I recently got a 3D printer. It has helped get me jump-started again with making pieces I didn't thing I would be able to get.

Artwork Design

I am now working on UI and other graphic design. I will be making tiny computer screens for many models and I want the UI on all of them to be cohesive. Also, I will eventually be making a full sized tablet app that should have the same UI style. So here is the first look at the design direction.

The Crew

Here are the people that will be inhabiting my space station. At this point I'm not sure if I'll be using all of them. I don't think they will all fit in the station at one time!

It's a small tidbit, but its a nice detail: they are all finally on matching bases that will match the floor of the station. Which reminds that I haven't given a proper shout-out to the guy helping me with the laser-cutting. Bob Schrempp​ of Prawn Designs has been invaluable to getting my design from my head to reality. He takes my line art and tweaks it so that his machine is able to cut it. A lot of shops won't do the extra work he does to make sure it cuts correctly and looks the way you intend.

New Layout

After fighting for months to figure out how I was going to engineer the previous layout design into coherent laser-cut-able pieces. I decided I should make the process easier on myself and simplify the footprint. By doing this I don't have to come up with new and clever ways of doing joinery in a medium I don't fully understand yet. I'm going to go this route for at least this first version. If I learn new tricks along the way to get me to the first design, then great. Here it is, the first un-textured render of the new layout.

Prototype Walls

I've finally gotten a set of prototype walls that I'm happy with. These are cut from wood, but in the end I will probably do them out of acrylic. I painted them quickly and assembled them in the rough arrangement they will be in the final product. I now know I have the right design and scale and can ramp up production of the whole station.

Station Development

I did a full mock-up of the station in the 3D design studio Blender. This way, I can see how the walls will interact with each other, how lighting will look, and if the design I have thought of will even function in reality. Here is the latest render.

The People

In the first post I talked about how I wanted this game to be non-combat focused and multi-cultural. This has a direct impact on the miniatures I will be using. Turns out that finding figures that match these requirements was very difficult. I had to scour through hundreds of miniature sources. I got many really good figures and had to do modifications to figures that were close. I have ended up with about 30 usable characters. I think fewer than that will actually end up being in the game due to how they will fit into the plot and game play.

As of now, each player will have control of one character. Characters will have a pre-defined set of skills that are not visible to the players. Character background descriptions will contain hints as to how good they are in particular fields. There will be straight forward challenges that use obvious skills. Such as injuries that need a doctor or computer issues that need a technician. But what about more complex issues that may have multiple solutions? Like a room full of a toxic gas. Do you grab your chemist or HVAC specialist?