Card Generator

A Python-based tool for generating high-quality trading cards from CSV data using HTML templates and browser rendering.

Generate print-ready card assets from a csv with css and jinja.

Prerequisites

• Python 3.6+
• A modern web browser (Firefox, Chrome, or Edge)

Installation

1. Clone this repository
2. Install Python dependencies:

   pip install -r requirements.txt

Quick Start

1. Prepare your card data in a CSV file with columns: id, name, type, cost, effect, quote, source, image_path
2. Place card images in your preferred directory structure
3. Create your HTML templates in the templates directory
4. Run the generator:

   python card_generator.py games/your_game

File Structure

To create your own card set, follow this structure:

games/
    your_game/
        templates/        # Directory for HTML templates
            card_template.html  # Main card template
            back_template.html  # Card back template (optional)
        cards.csv        # Card data
        styles/         # Directory for CSS files (optional)
            base.css    # Base styles
            custom.css  # Additional styles
        styles.css      # Default CSS file (optional if using styles directory)
        img/            # Image directory (can be organized as needed)
        fonts/         # Custom fonts (optional)

Required Files

1. cards.csv: Contains card data with the following columns:

   • id: Unique identifier for the card
   • name: Card name
   • type: Card type
   • cost: Card cost
   • effect: Card effect/description
   • quote: Flavor text (optional)
   • source: Quote source (optional)
   • image_path: Path to the card's image file, relative to the game directory
   • style_path: Path to the card's base CSS file (optional)
   • supplementary_style: Path to additional CSS file for this card (optional)

2. templates/card_template.html: HTML template using Jinja2 syntax

3. CSS file(s): At least one CSS file is required. The system will look for CSS files in the following order:

   1. Per-card style files specified in the CSV (style_path and supplementary_style)
   2. Default base.css in the game directory

CSV Data Handling

• Empty cells in the CSV are handled gracefully
• Optional columns (quote, source, style_path, supplementary_style) can be left blank
• Numeric values (cost) are automatically converted to integers
• Each card is assigned a serial number based on its position in the CSV

CLI Options

python card_generator.py [GAME_DIR] [OPTIONS]

Arguments:
  GAME_DIR          Path to the game directory containing cards.csv and templates/card_template.html

Options:
  --browser TEXT    Browser to use for rendering: firefox|chrome|edge (default: firefox)

Examples

Basic usage:

python card_generator.py games/my_game

Using Chrome for rendering:

python card_generator.py games/my_game --browser chrome