Component System

Catalog and manage all the physical pieces of your board game. The component system lets you define every card, token, die, board, and more, then use those definitions for cost budgeting, manufacturing, and realtime playtesting.

On This Page

• Component Types reference
• Deck & Stack Builder — group cards into decks and tokens into stacks
• Creating Components
• Managing Components
• Playtest Settings
• Cost Calculation
• Importing & Manufacturing
• Dextrous Import · The Game Crafter Import

Component Types

The app supports the full range of pieces: Cards, Decks, Tokens, Dice, Boards, Rulebooks, Coins, Bags, Spinners, Counters, Timers, and a catch-all "Other." For what each type does and the fields it offers, see the Component Types reference.

Decks & Stacks

Group cards into decks and tokens into token stacks with the Deck & Stack Builder (the Decks & Stacks section on this page). Groupings are reusable and many-to-many: a single card can belong to several decks at once, with the component as the single source of truth. These are what load as decks and stacks in the playtest room. Imports can place a component into multiple decks/stacks automatically.

Creating Components

Components are created with the Component Wizard: open your project, click the Components tab, then Component Wizard. It's a step-by-step guided flow (choose a type, then fill in details, appearance, and behavior), with an Expand all fields toggle if you'd rather edit everything on one screen. Click Next through the steps and Save/Create at the end. You can also create pieces live in a playtest room: spawn a blank one from the Generic Objects panel and right-click → Component ▶ Save as New Component.

Creating a Card Deck

1. Open the Component Wizard: Components tab → Component Wizard.
2. Choose "Card" as the type.
3. Fill in details: name, deck name, quantity, optional size label, physical size.
4. Add images: paste or pick front and back; a preview appears.
5. Set appearance/playtest settings (optional), physical size, default rotation, colors, card mask.
6. Save to create the component.
7. Repeat for each unique card: use the same Deck Name to group them into one deck.

Creating Custom Dice

1. Open the Component Wizard and choose "Dice", then a die size (d6, d8, d20, etc.).
2. Select "Custom" style: this reveals the face image inputs.
3. Name your die (e.g., "Resource Die").
4. Upload face images: for a d6, upload 6 images (leave blank for blank faces).
5. Set quantity and Save.

Creating a Rulebook

1. Open the Component Wizard and choose "Rulebook", then name your book.
2. Set physical size (e.g., 8.5 × 11 for Letter).
3. Add pages: Cover, Setup, etc., clicking + Add Page for each.
4. Save: creates one entry per page, grouped by book name.

Managing Components

Viewing

• Component Index: Organized by type and deck, with a stats dashboard showing totals and manufacturing costs.
• Deck View: Click a deck to expand and see all cards, the back design, and card count.
• Book View: Click a book to expand and see all pages.

Editing

1. Click Edit on any component.
2. Modify any properties (name, quantity, images, playtest settings, etc.).
3. Click Update Component. Changes reflect immediately in the list, active playtest rooms, and cost calculations.

Deleting

Click Delete and confirm. The component is permanently removed (cannot be undone). Deleting a card removes only that specific card entry, not the entire deck.

Playtest Settings

Components have a Playtest Display Settings section in their edit modal that controls how they appear in realtime playtest rooms.

Physical Size

Sets the real-world dimensions, converted to pixels at 80 px/in on the tabletop. Set Physical Width + Physical Height in inches or mm. Example: a Poker card (2.5" × 3.5") renders as 200 × 280 px. When set, Physical Size takes precedence over Scale Override.

Scale Override (X / Y)

Multiplies the component's default display size; used when no Physical Size is set. Range 0.001 to 10.0 (default 1.0). X = width multiplier, Y = height multiplier.

Default Rotation

0°, 90°, 180°, or 270°: the initial rotation when a component is placed. Standard cards = 0°, panoramic cards = 90°, player mats = 90°.

Component Facing

0°, 90°, 180°, or 270°: defines which edge is considered "up," where name labels and UI icons anchor. Defaults to match Default Rotation.

Color & Opacity

Most types have a Front Color and Back Color, each a hex color with its own 0–100% opacity slider. Color and image work together on the same face:

• The color is the face's fill, and any image sits on top of it. So the color shows through wherever the image doesn't: when no image is set, in the transparent areas of a PNG, and in the corners a mask clips off.
• Opacity controls how strongly the color reads. At 0% the color is invisible — you see only the image (or a transparent piece). At 100% it's a solid fill. In between, it tints whatever is behind it.
• The front color/image show when the piece is face-up; the back color/image show when it's face-down. A piece with no back image falls back to its back color (handy for a uniform card back).

How this differs by type:

• Cards, Boards, Coins, Counters, Timers, Other: front/back color fills the face beneath the image as described above.
• Tokens: the color tints the token; with Mask image on (see below) it tints the masked silhouette instead of a square.
• Dice: no front/back color. Instead set Die Body Color and Font Color (the number color) — these apply to standard dice; custom dice show your face images.
• Bag: front color only (it tints the bag); there's no back face.
• Spinner / Rulebook: no color controls — a spinner's colors live on its individual sections, and a rulebook shows its page images.

Shapes & Masks

Masks change a piece's silhouette — its outline — not just its corners.

• Card Mask (Cards): None (plain rounded rect), Square, Square Rounded, Rectangle, Rectangle Rounded, Circle, Diamond, Triangle, Triangle Rounded, Hex Pointy Top, Hex Flat Top. The card (image and color fill) is clipped to the chosen shape. Square, circle, diamond, triangle, and both hex orientations render in a square footprint — a Pointy-Top and a Flat-Top hex come out the same size, one is simply the other rotated 90°.
• Token Shape (Tokens): Circle, Square, Square Rounded, Rectangle, Rectangle Rounded, Triangle, Triangle Rounded, Hex (Pointy Top), Hex (Flat Top) — the same idea for tokens (hex tokens are square-footprint too).
• Mask image (Tokens & Other): instead of a geometric shape, use your own image's transparency as the silhouette. The rectangular frame and border are removed, the artwork's own outline becomes the piece, and the color setting becomes a tint over that shape. Great for irregular standees, meeples, or die-cut tokens.

A shape looks the same everywhere — the Deck & Stack Builder, the component preview, the playtest room's component sidebar, the drag preview, and the table all clip a piece to its mask identically, so what you see while designing is what lands on the table.

Boards are always rectangular, coins are round, and dice use the standard outline for their size — these aren't maskable.

Board Grid (Boards)

Give a board its own alignment grid, configured independently for the Front and Back face. In playtest, this grid overrides the table grid for pieces dropped on the board.

• Show grid / Snap pieces: independent toggles per face, show the grid, snap to it, or both. Both default off.
• Type: Square, Hex Flat, or Hex Pointy.
• Cell size: grid spacing in inches.
• Snap pieces to: Center (cell / hex centers) or Intersection (grid-line corners / hex vertices).

These settings can also be changed live from a board's right-click Board Grid panel in a playtest room (host / co-host only).

Snap Points

Click the component canvas to place snap point dots; drag to reposition. Each can have tags, an auto-rotation angle, and an "Override Deck/Stack" flag. Use the Front/Back toggle to place snap points on specific faces.

Marker Strokes

Pre-draw annotations on the front or back face with a pen/eraser tool. Strokes are saved and appear on every copy of the component in playtest rooms. Adjust color, opacity (5–100%), and brush size. Sync from Table imports live strokes drawn during the current session.

Stickers

Place image stickers on the front or back face of a component. Unlike session stickers (placed live in a room), stickers added here are permanent: they appear on every copy you spawn, and they travel with the blueprint. Use them for a set symbol, a faction crest, or an edition stamp. For placing stickers during a session, see Stickers.

Live Adjustment

While in a playtest room, right-click any piece and choose Edit Component to adjust these settings and save back to the database. Changes propagate to all copies on the table.

Cost Calculation

The component system automatically calculates manufacturing costs for budgeting.

• Per-Component: Set a "Cost Per Unit" for each component.
• Automatic: The system multiplies cost by quantity.
• Project Total: The sum of all component costs is shown on the Components page.

Importing & Manufacturing

Already managing your data elsewhere, or ready to make physical copies? Designer Den connects to outside tools so you don't retype anything or guess at costs:

• Dextrous Import: sync component data from Dextrous automatically, with live updates pushed to an open playtest table.
• The Game Crafter Import: link components to print-on-demand products for live pricing, quantity discounts, and ordering.

Tips & Best Practices

• Organization: Use consistent naming, group with deck/book names, and add descriptions.
• Images: Use high-quality public URLs (300 DPI for print); test that a preview appears.
• Playtesting: Set scales before your first playtest (start with 1.0), then adjust live and save.
• Cost Management: Price components early; use The Game Crafter pricing as a baseline.

Related: Realtime Playtest · Help Center