ARTIFICER DICE
2020
Artificer Dice are polyhedral die that feature light animations used in tabletop games that require a twenty-sided die (d20). By tossing the die either to themselves or another player, light and sound will animate to signify their “roll.”
“It really looks like a powerful magical device!”
—Jean Simonet
Lead Designer + Founder, Pixels Dice
PROTOTYPE v0.0
Initial prototype was made out of Cardboard
and Thermoformed Polyethelene Foam, no internal fixtures. Minimal electronics including only an Arduino, Accelerometer, and Neopixels.
PROTOTYPE v1.0
Due to the difficult shape of the Icosahedron I wanted to figure out how I could produce the form in multiple injection-moldable pieces—ultimately settling on a “mortise and tenon” construction akin to the K’nex I used as a kid. While not perfect, they allowed me to get closer to what a fully realized product would look like.
The first playtest with friends reavealed the whole object needed to lighter and more structurally sound, as many of
its faces failed to stay in place while handling.
PROTOTYPE v2.0
I had discovered how to make a folding shape with thermoformed faces that nested together—fully enclosing the Icosahedron. This provided an obvious avenue to design and produce an exoskeleton that could provide external structure and carry visual visual themes to really sell the idea that this is a mystical arcane device.
PROTOTYPE v3.0 + FUTURE
All of the components were designed with injection-molding in mind, and are held together with screws—a solution I hope to minimize in the next round of development. Flexible PCB’s would decrease the overall weight and allow for more internal space for additional modules such as a speaker, sound board and bluetooth functionality. I would also like to develop a more ecologically sustainable product—if it can be done.
