eloquentaction
First Post
eloquentaction, can you give me an overview of what is the UCS? I couldn't follow this thread for quite some time, and from what I understand it is a project to make some sort of universal game file for powercards, so designers would only make the style files. End users would just choose the style they like and no need for typing, since it's all the same game and has been typed before.
Am I wrong?
You see, I'm working on a template but as much as I'd like to, I don't think, by design, it could benefit from that, because it's not "just" a power card template. It's highly customizable, so it rewards creativity: you could do powers, classes, conditions, magic itens, skills challenges, npcs, monsters, and even make game props and card backs.
There are actually 4 templates, depending on the size/orientation of the card you want. I thought I was preety much done, but seeing how much people like those fillable boxes, I'm trying to implement them in the template.
erf -
The UCS is the Universal Card Set. Basically, its a common GAME file that everyone agrees on.
This doesn't sound like too big a deal until you start realizing that ANY card entered into the UCS will be visible with ANY other card template set that supports that card type.
Don't like the way I did my Initiative card? Make your own template. Not only can you mix and match cards this way, anyone that likes your template better can switch *without losing all their hard work*. In other words, they won't lose any cards.
Decided that making your own template is a pain in the butt? Either ask for help from the many card template designers out there or just move back to one of the other templates.
As Thindariel has suggested; we're not competing here at the UCS. There's no 'my card set is better than yours.' Many of the designers in the UCS are even sharing their resources out there so any set designer can use them easily. What does that mean for you? It means more designers will be able to make more templates that all work together.
At the UCS, we're also trying to make it as flexible as possible. Our GAME file right now supports 22 different types of cards. They are: At-Will, Encounter, Daily, Info, Ritual, Item, Magic Item, Artifact, Character, Initiative, Monster, Condition, Trap, Social, Class Info, Disease/Poison, and Optional1 through Optional6.
Not all templates will support all card types (like currently, we don't have any templates for Monster or Character card types) but the nice thing about the UCS is that you can use one template for a certain type of cards and another template for everything else.
As far as customizability; that's what the UCS is about. We want our template designers to come up with radical and cool new ideas. The only thing we don't want is 509 versions of the GAME file. Because then we'd be back to where we started - a whole bunch of really cool card sets that don't talk to each other.
I hope that makes sense and that you'll decide to come over to the dark si.... I mean the UCS project.
-- Hirahito