For the Box assignment I really wanted to go above and beyond a basic box, since i had built those for an outside of class project. There is a company that makes board game inserts to help keep board games organized and allows the owner to combine copies of the original board game with the later expansions into a single box for ease of transportation and use. Since Broken Token, the company that makes the organizers, didn't have one for Betrayal at the house on the hill, as seen in Fig. 1, yet. I decided it would be a great chance to mimic their style and idea as a proof of concept that allows me to apply to them for a job with quality examples of my own work in their area.
The First step was of course to make a plan each piece of the board game had to be measured and a layout had to be created so that I was sure it would all fit inside the original box. This Process took a cuple of hours and was the Key Component to my success. It was dificult at time because board game boxes , are typicaly, measured in cm or mm, while I am most used to working in Inches.
Fig. 1: Original Measurements and concept
After knocking out the layout I began to build the pieces in Rhino, first creating the objects and then forming the walls around each piece. Making sure that the walls were the exact same thickness as the material I would use allowed me to simply use the walls as cutters to cut the Dove Tailing that would hold the pieces together. As seen in Fig. 2. The outer walls here allow all of the inner pieces to be held together without any type of glue or nails. the pressure form the cardboard sides and the perfectly fitting holes are all the dividers needed to be firmly held in place. That along with cuts that sit inside each other are the Key Design Concepts of this piece.
Fig. 2: In Progress Creating Model
In Fig. 3 you can see the Finalized layout, with both Tray Inserts, These can sit in the box nested into the other pieces of the box, being held tight but still removable from the box, creating a layered effect to allow for better use of the provided space.
Fig. 3: Finished 3D Model with Dove Tailing
Taking the pieces form Fig. 3 I used the pieces to Boolean Difference to create the holes necessary for the Dove tailing, and then laid them out flat side by side and used the Create 2D Drawing feature from the top down camera to get a Schematic. with that done I pulled images off of the playing pieces with a scanner and touched them up in Photoshop, creating Black and White raster images to be engraved into the pieces, thus allowing people unfamiliar with the layout of the organizer to be able to easily use it, as seen in Fig. 4.
Fig.4: 3D to 2D Schematic with Proper Coloring
Due to the nature of the the design the only pieces that needed to be glued were the trays. For them I used a wood Epoxy and Dove Tail system, as seen in Fig 5. This meant there was minimal post cutting work to be done and as soon as the epoxy was dry and the wood pieces were done The box was complete and all that was left was to put the game pieces in.
Fig.5: In Progress cutting and Building
The Completed Box is made out of 5 mm Pine Plywood. I went with a thicker and sturdier material than is typically used by Broken Token to help shore up, what I consider, to be the only major flaw of their product, which is that the material bends and warps to easily over time.
Fig. 6: Final Organizer fit into box
Fig. 7: Final Trays
Here you can see how each piece fits perfectly into its own little area of the box and how each space is used to hold the game pieces in such a way that while being held in place, even if the box gets turned upside down, they will stay in place. it also allows for easy finger access to help retrieve peices from the organizer with minimal effort.
Fig. 8: Box in Use Base
Finally here it is with the second Divider placed in the box atop the base layer fitting in nice and perfect and ready to be taken to a friends house for lots of exciting game play action.
Fig. 9: Full Box
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