A friend and I were talking about how theres entirely too many decks of cards for this game and it led to me wishing I knew how to code so I could make a program to handle all the cards for me. Tell it what deck to deal from and what color card to deal (if needed) and it would show all the text on the card. Does anyone know if a program like this has been made or have the skill to make one of their own? I would but the only thing I don't remember anything from my highschool c++ class.

There was someone who made some software for dealing with the decks (search around on BGG site), it contained all the cards with text and images if I remember right. Unfortunately (but understandably) FFG didn't approve on grounds of copyright, etc. I believe there were rumours of FFG releasing something official themselves, but then again it is far easier to pirate software than decks of several hundred cards and more. In short, don't hold your breath. Of course, if you have the know-how (and you own a copy of the game in question) there is nothing stopping you creating something like that for personal use only.

Yea didn't think there would be something but figured why not ask anyway. I knew I should have used my free time last semester to learn some form of programming language.

I would love for FFG to also come out with a little rules reference/ turn flowchart to use on the computer. You can have it running on your laptop as you play and have the rules pop up on the flowchart. Just an idea.

I would love to see FFG take a page from the guys who own "Ticket to Ride" © board game. They have a system when you can play the boardgame online with others who own the game. That would be the hotness.

WB

Also, there's no reason why someone couldn't make a program without any specific game materials. People could download or scan whatever images they wanted.

I have actually been working on something like that. Here's a quick screenshot of a prototype : img268.imageshack.us/i/carddude.jpg/

Please note that it's not done, and I'm not sharing it at the moment. And most importantly, if I'll ever share it, I will not share the scans . That'd be rude and illegal , mind you ( and it's supposed to work with any set of given images, I use Arkham Horror images in developing to motivate myself )

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In all seriousness, I too am one of those unlucky ones that don't own a big table. As a student I have to cope with what I can get. My gaming table is actually my roommate's kitchen table, which is not big. So when playing Arkham Horror, I am forced to use chairs as extra playing surface and the boxes for things not needed so frequently.

So, last weekend, I decided that that's enough, I'm gonna reclaim my roommate's kitchen table! I grabbed a beer and started hacking. It was supposed to be a "weekend hack" to cough up something barely usable, but it grew to a nearly usable application. Of course, if you start a programming any project while intoxicated, you'll regret it until the end of that project. (Don't drink and code, kids!) I may start from scratch, if field testing turns out positive.

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I have to go to school in 20 minutes, so I'll be brief.

If any of you are interested, I can be persuaded into sharing the class hierarchy and perhaps the flow charts of the application's business logic. What I can tell now is the data model I chose for the decks.

I wanted to be able to use this application with other games that have decks thicker then "four fingers" (those are awful to shuffle, don't you agree) that don't include "secret information", and to allow for the possibility of using any combination of possible expansions to a given game, and that I could semi-painlessly create decks for a new game,and to perhaps finally test a few of my card game prototypes.

The data model is simple. It's like Hollywood-scifi-movie -simple :

A game folder holds i deck folders. A deck folder holds j sub-deck folders and a deck back image. A sub-deck folder holds k images of card faces. (Where i , j and k are any positive integers).

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I just want to say, that it is highly unlikely I'll be sharing the executable or the source any time soon. And more importantly , I'll bury this project from the public eye at the slightest sight of trouble (No, seriously, I will. I'm no freedom fighter). But no harm in sharing class hierarchies and business logic flowcharts, right? That's nearly half the work right there.

And remember, what happens if your laptop's battery runs out during a game? The Ancient One immediately awakens!

hey northburns anything happen with this dont want to revive a dead thread but kind of curious would love a program i could scan the cards in and go would save so much space

what about Arkham Horror Companion?

lukestowe.co.uk/ahc

@ Ken on the Cape:

There are some great rules summaries out there; in particular I think you might like to check these out:

http://www.headlesshollow.com/freebies_games.html#ark

It doesn't run on your computer obviously, but I've found them pretty handy and a heck of a lot easier than paging through the rulebooks.

As for what Niceguy1979 posted above, I hadn't seen that before; is such a project even legal? I would think that FFG would shut that kind of project down...

at the moment it is being redesigned to allow fan created materials to be entered and shared. at the moment the development has been stalled because test data (eg location events) is required.`1