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Player Mat Design

7 replies [Last post]
Mon, 08/27/2012 - 11:09
jhobbs
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Joined: 06/17/2011

Hi everyone!

I'm working on player mats for my game, BATTLE!. In the past, we've used paper & pencil, but I felt that it was time to make something a little classier.

I've been using The Game Crafter for my prototypes, so their 4" x 10" chip board seems the most fitting for the mat.

Questions regarding making a player mat:

-In BATTLE!, players have both Health Points and Armor Points. Players start with 24 HP and 0 AP, with the current armor potential being 18 AP with the right card combination. Should I make 1 single track from 1-24 that could house both Health & Armor info, or is it better to have 2 separate tracks of 1-24?

-There's a status effect of being "on fire", which is continuous until certain conditions are met. But with fire being the only status effect in the base game, I'm trying to think of a good way for a player to mark it on the sheet. As humorous as "On Fire" and "Not on Fire" would be, I think there's probably a better way.

Anywho, just some general feedback/tips regarding player mats would be appreciated. Is there anything specific I should avoid with a player mat? I'm going to post an image of the rough version in a couple hours.

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Mon, 08/27/2012 - 19:01
#1
jhobbs
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Joined: 06/17/2011
Here's the rough

Here's the rough draft:

http://i.imgur.com/P6b0q.png

I'm trying to use the space wisely. Granted, this is only a prototype, but I still like things to look nice.

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Wed, 08/29/2012 - 02:07
#2
Traz
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Joined: 04/06/2009
DARN GAME CRAFTERS!

I would have liked to use their game boards, but all their sizes are very odd. Who doesn't offer 8.5 x 11 ??

Their prices seem fine. I haven't bothered to determine if they can print on linen [then glued to chipboard], since they don't do standard paper. But maybe someday I'll find someone...........

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Wed, 08/29/2012 - 07:28
#3
gabrielcohn
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Joined: 11/25/2010
2 tracks

use two if you have space. I'd prefer to see the tracks along the top or edge rather than hogging space in the middle, but since you don't have too much else going on there, it seems good. good luck!

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Thu, 08/30/2012 - 15:20
#4
jhobbs
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Joined: 06/17/2011
Hi Gabriel, I'm going to give

Hi Gabriel,

I'm going to give the top tracks idea a shot. If I can fit two 1-24 tracks on top of each other, I think it'll look nice.

Thanks for the tip!

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Thu, 08/30/2012 - 23:00
#5
Jefe
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Joined: 04/16/2012
Another option would be a

Another option would be a single numbered track, and different shaped counters to indicate what is what. A shield shaped counter for 'armor' and a different shaped counter for 'health'?

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Fri, 08/31/2012 - 15:26
#6
jhobbs
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Joined: 06/17/2011
I'll play with the options

I'll play with the options provided on The Game Crafter to see if I could make that reasonable.

It would have to involve them potentially stacking at overlap points.

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Tue, 09/04/2012 - 21:24
#7
Robinson
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Joined: 08/27/2012
jhobbs wrote:I'll play with

jhobbs wrote:
I'll play with the options provided on The Game Crafter to see if I could make that reasonable.

It would have to involve them potentially stacking at overlap points.


If you can make it work, I agree with Jefe's point on this. If you have different colored pieces I don't think that the overlap is a problem, and it keeps the player mat simpler, which is always good.

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