Hello everyone,
This update is mainly a complete overhaul of the interface. The main priority has been to keep things simple and minimalistic while trying to make everything look and feel better.
There has been two major changes when editing that should be acknowledged:
- The aspect lock and rect tools has been removed. They are no longer a toggle, but hold-actions similar to other editing software. Meaning, you have to hold the keybindings to active these functions now. The keybindings are accessible from the settings.
With that said, I am sorry this update is a little late. Since the Early Access release, I've tried to stick to a somewhat monthly schedule, but pulling off an overhaul like this took longer than expected.
I would love feedback about the new interface. What did you like, and more importantly, what did you not like? Voicing your opinions can and will make an impact.
- Fred, sole developer of Card Engine.
Features
- Implemented an image picker. This new, simple system replaces the old text based image asset ID inputs that admittedly was not very intuitive. This system works for swapping image assets on image objects as well as for changing text icons
- You can now apply a search filter in the font dropdown menu
Improvements/Changes
- Redesigned the entire UI layout for a more modern, simplistic and intuitive user experience
- Removed Frostzone social media shortcuts from the main menu for a cleaner interface
- Revamped the About/Credits window into a sleek slide-in panel from the left for improved accessibility and aesthetics
- Added Discord community and Steam Forums bug report shortcuts to the new About/Credits panel
- Revamped the Settings window into a sleek slide-in panel from the right for improved accessibility and aesthetics
- Removed the card name tooltip option from the settings. Card names above cards was implemented long ago, and it serves the same purpose
- Revamped the keybindings section of the old settings menu into a dedicated slide-in keybindings panel accessible from the new settings panel
- Simplified labels in the new settings and keybindings panels
- The default key for toggling the grid is now F1
- The default key for toggling snapping is now F2
- Removed the project name text from the project loading sequence
- Reworked the project loading algorithm. It should now be much faster to load huge projects (1000+ Cards)
- Reworked the darkmode system, it should now be better all around in both modes
- It is no longer possible to swap projects from within a project. This change will ensure proper unloading of project-specific resources when changing projects. Creating a fine line between the project hub and a loaded project is best practise
- Renamed the project ‘Home’ window to ‘Cards’. It now contains sub-menus. ‘Collection’, ‘Recycle Bin’ and a new ‘Configuration’ menu for configuring the projects card size and corners
- Reworked the design of the old home window
- Card names in the collections now has a smaller minimum size, making more of the card name visible when zoomed all the way out
- Clamped the project card size value between 32 and 2048px to avoid users setting massive values that might lead to stability issues
- Removed individual flip buttons per deck. Added one global button for flipping cards in all open decks
- The opened/closed state of decks will now be saved between sessions
- Reworked the design of all confirmation windows, such as the confirm delete deck popup
- Improved contrast for the tooltip
- Reworked the design of the Recycle Bin
- Reworked the design of the Exporter
- Choosing portrait/landscape/single image mode is now done from a topbar in the Exporter
- Changed the export destination path text button to a simple button next to the export cards button
- The exporter configuration menu is now more concise
- Added a shadow effect to the preview image in the exporter, improving contrast with darkmode turned off
- The spacing slider will now be hidden when single image mode is active in the Exporter. This slider had no previous effect on single cards
- The outline slider will now be hidden when single image mode is active in the Exporter. This slider was not intended to affect single image mode
- Redesigned the layout of the template window to match the new "home" menu. Revamped the flip card buttons into one global flip button that flips cards in all template decks that are open
- Reworked the design of the card editor
- Added a copy/paste button to the top-right of each component in the editor right panel to open the menu for copying data, such as transform position from object A then paste it onto object B
- Added a button to each layer to open the layer right-click menu
- Removed move layer up and down buttons from the layer right click menu as they already have buttons in the editor panel
- The toggle rect tool button in the top of the editor has been removed because it is now a hold key action instead of a toggle (Default key is Left control/CTRL)
- The toggle aspect lock tool button in the top of the editor has been removed because it is now a hold key action instead of a toggle (Default key is Left shift)
- The static CTRL toggle rect shortcut has been removed, as the bindable rect keybinding does the same thing now
- The input field for changing the asset ID in the image component has been removed. This has been replaced by the new and much simpler image picker
- Added numbers to the shadow sliders in the editor to show their exact value
- Redesigned the topbar in the editor to make it more simplistic. Moved the templates button, background color and mask toggle to the left-panel
- Revamped the editor config menu into a sleek slide-in panel from the left. Split the config options into categories
- Attempting to delete a custom asset category in the editor will now open both the confirm panel and the category to make it absolutely clear what you are deleting
- Revamped the license EULA text links into more aesthetic buttons
- Added lightmode support for the color picker window
- Added a shadow effect to icons in the text icon window for improved aesthetics and contrast with darkmode off
- Added a shadow effect to image assets in the asset browser for improved aesthetics and contrast with darkmode off
- Texts will now turn black in the asset browser if darkmode is turned off
Fixes
- Fixed a bug that caused the Desktop to open as the default folder in the native file browser when attempting to change the export path before the /Exported folder was created
- Implemented some safeguards for when attempting to load a project with formatting errors in the XML files. - Be careful if you are making direct changes to project XML files! These safeguards should fix most of the stuck on the loading screen issues
- It is no longer possible to import xml data through the asset browser importer. This was unintended as this is done through the Card data button in the projects home menu
- Fixed a bug that caused warnings in the log files due to a gradient UI shader error
- Fixed an issue with moveable window constraints - All saved window positions has been restored to default due to changes made to the constraint algorithm
- Fixed a bug that sometimes caused the cursor to get stuck with the pointer icon after loading a project, only getting reset after hovering another button
- Pressing Escape while an input field is selected will no longer restore it to its previous value
Demo
- Baked the demo project fork into the full project. This will make it drastically easier to keep the demo version up to date
- Redesigned the startup demo window and demo message to make it more clear that the demo is not intended for actual work or extended use