Card Editor with Pulp Alley cards

[Gulix]

First, my generic announce :

Geckos

http://www.github.com/gulix/geckos

Geckos is card editor, looking to mimic Magic Set Editor : from a template, cards can be created following the same pattern. And, of course, everyone can create his own template.

Geckos is a tool for gamers, looking for profiles, spells or skills cards, for roleplaying games, boardgames or miniatures games. You can even use it for something entirely different (why not greetings cards ?). Built with easy-to-use and open-source technologies, it's looking to be easy-to-use and open-source as well.

Having spent time creating cards with Magic Set Editor, I came to a point where some limits were irritating me. Geckos is kind of my response to those limits. Being 100% web, Geckos can be used on any computer able to use a modern browser, such as computer with Windows, Mac Os, Linux, Chrome OS, ... or even with a Tablet computer or a Smartphone !

Geckos works with templates. A template define the data that will fill a card, and the way a card image will be generated. After loading / pasting the template code on the UI, you just have to add cards and edit them. Then, each card image can be exported to an image format. More export formats are planned (zip archives, pdf, ...). Of course, you can save your work to get back on it later.

Geckos is very young : the first Alpha version is just out : https://github.com/Gulix/geckos/releases/tag/v0.0.1

What does that mean ? That the main functions, validating my concept, work. The tool is not fully workable, but the goal of this Alpha (and the next one) is to build the roots, and then expand. A much more complete beta will then follow, and finally the first 'true' version will be released. Geckos will still evolve, depending on the needs and the desires.

The big chunk of the templates will be one of the main tasks. I already planned to switch my Magic Set Editor templates to Geckos. And I want to see other templates, for other games, to help create them, even make some. Geckos will also have a "my game" mode, which will allow, for example, a game creator to host a specific version of Geckos, with a custom themes, and his own list of templates.

Well, many ideas.

In order for these ideas to come true, I need to know if this project is interesting enough. On github, Issues will list the needs, the bugs, and I will answer any questions. Don't bother to create issues to get your wanted evolutions done.

You're a developer and want to help : it's open-source, github allows Pull Requests to get your evolutions into the project.
You're a designer and want to create cards : ask your questions on the methods for creating a template, and help me buil the wiki.

Want to test the beast ? http://gulix.github.io/geckos/

Then ...

I'm a french player and developer, and I like to use cards with my miniatures. Each miniature has cards for different systems it can be played with (SOBAH, One Page Kill Team, Frostgrave, Pulp City, ...) and now that I discovered Pulp Alley, well, my miniatures will have cards for it ! But I'm french, I want my fellow players to have easy access to the game, so the cards will be in French.

I used to make templates for Magic Set Editor, but some limits have made me thinking about creating my own software. And here comes Geckos.

And for my Alpha test, it's a version of the Pulp Alley character cards that is used.

First : is that OK ?
Second : enjoy the software !
Third : I'll come here to show you progress and the final cards when it will evolve !

[d phipps]

Looks like you are off to a great start. We have been wanting something like this for awhile. And I think Pulp Alley players would really use it if it had dropdowns for selecting abilities. 



HAVE FUN

[Gulix]

Thanks !

With the Alpha 2 version, the card will be almost complete : Health Bar depending on status, and Description area with a text input with bold, italic and line breaks.

The Dropdown with abilities ... could come later ^^. I will have to think about this option, though.

[gary42]

This would be fantastic with drop down skills/Perks!  Great stuff!

[Gulix]

Geckos have been working this weekend, and a tutorial describing how to create a template card from scratch has been published : https://github.com/Gulix/geckos/wiki/Tutorial01

As far as the dropdown menu for the abilities, well, I think that Issue #38 and Issue #39 will cover that well. Still have to develop them, though ^^.

[Gulix]

Some news about Geckos !

8 Issues have been closed and resolved. Progress towards Alpha 2 is still ongoing, some issues still need to be treated.

Wiki has also been updated. Some explanations about the advanced string variables have been added, and the page about Code Variables in the template is planned. A new tutorial about the use of Kitchensink is also coming.

About the project. It grows step by step, and the availables functions allow for interesting card templates. Here are some new functions :

* Adding some code in the template (Issue #10)
* Advanced String Variables (Issue #11)
* Custom Fonts (Issue #28)
* Multiline text (Issue #27)
* Rich text (bold & Italic) (Issue #12)

Three templates are under development right now : Characters for Pulp Alley, Star Players for Blood Bowl & Heroes for Warhammer Quest Silver Tower. Templates can be found on github.

Please note that some bugs interfere with advanced template creation. Correction in progress !

[Gulix]

Here's an example of what can be achieved with the template right now :



I still have to beautify that template by using some Pulp Fonts, and maybe a bitmap background. But it works fine for making cards (its main purpose !).

Other templates are coming too, and the general UI should be refreshed during the development of the beta version.

[syrinx0]

Looks great!

[Gulix]

Thanks !
More are coming ! Same type of cards, but with a different feeling.
As I'm planning to play Pulp '40K' Alley, I might get some 40K-inspired characters cards.

I could also make some Fortune Cards template. A good way to get them to my fellow french friends.

[d phipps]

Thanks for the update! The Pulp Alley character cards are looking great.   

[Gulix]

The release is on Github

The Alpha road is coming to an end for the Geckos.

This current version is validating what I defined as the needed functionalities. Many Issues have been closed, and you can already create some stunning cards !

This release still comes with a demo template, for the Pulp Alley game. It's a fine miniatures game, and this template is a good base to create a template. You can also find a templates directory containing three templates : the demo one, one for Blood Bowl (featured in a Tutorial), and one for Warhammer Quest Silver Tower.

How to test ?

You can download the source code and run the index.html file in the src directory.

Or you can go on the up-to-date page on http://gulix.github.io/geckos.

What's next ?

We now begin the Beta phase of the software. Some functions will be made more robust, the UI will be revamped in a more modern version, the documentation will grow, and some new parts will of course be added. See the related Issues.

There will be some Beta releases, when big steps will be achieved :

* The new UI (see Issue #42 )
* The template editor (see Issue #14 )
* The multiple styles in one template (see Issue #57 )
* List of templates
* ...

I still need your help for making a geckos at least a good software : bug reporting, defining new functions, creating templates, enhancing wiki, ... Feel free to write Issues !

And again, if you want my help to create your template : ask me !

[d phipps]

Looking great! That's a lot of work. 

[ojdota]

Great program! One suggestion however would be to make the text size a little bit smaller so as too allow skills to be added. Besides that though everything is amazing.

[Gulix]

Thanks !

I'm planning to add some fields to this card, in order to configure it more accurately. And an example of that will be a "Skills Font Size" menu. With two or three different sizes, depending on the amount of text written for each card.

[nozza_uk]

Great program! One suggestion however would be to make the text size a little bit smaller so as too allow skills to be added. Besides that though everything is amazing.

You can change the font size in the code itself - at least that's what I've been doing.

Think this is the line I change - {"type":"textbox","width":330,"left":5,"top":260,"fontSize":18,"text":"$description$","styles":"£description"},