Quick start (5 minutes)
- Open the class link: Kit Forge. Fill in Kit info (kit title, your name or team, class).
- In the gallery, tap ＋ New and pick a card, piece or board size. Tap any thumbnail to open it; ‹ Gallery takes you back.
- Decks: drag one thumbnail onto another to stack them into a deck (like folders on a phone). Drag between thumbnails to reorder, drag out of an open deck to take something out. On a touchscreen, press and hold first. Right-click (or press and hold without moving) for rename, duplicate, move and delete.
- Choose a size preset (poker, tarot, square, 8×8" board…) or type custom inches.
- Build the design from layers: image, text and shapes.
- Press Export ZIP to hand it in, or Send to Table to playtest it.
Your work autosaves in this browser on this computer only. Export a ZIP before you leave a school computer.
Working with layers
| Studios | The top of the tool rail switches studio, like Affinity: Layout (frames, text, placing art, shapes), Vector (pen and shapes), Pixel (brush, eraser, colour picker, cut out). Keys 1 2 3. |
| Tool groups | A tool with a small corner triangle holds more (e.g. Rectangle / Ellipse / Star). Press and hold, or right-click, to pick; the slot remembers your last pick. |
| Drawing | Shapes and frames: drag on the canvas to draw (Shift keeps it even), or just click for a default size. Text: click where it should go. Pen: click points, click the first point to close, Enter for an open line, Esc cancels. |
| Painting | Brush paints on the selected picture, or on a new Paint layer. Eraser removes pixels. Alt-click or the Colour tool picks a colour. [ ] change brush size. |
| Move | Drag the layer on the canvas. Pink guides show when it snaps to the centre or an edge (hold Alt to skip snapping). |
| Scale | Drag the corner handle. |
| Rotate | Drag the top handle. |
| Zoom / pan | Ctrl + scroll or the zoom pill to zoom. Pan with the hand tool, Space + drag, or drag empty space while zoomed. |
| Order / hide / lock | In the Layers list, drag the dots to restack; the eye hides, the lock stops accidental nudges. |
| Duplicate / delete | Buttons under Arrange, or Ctrl+D / Delete. |
| Frames | The Frame tool (or any shape → Turn into a picture frame) holds a picture clipped to its shape, like InDesign. Place picture or drop one onto a selected frame, then Fill / Fit, Zoom, and double-click to move the picture inside. |
| Right-click | Right-click a layer (on the canvas or in the list) for quick actions: convert a shape or picture to a frame and back, turn an SVG into a recolourable shape, duplicate, restack, lock, hide, delete. |
| SVG / vector | Image tool → pick an .svg. It stays sharp at any size. Right-click → Convert to shape to recolour it or use its outline as a frame. |
| Free resize | Hold Shift while dragging a corner to change width and height separately. |
| Blend & effects | Blend modes (Multiply, Screen, Overlay…), plus Drop shadow, Glow and Sticker outline under Effects. |
| Remove background | Select an image → Remove background. Best on plain backgrounds; Strength tunes it, Original undoes it. |
Pieces come in circle, square, rounded square, hex and diamond. Uploaded art trims its transparent border automatically.
Importing art
| File | What happens |
|---|---|
| PNG / JPG / WebP | Always works. Becomes one image layer. |
Photoshop .psd | Layers stay separate. |
| Affinity | Can't be read directly. In Affinity: File → Export → PSD, then import that. |
Illustrator .ai / PDF | Comes in as one flat image. |
kit.json / Kit Forge ZIP | Reopens a saved kit so you can keep editing. |
Use Import in the top bar, or drag files onto the page.
Saving & exporting
| Export ZIP | Every card, piece and board as a PNG, a print-and-play sheet, kit.json (your editable save) and a table file for SAGA. This is your hand-in. |
| Print cards | A US Letter sheet with every card at its real size. Print at 100% (not "fit to page"). |
| Send to Table | Downloads a .kittable.json for SAGA. |
To move your work to another computer: Export ZIP → take the ZIP along → Import it there.
Playtesting in SAGA
- Press Send to Table (or unzip your export and find the
.kittable.json). - Open SAGA and join your group's room.
- Drag the file onto the table, or use 📦 Load kit….
See the SAGA manual for table controls.
Shortcuts
| Ctrl+Z | Undo |
| Ctrl+Shift+Z | Redo |
| Arrow keys | Nudge the selected layer |
| Delete | Delete the selected layer |
| Ctrl+D | Duplicate the selected layer |
| V · H | Move tool · pan tool (or hold Space) |
| I · T · F · U · P | Place image · Text · Frame · Shape · Pen |
| B · E · K | Brush · Eraser · Colour picker |
| 1 · 2 · 3 | Layout · Vector · Pixel studio |
| [ · ] | Send backward · bring forward |
| Ctrl++ / − / 0 | Zoom in / out / fit |
| Esc | Deselect |
Troubleshooting
| My work is gone | You're on a different computer or browser, or the browser data was cleared. Import your last ZIP. |
| The page looks outdated after an update | Reload the page twice. |
| ZIP export or PSD import does nothing | They need internet the first time. Check your connection and try again. |
| Printed cards are the wrong size | Set print scale to 100% / "Actual size". |