Many real published games have been built with tools like nanDECK, or no tools at all. This is not to say that you can’t do great work with a what-you-see-is-what-you-get editor. I think Squib, written in Ruby is a great tool for the job. For your earliest prototypes, the “code” necessary to get started is minimal - just copy the examples and make a few tweaks. However, if you are bogged down by making tweaks to your prototype and already willing to make the investment to learn some sort of digital tool, you might as well learn a tool that will continue grow with you. If you are not a seasoned programmer, the idea of writing code to make cards from the data in your spreadsheet may seem daunting. Spreadsheets are a terrific way to answer some basic questions about your cards: which has the highest attack value how many cards can be played for free how many cards can I play on the first turn? When it comes time to make a change, just use search-and-replace. Putting your cards in a spreadsheet is an easy way to separate all of the raw numbers and game mechanics from the card’s presentation. Those who are already convinced can just skip ahead to the instructions. Provide a basic tutorial for getting set up.īeyond prototyping and testing, there are lots of cool things you can do once you have this flow set up - but I’ll save those for future posts.Introduce the spreadsheet/programmatic card generation/online testing flow, along with rationale.Invest some time now to reap the rewards later. Successful games have dozens, perhaps hundreds, of iterations. The ultimate objective is to bring the next iteration of your game to playtesters as quickly as possible. For me, this setup has become nearly “invisible”. Tools are great, but they should get out of the way and let you get back to working on your game. The generated cards are immediately available for online playtesting, which means I can update the game in less than a minute between playtests. Of everything I have tried in my 4+ year journey of making a game, nothing has saved me more time than investing in card generation backed by spreadsheet. If you’ve already started making your game, you’ve probably found it can be frustrating to constantly update your cards as your game evolves. If you are interested in making a boardgame that involves cards (or a cardgame without a board at all), you’ve come to the right place! Even if your game doesn’t use standard-sized playing cards, it might have character sheets, player mats, or other significant components with ever-changing text. An early playtest on Tabletop Simulator using cards generated by Squib
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