A new player (card) on the field !

First, a little announce : Geckos are now on Facebook : https://www.facebook.com/geckoscardeditor/

Then, what kind of field am I speaking ? Well, the famous Fantasy Bowl fields ! Where there is often Blood !

That's a minor release of Geckos, the 0.3.2, still in the Beta 3 part of the project. But what's new ?

Well, I've added a new template for the fantasy bowl lovers ! It's all SVG, it's heavily inspired by works from Greebo, and here it is, with one of the most charismatic star players there is :

There's two style, depending on how you want to display the image. For the french players, the template is also available in french ! The colours are all editable !

Here's a link to the demo, with the template pre-loaded : http://gulix.github.io/geckos/?default_template=fantasybowl-modern-stars

There's other templates in the works (if you know your way around JS code, you'll find it), but they'll come later. Two words for describing them : Dungeon World.

If you have ideas to make this template better, feel free to write an Issue !

Also, if you've got an idea for another template, for any kind of game, try it yourself or contact me to see what I can do !

Corrections & new functions

Snippets & Colors have been added to the Rich Text Field.

The first ones will allow you to provide predefined pieces of text to users on some fields. For example, a default profile. It will be used in later templates.

The second one is pretty obvious. It will allow the users to choose the color of the text. Pretty useful in some cases. Also will come in later templates.

Some corrections have been made on the generation of the template, and the SVG export which handled incorrectly the invisible elements. Now, there aren't even transmitted, making the canvas lighter and the export much better !

Beta 3.1 - What lurks in the Frozen City (and the Ghost Archipelago ...)

Yep, I stole the title from my MSETemplates repository ...

So, here's a minor release of Geckos, still in the Beta 3 part of the project. But what's new ?

Well, I've added a new template for the acclaimed miniatures game Frostgrave. I've chosen to translate my own template from Magic Set Editor, and try to get it in SVG. I hope you like it !

With the upcoming release of Frostgrave - Ghost Archipelago, I've also created a second style with a palmtree and another colour :

When you change the style of a card, only the frame is changed. I will look to a way to get the color to change also. But you can modify the color of the frame on any of these cards.

For the french players, the template is also available in french !

Here's a link to the demo, with the Frostgrave template pre-loaded : http://gulix.github.io/geckos/?default_template=fg-monsters

Feel free to modify this template, to express your needs about it, or to report any missing feature.

Minor corrections

Three small Issues have been done in this release. You can now choose how to write your ratio in the image fields, the sliding menus are better, and the Rich Text Field is easier to use.

Beta 3 - Making, Saving, Exporting, ...

The Beta 3 of Geckos is now live !

But what's about this Beta 3 ? Well, many new functions are now done. You can see a list of what has been achieved in this page, but here's a summary :

• Google Fonts are now very easy to use inside templates
• Copy an existing card to create a new one
• Globals / Constants inside a Template (for images, complex code, duplicates, ...)
• Export a card to SVG
• Export all cards to ZIP (of PNG or SVG)
• Export all cards to PDF
• Save your work in your browser cache, instead of using JSON files
• Load Geckos with a chosen template
• Overall make-up of the UI

All of these new features can be found in the demo project, hosted on Github. Test them, use them, feel free to report any bug, missing feature, wanted feature, or anything else via the Issues page.

What's coming next ?

Some videos are planned to explain how to use Geckos, as a card maker, and as a template creator. In addition, the documentation will be updated with a "how to use" section. Feel free to express your needs in documentation in the Issues !

Here's some info on how Contributing to Geckos ...

There's a Milestone called Templates for Beta 3 that is now my priority. I've got some templates to update create in order to provide more templates to you, the users ! If you want a template that's not on that list, feel free to contact me. I could work on a template for a small fee, or guide you through the creation of your template.

There will be some minor (I hope !) issues that will come with this Beta. I will correct them and create minor releases.

Also, there's the Beta 4 that's now waiting in line. Many many things are planned, and intermediate releases will surely happened. I always say that I'll get into the Template Editor as soon as possible, but other interesting things pop up. Some features that need to be added to the core engine. See the updated list, and feel free to express your needs and wants by commenting the Issues (or by creating new ones).

Enjoy Geckos ! And feel free to speak about it !

Beta 2.2 - Copy a card

Another very minor release.

Two new templates have been added (Pulp City misc, for any "comic" card with title & text / Dungeon World Moves), and the Copy card into new card function added (see #107).

This release was also made in order to get a new better start with git branches.

Happy february month !

Beta 2.1 - Fonts & Styles corrected

A minor version for the Beta 2, with the correction of some bugs on the Canvas rendering and updating.
It's now corrected !

Also, a new functionality has been added with the Webfont Loader (see #111 ).
Documentation is coming !

Beta 2 - One Step Closer !

The Beta 2 of Geckos is now live ! And to celebrate this milestone, here's the all new and fresh logo for the application :

But that's not all that have been done, of course. For a complete list of completed Issues, see this page. Here's a summary of what have been done :

• Multiple Styles in one template
• Inheritance in Styles (great for translations !)
• Documentation moved to a better suited wiki
• Bold and Italic with Rich Text Editor
• List of pre-installed Templates (with a still-growing list of games / uses)
• Validating the Template Code before using it
• Image Editor with cropping functionnality (no need to prepare image beforehand)
• Grouping Editable fields together (and hiding them)

All of these new features can be found in the demo project, hosted on Github. Test them, use them, feel free to report any bug, missing feature, wanted feature, or anything else via the Issues page.

What's coming next ? Well, I've got some things to do to fully complete the Beta 2 Release. Some documentation, tutorial to create a template, and update for some existing templates. Also, in the next weeks, new templates will appear : Pulp City, Dungeon World, Silver Tower, ... If you're a game developer and want to use geckos to edit cards for your game(s), feel free to contact me. As I did for "Au nom de l'Empereur" (check the installed templates), I can help create a template based on your work.

Also, there's the Beta 3 that's now waiting in line. Many many things are planned, and intermediate releases will surely happened. I'll get into the Template Editor as soon as possible. But I also got some interesting features that need to be added to the core engine. See the list.

Enjoy Geckos ! And feel free to speak about it !

Beta 1.1 - One Template to rule them all (the styles)

Just some days after the first release of the beta, already a new one ?

Well, that's just a patch, honestly. Some Issues have been closed, and I feel that creating this release (and updating the demo page) is needed. As I modified some of the templates in a way that the current demo will not run them, I decided to create this patch release.

Here are the Issues closed related to this release :

• Issue #90 - After removing a Card, the canvas doesn't show up anymore.
• Issue #57 - Multiple Styles in one Template
• Issue #58 - Inheriting styles
• Issue #94 - Documentation for the Styles in a template

As you can see, the major upgrade is the Multiple Style / Style Inheritance functionality. A good way to get translated styles in a template, or themed styles. Look at the Templates for examples.

Feel free to write Issues if documentation is missing / not clear, or if something in Geckos doesn't work as you intend it to. Thanks !

Beta 1 - New look for the Geckos !

The first Beta is now live for the Geckos !

First, you can get a glimpse of what have been done by checking the Issues completed. And then, test the geckos !

Comparing with the last alpha release, Geckos have changed appearance. A new UI, more modern, more responsive, better ? It's up to you to tell me about it. And if you've got any skill in the design of web UI, I welcome any help.

Other changes can be seen in the new and upgraded fields : Dropdown with Images, Color selector, ... All of this have been documented in the wiki. Again the same message : something wrong, missing or not clear : write an Issue to ask about it.

The second beta will now enter its development phase. Many features to be added. The main one being the Template Editor. But it might still be postponed to a future release. We'll see !

Template for new cards are also planned. And the existing one will be updated with the new functionalities of geckos : shared options, description of the template, ...

The Arabesque Template will also be featured in a dedicated tutorial in the days to come. It will explain the process of getting an SVG card translated to Geckos (via the Kitchensink of FabricJS), and then how to play with colors (and I've added many functions to play with them).

As before, the source code of this release can be used through the demo page, or by downloading the code and using it on your own web-browser. I've tested mainly on Firefox Mozilla. If anything doesn't work properly on another browser, feel free to describe it via an Issue.

Alpha 2 - Geckos are coming to beta

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 !

Alpha 1 - Geckos are here !

Here comes the first release of Geckos !

This first version is merely functional, but the bases are here. Feel free to test, to experiment, to report, to request !

This first release comes with a first template, an incomplete one for the Pulp Alley game. It's a fine miniatures game, and this template is a good base to create a template.

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 ?

I've planned a second Alpha release, with more core functions set : https://github.com/Gulix/geckos/issues?milestone=2

The wiki will also evolve, with some "step by step" tutorials to make simple cards. Like some I"ve made in Magic Set Editor, and that I want to convert.

I hope thoses geckos will have a long life and that you'll like them.