{"id":10161,"date":"2021-10-22T09:05:38","date_gmt":"2021-10-22T14:05:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.storeallthebits.com\/site\/?p=10161"},"modified":"2021-10-29T15:40:39","modified_gmt":"2021-10-29T20:40:39","slug":"board-game-insert-designer-diary-assess-space-and-components","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.storeallthebits.com\/site\/2021\/10\/22\/board-game-insert-designer-diary-assess-space-and-components\/","title":{"rendered":"Board Game Insert Designer Diary: Assess Space and Components"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t
Previously: Tools of the Trade<\/a><\/strong><\/td>Next Up: Initial Insert Designs – Part I<\/a><\/strong><\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table>

Welcome to our Designer Diary series<\/a><\/strong> on how we design our inserts.\u00a0 Use the links above to move through the series.<\/p>

To initiate this phase of our insert design journey, we start with getting a “lay of the land” so to speak for the insert.\u00a0 This gives us an idea of how much space is available and the general configuration of that space.\u00a0 Typically, we like to create areas that are sizeable enough to be able to arrange one or more inserts and not have much, if any, remaining space.\u00a0 In general, we prefer not to create voids in the box that are too small to use.\u00a0 After we have the available space identified, we then get general sizing requirements for the game components.<\/p>

Step 1 – Identify overall dimensions of the interior of the box bottom<\/b><\/p>

With the overall interior dimensions of the box bottom, we’ll carve out whatever space is required to hold any boards that are part of the game.\u00a0 In this case, the hand drawn notes show the overall box is 218mm square and has 47mm remaining after the main board is laid down.\u00a0 We generally prefer to put game boards on the bottom, or first in, in order to make the overall process run more smoothly.<\/p>

\"\"<\/a>Here you can see a picture of the box with boards inserted, and the diagram shows the measurements of the open spaces.\u00a0 Looking at the top-down view, we see that there is a 20mm gap at the end of the player board stack.\u00a0 Would be nice to fill that so the stack of boards doesn’t float around in the box, but it is awfully small.<\/p>

While we could spread out the player board stack so it isn’t as high, it is sort of nice to have the extra depth on the one large area, and two player boards side by side still leave an open gap on the long side.\u00a0 We’ll stick with the single stack of player boards on top of the game board.<\/p>

So, looking at the overall, we’ve got two main areas to work with:<\/p>

  1. Large deep area<\/b> – 218 x 123 (space next to the player board stack) x 47 (height from top of game board to top of box) – the height could be divided or layered, with the most logical breakdown being to run a set of inserts up to the height of the player board stack, and then we’d have a large 218 x 218 x 22 area to work with for additional inserts.<\/li>
  2. Narrow shallow area<\/b> – 218 x 95 (width of the player board stack) x 22 (space remaining above the player board stack) – this would match the footprint of the player boards.<\/li><\/ol>

    Step 2 – Understand the general sizing of the components<\/b>\u00a0<\/p>

    Basically, we just pull out all the components, separate them by type, and logical use, and then get measurements for each grouping where we can.\u00a0 Cards (once sleeved) are pretty easy to size, as well as things like tiles, dice, and markers.\u00a0 We generally get the size of the entire collection (stack of cards, or set of dice) and then get the size of an individual component of the collection (single card, single worker, single die).<\/p>

    Things get a little less quantifiable when you start looking at piles of coins, tokens, supplies, etc.\u00a0 The sizing for those can be a good deal more fluid.\u00a0 You just have to make sure whatever space you allocate is large enough to be usable and the components don’t stick up above the tray wall.\u00a0 Our general preference is to size trays such that they can be used at the table and players can pull from the trays during the game.<\/p>

    Here’s a picture of the bagged components separated out by type.<\/p>

    \"\"<\/a><\/p>

    Cards, dice, and quests are the most “stable” components from a sizing perspective. With only 4 player markers, they could easily be something that is given a fixed space as well.\u00a0 The rest of the components (workers (red, grey, blue), provisions, Kumis, wounds, and money) are all in that fluid category where we’ll just plan on providing some kind of “box” that they dump into.\u00a0 The last remaining item is the cloth bag that holds the resources.\u00a0 That is technically an insert unto itself, since it can be stored as is.\u00a0 During setup you draw resources out of the bag, so the resources don’t have to be pre-sorted.\u00a0 The only issue is that the bag is a bit squishy and could be difficult to get an empty space allocated that would “hold the full bag” and not let other inserts shift around.<\/p>

    Here are the initial sizing measurements taken for those components.<\/p>