What is the Villainous Card Generator?

The Villainous Card Generator is a tool to automatically generate fan cards for
Disney Villainous, to allow efficient playtesting and quick iterations. It is not an
image creation program. Instead of handling one specific gimp or photoshop file per
card, the generator will allow you to change and create all of your cards at once,
minimize the amount of redundant work and avoid inconsistencies. The more
iterations your cards go through, the more time it will save.

Setup (step by step):

Note: Most of the folders will be subfolders of Villainous Card Generator_Data.
• Go to the -Images folder and add all the images you want on your cards as
either jpg or png files. Name them exactly like the card names you want to use
(ignoring the file ending). Most special characters are okay.
Note: If a png and a jpg with the same name exist, the png will be used.
• Go to -TextFiles folder and open Villainous Template with Open Office or
Excel. Add all the card names, abilities, Costs etc. following the scheme of the
existing cards.
• Select the cards you want to export (don't select the red leftmost column) and
copy them to your clipboard (CTR-C).
• Open Cards.txt and paste all the selected contents (CTR-V).
• Go back to the main application folder and double-click on Villainous Card
Generator.exe, or Villainous Card Generator.app for Mac. If you resize the
window, you can change the size of cards, but note that however the window
looks is how the cards will look.
• Your cards will be exported to the -Exports folder.
• If you want your custom villain to use a special card design, you'll have to get
creative. Download the Image Creation folder from the Google Drive, to
access templates for card fronts, card backs, Realm and Guide, and everything
else you might need on the graphics side.
• Check out the -Layout folder. The parts you need for your unique cards are:
FateDeck, VillainDeck, VillainCost and VillainStrength;
 • Use the Card template file from the Image Creation folder to create your own
FateDeck, VillainDeck, VillainCost and VillainStrength png files and place
them in the -Layout folder. The generator will use whichever files are in that
folder.
• The files FateStrength and UniqueAction in the -Layout folder will most likely
not need to be changed for your villain.
◦ You will have to keep the FateStrength file in the -Layout folder, but
usually these look the same regardless of your villain.
◦ The UniqueAction file is only needed if you use a unique action. See the
template file and the card "UniqueActionExample-Inator" for an example
on how to use it.
Export again and check out -Exports once more. Your villain has a new look now!

IMPORTANT: Special characters:

Please make sure NOT to include tabs or semicolons in the texts of your Villains –
unless the semicolon comes the special semicolon column from older versions of the
Villain template. Both characters have a special meaning for the generator, and using
them in your text will possibly break it.

Non-basic features:
• Automatic layouting
You can now enable auto-layouting, which will make sure that your card text
never overlays with the Strength icon. To do this, add the text "Auto" into the
column to the very right (next to the "Actions" column). Leave it empty to
have more control over your layout – in that case, you might have to add
linebreaks (see below) to avoid text and Strength overlapping.
• Line breaks:
You can cause a line break in any card text by typing three spaces. Do six
spaces for an empty line. You can disable this or add new character
combinations by editing the file NewlineKeywords in the -TextFiles folder.
Seperate every entry in that file by | to make sure new keywords work.
• Paragraph breaks:
This version contains a ParagraphKeywords.txt file in the -TextFiles folder,
which decides which characters will be replaced with a Paragraph break, which
leaves a bit of space between two lines. The default are six spaces.
• New types:
You can define any kind of type you want. However, to make sure the
generator recognizes and colors them, you will have to add them to the files
ColoredKeywords and BoldKeywords, both of which you can find in the
TextFiles folder. Make sure to write down all versions of your type (Anomaly,
Anomalies, Anomaly's, Anomalies') and seperate each with the | character.
Note: If you notice that one of your keywords is not recognized, make sure that
it's in both the BoldKeywords and ColoredKeywords file, and if the keyword is
the last in its line, make sure there's a | after it.
• Custom type colors:
You can now add new lines to the ColoredKeywords file to add your own
custom type colors! Just make sure to add a single line after all the existing
ones and that the first entry in the line is a hex color (there's an example in the
file). Don't forget the # of the color!
• Italics:
Some phrases in villainous are always italic, such as "No additional Ability.". If
you want to add more of these (for instance because you want to do another
language than English), use the file ItalicKeywords, again in the TextFiles
folder, and add the sentences that should be made italic there. Again, seperate
entries with the | character.
• Card backs, Realm, Villain guide:
I added Gimp (xcf) and Photoshop (psd) files for the Realm, Realm back, card
back and villain guide to the ImageCreation folder, too. Gimp is
recommended, as the xcf files are fully editable. Gimp is free and can be
downloaded at https://www.gimp.org
Note: If you find that fonts change as soon as you want to edit them, this
means you don't have the font in question installed on your computer.
Download the fonts (Esteban, Cabin, and Pirata One) and install them.
• Special actions:
If you replace the file UniqueAction in the -Layouts folder, you can add your
unique action icon. Use it by writing "Unique" in the "Action" column of the
excel file. It can only be placed only above text, not inside text (see below).
• Action icons in text:
You can have action icons appear in the middle of your text. Write Fate_ for a
Fate action icon, and so on for PlayCard_, Vanquish_, Move_, MoveHero_,
Discard_, 1Power_, 2Power_, 3Power_, 4Power_, 5Power_, 6Power_,
7Power_, 8Power_, 9Power_, and even 0Power_. For activated cards with a
Cost or text above their activated Ability, you will instead have to use the
"Activate" keyword in the "action" column of the Villainous Template file.
Look at cards like The Black Cauldron as an example.
 • Inline Actions: You can now use action icons inline, for instance to create an
Item that allows a choice whenever you move to its location. Use the above
action names, but append Inline_ instead of just _, e.g. PlayCardInline_.
• Dividing lines:
Add a Dividing line to your text by using DividingLine_ in it.
• Custom font colors:
You can change Villain and Fate text color by changing the
CustomFontColors file. The first line changes the color of the Villain font, the
second (if it exists) for the Fate font. Give the colors in hex code, and don't
forget the #.
• Disable keyword/type formatting:
Keywords for types are never formatted in card names. If you also want to
keep a keyword from being formatted in the actual card text (e.g. because it is
part of a card's name), simply surround the instance of the keyword with '''.
Example: When '''Hero''' to Zero is played, attach it to a Hero.That Hero gets 0
Strength. The first instance of "Hero" would not be formatted. This works for
custom types, too.
• Duplicate Card names:
If you give a card (and the corresponding image) a name that contains
something in [rectangular brackets], it will generate a file with that name, but
not show the brackets and their content on the card itself. You can use this to
have several cards with the same name, but different images and/or texts.
• Additional corner values:
You can add elements to the top right or bottom right of cards. You'll have to
create the respective Layout elements (VillainTopRightElement,
FateTopRightElement, VillainBottomRightElement, FateBottomRightElement)
in the -Layout folder for this to work. You will also have to use the new
Villainous Template table layout (in this package) to support this feature. It
replaces the ; column with columns for the Top Right and Bottom Right values.

Reach out
The creator of this software is Michael Spitzer (ailureFactory). For questions and
suggestions contact FailureFactory via [email protected] or via
Discord. Also check out the Villainous Homebrew Wiki. If you want to support the
creation and improvements of the Villainous Card Generator financially, consider
donating at ko-fi.com/failurefactory.