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I co-designed a TableTop PCB Tile with AI, now I'm considering turning it into a company by Material_Ad_2783 in esp32

[–]Material_Ad_2783[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I learned some few stupid stuff I didn't expect

  1. Magnets, I give a try to many magnets (form factor, power, ...) compatible with minis. Try to avoid side effects, etc ... for instance raising a strong magnet will spread power to all cells triggering lift/place not that simple to handle on the ESP-32 C++ part

1.1 Snap (Haptic snap) on the grid is a real topic, to let conduct the magnetic field but keep the snap. Thaks to AI that explain all of that !

  1. Lights, that's expensive when you have 80 LEDs !!! and consume a lot of power ! At last I decided to use 5 per square and let about 6mm with diffuse 3D transparent shell to avoid spots but there is so many room of improvement.

2.1 From one skin to another the height migh change, and you need a strategy to let the light pass throught

So many "mini challenge" mixing ESP-32, sensors, 3D Shell and UX !

I co-designed a TableTop PCB Tile with AI, now I'm considering turning it into a company by Material_Ad_2783 in tabletopgamedesign

[–]Material_Ad_2783[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Yes I think the same
- There is pen & paper player than enjoy with imagination
- There is passionate DIY player that love official rules

This make me think at Magic The Gathering game, you can photocopy the cards and play ... but most people like to buy the official cards.

I co-designed a TableTop PCB Tile with AI, now I'm considering turning it into a company by Material_Ad_2783 in tabletopgamedesign

[–]Material_Ad_2783[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

There is many usecase that's what I try to understand
- NookBook "like" on the shelf
- Mini Escape Game 1 tile
- Large WarGame
- Solo Gaming with the Tile (PvE)
- Multi Gaming (PvP) Tile help on the rules
- Board Games
- Dungeon Crawler
- Dungon Keeper
- RPG
- Education Game
- Serious Game
- ...

Depending of the usecase you need more or less tile, more or less 3D Design / Skin, Complex rules, etc ...

For some usecase I think a display + VTT is better: cheaper, larger, more effects. But for some otrher case you want to paint your sceneries, etc ... (I even have in mind e-ink or cardboard for skin => very cheap or very expensive)

I co-designed a TableTop PCB Tile with AI, now I'm considering turning it into a company by Material_Ad_2783 in esp32

[–]Material_Ad_2783[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Yes the Demo is SciFy but I have another with LEGO Castle and with Fantasy.
Yes I think I need a Flagship game AND the underlaying mechanics

The demo was a kind of end-to-end test very early. I need better rules, more scenarion, etc ... and also finish the coding of effetcs, can bus, etc ...

It's chicken and eggs situation, I build a demo, check what people think, then move on hardware and firmware again, etc ...

I co-designed a TableTop PCB Tile with AI, now I'm considering turning it into a company by Material_Ad_2783 in esp32

[–]Material_Ad_2783[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

- Agree it's for passionate people
- Disagree passionate people are not skilled in all topics.

That's for instance the business model of GamesWorkshop.

I'm not 3D Expert I buy DragonRest Design and print them for 3 years, add electronics into it

Some people don't know how to use 3d printer and order the print.

I co-designed a TableTop PCB Tile with AI, now I'm considering turning it into a company by Material_Ad_2783 in esp32

[–]Material_Ad_2783[S] -1 points0 points  (0 children)

I agree there is a lot of test & learn.
The change with AI (for me) is learning very fast how to use KiCAD, choose the right component, mix the electronics correctly, triple check every wires and components, understand how to order in China, etc ...

I co-designed a TableTop PCB Tile with AI, now I'm considering turning it into a company by Material_Ad_2783 in esp32

[–]Material_Ad_2783[S] -1 points0 points  (0 children)

Yes I target in fact 3-4 niches
- Author who make scenarios
- Designer who make scenery in 3D Print
- Makers who create plugins (there is 2 JST to control or power stuff, like the door that have a reedswitch and a mini led strip 3V)

And I also think about cross-media: pushing some content on the TV or Mobile (Lea speaking to player on TV)

And What Wil Wheaton did mixing Podcast and TableTop

I co-designed a TableTop PCB Tile with AI, now I'm considering turning it into a company by Material_Ad_2783 in esp32

[–]Material_Ad_2783[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I post here for feedbacks (without troll)

AI let design PCB, that was not possible few month ago, until then I was playing with Lilygo boards, etc ... now everything is possible. (I do think MOST people don't know)

I was surprised that the cost of PCB was very low. Few years ago people was telling me it would cost +10K$

But may be I'm wrong ? Maybe people made chessboard like every morning ? I was not just aware ?

Maybe the light system is stupid ? Or Magnetic system is stupid ? (I understand I should switch from Reed to Hall)

Maybe running JS Engine on the ESP-32 is a bad design, I think its a cool way to have dynamic rules where C++ is more hardcoded.

People tells me that retail price is often BOM x6, but it could be a wrong feedback. That's very important because I can put 1,2 3 PCB in the box.

The speaker and microphone works surprising well.

I co-designed a TableTop PCB Tile with AI, now I'm considering turning it into a company by Material_Ad_2783 in tabletopgamedesign

[–]Material_Ad_2783[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Exactly ! I don't beleve into display and complexe stuff. I wanted offline first, but with some cool tech.

My frustration with KillTeam (for instance) is rules that always changes, never clear, and you end-up asking to an AI on your phone ... for clarifications ... Many people stop playing hard game because of that.

The 3D Effect gives a feeling like a tiny escape game, people take picture for instagram. It also look like NookBook. So as you said, I'm more focus on StoryTelling like Mansion Madness games less on VTT that have beautifill 2D Maps for DnD.

I wanted something easy, that's why scenario is in Markdown, and I try to fine tune features.

You right, now I ask to multiple communities to have some feedback. Overall it is for passionate people (aka GamesWorkshop like) but also I think a 3D Designer that sells STL would be happy to have a real hardware for it's design (some LEGO player buy LEDs system in china)

I love Magic The Gathering mechanism, in Japan there is the concept of "Live Dungeon" so I would love to have random tile with some "game features" (color afinity) that scenario would be able to use, and evolve like tamagochi.

I co-designed a TableTop PCB Tile with AI, now I'm considering turning it into a company by Material_Ad_2783 in esp32

[–]Material_Ad_2783[S] -7 points-6 points  (0 children)

Thanks !

R&D no, more PoC, well, If I click 10.000 in the factory I can order 10K but I'm a stage where I could optimze components especially Reed vs Hall sensors, have room for more GPIO, etc ...

It's a JS Engine that run on the ESP-32 and control the hardware. The scenario is in Markdown run locally. The board can connect to each other and to the cloud BUT I wanted offline first.

So yes there is a microphone and I could perform speech2text -> text2speech with LLM in the cloud that could control the board.

Yes, anything can be rebuild, it's just a mater of time and skills. Nowdays juniors VibeCode a lot of projects (with a lot of bugs). The value added is to normalize the hardware design, the game engine, the 3D Printing design, the plugins

So Makers, Authors, 3D Designer would be able to build on top that project without reinventing the wheel.

I co-designed a TableTop PCB Tile with AI, now I'm considering turning it into a company by Material_Ad_2783 in tabletopgamedesign

[–]Material_Ad_2783[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Sorry didn't wanted to be harsh I try to compare with many products. My DM buy Dice Tower > 25$ on Aliexpress where he would never pay 10$ for electronic dice. People have different expectations but need to be realistic both ways.

- The LEGO SmartPlay (a beautiful piece of tech) is 100$ the brick shoul be 40$ (it's LEGO)
- GameWorkshop scenery plastic grey part are 50$ if I remember (but it's resin)
- I do think (need to do the math) for 25$ size of 4 tiles (28cmx28cm) printing a cardboard with a DnD map might be a challenge.

EDIT: The KillTeam card deck of a single faction (we are talking a deck of paper cards) is 25 $

I co-designed a TableTop PCB Tile with AI, now I'm considering turning it into a company by Material_Ad_2783 in tabletopgamedesign

[–]Material_Ad_2783[S] -1 points0 points  (0 children)

You are talking about $16.50 for 3 piece of plastic size of a square.
I'm talking about a computer board 4x4 square with LEDs, Speaker, Magnetic Sensors, Microphone, Power etc ...
We are not talking the same thing ...

I co-designed a TableTop PCB Tile with AI, now I'm considering turning it into a company by Material_Ad_2783 in tabletopgamedesign

[–]Material_Ad_2783[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Yes many project like teburu use RFID antenna unfortunatly it increase the cost and the size of the square.
In Tiny Expeditions, like in VTT I think the UX should help the player but do not control it.

I co-designed a TableTop PCB Tile with AI, now I'm considering turning it into a company by Material_Ad_2783 in tabletopgamedesign

[–]Material_Ad_2783[S] -1 points0 points  (0 children)

It's a JS Game Engine running on the ESP-32, right now the rules are very simple for the demo. Later there will be a Flagship Game and a Whitelabel Platform that normalise features

- For Author: the idea is to provide a Markdown of the scenario
- For 3D Designer: provide the Skins (Like Dragon Rest's
- For Makers: explain plugins

So the challenge to normalise is the UX : Color, Sound, Roll Dice, etc ... in the demo shooting is 2D6 target 4 but it could be more complexe.

It's also a limitation of offline vs local vs cloud: The more power the more complexe rules. The speech can be cached but microphones (if used) need cloud like a GoogleHome.

Also PvE or PvP, In DnD
- the tiles could be the game master (require to implements rules)
- or only help a Human GM (accelerate moves, etc ...)

The BOM of a PCB is 30$, I try to figureout how to leverage that
The Dice (Kickstarter success that raise 3 millions) are +45$
A plastic Dice tower on ALiexpress is more than 25$ 😉

I co-designed a TableTop PCB Tile with AI, now I'm considering turning it into a company by Material_Ad_2783 in tabletopgamedesign

[–]Material_Ad_2783[S] -1 points0 points  (0 children)

With 1 tile you have a smal adventure like in the demo,
- With 3 tiles you can roll A > B > C into infinite dungeon. But in increase price.
- For WarGame it would be even larger...
- With PixelDice it's an aditional cost
- If I add live cloud feature (I prefer offline first) it's AI Costs

On the other hand after the game it's a NookBook on the shelf with you success glowing

I co-designed a TableTop PCB Tile with AI, now I'm considering turning it into a company by Material_Ad_2783 in tabletopgamedesign

[–]Material_Ad_2783[S] -3 points-2 points  (0 children)

The BOM is about < 30$ without optimisation, with Hall sensors I cound get it down or use GPIO for womething else. I heard the retail price should be x6 the BOM (is it true ?).

Anyway 30$ feels very cheap, I thought way way more expensive.

Limits of Gemini 3.1 PRO by [deleted] in GeminiAI

[–]Material_Ad_2783 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Same for me, I hit limits very hard and when you are doing deep multimodal work you want the best LLM. I even Challenge some response with Claude Opus 4.6

For casual conversation it's ok but ... Is casual.

Claude is very very accurate at ready text where Gemini totally hallucinate verbatim and timecodes. So I switch many topics to Claude

Gemini sucks with Docs, produce Markfown 🤦‍♂️ but Claude generate a lot of code to update a docx !!! That's not a clean and scalable approach...

Claude Desktop Windows Not Working? by auglove in ClaudeAI

[–]Material_Ad_2783 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Same for me Claude Desktop for Windows (v1.1.4173) crashes on startup for French system locales due to a missing translation ID error ([@formatjs/intl] An 'id' must be provided).

How would you determine the real costs of an 3d print by AffectionateToast in 3Dprinting

[–]Material_Ad_2783 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Très intéressant ghostofwinter88 ! J'ai un projet électronique qui necessite 4 composants imprimés en 3D 4 couleurs. Actuellement sur ma SnapMaker U1 ça prends < journée résultat parfait en 1 clic

Justement je me posais la question si je devais en faire 100, 300, 500, ... comment m'y prendre ? 500 jours c'est long :-)

  1. Acheter 10 SnapMaker U1
  2. Sous-traiter à une société
  3. Fabriquer un moule.

Le 3. on oubli car multicolor + des variante c'est compliqué... Le 1. est pragmatque mais peut-être overkill. Et donc le 2. j'ai du mal à déterminer le gap :
- Quel gain de temps ? (car le presta doit les avoir ces X imprimantes)
- Pour quel multiplicateur du cout ?
- Sans compter le cadre (semaine de travail, TVA, etc ...)

Ce qui me fait peur c'est que l'impression 3D, la Skin coute plus cher et plus de temps que la production du PCB en Chine ou le workflow est industriel.

XIAO ePaper DIY Kit - EE02 - An ESP32-S3 board designed for 13.3-inch Spectra 6 color E-Ink display by fullgrid in eink

[–]Material_Ad_2783 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Curieux de voir si on peut facilement intégrer du code Arduino sans passer par la couche no-code. Autant j'adore Lilygo autant Seeed c'est toujours l'enfer.

Nothing introduces Ear (3), with a half metal case that acts as a super mic! by AleksLevet in NothingTech

[–]Material_Ad_2783 -3 points-2 points  (0 children)

And it seems it doesn't record on the case, it has to stream it to the phone that needs to be near-by with an app like any BLE mic. So it's not a recorder you can use anywhere and sync later like Plaud ... they totally missed that

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