The Best Tool for Rapidly Prototyping Your Board Game

[@ZaltySean]

BRO WHERE WAS THIS VIDEO ALL THESE YEARS I HAVE DESIGNED CARDS IN PHOTOSHOP. This is a literal godsend!

[@davejeltema3]

Same lol. Glad you found it!

[@xChikyx]

I do the same spreadsheet thing in photoshop, it's not that difficult actually. It's slower to produce because it renders each card individually, but the spreadsheet can be used for everything. I am currently using it for a game, and yeah, making the cards there is way easier than just one at a time.

[@loganpark2530]

You might literally be me. :) Saaaame vibe about sinking a bunch of time into tools less well fitted to the game design workflow.

[@SacredScribble777]

I've been painstakingly (and unsuccessfully) trying to design a game in MS Paint for months now. The day before yesterday I found this video and I now have several complete variations of my board, my event cards, and every token in my game. Your videos are a godsend. Subscribed!

[@xChikyx]

why paint???

[@lovethecaptive]

I can't tell if this is genuine or trolling haha.

[@marcomoreno6748]

Wtf... this has to be a troll. If you thought ms paint was a good starting point, you have bigger problems

[@danielpayne1597]

I'm currently designing my own TCG and this Dextrous -> TTS option is a massive game-changer. Was already planning on using spreadsheets and testing in TTS, but this will make things way easier. Thank you for the quality content. I found it today, joined the Discord, liked, & subbed.

[@davejeltema3]

Heck yeah, glad it's been helpful. It's been a game changer for our process, looking forward to reading about your game in the disc!

[@danielpayne1597]

@@davejeltema3 Thanks, Dave! I just designed my first digital card. Can't wait until I can test it in TTS for the first time.

[@PlaySpicejack]

I saw this thumbnail and doubted, but while watching this video, my jaws were absolutely dropped. Thank you so much for creating this video and sharing this amazing find for fellow designer!

[@travisbuschette8609]

Wait, what?? This is a game changer!! (Pun absolutely intended). Thank you for showing us this, updating pdfs that quickly will save me so much time. I'm a level 2, making cards in Illustrator and testing with a physical copy. Trying to learn simulator, and this may be the push I need. Thank you again!!

[@Christian-wr4ge]

Yo, your video legit changed my life. Here I was printing and cutting all day. Props!

[@LordTyw1n]

WHAT? I've wasted days of time. But you've also saved me days.

[@ShadowEclipex]

Man! This is just what I needed! I mad my first 2 prototypes in drawing programs on my PC, and have been putting of my 3rd version cuz time it takes to do so. XD

[@markusbiewer2756]

Thank you for this video! I created the cards in Word table and had to print and cut them after each change. I will switch to Dextrous for sure!

[@claytonsmith3749]

Amazing content from someone who clearly cares about the craft and is earnestly wanting to help others. Thank you!

[@davejeltema3]

Thanks for taking the time to send kind words!

[@Frankieisntreal]

tysm bro this was really considerate and nice of you to make this. I appreciate your work keep it up!

[@Zero-4793]

while making my current game i was looking for a game in mind i couldnt remember the name of so i could credit it for inspiration (stolen mechanic). i failed in this mission. but i stumbled upon something greater. your videos about this app. This will help me greatly, thank you for informing me!

[@CruiseMonkeyGames]

So I've used Nandeck which is an awesome spreadsheet based card generator but linking to TTS takes it to a whole new level! (Oh yeah, level 5). Thank you for making this video. I would say "just take my money" but free?! Holy Guacamole Batman! Of course you show me this while I'm at work. Eh. It's Friday.

[@kosterix123]

cool to see it in all its glory. You can do the same with indesign and file structure to generate card icons. Ira has a video on how he uses this for Arydia. all we need from you now is a step by step tutorial on - how to set up a card game entry in tts, and - how to create a new project with 1 card in that dextrous tool of yours.

[@guilhemebaccari6511]

Amazing video, community and process! Dude, you got it all figured out! Thanks ;)

[@davejeltema3]

I don't think I'd go that far :P Thanks for the kind words!

[@sheanstanks]

Amazing! Thank goodness I found this early. I was in-between level two and three. I had the good sense to start with Photoshop design so I only had to change art and text and numbers. This will make a big difference I think. Thank you!

[@drillerdev4624]

MVP! Now maybe, just maybe, I'll be able to finish a project (I have some playable level 1 prototypes lying around, tho) However, you forgot level 0: Cheap deck of playing cards + permanent marker I have a bunch of those, too...

[@urossinigoj4196]

Very helpful. Thanks for taking the effort to make this tutorial!

[@Greg_M1]

Super glad to hear about these tools. Going to check them out. Thanks

[@ConleyPMusic]

Unreal. You're a godsend dude.

[@Binzob]

Damn super useful stuff. I've been wanting to make my own game for years, ideally a video game but can't for the life of me learn to code. Though I think a board / card game is something I can actually make progress with. Thanks.

[@MrGeniusTelevision]

Great tips, you are a legend!

[@Nonartrach]

Thanks a lot these tips, you are going to save me a shit ton of time

[@reubensandwichthe1st]

Great advice, luckily I did all of these methods on accident.

[@sebastianm5665]

You're a Godsend!!! This is exactly what I was describing to my wife, the gaming community honestly, never disappoints! Thank you for the tremendous help, Dave!

[@chrisburgos8672]

Likes subscribed and going to test this stuff out. Can't wait to try it out. Can't wait to test me game out in the near future.

[@Xoopams]

This was basically what I was looking for! Thanks for sharing it!

[@NexusBaum]

Thanks for showing us! I'll use it for my .... wait .... 14th prototype, I guess. :)

[@geoliese4150]

That is exactly the video i was looking for! I was trying to make my cards with inkscape but i was already scared of needing to do little changes on every card individually

[@nikolaihemal663]

Great content! cheers!

[@Envy_May]

oh great this seems like exactly the kind of thing i have been searching for maybe this means i can finally get started for real

[@Xerceth]

Nice :) Could you point us to tutorials on how to replicate your dropdown lists like in "Card Type", "Stone" and "Action Type" ? It looks really useful.

[@davejeltema3]

Sure thing, this should get you started on the right track! support.google.com/docs/answer/186103?hl=en&co=GENIE.Platform%3DDesktop

[@therealBocaStudios]

Informative. Thank you.

[@npuneon]

You literally saved me thousand of hours

[@AkFortyMuppet]

How does this compare to Nandeck? They seem similar but this is probably more polished. What I worry about is that this probably won't be free forever so might be better to learn nandeck

[@roby8124]

I love nandeck, but what I'm interested about this is that it has an auto-upload to TTS feature. nandeck doesn't currently have that. However, nandeck does have an easy upload to the Game Crafter, for order print on demand versions of your cards quite easily.

[@vizdotlife]

Thank you for sharing this great insights! Best wishes for your game development in 2024!

[@ZioZs_Builds]

Wow this is perfect, literally what i need, i love making games i have tons of creativity but sadly always hand make every thing im gunna try this

[@taylorabrahamse8345]

You're a Saint sir!

[@Spilzu]

THIS is what I've been looking for

[@twothirdsanexplosive]

Anyone have experience to compare with Component Studio? Would be useful to know the design differences and what Dexterous is attempting to do better. I'm sure each has their pros and cons so one might be better and easier to use depending on the person.

[@ainzooalgown119]

I'm currently at step (??)... Trying to program a simulator in Godot to playtest the cards

[@chadzombiehunter]

Great video

[@trixiwolf_gaming]

Is there a way to save these cards into a PNG or JPG file to be used by a game prototype company to make a hard copy of the game? something like "The Game Crafter" I only see the options to save the project as a JSON file to be used by Tabletop alone.

[@imanaxolotl4717]

Henroh, I am da 80th subscriber!!!

[@davejeltema3]

Glad to have you!

[@imanaxolotl4717]

@@davejeltema3 Thank you, great video!

[@vincenttremblay5266]

Thats super cool and efficient but i really am a sucker for handcrafted components. I buy blank playing cards and design them with a graphite pencil so that i can erase and change information or costs on the cards. I only do very minimum doodles for the art on a 1st prototype so crafting a new card takes me a minute or two. Might not be the fastest way to do it but me and my friends enjoy live play with a couple beers!

[@teamcyeborg]

I'm super excited to start getting into this site, I have a handful of half-finished card games sitting in Sheets that really would want this kick! The one catching point, though, is the price of TTS... Are there any free alternatives/demo versions to use?

[@Gnostic_Plague]

The discord links aren't working for me. Tried joining through a community search and that also didn't work. Would love that Google Sheets template. Thanks for the great video either way!

[@godsepicgamer3825]

can you make a video on how to make the sheets and how to put it in to dextrous?

[@GadreelAdvocat]

I made a homemade Mandalorian board game based on Maldo Kreis. It recreates the "The Passenger" episode. Two to four players, four games to complete the episode.

[@dankmctavish4281]

Thank you so *&!@ing much! This was a lot of help and saved me so much time.

[@davejeltema3]

yay!

[@runfurbyrun3052]

Love this video! i went to look for the spread sheets example but it seems to not be the one you mentioned in the video. Would you beable to go check on the discort again for us?

[@davejeltema3]

The starter kit I put together is just a simple example to get you started, the stuff I show off in this video was a snapshot of out game at that time and not something I intended to hand out.

[@elijahdixonowens5036]

I can tell this is what I need, because your spread sheet LOOKS JUST LIKE MINE!!😂😂😂

[@jlbrooks74]

Freaking lifesaver!! ❤💪

[@JustDante_Te]

Haven't tried it out so I can't confirm it works but if it does then this video is gonna save people hours

[@josht9058]

My Man! Thanks, this is great.

[@davejeltema3]

Glad you liked it!

[@jecabreradc]

thank you very much !

[@ATable4You]

Holy shit, this is pretty good. Hopefully the full functionality is free to use.

[@davejeltema3]

I found it to be more than enough for a single game. Unless your building a monster you shouldn't need to pay.

[@benknudsen382]

You're Awesome!

[@TheBlackbeansoup]

You are my effing hero.

[@Arthur-jf7hg]

I gave it a try and wasn't unable to modify the back of cards. Any idea? I watched the tutorials but they are using a different tool version, which looks nicer 😢.

[@davejeltema3]

They update very rapidly, which is awesome. Just to check the obvious: have you created a separate layout for the card back and then gone into the project to assign it to a specific component? If that doesn't help then I would highly suggest heading over to their discord, they are very active and will be able to help you with this anything else you come across. discord.gg/BB9tMEdv

[@sizarrazis]

thank you for this video Dextrous it seems to work verywell for me but i have a question how i can put icon background to text? for example in order to create a damage symbol with a broken shield as background or cross sowrds and the damage number front this broken shield.. hope I was understood 😅😁

[@davejeltema3]

You could place the image in the layout and have text over it, but if you want it in the text then there a few things you could do. Place the number before the icon or you could put multiple icons. If you specifically want a number over the icon then you'll have to create a specific image for each number value you intend to use and then place the image string in the text.

[@NickBeenackers]

the starter kit/ step-by-step walkthrough link to your discord server does not seem to be working anymore?

[@davejeltema3]

It's no longer pinned, you can find it in the resources section or type !dextrous in any channel for the autoresponder to link it.

[@shanthagopian7559]

How to import images from PC?

[@ajlynch123]

Can Dextrous be used to make a card file that can be physically printed for a finished game for the actual table???

[@davejeltema3]

Yup, easy as hitting a button and selecting your printer settings. Exports to pdf or other formats. I've made a handful of physical prototypes printing at my local ups store.

[@davejeltema3]

I’m curious, what level were you at? Level one, two or three?

[@lordllama2548]

Probably one or two all my projects are forever text documents

[@jdlucke8967]

Just leveled up from 1 to 2 haha.

[@ChrazyPenguin]

@@jdlucke8967Hardly anything feels better than having your game in front of you, we all come back to level 2 at some point!

[@LordTyw1n]

I've been making a 120 minute roundtrip by bus to the printer weekly for about 6 weeks

[@davejeltema3]

Oh no! lol. @@LordTyw1n

[@CHADTHUNDEROCK]

Where is the link in the description?

[@leonrai1517]

Do you play in HotSeat or does this work when playing multiplayer? :O!!!

[@obakengmothusi9149]

im new but i am a fan

[@skylermikesell1108]

Did you shut down the discord server? the link isn't working for me in the description.

[@davejeltema3]

Thanks for reaching out! I have no idea why the link isn't working for you, I've had others say something similar, but the link is still active and working properly for others. I guess the first place to start is if you have discord installed, if you have a brand new account in the last day my community has a bit of protection to prevent spam from new accounts. Beyond that I'm at a loss, simply click this link to be invited. discord.gg/sjtRZsMAWt

[@GuardianAngelEatos]

Where has this been all my life?! Thank you for this man! I have a question. What do you do about adding game icons with ability text since it appears you can't add both images and text to google spreadsheets, so you can't make quick changes that way. I'm trying to think of a way to not have to manually add my game icons with ability text to every different card and make easy changes without needing to move the ability text and icons. I know you mentioned in a video using icons for common abilities instead of text, so I imagine you know of a good way to do this.

[@davejeltema3]

You can edit the layers in dextrous to have a text field over the image if the images location is static. If you'd like it to be in something like effect text then you can duplicate the image 3 times instead of having a 3 on it, or you can edit the image itself.

[@GuardianAngelEatos]

@@davejeltema3 I don't understand. How does duplicating an image three times help? I used your starter kit and am also having trouble figuring out why it deletes the zone for card type, Type Underline, and text box when I delete the Effect Container zone even when I move all of them off of the Effect Container. I want to change it to something else but seeing that I added other zones with zones added on top of them and I did not have the same problem when I deleted a zone that was on top, I don't want to mess with the Effect Container zone without understanding why it's removing the other zones. I wish there was a guide for what everything does somewhere and how certain features work. I can't find anything that explains why the zones are being deleted.

[@GuardianAngelEatos]

@@davejeltema3 Also how do you paste into all of the columns like you did here in Google Sheets? I have been trying to figure out if there's a way to do that and couldn't find a way and noticed you did that here. 2:07

[@davejeltema3]

@@GuardianAngelEatos The Dextrous website has some tutorials that might help, also their Discord is the place to ask questions like these. The guys over there are super helpful.

[@GuardianAngelEatos]

@@davejeltema3 I've looked through the tutorials that sound like might be helpful, but to no avail. Okay, I'll try Discord. Thank you.

[@cci.starrbby]

Do you know how to add custom fonts in Dextrous?

[@davejeltema3]

I did a quick search through their discord and found this response to someone else who asked the same question: "as long as you have the font installed locally, you can just add them as your own custom fonts in the layout editor. Just type " 'Ariel MT' " (with the single quotes) into your custom fonts and hit save. From now on you should be able to use that custom font in any design." Hope this helps!

[@cci.starrbby]

@@davejeltema3 Didn't work. Whenever I do that it still comes up as the default font. Thanks tho

[@davejeltema3]

@@cci.starrbby I would go to their discord to ask them then.

[@whatshendrix]

Level 5, hell yeah!

[@davejeltema3]

Woot woot!

[@redhead0122]

Does this also work with Tabletopia ? Because you can use that for free if you don't plan to make more than one game at a time

[@davejeltema3]

I know it works with screentop, not sure about tabletopia. Wouldn't be surprised.

[@sixbirdsinatrenchcoat]

Uhm - WOW! I am definitely gonna try this out. Do you know if I can use Excel as well as Google sheets? Also, new sub 😊

[@davejeltema3]

I haven't looked into it, I imagine it would work, but the only reason I work in google sheets at all is so I can worth with my co-designer at the same time.

[@The_PolterGhost]

It should work, Dexterous is looking for a CSV file, which both Google Sheets and Excel can provide.

[@TheWhapow]

Thanks! See you on the discord :)

[@GoblinArmyInYourWalls]

I'm gonna build an all in one software in Godot that combines all three of these

[@Aluwilliam]

This is great! I've been working on cards using illustrator, is it possible to import them to dextrous without losing the progress I've made designing them?

[@davejeltema3]

Unfortunately no, I don't believe so. You could check with the guys over on their discord to be sure.

[@Aluwilliam]

@@davejeltema3 ah well. I'm sure it'll be easier to create now that I know what I want it to look like. Thanks anyhow!

[@shanthagopian7559]

Is the board game I use there visible to the devs? In other words, can they see or steal my idea since Im using the platform?

[@davejeltema3]

I can't imagine a site where that wouldn't be the case... regardless, no one is going to steal your idea, quit being silly. :P

[@matthewharris-levesque5809]

No link to the site you're promoting?

[@davejeltema3]

Fixt.

[@cheerecheere1996]

Discord Invite / Kit link is invalid

[@davejeltema3]

Double-checked with a friend, and the link works. The only thing I can think you might be running into is that my server is a little ban happy against new accounts.

[@skylermikesell1108]

My account is 6 years old and it's also saying it is invalid for me too@@davejeltema3

[@bmluz2276]

How can I get the free starter kit?

[@davejeltema3]

There is a tutorial and small download of example files to play around with in the discord. Come say hi!

[@ThatSkiFreak]

I already have a tool for generating card images, and a spreadsheet where i store all the card data, but is there any tool available for building decks from an imported set of images and cards (in the form of spreadsheet data)? Building from the sheet is super annoying and difficult relative to being able to filter and look at images

[@Ggdivhjkjl]

Does Tabletop only cost $20 once or is there an ongoing cost?

[@davejeltema3]

One time cost, and goes on sale at -50% quite often.

[@deanjamess1969]

H O L Y $ H I T - This would most definitely have been helpful years ago. Thanks brother, this is absolutely insanely helpful!

[@aarontuggle3120]

do you have a link for dextrous?

[@davejeltema3]

dextrous.com.au

[@aarontuggle3120]

@@davejeltema3 Thank you

[@uncolorr]

dang I don't have tts

[@于逸-t1o]

你的胡子好像肉松，很可爱:D

[@officersoulknight6321]

am I the only one who's been making my game in google slides 💀

[@invincible3246]

DAMMIT I DONT HAVE STEAM OR A COMPUTER

[@Moris91]

That tool is nightmare to use XD

[@bobbykbobette7426]

Looks nice but sorry i don't have $100-$200 a year to spend in it.

[@davejeltema3]

I've been using Dextrous for a couple years now and haven't spend a penny (unless you're talking about something else?) I did pay $20 for Tabletop Simulator though, could have saved $10 if I waited for a sale.

[@lilstargirl9751]

"Gunna" instead of "gonna" lol

[@LetsPlayArcanium]

Ok

[@davidstaffell]

Why do so many of these comments look like paid nonsense?

[@ZoidbergForPresident]

Online tool and Chrome only? Hard pass.