svg-z-cards

Scalable Vector Graphics Playing Cards

Screenshot

By Brandon Ardiente

Based on SVG-cards by David Bellot

A note from the author in 2026

I created svg-z-cards in college for a PC game that never fully materialized. Over the last couple of decades I've had some people reach out about these since the page I hosted on my website was no longer available. I'm putting this on Github so others can find this more easily.

So, what are SVG-(Z)-cards?

From David Bellot's Website:

SVG-cards is a deck of cards entirely made using SVG. It has been released under the Lesser GNU Public License, so feel free to use it wherever you want, like web pages, games, the GNOME desktop, the KDE desktop, and so on...

And SVG is...?

Scalable Vector Graphics.

So, what's this 'Z' thing all about?

SVG-Z-cards is simply my cosmetic modification to David's already-beautiful deck. Per the original Lesser GNU Public License, I'm releasing my modifications. These modifications, of course, are also licensed under the LGPL.

There are also some other important differences between SVG-Z-cards and the original SVG-cards:

• SVG-Z-cards are over 200% larger in file size than the original
• SVG-Z-cards were designed with Adobe Illustrator CS2, and were destined for PNG files (like the image above) instead of following strict, pure SVG like its predecessor.
• There's also the Z in the name of my deck.

So, why create a whole new package, website, etc. for only minor cosmetic changes?

Excellent question.

First and foremost, I loved David's 2.0.1 release of SVG-cards, except that the font bugged me a little. The deck's LGPL allowed me to modify David's original work with the stipulation that I release my modifications under the very same LGPL. So, here's a site to do that.

Secondly, I've (unintentionally) made a fairly large code change to the original. Whereas David's deck is very lightweight (900KB) and coded in pure-SVG, my modified version is heavy (2.2 MB) and I make no guarantees about the purity of the underlying SVG (it's all Adobe generated code).

Finally, I wanted to ensure that there was one location for my new deck on the web which explicitly gave David the credit he is due, while also describing the modifications that I made to his original.

You still haven't answered my question about the 'Z' thing.

Right, right. Basically, the Z stands for Zwolfundein, which is the name of my upcoming game (which, incidentally, uses the SVG-Z-cards deck).

I still have more questions!!

You can contact me at brandon@ardisoft.net.