Skip to Content
 

Creating a board

6 replies [Last post]
Sun, 03/22/2009 - 19:17
iqforu
Offline
Joined: 03/22/2009

I want to create a game board for a game I'm making. I would like to design it myself and save it on a computer (as six 8" x 11.5" images) so I could reprint whenever I need another copy. The board itself needs to look like a tile floor, similar to a supermarket or grocery store.

Any ideas?

Thanks, iqforu

Top
Sun, 03/22/2009 - 19:57
#1
dtrik
dtrik's picture
Offline
Joined: 07/26/2008
inkscape, a free drawing

inkscape, a free drawing program, could really help. I'm trying to use it for my boards now in a simple manner but could be used for a beautiful board if used correctly. You can make a square tile graph very easily and then build on that with the simple shape creation tools they give you to add in features like aisle shelves, cash registers, shopping carts, etc etc. These can start as just colored shapes for your prototypes but if you become familiar with the somewhat complex program (I haven't figured it out yet, there's ALOT there) you can actually add graphic detail and make a finalized grocery store board.

Hope that helps, here is a link to inkscape: www.inkscape.org
and a link to a site where you can find premade grids so you can save time: http://www.godsmonsters.com/?ART=111

Top
Sun, 03/22/2009 - 21:32
#2
InvisibleJon
InvisibleJon's picture
Offline
Joined: 07/27/2008
Tile floors in a few easy steps:

1) Go to: http://images.google.com/

2) Search for: "floor tile texture"

3) Pick a texture you like and download the image.

4) This step caries depending on what program you're using, but the next basic step is to create a square in whatever program you're using, fill it with the tile image you selected, scale it to the size you want each square to be, then tile it across your board to create your tiled board.

Best of luck!

Top
Mon, 03/23/2009 - 13:05
#3
Rick-Holzgrafe
Rick-Holzgrafe's picture
Offline
Joined: 07/22/2008
Slicing up the board

I use a program called PosteRazor to slice up a large, monolithic board image into pieces that can be printed on 8.5x11" paper. PosteRazor lets you specify the paper size, the number of sheets you want to print on, and the final size of the board. A nice feature is that the separate pages have overlapping graphics, so you don't have to worry too much about cutting them precisely.

I am currently using PosteRazor to print out boards for (the game formerly known as) Rails Across America. I do my board graphics in Photoshop, then read the Photoshop file into PosteRazor, which creates output in the form of a nine-page PDF document. I print the PDF, trim the edges of the printed pages, and tape or glue them together to make a board that's about 20x30".

PosteRazor is freeware and runs on all platforms.

http://posterazor.sourceforge.net/

Top
Mon, 03/23/2009 - 20:49
#4
iqforu
Offline
Joined: 03/22/2009
Thanks

Thanks for all the great responses, I'll take a look around at these and get back to you guys.

Top
Sun, 04/05/2009 - 02:01
#5
iqforu
Offline
Joined: 03/22/2009
Board made

Alright. I found a perfect image of a floor tile, perfectly symmetrical, and pasted it in a photoshop document. Then I copied/pasted the image all around it, creating a perfect little page of squares. After tweaking around with the image size to get the right tile size, I printed them out on card stock paper and assembled them on some Matte board. And I must say, it turned out pretty good :P

Thanks guys!

Top
Mon, 04/20/2009 - 18:54
#6
End of Time Games
End of Time Games's picture
Offline
Joined: 04/16/2009
best program

I am looking for advice on the best simple program that I should use to create a print and play board for one of my games. My game Cesars Labyrinth that is a variation of roulette, I am thinking that I can wip up a prototype fairly quike for offing people here on this forum to playtest. I can make everything paper. For the roulette wheel, all you would need is a bag full of 38 numbered peices of peper to test it. I am looking for a simple program that I can print the board to scale. Maybe you as the tester would print several sheets and tape them together. What programs can this community recomend for me. Photo shop is above my budget at the moment. Does anyone use Fractal Mapper 8.0? I'm really just looking for one that when you print it comes out of the printer the size you want. Maybe it's something I already own and don't know how to use for this.

Top
Syndicate content


forum | by Dr. Radut