How Your Data Fits Together
A few minutes here will save you a lot of confusion later. Designer Den has a clear structure, and once you can picture it, questions like "why didn't my card update?" and "where did my table go?" answer themselves.
The Big Picture
Your Account
├─ Files ............ your image library (shared across all projects)
└─ Projects ........ one per game
└─ Project "My Game"
├─ Components .. the blueprints for every piece
├─ Saved Setups snapshots of a table arrangement
└─ Playtests ... session logs, feedback, and replays
Playtest Room (live, launched from a project)
├─ Pieces on the table .. live copies of components
└─ Your Hand ............ private, stored in your browser
Everything hangs off your account. Almost everything else lives inside a project. The one exception is Files, your image library, which is shared across all your projects so you can reuse art anywhere.
The Levels, One by One
Projects
A project is the home for a single game. It holds that game's components, saved setups, and playtest history. Keep each game (and each expansion) in its own project. See Projects.
Components are blueprints
A component is the master definition of a piece: its name, image, size, and so on. It is a blueprint, not a physical thing on a table. Building components is how you describe your game. See Components.
The table holds live copies
When you spawn a component in a room, you create a live copy of that blueprint on the table. You can move, flip, and rotate that copy freely.
Important
Editing a blueprint does not change copies already on the table. Update a component's art in the library and the pieces you already spawned keep the old art until you sync them or spawn fresh ones. This is the single most common point of confusion. The fix is in Editing & Syncing Components.
Files are shared art
Files is your account-wide image library. Upload art once and reuse it across any project's components. See My Files.
Saved Setups remember the table
A saved setup is a snapshot of a whole table arrangement, every piece's position plus the camera, stored in the project. It's how you reopen a game already laid out instead of building it each time. See Saved Table Setups.
Playtests record what happened
When you play, sessions are logged to the project: duration, the action log, player feedback, and (optionally) a full replay. See Playtest Analytics and Session Replay.
What Persists, and What Doesn't
This catches people out, so it's worth stating plainly:
- Saved forever (in your account): projects, components, files, saved setups, and logged playtests.
- Live and temporary: a room's table. When the room closes, the arrangement is gone unless you saved it as a setup (or the room is a persistent Pro room, or you recorded a replay).
- Local to your browser: your private hand. It survives a refresh, but it lives on your device, not in your account.
Free vs. Pro Limits
The structure is the same on both plans; Pro mainly lifts the ceilings.
| Level | Free | Pro |
|---|---|---|
| Projects | 2 | Unlimited |
| Saved setups (per project) | 1 | 50 |
| File storage | 100 MB | 1 GB |
| Players per room | 6 | 10 |
| Saved replays (per project) | No | 25 (others expire after 7 days) |
| Persistent rooms & public setup sharing | No | Yes |
Full details and how to upgrade are in Plans & Pricing.
Related: Saved Table Setups · Editing & Syncing Components · Plans & Pricing