Medieval Settlements & Cities

What are Medieval Settlements & Cities?
Medieval Settlements & Cities (MS&C) are improved, custom designed game pieces compatible with the popular board game Settlers of Catan by Klaus Teuber.

Where can I get them?
The game pieces are currently discontinued for reasons outlined in the 'conclusion'. When a new version becomes available they can be purchased through my blog here.

How are they made?
MS&C are made with two-part, urethane, plastic resins cast into silicon, rubber molds.

Development Timeline

Prior to MS&C I had been working on another project that I considered quite ambition and decided that I needed something a bit more toned down to gain some experience with the "concept-to-reality" process. 

June 2011 - Design Concepts
I pitched, to some friends and family, the idea of redesigning the game pieces to Settlers of Catan. After some preliminary brainstorming, I drew up some concept sketches. As the details came into focus dozens of sketches followed.

June 2011 - Sept. 2011 - 3D Modeled
From those sketches I used Blender, an open-source 3D modeling software, to model the first designs of the MS&C.

Sept. 2011 - 3D Printed
From the evergrowing selection of 3D printing service providers I depended on a company that was able to reproduce the small scale details of my pieces. I then fabricated a mold of the 3D printed model. From the mold I cast copies of the original model using two-part mixed, urethane, plastic resins.

The resulting casts for the first version of the Medieval Settlement were riddled with bubbles, plagued with decapitated trees, and had very little semblance to a desolate country side with a up and coming town.


Oct 2011 - Revised art direction
The initial design concept behind the Medieval Settlement was of scaling the scenery, within the piece, to that of the game board scale to give players the impression of being a governing figure or 'god-like' entity. This good-intended choice resulted in details that were too small to appreciate from an arms-length, the distance players would sit from the board, so a new art direction was taken.

This new design took on a magnified look. Instead of viewing the landscape and its accompanying buildings in its entirety, a 'snippet' of the details were presented at larger scale. As a result, the details were better appreciated not only under close examination, but at a distance as they inhabited the island game board. The new artistic concept was immediately applied to the Medieval City.

Jan. 2012 - March 2012 - Crowdfunding through KickStarter
Through Crowdfunding I was able to gauge the interest level in MS&C and raise the funds needed to solve the bubble issue. In addition, the second version of the Medieval City was printed (first version was never printed).

April 2012 - Supporter funded equipment
With the pledged funds I was able to purchase the vacuum and pressure chamber assemblies that I needed to reduce the problematic bubbles and improve the overall quality of the pieces. A big thank you goes out to all those that showed their support financially through KickStarter.

May 2012 - Reselected materials
Production was slow and painful as I was having great difficulty separating the cities from their molds. After consulting with Danielle Hurley at http://www.danielle-hurley.com/ I selected a different product that made a world of difference. The new material not only released the casts easier, but was also faster to fabricate molds with.



Sept. 2012 - KickStarter pledges fulfilled
The last of the pledges were fulfilled. I sent out over 3500 pieces to eight different countries. I was overjoyed to see each and every package go out the door... not in relief, but in excitement for the awaiting recipient.

Conclusion

Medieval Settlements & Cities was a thrilling and eye-opening project. The joy of making a product from concept-to-reality and distributing them into the hands of others that share the same interest was a wonderful experience. The skills and techniques learned along the way are invaluable toward my pursuit of producing new products.

Despite all the trials that were overcome the cost of production took its toll. The technique used to fabricate the pieces was timely and in turn unforgiving of mistakes. From early on I had my sights on an alternative technique that involved more specialized equipment. Though it was outside of the scope of the initial project it is still a goal of mine. As the future of Nathaniel Custom unfolds, the acquisition of new equipment will make it possible to re-position Medieval Settlements & Cities to where they can be available to more eager fans.

A New Way Measure Progress

In an effort to better share my project progression with you all, my limited artistic talent produced the image (currently) seen on the right. Apparently, better ways exist.
Below you will see my "mindmap". This "map" provides a little more insight into the different projects I'm working on; where I'm at, where I've been, and where I'm (tentatively) going.

Take a look at the interactive image below and leave me a bit of feedback (here or facebook)... it is appreciated.

100% Fulfilled, but not Done.

The final international sets have been shipped today. Thanks to all of you that pledged toward this project I have been able to take a virtual concept and bring it to tangible reality. Many of you have been asking what the future holds for the Medieval Game Pieces collection. After much consideration I've come to a few decisions on where I want to take the collection and how I want to get there.

When it comes to my creations, I am a perfectionist. I was the kid in school that never finished his art projects, not because he wasn't interested, but because the vision was so strong it has to be done "right". Since then I have learned to suppress a lot of those tendencies.

I look at the Medieval Settlement and City pieces and find a great sense of satisfaction in the design. Frequently, throughout the production of the pieces I would say to myself, "Wow! I made this." I'm drawn in to the streets below and feel the geometry of the buildings come alive. The colors are distinguishable and closely reflect the original pieces. There is very little, if anything I would change on the two designs. I am, however, slightly disheartened by a portion of the end product.

One goal behind the project was to eliminate the bubbles that decapitate the trees and plague the country side. And that goal has been met. Though I still struggled with decapitated trees on vary degrees, overall the process to remove the bubbles kept the issue under control. The side effect to the process was the creation of bubbles to the underside of the pieces. Though not noticeable on the game board, to its creator it brings me some shame knowing what lies beneath. Does it ultimately matter? No. But as I pursue the creation of new products, I want to improve.

My biggest regret is my inability to offer the pieces on this website at the same price that I made them available during the Kickstarter project. Unforeseen was the great investment of time needed to produce the pieces. A subject that I hope to expound upon in a future blog post where I draw out in detail my experiences and assessments of the entire project. On the bright side, there are processes out there that can help reduce the production cost by a significant amount, but not with some more funds.

It is with much eagerness that I plan to continue my development of new products that may assist in the acquisition of equipment that will help facilitate a cheaper production process for the Medieval Game Piece collection. From there, I would be able to continue to roll out new pieces for the collection and explore new games to create pieces for.

In the meantime, I will continue to offer the Medieval Game Pieces on this blog and develop my true surround sound headphones.
Again, thanks to everyone who pledged and supported the Medieval Settlements and Cities project.

Kickstarter Funded

What a great response. From January 15th to March 1st the Kickstarter project ran for my Medieval Settlements and Cities. Thanks to 79 backers the project surpassed its goal of $1500, raising nearly $2500 in pledges. I good portion of those backers are thanks to a few of you who passed on the word.

The past week I have been working on refining my casting techniques in preparations for making the 3960 pieces for those the backed the project. The vacuum pump and chamber purchased, as promised, with the money has dramatically improved upon the quality of the pieces. There are still logistics and some other minor cosmetic issues to iron out before the "full-scale" reproduction process can begin.

I have already received some emails from some of you who did not find out about Medieval Settlements and Cities until it was too late. Never-fear, sometime during the production of the 3960 I will be releasing an ordering system (possibly via this blog) so that you too can enjoy these pieces. Stay informed on any further developments into a Nathaniel Custom e-store by following this blog or joining me on facebook.

The Wait Is Over

After some holiday season delays the moment has arrived. I am proud to annouce the launch of Nathaniel Custom's Medieval Settlements and Cities on KickStarter.com.

I won't bore you with pictures of the City model or any of the details behind the project... please take a few minutes to visit my KickStarter project to read up on the project and watch the 2 minute video. If you don't have time now, be sure to bookmark the page, but don't wait too long, the project will only run for 45 days.

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/ncustom/medieval-settlement-and-city-game-pieces

And Thus Complete The Feeding Frenzy

Thanksgiving has passed, Black Friday has stormed the local stores, Cyber Monday has crashed the internet, and Christmas is nipping at our heels. All this excitement draws the year to a final climactic finish. It is with much eagerness that these Medieval Settlements and Cities will complete this year and begin the next with great advancement.

I am proud to present Version 2 of the Medieval Settlement. This time, the village defining features are more prevalent at a distance than the previous version. In a few weeks I should have everything in order to launch the Kickstarter project associated with these pieces.

There are two goals behind the Kickstarter project. The first is to determine if there is enough interest and support behind this project to make it worth producing on a large scale. The second is to fund the creation of a vacuum chamber and the purchase of a vacuum pump to improve greatly upon the quality of the final product.

To The Printers

Right off the bat the initial impression of the piece was that the details were far too small for players to take any notice of them. Rather, from a distance the piece looked more like a circular lump of wax. It wouldn't do, so redesigning the piece was in good order.

Despite its visual flaws, I still made use of the piece. It gave me an opportunity to refine my casting procedures and experiment with color matching.
By mixing different ratios of white to a color of choice I can create varying shades of a particular color. Pictured below you can see a range of blues that I had worked on.


Above you can see a wooden game piece lying next to the Medieval Settlement is most closely matches. Though there are a number of variables that make getting a perfect match difficult (texture, dirt residue, light reflectivity) there is a visual variable that calls for proper balance. Take a look at the following two blue Medieval Settlements.

Which of these two Medieval Settlements are the details more easily distinguishable in? When a material is too dark, it "absorbs" the shadows cast by the details. The lighter the material, the more readily the shadows appear allowing the viewer to realize the depth and contour of the piece.
A balance between visual detail and color matching needs to be considered when selecting the final shade.

While "playing around" with colors, I spent a portion of my time reworking the layout and scale of the settlement. Version 2 of the Medieval Settlement is taller and contains fewer elements that are scaled more than 2x larger from Version 1. Because the scale was larger I could add some details that might not have been noticeable, otherwise, on the smaller scale Version 1.


Version 2 is currently off at the printers and should arrive around the 11th of November.

You Rang?

Due to a large back-order it has taken a little longer than expected for my model to come... but now, the wait is over.

My initial impressions?
The piece has a good overall size. It feels as though it will sit nicely in the hand, be easy to manipulate (move) on the board, and not be too distracting compared to the other game pieces.

However, I have my concerns over the size of the village elements. To her credit, my wife warned me over the tiny-ness of the buildings and sadly, the perimeter fence didn't print; which would explain the render not including the fence line. More than likely, the fence was taller than it was wider and didn't meet the minimum wall thickness... in short, the fence was discarded in the print process because it was not structurally sound.

That's not to say this isn't it. I first need to cast the model in a couple different colors to determine if the small features of this piece will be overlooked or blend in artistically with the rest of the game. I can then think about trying to add any missing elements by hand (and then making a new mold) or to just edit my 3D model and have it reprinted.

In the mean time enjoy a couple pictures.






























... standby for updates.
Again, if you haven't participated in my vote at boardgamegeek here,
please take a moment to do so.

Eager Expectations

Today is the 29th of September. Does anyone know what that means? Well not much when it comes to history, but as for the development of this project is seems things are moving along slower than expected.

With a projected delivery date of September 30th (click image to enlarge) and the order for my model still in the production stage I anticipate that we'll be waiting another week for the model to arrive.

In the mean time, if you have not yet voted in the poll that I have placed up on boardgamegeek.com (here) I ask that you take a moment to vote.

This is Hardly the Beginning

In an effort to start reaching out and creating a foot print in the online world I have decided to start this blog to document my projects.

At this current time there are two main projects at work...
1.) Medieval Game Pieces (aka Settler's Compatible Game Pieces)
2.) Surround Sound Headphones

Medieval Game Pieces
Some time this week I should be receiving my first model in the mail. Pictures to follow when it arrives. 3D modeling is well underway, but is on hold while I wait for my first model and experiment with the duplication process. The pieces have been named Medieval Settlement and Medieval City to avoid any potential naming controversies.


Surround Sound Headphones
On hold while working on the Game Pieces. The idea was to get some experience with the Game Pieces before venturing further with the Headphones due to their complexity. It is currently 70% 3D Modeled.