Card Game Builder v1.0.0 released!

12th September 2026

Card Game Builder v1.0.0 is out! Download it here.

History

Game design is something I’ve always done, but became my main hobby during Covid.

The Card Game Builder app has existed for 3 years as my own personal design tool. It takes a lot of work to turn a personal tool into something that others can use, which is why it has only been released now.

Below are some of the reasons why Card Game Builder was created.

Templates

Lets say you have a really basic approach to designing your cards:

Design a card
Copy and paste it 60 times, and change the text on each card.

If you decide you don’t like the colours or layout, you would have to go and edit all 60 copies.

It soon gets unwieldy. Having a template which all the cards use is better because then you only need to edit it in one place.

A rich interface

There are tools like nanDECK, where you define your templates in a text file like this:

cards = 18
border = rectangle
font = arial, 28, B, #0000FF
text = 1, "SEER", 0, 3, 6, 3, center
font = arial, 28, B, #FF0000
text = 2-4, "WEREWOLF", 0, 3, 6, 3, center
font = arial, 28, B, #000000
text = 5-18, "VILLAGER", 0, 3, 6, 3, center

This appeals to some people, but for myself (even as as programmer) I prefer something more visual. That’s why Card Game Builder has a rich user interface, where elements can be dragged around.

A desktop app

There are web apps which provide a user interface, but it’s problematic if those services are shut down, and all your data is stored in the cloud.

Card Game Builder is a desktop application, with a very friendly licensing model - buy it and own it. Get updates for 12 months. You don’t need to be online, and aren’t reliant on anyone else’s servers. You 100% own your data.

Data management

The other way that Card Game Builder deviates from other tools is in how it handles card data.

Some apps require you to import a CSV file. This soon gets tiresome:

Import the CSV
You realise there’s a typo - go back and edit the CSV file
Import again

Other tools use a Google Spreadsheet, but again you’re constantly swapping between tools.

You can establish a better ‘flow state’ by just doing it within the app, which is what Card Game Builder does.