take me much more than 20 minutes or so, and subsequent sheets are only a couple of minutes each to change.

The cards don't look earth-shatteringly beautiful, but they're functional, quick, easy, and don't require laying out money for some fancy graphic arts program. I'd be wary of laying out a lot of money for a program. Unless you're quite accomplished, it's almost certainly going to have more capabilities than you need or would know how to use. If you're just making a prototype, just use something simple and clean, and preferably something you already have. Remember, the first goal of a prototype is playability, not cosmetic appeal. You're trying to get feedback on the game itself. Pretty cards will help people want to like your game, but they won't help much at getting to the core question -- is this game good? Just make something that has information organized in a logical and clear way.

Hope this helps someone...

-Jeff

Well... I never said I was "stumped... " :) I actually have a pretty quick way of making double-sided cards myself (the results of which you'll see firsthand tomorrow - ooh!).

But it sure is a pain in the butt to have to make one change across fifteen, or thirty, or sixty cards, or whatever. I'm sure it's worse if you're using a word processor or paint program instead of a database! ;)

Lee had a good suggestion in using an additional layer of relationships... perhaps one day I'll get off my lazy tush and try it.

Matthew's program is being anxiously awaited because it'll take care of most of these issues for us.

Very nice, indeed. Didn't play with it much but I really like the basic idea of it. Thanks for posting it.

-Steve