The plastic pieces that comprise the Pocket-Tactics strategy game are designed as 3D models in Tinkercad and SketchUp and can be outputted by any 3D printer. (Source: Ill Gotten Games)
this reminds me of the Warhammer game pieces that my son's had. That must me the $60-$100 type of game mentioned. One of the things that was interesting with thosse games was the painting of the pieces. You could get really creative with that. I assume that the same thing is true of these. That should keep them busy for a while.
@Naperlou: The high price of these came is one of the primary reasons its maker turned to 3D printing. He saw it as a way to keep the costs down and make the game more accessible to a wider audience. We shall see.
How is Ill Gotten Games going to make any money distributing their game for free? Is the idea that gaming enthusiasts who have 3D printers will introduce the game to their friends, who will then buy it on Etsy?
A few years ago, I went to the Chicago Toy and Game Show. It was interesting to meet all of the game inventors and try their games. But I got the sense that inventing a game and making any money from it -- like inventing anything else and making money from it -- is very difficult.
3D printing has the potential to take a lot of the start-up costs out of launching a new game. It will be interesting to see whether Ill Gotten Games' open-source strategy is successful.
Perhaps one hidden benefit of creating these game pieces would be to expose young minds to the excitment of engineering tools like 3D CAD and 3D printing. Maybe this type of early involvement could spark an interest in a future design engineering career.
Cool to see something like this. I wonder if they'll go the direction of coffee makers and paper printers. The hardware is really cheap to buy originally, but the margin on the coffee and ink make the company the big dollars.
I agree with your observation, Dave. I'm not sure this is about how to successfully monetize a business venture. More along the lines of another pretty nifty way to not only show off the capabilities of 3D printing, but also illustrate the potential of the technology for changing the way all kinds of developers and innovators bring products to market. At least, that's why it caught my eye.
Actually, the $60.00-$100.00 games are games like Memoir '44, Arkham Horror, and others. Miniatures games like Warhammer can cost hundreds of dollars, depending on what type and how large of an army you want to build. Miniatures games like Warmammer, Warhammer 40K and Flames of War are very expensive to get into, since they are so open-ended. Yes, painting is a big part of games like that!
There are a lot of board games out there that are also relatively reasonable to get. These are games like Memoir '44 and Last Night On Earth. The base game is around $40.00, and the various expansions can run about $25.00 each. The nice thing about these is that you don't have to get the expansions if you don't want to. They have new counters, maps and scenarios to expand the game.
Although I can see printing toys out at home to be the future, I just could not justify the initial cost. First there is the $1,000 dollar printer, that most likely does low resolution printing. Then there is the cost of material. followed by programming time (can we put a price on our time). All in all, an expensive hobby. Keep in mind, toys without licensing are just custom. Authenticity is key. I base this on my toy collecting youth... ok ok, I still collect. Can printing a toy at home still be considered authentic vs one from the original company?
Even so, it looks like a great step in home gaming. Any pull away from the video screen is worth it. (Remember when people were trying to get their kids to stop playing Dungeons & Dragons? Now parents wish their kids would do anything besides texting all day.)
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