Just because ...

[Nathan Caroland]

Just because everyone asks or is curious and ends up poking me about it, and I'm in a semi-informative mood at the moment.

All Crossroads models are currently in tooling - of course CNY is upon us (grr), but it's done. I'm pleased overall. 

All Shifting Loyalties has been sculpted, and splits have begun on them at a very quick clip. We've also ponied up and negotiated on tooling and we're looking into doing slide cores, which is quite a bit more work and resource heavy, but will allow for less splits. We'll see where that goes, but I like the idea.

We're now working full steam on some other projects, some of which y'all will see in the future. 

My informative mood was just spent. That is all. 

[Math Mathonwy]

Cool beans! Thank you for the informative mood!  

I also really appreciate the chance for fewer parts.

[Solicitor 6]

Dear Aaron, Justin, and all others at Wyrd HQ,

You may want to hold a mirror up to "Nathan."  He provided an unsolicited production update on the forums.  Seriously, he started his own thread without poking, prodding, or whining by any community member.  And it was very fascinating and informative.  Given this openness and generosity, I have reason to suspect he may have been replaced by a doppelganger.

Although, if this doppelganger is deciding to be less tight lipped about information, maybe there are no issues.

Please disregard this letter. 

[Pyrflamme]

Glad to hear it. I'm very anxious for future TT releases

[Kobayashi]

This is what I am reading:

2 hours ago, Nathan Caroland said:

I give you now ample time to inform your employer to forward your salary to your miniature store of your trust. We just wanted you to know that your personal luxury consits of canned food. Don't worry, you'll live.

Naturally this is not what Nathan said D:

[Clousseau]

Interesting to hear that you are considering sliding cores in the tools as that will certainly increase the complexity and difficulty to tune out flash. Is anyone else doing that on such detailed, small parts.

[Guslado]

4 hours ago, Nathan Caroland said:

All Shifting Loyalties has been sculpted, and splits have begun on them at a very quick clip. We've also ponied up and negotiated on tooling and we're looking into doing slide cores, which is quite a bit more work and resource heavy, but will allow for less splits. We'll see where that goes, but I like the idea.
 

What exactly are sliding cores and how do they differ from normal injection molding?

[Nathan Caroland]

Two part molds make up most of our tooling - two pieces coming together - inject - open - eject - start the process again. That's why there can not be undercuts, and thus the amount of cuts. The more dynamic the piece, the more PIA it can become. A firm example is what we did with the starter box minis and how folks note that they are much more 'static' vs. some of our other models. It's a line you have to decide which side you want to be on. That's not to say that there haven't been a few head slapping moments where a small change would have worked wonders and not made much difference in the dynamic of the model. 

Slide core - if you wanted to you could open up the tool like a rose petal, every one opening up until you see what you have in the middle. Usually five or more tools, sometimes quite a bit more, but allows for undercuts due to the fact that the mold is coming together from various angles/views, thus allowing for something to go from potentially ten pieces down to three, etc. Requires quite a bit more work when it comes to CNC tool cutting. 

 

1 hour ago, Clousseau said:

Interesting to hear that you are considering sliding cores in the tools as that will certainly increase the complexity and difficulty to tune out flash. Is anyone else doing that on such detailed, small parts.

Not many people are doing what we do now, and like when we moved to plastic years ago, we're looking to push a few boundaries and see what can be done, particularly if we can deliver a better end product to the consumer. Besides, even I'm not so much a masochistic when it comes to building something like Lucky Emissary. Nothing is set in stone till it happens, but it is certainly the direction we're currently moving. 

 

[Yvarre]

I feel that Wyrd has the best looking minis on the market.  The fact that you're pushing the envelope even more to make them with fewer pieces is awesome R&D for the whole industry, in which you guys are the cutting edge. 

I used to model alot when I was a kid, but I stopped when I became aware of the effects that different compounds have on the human body and larger global ramifications of resource extraction and manufacturing.  The level of detail and dynamic sculpting of Malifaux models was something I weighed against environmental and economic factors and personal exposure to chemicals.  Ultimately though, the game design and the community in conjunction with the amazing artistry prevailed in my desire to invest in the product.  The fact that I may be able to do so in the future with less exposure to modeling cement is really awesome for me, as I do have strong chemical sensitivities.

Thank you for sharing!

[Bengt]

Does Lazarus use slide core moulds? Was a while since I assembled him, but I seem to recall him having undercuts on several pieces.

[Munindk]

From my perspective Wyrd miniatures are the most dynamic and true to scale miniatures* on the market at the moment, if the price for that is a few assembly issues, I'm OK with that. So far I havent encounteret anything that a tweezer and a little patience couldnt overcome.

Thanks for the information and a huge thumps up for pushing the boundries in the pursuit of quality

*yes, a certain Death Marshal and probably other models arent true to scale, but I think that has more to do with them being sculpted from a perspective (like the Watcher), than a compromise to make spearshafts double size to avoid breaks.

[hunthor]

I really hope this fixes the scale issues. I can deal with lots of pieces (although the amount of cuts is silly). Can't sand opening a box and finding one (or the only) miniature is out of scale.

[MrDeathTrout]

Thanks for the update.  I lover you mini's as well as the game, but if I could ask for one thing it would be more "durable" designs.  Most of the models are as durable as they need to be, but there are a couple with portions so small I don't see how they could survive as anything but show pieces.  A perfect example is Thin Lizzy's cigarette.  I've heard this complaint more than once in my community.

Thanks

[Nathan Caroland]

17 hours ago, Bengt said:

Does Lazarus use slide core moulds? Was a while since I assembled him, but I seem to recall him having undercuts on several pieces.

Yup. He was a bit of an experiment early on when we were still figuring out plastic to be honest. He might be a bit more action figure than needed to be honest, but it was fun at the time to try something new out, though I won't be taking it quite that far in the future for various reasons. 

[zeeblee]

5 hours ago, Nathan Caroland said:

Yup. He was a bit of an experiment early on when we were still figuring out plastic to be honest. He might be a bit more action figure than needed to be honest, but it was fun at the time to try something new out, though I won't be taking it quite that far in the future for various reasons. 

I actually think action-figure poseability is great (look at master-grade Gundam kits), but Lazarus' pose still ends up looking kind of static due to not requiring 8000 pieces (again, Gundam kits).

[Sordid Strumpet]

14 hours ago, MrDeathTrout said:

Thanks for the update.  I lover you mini's as well as the game, but if I could ask for one thing it would be more "durable" designs.  Most of the models are as durable as they need to be, but there are a couple with portions so small I don't see how they could survive as anything but show pieces.  A perfect example is Thin Lizzy's cigarette.  I've heard this complaint more than once in my community.

Thanks

Okay, but it's just a cigarette. If you feel it isn't suitable for a gaming piece, leave/cut it off? I have left off bits like twigs from bad Juju because it seemed at risk of breaking off during transport and the model is just as good wothiut it. That, and the 3D render gave no indication as to where the damned twig was supposedtot go anyway  

[daniello_s]

On 1/27/2016 at 6:32 PM, Math Mathonwy said:

Cool beans! Thank you for the informative mood!  

I also really appreciate the chance for fewer parts.

Less parts? Gremlins will never be the same...

[yool1981]

As always it is very pleasing to see Wyrd's willingness to communicate with the player community. Thanks a lot for sharing the news. I hope your experimentations bear fruits.

On 27/1/2016 at 11:55 PM, Nathan Caroland said:

On 27/1/2016 at 10:56 PM, Clousseau said:

Interesting to hear that you are considering sliding cores in the tools as that will certainly increase the complexity and difficulty to tune out flash. Is anyone else doing that on such detailed, small parts.

Not many people are doing what we do now, and like when we moved to plastic years ago, we're looking to push a few boundaries and see what can be done, particularly if we can deliver a better end product to the consumer. Besides, even I'm not so much a masochistic when it comes to building something like Lucky Emissary. Nothing is set in stone till it happens, but it is certainly the direction we're currently moving. 

I've been playing minis for 23 years now and I honestly think that Wyrd has the best looking range of models on the market. There is a global coherence across the factions and the minis translate perfectly the artistic line and feeling given by the artworks.

I rate Wyrd's range higher than Infinity's and even Eden's (and so far above anything done by PP). Lately I found GW's plastic less impressive so Wyrd has even overcome GW as my reference for plastic mini sculpts.

So all in all, please keep going forward and provide us with ever more impressive minis (although please kindly take care about the transportation practicality (I like Malifaux because I don't need to take 1000 huge bags with me when I take the subway) and playability issues (I hope they all fit on their bases )).

[MrDeathTrout]

9 hours ago, Sordid Strumpet said:

Okay, but it's just a cigarette. If you feel it isn't suitable for a gaming piece, leave/cut it off? I have left off bits like twigs from bad Juju because it seemed at risk of breaking off during transport and the model is just as good wothiut it. That, and the 3D render gave no indication as to where the damned twig was supposedtot go anyway  

I do modify some of my models for these reasons, but others are more work than I'd like to go through, like my Thunder Archer that is firing a bow with no arrow since the only point sporting the arrow (a long lever) is the finger tips of the archer attached to the fletching of the arrow.  I would like it better if models designed to be played with were designed to be played with.

[valhallan42nd]

1 hour ago, MrDeathTrout said:

I do modify some of my models for these reasons, but others are more work than I'd like to go through, like my Thunder Archer that is firing a bow with no arrow since the only point sporting the arrow (a long lever) is the finger tips of the archer attached to the fletching of the arrow.  I would like it better if models designed to be played with were designed to be played with.

To your point, I find that there are simple mods that people can do: spear shafts are easily replaced by steel shafts, IE, paper clips.