3 ms·

what do you use this for?

eitland 9y ago
Seems like it is meant to generate printable pdfs with game gards for RPGs. When you click save it downloads a pdf that you can print.
- michaericalribo 9y ago
  yeah, I'm just curious what OP uses it for herself...what made him make it in the first place!
  - iamdave 9y ago
    I was just introduced to the Fluxx card-game system this weekend; it's a system with different variants, Zombies, Monsters, there's even a version for the TV show Firefly. Looking at the cards generated they seem to resemble the style/format of Fluxx and I wonder if OP plays themselves. I for one find it to be really neat, and may even use it myself for my weekly table-top night.
    - michaericalribo 9y ago
      Aha, great point! Fluxx is fantastic...it reminds me a bit of Nomic [1] and 1000 Blank White Cards [2]. Have you tried making your own Fluxx deck? [1] http://legacy.earlham.edu/~peters/writing/nomic.htm http://legacy.earlham.edu/~peters/writing/nomic.htm [2]
      - iamdave 9y ago
        Not yet but I very much want to; I'm thinking of doing one for the Star Wars universe :D
  - supermdguy 9y ago
    Looks like a variant of mafia or werewolf: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mafia_(party_game) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mafia_(party_game)
  - joemi 9y ago
    I'm not the OP, but as someone who dabbles in tabletop game design, I find these kind of generators very useful for game prototyping. (The one I've used most in the past is called Squib[1] and it's an open source Ruby codebase and very configurable.) It's often a huge pain to write prototype cards by hand, especially when you have to do it multiple times while iterating the design. (Though in some cases a generator won't cut it, and you need to do it by hand anyway.) That said, since this is HN, it'd be nice to have some explanation of the technology behind the generator, too. Hopefully it's forthcoming. [1]: http://squib.rocks/ http://squib.rocks/
    - michaericalribo 9y ago
      This is neat. I'm curious, how does printing work after the prototyping stage? Would you usually find a publisher, who handles it for you? Are there other tools like Squib for making homespun tabletops?
      - iamdave 9y ago
        https://www.denexa.com/ https://www.denexa.com/ Not my company, but one ran by a friend I used to game with in the early 2000's, they print some very high quality cards at a good rate.
      - joemi 9y ago
        How printing goes after prototyping all depends... Some people shop their prototypes to publishers, some get the game to a more advanced state before shopping it to publishers, others self publish, and still others release it as print&play. There are various companies that'll print small runs/single runs of nicer cards (sometimes indistinguishable from "pro" cards), and some of those companies will even manufacture other components too, like boards and gamepieces. I've printed a few print&play games on sites like printerstudio.com and received some really nice cards. It's a bit pricier than you'd want if you were going to get it manufactured for sale, but for a nice copy or two of something you're never really going to get published, it can be worth it. There are other tools for making homespun tabletop games (some of which have been mentioned in other comments here), but Squib is pretty much the best if you want functionality/customizability and can handle doing stuff in Ruby. If I didn't already know it pretty well, I'd probably use the OP's site, though. The main thing you want when prototyping is to iterate a lot, so the easier one of these programs is to use, the better. OP's site, being web-based, is definitely easy... no need to install, works wherever a web browser does (lots of game design programs are Windows only).
reificator 9y ago
Developing board/card games would be my guess. The default example appears to be a mafia-style game.

Seems like it is meant to generate printable pdfs with game gards for RPGs. When you click save it downloads a pdf that you can print.

michaericalribo 9y ago
yeah, I'm just curious what OP uses it for herself...what made him make it in the first place!
- iamdave 9y ago
  I was just introduced to the Fluxx card-game system this weekend; it's a system with different variants, Zombies, Monsters, there's even a version for the TV show Firefly. Looking at the cards generated they seem to resemble the style/format of Fluxx and I wonder if OP plays themselves. I for one find it to be really neat, and may even use it myself for my weekly table-top night.
  - michaericalribo 9y ago
    Aha, great point! Fluxx is fantastic...it reminds me a bit of Nomic [1] and 1000 Blank White Cards [2]. Have you tried making your own Fluxx deck? [1] http://legacy.earlham.edu/~peters/writing/nomic.htm http://legacy.earlham.edu/~peters/writing/nomic.htm [2]
    - iamdave 9y ago
      Not yet but I very much want to; I'm thinking of doing one for the Star Wars universe :D
- supermdguy 9y ago
  Looks like a variant of mafia or werewolf: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mafia_(party_game) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mafia_(party_game)
- joemi 9y ago
  I'm not the OP, but as someone who dabbles in tabletop game design, I find these kind of generators very useful for game prototyping. (The one I've used most in the past is called Squib[1] and it's an open source Ruby codebase and very configurable.) It's often a huge pain to write prototype cards by hand, especially when you have to do it multiple times while iterating the design. (Though in some cases a generator won't cut it, and you need to do it by hand anyway.) That said, since this is HN, it'd be nice to have some explanation of the technology behind the generator, too. Hopefully it's forthcoming. [1]: http://squib.rocks/ http://squib.rocks/
  - michaericalribo 9y ago
    This is neat. I'm curious, how does printing work after the prototyping stage? Would you usually find a publisher, who handles it for you? Are there other tools like Squib for making homespun tabletops?
    - iamdave 9y ago
      https://www.denexa.com/ https://www.denexa.com/ Not my company, but one ran by a friend I used to game with in the early 2000's, they print some very high quality cards at a good rate.
    - joemi 9y ago
      How printing goes after prototyping all depends... Some people shop their prototypes to publishers, some get the game to a more advanced state before shopping it to publishers, others self publish, and still others release it as print&play. There are various companies that'll print small runs/single runs of nicer cards (sometimes indistinguishable from "pro" cards), and some of those companies will even manufacture other components too, like boards and gamepieces. I've printed a few print&play games on sites like printerstudio.com and received some really nice cards. It's a bit pricier than you'd want if you were going to get it manufactured for sale, but for a nice copy or two of something you're never really going to get published, it can be worth it. There are other tools for making homespun tabletop games (some of which have been mentioned in other comments here), but Squib is pretty much the best if you want functionality/customizability and can handle doing stuff in Ruby. If I didn't already know it pretty well, I'd probably use the OP's site, though. The main thing you want when prototyping is to iterate a lot, so the easier one of these programs is to use, the better. OP's site, being web-based, is definitely easy... no need to install, works wherever a web browser does (lots of game design programs are Windows only).

reificator 9y ago

Developing board/card games would be my guess. The default example appears to be a mafia-style game.