Wonderful idea! Good luck with the development.
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This is really awesome, I have never heard or even thought about such a thing. I’m going to watch this with great interest! Thank you for sharing!
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super creative, keep us updated!
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This is so cool! I want to play this at our game nights.
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Thanks @whitehill @nateva @jordanloshinsky & @Livi !
Here is an image of a laser cut from one of the earlier prototypes (I used the online service Ponoko to do the cutting).
Since this pic the design has changed a bit and I will be cutting it differently for production, but thought it might be relevant to share with you all how the lantern is being cut:
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Just wanted to update with this little video teaser of the game lantern in action to give anyone curious a better sense of it:
If you happen to be a games person attending PAX east in Boston, Now Play This in London, or Indiecade East in NYC, you’ll be able to play the Larklamp prototype at any of those events (or if you are in Montreal, I’m now hosting a monthly playtest).
More on the shoptalk tip, I picked up this KnK Force (Kickstarter). It has a rotary attachment so I can prototype as I need until my Glowforge arrives:
Still getting the Force up to speed, but so far it appears to be doing the trick on cutting and etching my 3.x mm bamboo ply (in the picture is a copper etching test, which pushed my learning limits) - so looks like I might be able to write Ponoko out of the picture for now which will really speed up prototyping/keep me busy and patient until June.
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Thanks for the information about the KnK Force. I hadn’t seen that before. If I hadn’t just bought a Silhouette Curio, I’d give this some real serious consideration. In fact, I may still.
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It’s still early days for the Force - was only a couple weeks ago the developers pushed out the first stable version of the software (not sure even all the backers have received their units yet)- but I’ve been happy with KnK machines before, so am hoping it will stay up to snuff
I’ll be at PAX East. Let me know what booth you’re in! I definitely want to try this out!
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I was really considering the KnK Force, to do things the Glowforge won’t handle well and help me stave off the yearning. Glad to see it going.
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Great! Look forward to it - I’ll post you on the booth info soon
Might be May before I get back to working deeply again with the Force, but I will post updates about how it performs on this project (and how that work transitions over to the GF)
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Looking smooth. Some kind of a wrist-strap LED for reading your cards in a dark room may be worth investigating as a stretch goal. Physical product, so adds to the cost, but hopefully does not add too heavily.
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or market them as an add-on.
also edge-lit, illuminated card holders, kinda like the letter-holders from scrabble but way more modern… they could be paid-DLC for glowforge owners…
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Those are great ideas about lighting the cards- thanks!
Holy Moley! Excellent all the way around.
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This is absolutely brilliant!!! What a clever use of the light!
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i really like the use of a top instead of dice
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Nice catch about the top - people seem to love it (is this a dream?) I almost got rid of it as it can take too long for chance (compared to dice or spinner) but most playtesters said I should keep it and just mention players can stop it when they want (most of the games won’t require 100% perfect chance anyway). Also offers a quirky little time-skill mechanic for some games (spin it longer for you/your team to have more time advantage to perform an action).
For everyone who’s been following along, I just wanted to mention the Kickstarter for the Larklamp has gone live:
Also, @joe - I can now tell ya that I will be showing the Larklamp as part of the Indie MEGABOOTH at PAX east (they now have a tabletop section sponsored by Cards Against Humanity) — so hope to meet you and play a few games + share some laser-shoptalk
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