3D Printer for the boardgame designer

I know several game designers and most develop prototypes using generic components (blank cards with labels, counters, playing pieces from other games, etc) initially and then move onto better components as the game becomes more developed. Some designers will have deals with publishers, others will self publish. In the latter case you often get games with generic components but printed cards/board.

As technology moves on, things become cheaper, and now it seems there is a 3D printer for home use. It is probably in the price range that colour laser printers used to be a few years ago, but like games designers then who opted to buy one, we may well see these 3D printers being similarly bought. The self-publisher can now have a game with nicer pieces – or offer two versions of their game standard with generic components and deluxe with designed pieces. They could well also be used in creating prototypes after initial play test has been done and the game is likely to be published but needs final play testing to tweak rules. Fun times are ahead.

Inkognito – To be republished

Inkognito was a deduction game originally released in 1988, where each player aims to find which other player (its a 4 player game, though there was a 3 player option) is their fellow secret agent and complete a mission. Each player had a secret identity, attribute and mission, and through investigating the player pawns you found out who was who and aimed to as a pair, complete the mission – you both had to agree on the solution, or lose!

I won’t review it here (see a review on BGG) but it was a nice game with a big plastic head that had 10 coloured balls in used as a randomiser. Well I now find out its to be republished by Ares Games. It’s to be an improved version, so I wonder how they will improve it? Will it be just the big head guy being replaced by a digital device?