When it comes to the fun side of 3D printing, we've written about 3D printed guitars, mini custom robots, and even 3D printed high fashion when we told you about the first 3D printed bikini. Well, here's another example of the lighter side of 3D printing that is perhaps a little more in tune with the interests of the Design News audience -- a 3D printed board game for serious strategy gamers.
Ill Gotten Games got its start when its co-founders Arian Croft and Jeremy Larsen decided the best way to find role-playing games and board games that met their incredibly high standards was to design them themselves. Since many games in this category typically command price tags of upwards of $60 to $100, the combination of 3D printing and open-source 3D modeling became Ill Gotten Games' route for developing and bringing like-kind games to market in a far more cost-effective fashion.
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)
The pair describe Pocket-Tactics as a tile-based strategy game in which fantasy forces battle for control of the world. They say the game takes between 20 and 45 minutes and is small, meaning that the pieces fit inside a small felt bag, and the play area only takes up a little more than a foot of table space. Here's where things get interesting. To get the game, in which the Legion of the High King battles against The Tribes of the Dark Forest, would-be players go to Thingiverse (3D printer manufacturer Makerbot's community where enthusiasts share 3D designs for output for physical models) to download both the game rules and instructions, as well as the 3D models for the actual board pieces -- all of which are free.
The Ill Gotten Games team designed the board game pieces using free 3D CAD tools, including SketchUp and TinkerCAD, and, in keeping with the spirit of the open-source community, is inviting fellow strategy game hobbyists to wade in with ideas for future games and board designs. For those who don't have access to a 3D printer, the Ill Gotten Games crew is planning to offer a fully 3D printed version of the game for purchase on Etsy, which is an e-commerce site specifically tailored for really small businesses and manufacturers to sell their wares.
Sure, 3D printed board games are certainly nowhere near as complex as preparing an industrial part or full product design for 3D printed output. But the concept does go a long way in showcasing how the combination of open-source design tools and more accessible 3D printing resources is giving small innovators an edge in bringing products to market faster and without requiring a huge capital investment in manufacturing and tooling.
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.
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.
Reminds me of an article I ready a few months back in a Forbes about a father (who happened to be a professor) who used 3D printing to create interfaces between popular toys - such as Legos and Tinker Toy. There's an interesting set of legal thoughts on that one. Here's the link, if it works:
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.
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.
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.
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.)
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.
I like the idea of being able to design and print my own game. I'm not much on the electronic games. Believe it or not my daughter and I still like playing board games.
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