Table of Contents
What is in a Card?
Anatomy of a Card
Each Card is composed of a number of layers of Bitmaps which are drawn to screen in the following sequence:
| Card Base | Serves as the bottom-most layer which is used to determine the Card's shape and background. You can provide images of any dimensions to make up the Card Base, however, keep in mind how much screen space the Hand has in your game. |
| Card Art | Layer drawn on top of Card Base. This can be used for the image illustrating the Card. You can provide images of any dimensions to make up the Card Art, however, it will try to center itself on the Card Base by default so you may need to use plugin parameters to offset its position. |
| Card Text | Layer drawn on top of Card Art. This is where the text for the Skill Name, Skill Cost and Description Text is written. They will be in the default font of your RPG Maker Project. Each Text Item has their own plugin parameters which let you offset its position. |
| Card Highlight | Layer used by Playable, Discard and Remove Highlight borders that overlay a Card. Images for each can be specified in plugin parameters. Make sure the Highlights at least match the dimensions of the Card Base, otherwise Cards may look odd in Hand. |
Card Customization
The following parameters give you control over the appearance of your cards:
| Parameter | Description |
|---|---|
| Default Card Base | This parameter is the image used for the card base. |
| Card Art Directory Folder | The name of the folder inside the img folder that the game will look for card art. More info about card art in the next section. |
| Card Base Directory Folder | The name of the folder inside the img folder that the game will look for card base images. |
| Card Name Font Size | The font size for the name of the card/skill. The card name is always drawn in the top-left. The skill cost of the card is drawn in the same font size, and is always drawn in the top-right. |
| Icon Size | This determines the width/height in pixels of any icons drawn on the card. In default RMMV, this isn’t necessary as icons aren’t typically drawn in skill names/descriptions, but with plugins such as YEP_SkillCore where icons represent resources, this is useful. Whatever the size of the icon was previously, this scales that icon to the new dimension. |
| Parameter | Description |
|---|---|
| Display Card Description? | This boolean determines if the description is shown on the card at all. Set to ON to display the skill’s description on the card, set to OFF to not do that. |
| Card Description Font Size | The font size for the description of the card/skill. |
| Card Description X Card Description Y | These parameters set the coordinates for the card/skill description. The top-left of the card is position 0,0. |
| Card Description Width | Used in conjunction with the above 2 parameters. This parameter requires YEP_MessageCore, and sets the width of the card description before it word-wraps. If set to 0, it will default to the full width of the card. |
| Highlight Sprite Discard Highlight Sprite | These sprites appear when cards can be selected. They appear on top of the card itself. The Highlight Sprite is used when a card can be selected for play, while the Discard Highlight Sprite is used when a card can be selected for discard/removal. |
| Removal Animation | The preprogrammed animation used for cards that are being removed from play. There are currently 2 animations: Fade - This will cause the card to rise in the air and fade out before disappearing. Burn - This will cause the card to slowly disappear from the bottom up. |
Card Art
By default, each card will use their Skill Icon as their card art. This icon will be scaled up to match the width of the card.
You can instead use notetags to supply a piece of art for each card:
<Card Art: file_name>
The plugin will use the image with the supplied file name inside the Card Art Directory Folder. This image will not be centered - it will be drawn from starting the top-left corner of the card.
Card Bases
Cards will use the Default Card Base parameter image by default. However, just like with card art, you can use a plugin command to change the image of that skill’s card base:
<Card Base: file_name>
The plugin will use the image with the supplied file name inside the Card Base Directory Folder.
Bases & Card Types
If you have IsiahCGCCardTypes, it has a feature where cards of the same card type may all use a different card base from the Default Card Base. The <Card Base> notetag will override this behavior.
Priority goes like this:
- <Card Base>
- If no <Card Base> notetag, use the base associated with the card’s first Card Type.
- If the card has no type, or that type does not have a base associated with it, use the Default Card Base.
Note that only the first type supplied in the skill’s notetags will affect the card’s base.