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Making game tiles for a prototype

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Sun, 12/11/2005 - 21:56
ACG
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Joined: 12/31/1969

Hi! I've printed out a whole bunch of rectangular tile tokens for my game. They look nice -- but are impossible to pick up because they're so thin. I also breathed on them and they blew around.

What's the best thing to do here? Cardboard would probably be best, but that's a bit more complicated to put together. You also can't put cardboard in a printer.

Would card paper (the stuff that business cards are made of, at least) be thick enough to manipulate for a game? What do most people do?

Also, I've got a whole bunch of tokens of various different types. Would it make sense for me to make them all different sizes (they're all rectangular but with different dimensions for each type -- the stupid word processor only knows how to make tables). Would this make sense?

Thanks in advance,

ACG

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Sun, 12/11/2005 - 22:08
#1
sedjtroll
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Making game tiles for a prototype

Different colors might be enough to differentiate the different types of tiles.

As for making tiles, here's what I've done in the past (like yesterday for Terra Prime):

I have a Xyron cold laminator, which is really cool. First I print out the tiles (usually on cardstock - thick paper), then I run that through the laminator with an adhesive cartridge in it - making it into a big sticker. Then I stick that sticker to chipboard - the backing to a pad of paper. If I want thicker tiles I make that into a sticker and stick it to another layer of chipboard.

Then I cut out the tiles. It's good to use thick borders for the tiles (or no borders I guess) and have them printed right up against each other so it's only 1 cut instead of 2 for adjacent edges. I use a rotary trimmer for the cutting.

- Seth

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Sun, 12/11/2005 - 22:48
#2
Rick-Holzgrafe
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Making game tiles for a prototype

If you don't have a Xyron (Seth's right, they're really cool) you can use spray adhesive to turn a printed sheet into a sticker.

Another possibility I just discovered: you can buy sheets of stiff felt with sticky backs at craft stores. Get it in 8.5x11 sizes, peel the backing to reveal the sticky, press on a printed page, then cut with a rotary cutter (or if desperate, scissors). The result is about like light cardboard for weight, but a bit thicker. They don't blow around when you breathe on them, and they're easy to pick up. I doubt if they're very durable, but it's a fast way to make a playable early prototype.

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Sun, 12/11/2005 - 23:14
#3
Kreitler
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Joined: 12/31/1969
Making game tiles for a prototype

Rick-Holzgrafe wrote:
Another possibility I just discovered: you can buy sheets of stiff felt with sticky backs at craft stores. Get it in 8.5x11 sizes, peel the backing to reveal the sticky, press on a printed page, then cut with a rotary cutter (or if desperate, scissors). The result is about like light cardboard for weight, but a bit thicker. They don't blow around when you breathe on them, and they're easy to pick up. I doubt if they're very durable, but it's a fast way to make a playable early prototype.

A similar solution: buy adhesive backed labels (they come in various sizes), print on these, trim to size and stick on the backing of your choice (foam core board works well, but may be too thick for your tiles).

Also, take note: if you do try a spray adhesive (as suggested above), do so outside and away from your house -- especially if you have kids or a pregnant wife. If you read the warning labels on those things, they talk about a lot of scary stuff, like neurological damage and birth defects (!).

K.

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Mon, 12/12/2005 - 06:24
#4
Nestalawe
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Joined: 08/07/2008
Making game tiles for a prototype

Kreitler wrote:

A similar solution: buy adhesive backed labels (they come in various sizes), print on these, trim to size and stick on the backing of your choice (foam core board works well, but may be too thick for your tiles).

Yeah label stickers are good... I've been using A4 size labels, about £8 for 30 pages. Just print right onto them, find some suitable cardboard (used up most of my girlfriends old she boxes...) then cut them out!

For anyone else living in the UK, I found a good source of light foam board stuff - Tesco's tomato and cheese pizza's (99p each methinks...) are on these 5-6mm foam boards. They're pretty clean and cut easily. So half of my big hex tiles, which were on 200gsm card, are now nice and thick. Now I just gotta go get me some more pizza's to do the rest ;)

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Mon, 12/12/2005 - 17:27
#5
jord
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Joined: 12/31/1969
Making game tiles for a prototype

As Rick posted above, sticky backed flet is available at your local michaels or other crafty sort of store. I'm not 100% sure it would be quite sturdy enough for production use, but it should be just fine for prototyping. At $1.50 per sheet, it seems pretty reasonable.

I'm thinking of trying it out as a backing for wooden tiles for games like Hive.

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Mon, 12/12/2005 - 23:35
#6
s2alexan
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Joined: 10/25/2008
Making game tiles for a prototype

I just made a set of 80 tiles - it was quick and easy, and they look perfect. Cobbled together from a bunch of techniques on the web.

1. First, make up artwork for the front and back that lines up.
2. Then, print everything out with an inkjet onto regular paper (better paper looks better, of course)
3. Hold the front and back of your printouts up to the light, line it up, and staple along the long side
4. Take some thin non-corrugated cardboard (cereal boxes work great) and glue the shiny sides together using spray adhesive. Now you have nice, thick cardboard, perfect for tiles. This makes REALLY nice cardboard, and it's basically free. Trim it to the right size with scissors.
5. Spray one side of the cardboard with spray adhesive, and stick on one of your printouts
6. Spray the other side of the cardboard, and then stick on the other printout (it's already stapled to the first side, so it lines up perfectly).
7. Laminate or spray (if you want - but I change my tiles so often it's not worth it).
8. Cut with a rotary cutter (either a papercutter-type one, or a handheld one with a steel ruler). Press hard, and you can get it in a single cut.

Naturally, this is even easier if you only make 1-sided tiles. The rotary cutter is really the key to the whole thing looking good.

But, I have a rule - everything gets printed out on crappy paper first. I'll only upgrade to real cardboard tiles (or counters or whatever) if I play three games in a row, and I still don't want to change the components. I usually end up playing 10-15 games before I'll get 3 games in a row without wanting to change something major :)

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Tue, 12/13/2005 - 02:06
#7
sedjtroll
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Making game tiles for a prototype

Good post! I hadn't thought of the stapling idea, but I have done the following:

I printed out some characters from this site:
http://users.skynet.be/gwindel/index.html
(They have a variety of genres and cool looking guys in most of them)

They are set up to be double sided, with a fold line. I applied sticky to the back - I used the Xyron, but I bet you could use spray adhesive just as well. Before I peeled off the backing I folded the paper in 1/2. I actually used card stock so it would be a little thicker.

Then I peeled one side of the paper and stuck a piece of Chipboard (backing from a pad of paper) into the fold. With one side stuck and in place, I peeled off the other side and applied it. I used mini binder clips as the standing base, I know there are also plastic bases available. But if you're just making counters (not things that stand up) then that doesn't matter.

In order to actually MAKE the double sided image, all you have to do is use the Flip Vertical and Flip Horizontal commands in MS paint or whatever you've got. Draw a line, select the image and the line, Copy, flip horizontal and then vertical, then line up the lines. Just be a little selective about how you line it up and it should work great.

- Seth

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