Everyone loves a new toy... and mine arrived a couple of weeks ago, a brand new shiny 3D printer!
I should back up... we were looking at taking our first games to Gen Con this year to do the First Exposure Playtest Hall and the First Encounter Designer Showcase and wanted to have something to stand out. I thought back to the things that made an impression to me and remembered being at a panel at SDCC where Exploding Kittens debuted their giant-sized version. Five foot cards make quite the impression, so wondered... could we do something like that?
I should admit, I have always been looking an excuse to buy a 3D printer, but always wanted to have a purpose for one... so here it was... GIANT MEEPLES! Before good sense got the better of me, I rushed out and bought a printer. Here we are two weeks later and meeple army is done and ready to go.
Programs I used:
Adobe Illustrator - To design shapes I want printed. Save the designs as svgs to import into Fusion 360
Fusion 360 - Main 3D design program. There are probably easier programs to start with, but had a friend recommend it.
Ultimaker Cura - Slice and dice the 3D model to work with the printer.
Not to stop there, we needed giant-sized cards to go with the giant meeples. We are driving to Gen Con but didn't want to have to worry about where to store five foot cards, so we opted for something slightly smaller and more hand-sized, 5"x7" playing cards.
So we're pleased to announce that we'll have Giant-sized editions of our first game and it's stand-alone expansion, Out of Line: Food Trucks and Nature Calls. Stop by and see them in the First Exposure Playtest Hall, or find us at Gen Con and maybe we can start a game somewhere in a corner.