Skip to Content
 

Dilemma with my game board, please help!

10 replies [Last post]
Three
Three's picture
Offline
Joined: 08/31/2011

Hey guys, I've got a preference question to ask.

The project I'm working on now is a free, print and play tactics game. At first I planned on making the board itself 20 x 20 inches, and the character pieces 2 x 2 inches. The board is divided into a 10 square grid, so each piece would fit on one 2 inch square.

This all looked cool in my head as I'm thinking about the game on a table...until I wondered how players would print the board, let alone myself. The first thought was to cut it into pieces and include it with a diagram of the full board. My next idea was to shrink it down. Make the board 10x10 and the markers 1x1 so that way it's easier to print and requires fewer pages. My issue is that I don't really like the look of the game at that scale.

If you were playing, would you rather have a larger board or a smaller one? Even if playing on the larger board meant having to print 4-5 pages, cutting, the gluing them together.

RGaffney
RGaffney's picture
Offline
Joined: 09/26/2011
Go large

Go large

GrimFinger
GrimFinger's picture
Offline
Joined: 08/06/2008
Large is better.

Large is better.

The Inner Geek
The Inner Geek's picture
Offline
Joined: 02/04/2014
Big!

Bigger is better in this case. You can print a one in grid that is 5x10" on a piece of letter (8.5x11") paper. Two of those glued down to a piece of foamcore is 10x10" square. So with 8 sheets of common xerox paper you could print your map. In fact, if you look around the interwebs, there are pdf's of 1"grid that can be repurporsed for this. They may not be 5x10 squares, but if they are 7x10 you can cut two lines of squares off.

Aerjen
Offline
Joined: 08/28/2008
Definitely full board.

Definitely full board. I prefer taking a bit of time on assembly and better gameplay versus the other way around.

questccg
questccg's picture
Offline
Joined: 04/16/2011
Is this game ONLY PnP???

I was wondering if you considered what happens when *manufacturing* the game. Is this game going to be ONLY a PnP (Print-And-Play) game or are you planning on having it manufactured?

The Game Crafter (TGC) has BOTH Square (2in x 2in) and Hex (2in x 1.75in) TILES (which are now double-sided). So you might want to consider making and selling you game via TGC rather than PnP.

The first reason would be that the game would look much more professional than a PnP version. The second reason is that you save people the time it takes to PRINT and CUT the various components.

Also if you price your game very reasonably (depending on the components), it could be more worthwhile to buy a TGC produced version versus having to make a PnP version...

Just some thoughts... I'm not a big fan on PnP games. Why? Well when I start my first prototypes for my game, I print and cut them all myself. It's a real PAIN. I find it takes a lot of time and patience. I don't have too much of either...

Three
Three's picture
Offline
Joined: 08/31/2011
Originally I intended on

Originally I intended on finishing it, playing it with a few friends, then posting it online after making adjustments, as a print and play. I did consider selling it online as an alternative but for now I'm only working on it as a hobby. Not to say I wouldn't want it to do well on the market...that's just not where my interest lies.

However I do like the idea of getting it made professionally then buying a copy of my own. I'll be looking into that, thanks.

questccg
questccg's picture
Offline
Joined: 04/16/2011
Alternative to PnP

Three wrote:
...However I do like the idea of getting it made professionally then buying a copy of my own. I'll be looking into that, thanks.

Well if you get a real *nice* copy of your game (made professionally by TGC), perhaps other people may also be interested in doing the same?! Don't think of it as selling a game, you're just putting out the option for people to buy a *made* copy of your game instead of going the PnP route.

So wherever you are going to advertise the FREE PnP version, you could provide a LINK to TGC and your game's page. You could say something like: "Downloade the FREE PnP version or purchase a low priced copy at The Game Crafter!" Something like that... Give the people who are interested in the game an alternative...

Onus
Onus's picture
Offline
Joined: 07/19/2013
I'd almost always rather play

I'd almost always rather play on a larger board regardless of the game I think.

limalima
Offline
Joined: 06/01/2013
I have been printing out PNP

I have been printing out PNP games a lot more recently and have to agree with everyone. Go large!

I would rather cut out larger components than mess with smaller ones.

Guido
Offline
Joined: 01/30/2014
Exactly. The larger playing

Exactly. The larger playing area is nicer for gameplay and also for the cutting and building of the game. The only bad thing I can think of is the increased amount of pages to print, which can be lessened with smaller components. But unless your p&p game is huge and has a ton of pages of components, go big board.

Syndicate content


forum | by Dr. Radut