As some of you, I had the idea to make a framework to handle board games. One of the problem is that the player will need to place the components of the board game on the screen according to a certain layout. So in theory, I would need to make a layout editor to help the player place their components.

But I thought of an easier solution. Why not use Inkscape as a layout editor. The way it will work is that the programmer would draw rectangle in the location where he wants to place his components and then set their ID property. Then since the content of the SVG file is in XML, the program would use the parameters in the XML file to setup the position of the object. Here is an example of XML entry in a SVG file.

<rect
       style="fill:#ffffff;stroke:#000000;stroke-width:2.25;stroke-linecap:round;stroke-linejoin:round;stroke-miterlimit:4;stroke-dasharray:none;stroke-dashoffset:0"
       id="token001"
       width="90"
       height="90"
       x="270"
       y="22.5"
       transform="translate(0,62.362)"
       inkscape:label="#rect2986" />

The only thing the programmer will have to define is the "id" variable that will be used by the program to match the right object at the right position. Width/Height, X/y will be used to position the object and everything else will be ignored.

What do you think?, that could make things much more simple. Using inkscape as an editor could probably also be used for other purposes.

Hmm! level editing. Maybe I could forge something to make maze maps for my wizardry legacy game.

The only drawback of course is that now you're limiting the customization of your game to people who know how to use Inkscape.

Built-in editors are definitely a lot of work to make but I find help to get players more involved with creating custom content. So the decision to make an internal editor or not should be based on how important custom content is in maintaining player interest in your game. If it's only a minor thing and your game has plenty of content already, then sure, leave the modding/editing to external programs. But, if custom content is a big draw for your game, then having an internal editor is essential.

I suppose if all you're doing is making a framework though you could build an editor on top of what you already create that works with Inkscape-loadable files.

I don't know, I've not found very many tutorials for Inkscape or vector graphics geared toward beginners. Using a less popular graphics editor with limited tutorials will limit your projects appeal due to the learning curve for the users.

Yeah, does open up some things to do without actually having to draw it. I suppose it doesn't require an artist at that point to draw anything, just someone that is good with numbers and use existing SVG files to look off of to make something.

Are you kidding? There is a whole book in PDF available for free on the net that you can also buy from amazon in printed version.

http://tavmjong.free.fr/INKSCAPE/MANUAL/html/

I am not an artist or a graphic designer and I make all my board game prototype in inkscape pretty easily. I also did a couple of full color print outs. Here are some pictures:

http://bgd.lariennalibrary.com/uploads/Mainsite/Variants/Variants200907271154AM/Picture_AOM_MeltingPot.jpg

http://bgd.lariennalibrary.com/uploads/Mainsite/Variants/Variants201003160917AM/Picture_DuneExpressAlliances.jpg

It's mostly the graphic design in the picture above that has been done by inkscape, not the artwork. Else I regularly do black and white prototypes like in this picture:

http://bgd.lariennalibrary.com/uploads/Mainsite/GameIdea/GameIdea201003240528PM/Picture_SpellcraftROTS_Smallhex.jpg

The colors have been added by hand.

The main website redirect here for tutorials.

http://inkscapetutorials.wordpress.com/

I rapidly checked the list and they look nice.