Three Waves of Card Game Design Tools

This article, part of the Card Architecture series, traces the evolution of card game design tools over 15 years, from the scripting and spreadsheet era (Wave 1) through visual editors (Wave 2) to AI-native pipelines (Wave 3). Written by a software architect and game designer, it highlights the pain of manual processes like fragile spreadsheets and rendering pipelines, and how automation and AI are transforming game design. The article discusses the hidden complexity in card games, the migration of value from manual labor to creative direction, and what these changes mean for designers. It also previews future topics on multi-agent card generation and schema limits.