Cardstock Studio — Card Game Design & Playtesting Software
Design card templates that generate whole decks from your data, playtest with simulated bots, then export to PDF, The Game Crafter, Tabletop Simulator, or Unity.
Cardstock Studio is an interactive application and needs JavaScript to run. Enable JavaScript to open the editor. The summary below describes what the application does.
What it does
Cardstock Studio is for tabletop game makers: design a card templates, populate decks with Google Sheet integration, then print it, send it to a manufacturer, or drop it into Tabletop Simulator or Unity.
- Visual card template editor
- Spreadsheet-style deck editor with CSV and Google Sheets import
- Variable bindings that render one template into a full deck
- Reusable prefab layer groups and shared text styles
- Print-ready PDF and PNG sheet export with bleed
- The Game Crafter print-on-demand export
- Tabletop Simulator saved-object export
- Unity .unitypackage export with game-ready prefabs
- Rules simulation and playtesting with bot personas
Frequently asked questions
What is Cardstock Studio?
Cardstock Studio is an advanced design tool for tabletop game creators. You lay out a card template populated with variables, connect it to a deck of card data you can import from Google Sheets, and every card becomes unique via the variables you exposed. Cardstock Studio includes a simulation system, and exports print-ready files for home printing, print-on-demand services, and exporting digital content to Tabletop Simulator or Unity.
Do I need to install anything?
No. Cardstock Studio runs in a web browser and saves your work to the cloud as you go, so you can start a project on one machine and pick it up on another, and add users to your project to collaborate with others.
Is there a free plan?
Yes — the free tier is free forever and needs no credit card. Paid tiers raise the project, storage, and export allowances, and can be canceled at any time.
How does one template produce a whole deck?
A template exposes named variables such as {{cardName}} or {{cost}}. A deck is a spreadsheet-style table where each row is one card and each column supplies a variable, so a single layout renders hundreds of unique cards. Deck data imports from a CSV file or a Google Sheets URL. Additional template options enable "if-then" and other logical operations, such as showing or hiding card elements based on variable values.
What file formats can I export?
PDF and PNG print sheets, individual card PNGs as a zip, images formatted for The Game Crafter uploading, a Tabletop Simulator saved object with its card atlas, and a Unity .unitypackage containing game-ready prefabs. Come to the Discord to request other integrations.
Can I playtest a game before printing it?
Yes. Cardstock Studio can run thousands of simulated games against bot personas, A/B test a rule change against the current rules, and report how the balance shifts. This finds potential issues before human tests, so you can focus on the human-centric parts of play testing, and finding the fun faster.
Who is Cardstock Studio for?
Tabletop game designers, indie publishers, and game developers who iterate on a card set and other game components repeatedly. Anyone who would otherwise be hand-editing hundreds of cards in a general-purpose graphics program like Photoshop or Canva.
How can I get support, or request features?
Pages
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