Assignment One
STEP ONE: Brainstorming and Ideation
When deciding what to do for this project, I first considered my hobbies. My interests tend to change with the week, as well as the personal projects I’m working on. Some weeks I paint, others I use my electronic devices to animate or illustrate… if it’s creative, I’ve tried it.
More importantly than any interests or hobbies of mine, I’ve been ruminating about how this is my last semester of college. Therefore, the great unknown of “post-post-secondary” has been taking up a lot of time in my brain. With the pandemic came a year of isolation and reflection, and as much as I love graphic and product design, the more I fear that a full time position for a large corporation will inhibit my freedom of creativity. The internship I currently have is part time and essentially freelance, and I appreciate the freedom of scheduling that this offers me greatly. I suspect that after a few years in a stable job, freelance design will call me away to other projects.
This leads me to where I got my inspiration: a long-term game design project I’ve been doing with my partner, and things in my creative space that I feel are missing.
Idea One: Invictum Game Board
My partner and I have been working on a tabletop game called “Invictum” for a few months now. To summarize, Invictum is a tabletop role-playing game that strays from the saturated field of story-driven tabletop RPGs into a new world of glorified, player-vs-player combat. Essentially, two players (or “Invictors”) will pit their characters against each other in a gladiatorial fight to the death.
Differently than other tabletop RPGs, these separate players will share a health bar, and the advantage will swing back and forth based on the attacks that are made. Statistics like weight, stance, pressure, and range all must be kept track of easily in order for the game to be organized and enjoyable. Therefore, I suggest that I create a game board with the CAD machine. This game board will have sliders, notches, and shallow holes that allow the fight to be tracked quickly and easily. I would create this first board as though it is an item for a luxury pack of the game, using wood and engraving to make the board stylish as well as functional.
Idea Two: Small Bedside Table
A minor inconvenience that I experience every night is that I have nowhere to set a drink or chapstick within reach of my bed. I’ve tried making some funny contraptions, such as a hanging sack and piles of books — but I think I am ready to live better than this. I could use small pieces of a tough material to make a temporary bedside table, and use it to play with shapes and furniture design in this class until I am able to purchase a nicer one (or, woodwork one of my own).
Idea Three: Hanging Makeup Rack
Another problem area of my bedroom is my vanity. It is always cluttered with makeup, hair clips, and other oddities. There are so many small pieces involved in this process that it gets very difficult to organize. And the worst part is that it is visible from my desk when I am in zoom class or at work — embarrassing.
So, I designed a container that I’ve wanted for years: a hanging makeup holder that leaves makeup items readily accessible as well as organized and off of your primary surface.
STEP TWO: Initial File Work
After step one and the feedback I received, I decided to go with the game board concept. To recap, the game board is for a tabletop game, and involves keeping track of information that is being told orally. I would like to have a slider that can stop at niches marked by numbers. It will also have a few shallow holes that game pieces can be placed into.
My original idea was to get two layers of wood, each a quarter inch thick, cut the appropriate holes out of them and then glue them together. I imagined that the holes (rounded squares above) would be shallow once glued on top of the layer without holes, and the niches (jagged red areas above) would be cut through both layers so that a peg could move through them completely.
However, as I began to map it out, I realized that I would have to add some material to the bottom of the peg or it could simply be pulled out. I foresaw that, but forgot that the board will not sit flush to the table then. In the next week, I will have to resolve that.
I’m also wondering if square is the most appropriate shape for the niches. If the niche is square and the peg is square, will that provide the most fluid movement? Or will the sharp corners prove jagged and difficult. Additionally, if I am to round the corners slightly, will the peg be able to stay securely in the dips? Or will bumping the table move them? I look forward to the practice cut.
STEP THREE: Final Filework
After playing with my initial filework, I decided that the square form of the sliding notches was too rigid. I then changed their form to a more rounded version of the current slots. Additionally, I decorated and labelled the board with identifiers, as well as created the moveable pegs.
STEP FOUR: Final Assembly
I ordered my two layers printed separately on 1/4 birch ply. They looked fantastic when I got them! I forgot to take photos of the pieces separately, but my first step once returning home was to use Weldbond to glue them both together. As you can see in the photo below, the two layers allowed for the peg sliders to go entirely through the board, but the circular holes (see below “invictor”) to have a backing.
Next, I used a hand saw to cut a wooden dowel that I purchased from Home Depot. This will function as the peg, with the decorative peg top glued on the yellow portion.
Additionally, I stained the game board a deeper wood tone, to enhance the appearance.
Ultimately, both of my dowel sizes ended up fitting incorrectly. I used sandpaper to attempt to file the larger size down, but it remained too thick. Home Depot was very low on supplies, and I decided that I would prefer to wait for a more appropriately sized dowel than use one that almost worked, but could be better.
Aside from that final piece of assembly, here is the finished game board!
I will update this with the results of better dowel sizing with pegs at a later date!
