Card Engine

Probably the best card making software I have used so far, and I have tried many. Its easy to use but with most features I need/want right now. I even managed to make good looking cards without looking up any tutorials. Decent amount of templates for frames, symbols etc. with support for custom made ones.

Ok so finally thought to review this one now that I have completed creating my first game using it.

Card Engine is by far the best "Card maker" Software I have tried (I have several).
It is easy to edit cards, templates and bring in your own custom themes.

I find it very easy to use... plus the developer has been giving updates and improving things.

(Would totally love a "Board game maker" by this dev)

Awesome card designing program, The only minor additions i would have is:
In the layers box, being able to "open" each layer and click on elements of that layer from there.
Being able to zoom in slightly more would be helpful.
Copying or duplicating a project would be Amazing.

I haven't spent much time in the app yet, so just leaving a short review now with some first impressions. I'll edit later when I spend some more time with it.

I think the templates are really helpful, they show a good example output of what you can make using this app. The custom templates library / creation area makes sense where it is, but I think it should have some representation in the "collection" view as well. Especially since it seems templates are scoped to a collection.

I don't have a need for it currently, but I think the option of "global templates" would make sense, or maybe the ability to maybe copy a template from one collection to another. Can probably do that manually by copying the Templates.xml from one project to another. I see that there are import/export buttons in the UI, but it seems they are meant just for cards?

Also, I appreciate that you went with plaintext XML data storage. That makes these projects Git friendly, and the XML output could be reasonably integrated with an external game build pipeline. I haven't attempted it yet, but I suppose you could plug some script into the project such that you design your cards > pull real stats / text from your db and stuff that in the xml > export the output cards as a "publish" build. I'm not sure what all the design goals for this app are, but I think it would be attractive if you could rig this thing up with a bit more string interpolation. If the user could just assign a few custom properties to each card (stats, name, flavor text, etc.) and edit that with a few simple text inputs separate from the actual card designer. And/or import from a CSV. I think you'd really be cooking then.

On the "New project" modal dialog, it would be nice if the enter key (or ctrl+enter) would advance the dialog.

The layers panel is functional, but would really benefit from some kind of treeview to show what elements are on the selected layer. I know you can hide all the layers besides the one you're interested in, but it would help achieve the same with fewer clicks.

So, at first it was pretty easy to figure it out. Moved some stuff around, layers were okay, even imported custom content. Tried to save a template. (Not sure if that happened or not.) Second day of use and load into screen. "myProject" is the only button I can load. (except for the quit button) I didn't make that folder, and there is this never ending 'Loading..' window now. Nothing else works or seems clickable. Now it's dead software. Happens every time I start the program. Great...

I really like this tool so far. It's made making and editing cards really easy.

Deleted my template card i just spent an hour on. Found recycle bin. Restored. Audibly sighed "Phew." Then the achievement named "Phew" Appeared.

Template creation is moderately confusing, even when reading the manual. Layering sometimes doesn't show properly in the card preview. Would also help to have a way to track internal game logic, such as the ability to keep an in-engine keyword list for effect text and/or card types.
Based on a cursory analysis, if you're a dabbler looking to make proof of concepts or just a low-complexity game to play with friends, family, and at your game table, this will probably do the trick for you. However, it is over halfway through the Early Access period, and in its current state I could not recommend this product as a specialty tool for anybody serious about tabletop game design or card game design, as it would likely struggle to properly create any large-scale or mechanically-intense game that relies a lot on the features I outlined above. While it is possible that this tool will evolve to the point where I WOULD recommend it, I am willing to keep an eye on it for the future, and I will gladly repurchase and adjust my review accordingly. However, for now, I will be refunding this product and utilizing other tools for my work.

Posted a bug and it was fixed within a day. UI is nice. Some people bought this wanting "PhotoShop with card game plugins," and those people are what some call "brainrotted." Here's a thought: If you want to build it all from scratch, you're free to pay double this amount PER MONTH for PhotoShop, or go out and learn complex art skills and associated programs from nothing. No one's stopping you.

In contrast, you can get a complete feel for what to do in this program in 15 minutes. It's intuitive, it's helpful, and the simplicity is a strength, not a weakness. The same people saying 'iT CaN't dO X" are the exact same flavor of people who would be on here whining it was too complex if it were expanded too heavily.

For sane people: Buy this if you just want to make cards and you're not picky about every single last little tweak/feature. It works VERY well, you can ABSOLUTELY use the standard assets for commercial projects (just not the personal ones), and the developer is incredibly responsive if you run into issues. Set a frame, add text, add an image, and guess what? You just made a card.

For the whiners: Unity's free, btw. Make one better than this and link it in the comments. I'll wait. <3

PS - Don't you love how haters always expect the world for a couple bucks despite having never made anything themselves? Keep it up, Fred. This is an awesome product, and don't let the overly vocal slim-few boneheads on the internet convince you you're doing anything wrong, because you're not. The world would be a much more creative place if every facet of creativity had approachable tools like yours.

If you have any interest in making custom cards, this software is simply amazing.
It's what I dreamt of, made real. No more tinkering with, say, Figma or Magic Set Editor, and STILL not be able to make the layout I wanted... here it's a breeze

Also, I switched to Linux 2/3 of my way in, and it STILL works. so yeah, Proton for the win!

This is an excellent tool for anyone who makes their own games, private and commercial alike! It's easy to get the hang of, and has plenty of features. It still needs things fleshed out, but the dev is excellent at communicating and quickly responds to questions or suggestions. Highly recommend!

Best purchase I've made on steam. I've been wanting to work on a card game for a while now, but the tediousness of other tools has kept me away. For 15$ this is an incredibly good tool, especially considering the cost of others on the market, and with each update it only gets better. Even if this doesn't quite do what you hoped yet, I'd implore anyone who's interested to follow this projects development, it shows incredible potential.

It's just not complete enough, there are several little UX annoyances, and once a template is made there is no way to import a CSV or spreadsheet to make all cards at once.

So far, so good! Very easy to use. I've only used my own assets so far, but the software itself is very nice. I can't wait to see where it goes from here!

it,s good

After a bit of hesitation, I gave in to the temptation of this little piece of software and I have to say that it was a nice surprise. The software is easy to use, it takes no time at all to get to grips with it and already offers a good range of assets to use in creating your designs. Templates are available for people who'd like some inspiration but don't feel up to starting from scratch.

Obviously, in terms of editing, tools and formatting, it's not as good as pure editing software such as Photoshop, but the advantage here is that this software is already MUCH cheaper and it's not designed for design as a whole but is focused solely on creating cards game, so future updates will be constantly moving in that direction.

There are still some obvious usability issues and some basic features are still missing, such as a colour picker or the ability to choose colours with a HEX code, but the developer is already planning to add these soon. I'd also say that to create complete hand-made designs, you'll have to use other software because, as I said, the software isn't really complete at the moment. For the time being, Card Engine should really be seen as a CCG formatting tool that lets you create your own design and easily sort and export your decks.

I'd like to take this opportunity to add that the developer is easy to contact on his discord and I'm personally optimistic about the future of the software. I just hope that the project won't be abandoned and goes all the way, but in any case I'm really enjoying using it at the moment !