November 2023

Hello fellow Killer Bunnies fans!

It’s been a busy month for my project, and as usual, I'm excited to write an exceptionally verbose email telling you about it all! ;)

First off, I just want to gush for a second about 3D printing … and how INCREDIBLY AWESOME it is!!! When paired with 3D modeling, you get this ability to just make ANYTHING that comes to mind go straight into your hands! Super fun, but what really makes it shine is when it's paired with board games. 3D printing and board games are like peanut butter and jelly: eternal soul mates that have always been destined for each other since the very inkling of their invention was had in the minds of men. You guys. This game is going to be TOTALLY WICKED!! Once I can bring my vision of Jupiter to fruition, I sincerely think there is going to be no other board game on the planet that will be able to compare in sheer magnificence.

Ok, gush over. I just couldn't help myself. 

FUNKY FORCE FIELDS

Just like my update last month, I want to start with Funky Force Fields. Last time I was able to show you the completed version of the most difficult piece of this entire project—the 20-hex FFF—and now I have finished its companions. The full game contains an additional 2 10-hex and 3 5-hex FFFs:

If you don’t know what a Funky Force Field is, here’s a little info about them. Wherever they are placed during the game, they make hexes restricted spaces. This function creates an impassable wall (that only Pink ships can pass through) that can be used to block your opponents. If you’re REALLY lucky and get multiple FFFs, you could even trap a ship…. This wall effect is another place where the 3D pieces really shine. When the game is stuck in 2 dimensions, it can be a lot harder to know where the spaces are that you're not allowed to travel on. Having a literal wall sitting on the board instead makes it undeniably clear and intuitive, reducing the time needed to analyze the board and therefore making gameplay flow smoother. I found a height that worked but made the widths a little bit different with the 5-hex being the thinnest, 10-hex being medium, and 20-hex being thickest, which I think works out pretty well.  

10-hex FFF

This one was fun because it is all the same color. Representing a giant steel wall with the hex base being steel to match the other FFFs, there’s only one color that’s needed. I made it heavier than default so that it would be exactly half the weight of its bigger brother.

5-hex FFF

I love the colors on this one. I decided my initial plan of having the wall be my default red was not good enough, so I searched for options and bought yet another color that has a nice matte, brick texture and color that I'm really pleased with. The double colors my printer can do makes the bluish, melty, astro goop in between the bricks look super good, too. The weighting of this one naturally matches to 1/2 that of the 10-hex.

PLANETS (warning: super boring astronomy details ahead)

I'm just about done with the planets! I have gotten really intense about the details of these guys. Even though the size of the planets clearly don't match real life (Jupiter would have to be the size of the entire board compared to Earth...), just about every other detail does. I made sure characteristics about each planet stood out, and for these newer planets, that means their rings and angles. Saturn especially has the most iconic rings, and Uranus is most famous for its extreme tilt. And while I was matching the tilts of these planets, I decided to go ahead and match the tilts of ALL the planets, even though it is much less noticeable without their rings. Since you have to have a reference point when measuring angles in space (because there is no "down") I chose the plane of the orbit of Earth to be "horizontal" (apparently a pretty common standard in astronomy, called the "ecliptic"). Because the angle of each planet's orbit doesn't differ much from Earth's, having the planets represented on a tabletop game is nothing short of a stroke of genius (but, of course that's not surprising coming from Jeff). Because that measurement is already accounted for, I started wanting to make the planets look like they actually would from space (again, ignoring their relative sizes). A cool thing I learned is that the North Poles of each planet (effectively) always point in the same direction, no matter where the planet is around the sun. Technically it does change a little (an effect called "Precession" which is actually a card in Killer Bunnies: Quest, a fact that I'm sure Matthew Lein knows), but the change is over a span of thousands of years, so by the time it's effectively any different for any of the planets, my pieces would have long decomposed, so I'm not going to worry about it. ;) But ... that means it's another PERFECT opportunity to have the measurements of the pieces match real life. The way that Killer Bunnies: Jupiter was designed, as the planets go around the board, they don't change their orientation, just their position, which is a shockingly precise detail for the way that the planets actually work. (I just have to say, this Jeff guy is really smart....) In other words, I'm going to make the tilt of each planet AND the direction of that tilt match real life. I have to admit, the 3 booster planets will sometimes have to break standard for this, because they get flipped backwards out of necessity when they reach the end of the board, so for these ones it will technically only be precisely realistic when they’re facing forwards (with the Random Location number on top being oriented the same as the rest). I guess that’s what happens when you "simply change the laws of physics" (a quote from the instructions).  Okay, now one last cool thing about the game design: since the positions of the planets in their orbit DOES change frequently, it doesn't really matter where on the board the pieces will be. Which means, the positions of the planets in their orbit on the game board at any moment WILL match a POSSIBLE arrangement of the planets in real life.

I learned a new word that describes my efforts in matching my models to the actual Solar System: I'm apparently making an "orrery". Except this orrery is going to be a work of art like none made before it because I'm designing it so you can actually interact with it. Yeah I know, board games are awesome.

SATURN

It was tough, but I managed to cram all the board game elements onto this marker (the Random Location number, the arrow, the oversized ring, and the name). The angle that you see the rings are at is the actual angle of the planet in the solar system. And these giant rings made it so the piece had to overlap on neighboring hexes somewhat. I limited it as much as I possibly could, and markers can sit adjacent to most spaces around the planet, and the two that don't quite fit can still rest within a few millimeters. One of the biggest changes to my previous version this time around was making the stand. Saturn sits on a large, black stand that makes  it so it's the same height as the other planets (except for Jupiter). The black stand makes it look like Saturn is really floating, especially when on the black background of the board. It also makes it so I can weight Saturn the same as the other planets.

URANUS

I experimented a lot with Uranus' extreme tilt that it's known for. Thing is, this piece also has a little ring on it.... Unfortunately for my perfectionism that meant I couldn't have Uranus' tilt be exactly true to life. This is because the ring would overlap on the Random Location peg making it so markers wouldn't be able to fit on top. So I made Uranus' tilt as dramatic as the Random Location would allow. One cool thing about these ringed planets is that with the black bases supporting the ring underneath, and a hidden connector behind the Random Location pegs at the top, I was able to make it look like the rings were pretty much floating, so I was super happy about that effect.

STRESS TESTS

As I've spent time considering all the needs of each design I've created, I've thought a lot about the physical stress each piece might undergo. Maybe a piece falls off the table onto the tile floor, or the box gets a little extra bump during shipping, or a ship marker gets sent into the vacuum of space by the Beyea Aliens; no matter what might happen I want all the pieces to have the best chance I can give them of withstanding the wear and tear they might generally be subject to. So I've focused on strengthening the weak spots of all designs (such as the tip of the Carrot that's connected to the hex base of the marker and the rings of Saturn and Uranus) and then sending it through a series of stress tests multiple times to make sure it can thoroughly weather a typical playing, packing, and storing experience. Now, don't go trying to make these pieces break (because you will succeed), but I will say that if a Carrot accidentally falls off the table, you can put your mind at ease knowing that they have been structured to accommodate this scenario.

PROGRESS STATUS

I'm juuuuust about done with all of Tier 1. All I've got left is Neptune, which I'm already well on my way with. This one won't be complicated because there's no ring. As far as planetary objects go, there is technically a Pluto, though it is just a simple, non-moving Random Location. This means it won't come in the Marker Tier but later in the Sculpture Tier. 

For the upcoming Ships Tier I'll be revisiting, I've actually already started on it. What I've been finding myself working on is the stands, which are a big deal in the latest edition of Jupiter (they were just clear plastic ones in the old version). I promise that the plans that I've made for my version of the stands will not disappoint.... I can already see how epic it's going to be, but more on that next time.... 

And that's it for now! Merry Christmas, after which is when I'll see you next!

~Hale-Bent