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I came upon an interesting project on Indiegogo.

https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/fracture-fall-rpg-adventure/x/15715359#/

That physical reward
Have you pledged on kickstarters and other crowdfunding projects with miniatures that you've been satisfied with? What do you think of this?

GorkaMorkaDorka wrote:
That physical reward

Is it a sock puppet?

It looks like quality 3d prints are still quite expensive.

OP, please edit the subject of the thread to properly represent the content you are trying to share.

Check!
I hope this is better.

GorkaMorkaDorka wrote:
Check!
I hope this is better.

Not really, the thread title still does not convey that this is about a crowdfounding campaign for an RPG game.

 Seneca wrote:
the thread title still does not convey that this is about a crowdfounding campaign for an RPG game.

That's true I guess. But I posted it mostly because of the 3d printed reward - the space station miniature you can get. And I am curious if it's somehting that is going on, or if people have experiences with 3d prints like this.

The real question that you are asking, "Is a 3d printed miniature a viable reward for a crowdfunding campaign and has anyone received something similar?".

The short answer is, Yes.

Whether you are doing resin or plastic miniatures, they either come from a hand sculpted master or a 3d printed master. The question of if a 3d printed miniature can be high quality is definitely yes. It just depends on how much they are paying for it, who is doing the printing, what kind of printer, etc.

The long answer is, be wary.

Take for example this campaign example, there are a few red flags. The campaign is $20K. Given the miniature size, we'll say it takes 6 hours to print. We'll say the majority of backers do a $75 value, meaning that they need at least 266 backers to fund. It will take 1596 hours (66 days) to print them all. However that in itself is the red flag, other than there is no information on who is doing the printing, what printer they are using, etc.

The main red flag to me is why a 3d printed miniature. For a small campaign it can make sense but for a $20K campaign it doesn't make sense. If you are estimating you are going to make a couple hundred of something, it is more inexpensive to pay for one master print and have it cast. Then it provides a more inexpensive product to backers as a reward, increasing the usable profit of that reward.

That is my quick 5 minute analysis so your mileage will vary.

Thanks for the reply!

66 days sounds like a long time, huh. Then again, if they ship the rewards when the game is completed, it'll probably take a year or so?

Have you backed 3d printed projects before? Or is most of it open source, and then you just need to find someone with a decent enough printer or print yourself at Shapeways or somewhere similar.

I have backed multiple "3d projects" most of them supply STL for products instead of a 3d printed item. There have been a couple small ones that had 3d printed product.

However the majority of the time it isn't worth it for the "Project Creator". What I mean is 3d printing isn't necessarily a cheaper option. It can be if you want to print multiple unique and different pieces. Once you start printing the same thing multiple times in batches of 50-100+, then it is still more economical to have them cast than printed. After a certain volume 3d prints are not cheaper or faster.

This seems more like, pledge for the game and not the model.

Looking at the pledges, you are also paying $60-65 for the model. And that is for the smallest one. Paying $240 for the one that actually the size of your hand.

While a neat piece, the value there is just.... lacking, especially with what Dark Severance has pointed out. Maybe if it was a high quality resin piece with a TON of detail, but overall its kind of a simple model.

I feel they would be better off just offering the plans for 10-15 bucks, and use that to feed the campaign. Let the backer print it wherever.

I saw a makingof post of the station at reddit and it looked kinda detailed. Maybe it's the STL tech that limits the amount of details here (assuming that's how it was printed).

It would also be neat to see the whole model printed out, not just the top piece.