First big project - Catan remake

Received our Glowforge only this summer (when Norwegian preorders finally shipped), and since then have used it mostly for small things and testing.

I like board games, and liked the Settlers of Catan board in the kickstarter video, so I decided to make my own, I went a bit overboard, and did a complete reskin to a sci-fi colonisation theme. 3D-printed game pieces (unique design per player), and printed cards, but the board and box is all Glowforge (designed in Illustrator).

Let me introduce, “Colonists”:

Material was some cheap 3.6 mm maple plywood I got hold of, except for the card holders (proofgrade maple) and the small box lids (proofgrade acrylic).

Everything fits snugly in the box, as shown in this video clip (even if turned on it’s side, everything stays in place):

The alien (robber piece) is the one thing that’s not my design. It was just too good. I got it from Thingyverse (it’s a “Fucktopus”).

Here the finished game is being played for the first time, so you can see the board fully assembled:

Box was a bit of a challenge to plan and design in Illustrator, as it has several layers and it all needs to slot together perfectly in three dimensions (I probably should learn Fusion 360 one day):

Hinges are my own idea that I’m quite happy with. It’s simply those small metal plugs you get from e.g. Ikea or similar to hold up shelves. They have a slight raised ring in the middle so if inserted between two pieces they don’t slide out (you’d literally need to disassemble the lid to get them out):

Gold toner used on the development cards so they feel a bit fancy:

The game has a ton of sci-fi references (for example the ports are stargates and mass effect relays, and the cards have the corners cut off like in Battlestar Galactica). The knights have been replaced by spaceships in my edition; how many can you name?

Since it was my first large project I made a bunch of mistakes (e.g. “alien” and the numbers on the small boxes, are written upside-down), and there are many things that could be improved, but now it’s fully playable so it’s good enough for now. Might have to make a “cities and knights” expansion in the future to actually make it a better game. :smiley:

Edit: All my files can be downloaded here if you want to use them for whatever. But be aware that they are not very tidy as they were not created to be shared or easy to use.

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This whole thing is just lovely! Catan is one of my favorite games :smiley:

Do you mean you printed them, or did you get toner to stick via the :glowforge:?

OMG that’s hilarious!

Your colours are great and the settlements would look perfect on Tatooine :smiley:
Beautiful work

About half :stuck_out_tongue:

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Do you mean you printed them, or did you get toner to stick via the :glowforge:?

The resource/development cards are printed. Not made on the Glowforge. We have a Xerox 1000 Color Press at work that I used for the dev. cards as it has gold toner. :slight_smile:

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That Octopus - I see why you couldn’t ignore it. I tend to get excited when one is sent in my direction.
I had a restraining order to prove it. :smiling_imp:

Great job all around!

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A very impressive implementation of the game! I’d love to see a closeup of your hinge arrangement; I’m not getting it from the description.

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Pretty snazzy! I bought all the different woods to make a traditional Catan game before our Glowforge arrived.

It is amazing how little time there is to use it in our household, let along to play a “new to us” game. I finally decided to save the wood for something else.

Still I enjoy every Catan game posted! You have some great details!

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Here’s a close-up of the hinge design from a test I made:

And a video clip of assembling it, that shows it much clearer:

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Oh, I got it! Very clever idea!

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This so well done! Love the hinge! I have a ton of those pieces lying around from old shelving units. Now I can use them. :slight_smile: Thanks for the great idea!

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Nice project. The hinge is slick.

That’s a fantastic project. And very generous of you to share the files. Thanks for documenting everything and looks like you have a very unique bored to play with. Love the Sci-Fi references

Slaps hand to forehead as soon as I see your hinge idea - obvious and brilliant.

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I’ve read through this a couple of times since it has been posted. Was showing my MIL some pictures from different Catan boards and accessories on the forum and suddenly I saw the link. Thank you for posting; so glad I came back again!

I’ve got LOTS of those IKEA shelf holders…now to swipe them back for use with the glowforge!

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You knocked it out of the park! I especially like the hinges and the clear acrylic tops. What were the kerf settings you used? Did you glues the tops together after assembly or leave them to be taken apart?

I don’t exactly remember how much if compensated for the kerf, but I was using some crappy non-proofgrade wood anyway so I wouldn’t trust transferring the settings. I dialed it in by trial and error - so it fits very tight (but i still added tiny amounts of glue).

The acrylic tops actually fit snugly just from the tight pressure and are not glued (which is good, because I didn’t have any glue for acrylics).

Do you still have the file for the game pieces? The link to tinkercad in your zip file no longer works.

This is so awesome!! LOVE the details!!

So cool and I really like the hinge design. Now where to find the parts… hmmm

Edit: these might work
100PCS Shelf Pins, VAKOGAL Shelf Holder Support Pins 5mm/0.2inch, Made from Nickel-Plated Metal Material, Shelf Pegs are Anti-Corrosion, Sturdy and Durable, for Furniture Shelves Bracket https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07NTDTFHP

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Thank you for the link
:innocent:

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Here is a new tinkercad-link: https://www.tinkercad.com/things/73W4Wz8FPGA-copy-of-expansion-pieces/edit?sharecode=hY4iyoWwULjuTLXg9nxT-AEstWT4uEd1sqJ6Xq87JY8

Seems they expire after 14 days. Oh well. :confused:

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