ShakeSpiel

Method № 05 — Help & Manual

Field guide to
making things up.

Walk-throughs for every screen, answers to common questions, and a way to reach the editors when something feels off.

01 — The Builder

Generate a game from a few prompts

Pick your inputs

On the home page, choose a mood, theme, players, mechanic, materials, length, complexity, difficulty, and skill level. Each pill is optional — fewer constraints give the AI more room; more constraints sharpen the result.

Generate

Hit Generate. Free accounts get 3 generations per day, Hobbyist 20, Pro and Master 100. The AI returns a full ruleset: title, tagline, components, setup, rules, win condition, and optional variants.

Iterate

Don't love it? Use the Iterate field to push the design in a new direction ("make it shorter", "add bluffing", "replace dice with cards"). Each iteration counts toward your daily limit.

Publish

Publishing saves the game to the public Game Shelf and adds it to your Collection automatically. You can publish anonymously or with a creator handle.

02 — The Layout Editor

Design printable game pieces

Open the editor

From a published game's page, scroll to the Edit section (Master tier or admin). Switch to the Printable Layout tab. The canvas mirrors a real letter-sized page.

Add elements

Use the sidebar dropdowns to insert decorative icons (48 game-themed shapes including card suits) and resizable shapes (square, circle, triangle, hexagon, arrow, line). Some shapes accept text fill — toggle it in the inspector.

Move, resize, rotate

Drag any zone to reposition. Drag the corner handle to resize. Press R or click the Rotate ↻ button to rotate 90°. Use arrow keys to nudge by 1px (Shift+Arrow nudges by 10px).

Snap & guides

Three independent toggles in the toolbar: Snap to grid, Smart guides (snap to other elements), and Guide marks (print alignment crosses). Smart guides take priority over the grid when both are on. Turn snapping off entirely if you want pixel-perfect freedom.

Undo / redo

Every move, resize, add, delete, and rotate is captured. Use ↶ Undo / ↷ Redo buttons or Cmd/Ctrl+Z and Cmd/Ctrl+Shift+Z. Up to 50 steps are kept; rapid edits within 600ms are merged into one step.

Hide the title strip

Toggle Hide title strip in the Printable section to remove the document header — useful when your design has its own title art.

Delete an element

Select it, then press Delete or Backspace, or click the ✕ in the inspector.

03 — The Rules Editor

Refine the ruleset by hand

Edit rich text

Components, Setup, Rules, Variants, Overview, and Win Condition are all editable. Use the toolbar for bold, italic, lists, and links. Markdown is preserved.

Add or remove rows

Components, Setup, Rules, and Variants are lists. Use the Add button to append a new item, or the ✕ next to any row to remove it.

Save & re-render

Hit Save Changes — the public page and downloads update immediately.

04 — The Game Shelf

Browse and rate games

Browse

The Shelf shows the latest 100 published games, sorted by recency. Filter by mood, theme, or players to narrow down.

Rate as a Player

If you played a game, leave a player review with Fun Factor, Replayability, Rule Clarity, and Novelty (each 1-5). Player scores drive the leaderboard.

Rate as a Spectator

Didn't play? Leave a single Overall rating as a spectator. Spectator scores are tracked separately.

Comment & upload fan art

Add a comment with an optional photo of your group playing, or upload printable fan art for others to download.

05 — Your Collection

Curate your personal shelf

Save

Tap the bookmark icon on any game card to add it to your Collection. Games you publish are added automatically.

Remove

Tap the bookmark again to remove. The game stays public for everyone else; only your collection entry is removed.

Unpublish a game you created

On a game page you own, scroll to the bottom and click Unpublish. Free-tier creators must confirm with DELETE — the game is permanently removed. Paid tiers (Hobbyist, Pro, Master) keep an unpublished copy in their Collection so they can revisit it later.

06 — Account & Credits

Tiers, credits, and image generation

Tiers

Free (3 generations/day), Hobbyist (20/day), Pro (100/day + 30 images/month), Master (100/day + 30 images/month + editing). Manage your plan from the Account page.

AI image credits

Generating cover art and printable backgrounds uses image credits. Buy credit packs from the Account page. Credits never expire.