"Game Card document setup" Topic

Hey all, I've got a weird question but thought I'd ask here at TMP since I'm not sure where else to go.

I have a set of home brew Pulp rules and we've made some cards for them in photoshop. Basically, at the moment I created a photoshop document with a single card template. I enter the card info into it then save the file as the card title. Now I have something like 30 of these cards and I also have a file with a card back on it.

The problem now, is that I'm not sure how to get these things 4 to a page and lined up so I could potentially print double sided with the backs matching up to the cards and I'm looking for help and suggestions?

If you have photoshop, then I'd go with Illustrator. CorelDraw is another fine option. There is likely an free open source version that is similar but I can't recall the name.

A quick google search came up with 3 suggestions in this page. osalt.com/illustrator

This is easy.

You can use Word Perfect -- use the Avery Post Card Template.

Print fronts from document #1 and Backs from document #2.

mjc

If I can understand you question, the answer is the same whatever image editor you use: if you use a double printable sheet, you have to print the card on a side, reverse the sheet and print again the back side of the cards. To be sure the back covers the whole card, your back design will be a little bit bigger than the card itself so that you can then cut out the border.

Back side can be even on a different file, or into the same file alternate front and back side so that you know how match them.

So I sat down with my GF last night and tinkered and we managed to come up with an answer!

I'm creating the files in photoshop, it's what I have, though I've heard illustrator is actually easier to work with. Once cards are created, I can import the cards into MS Publisher where I can set margins that help align my cards! It's pretty slick and easy and hopefully next week sometime I'll have some shots of the finished product on my blog.

When I made my TW&T cards I used the 'Make your own Magic cards' programe for the fronts. These I exported – each one gets its own BMP file. Copy paste the entire lot of files into word, where I resized each to the size I wanted. – I get 2 rows of 5 on a landscape A4 page

For the backs I used Open Office Write. Made a graphic Box larger than the page, and entered as text "Troops, Weapons and Tactics – TW&T -", then copied this onto the clipboard, then just held down shift-insert until the box was full.

Next bit is why I used OO, not Word. In OO when you rotate a graphics object any text in it also rotates- unlike Word. I rotated the box 45' (this is why it was larger than the page, to make sure the corners got filled). OO and the computer went "Give us 10 minutes mate – thats a lot of graphics to rotate".

I then exported the final version as a PDF (this means that the document can be opened quickly, rather than OO trying to work it, as PDFs are an image)

Print the fronts off, reload into the printer, and print the back- 1 per front obviously.

Laminated them

Cut them up- this means the backs get the 'logo' all the way to the edge, with it cut off

Troops, Weapons and Ta
- TW&T -Troops, Weapons a
tics – TW&T -Troops, Weap
- TW&T -Troops, Weapons a
-Troops, Weapons and Tact
ics – TW&T -Troops, Weapo
d Tactics – TW&T -Troops,
ns and Tactics – TW&T -Tr
pons and Tactics – TW&T -