Let's Talk About Decals
I've been working on Mobile Frame Zero decals and have come to an interesting conclusion: if I don't die cut the stickers, I can include four sheets of decals for everyone who's getting them! I was planning on three, but this opens up some real possibilities as long as my backers are comfortable using scissors or an X-Acto.
More sheets means that I can include a greater variety of decals, because I can put fewer of each design on a sheet!
So below, you'll see the decal sheet as it now exists. Some of the decals are abstract, and I'm assuming that you guys will either use them as abstract symbols or draw on them to customize them. The 2x2 grid ones will be good for objective flags as well as big shields or battle flags or whatever. But they take a lot of space! Since we've got four sheets now, let's see what else we can put on there! Give me some ideas and I'll replace some of the redundant ones.
I'd love to hear from you backers what else you'd like on the sheets! Please keep in mind that representational images won't look good at this scale. Think about things that will look good when a player draws on them with a Sharpie, or that you can use for lots of purposes. Think of them like LEGO® pieces, not complete little pieces of art.
The little ones are 6mm square to fit on a 1x1 tile. The big ones are about 13mm square to fit on a 2x2, the size of a flag. The long ones are 6mm x 26mm, the length of a 1x4.
Let's hear your ideas!
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Mar 5, 2012 -
Apr 11, 2012
- 2 created · 51 backed
- Joshua A.C. Newman 518 friends
- Website: glyphpress.com
Pledge $10 or more
585 backers
A PDF copy of the game rules! You'll need dice and LEGO or another building toy to play. You'll get the PDF as soon as it's finished!
Estimated delivery: May 2012Pledge $20 or more
1611 backers
The Mobile Frame Zero: Rapid Attack book, printed and glossy, and shipped to your door, plus the PDF as soon as it's finished! We're pricing it as low as we can to make it a kid-friendly price. You'll need dice and LEGO or another building toy to play. (please add $5 for international backers.)
Estimated delivery: Jun 2012Pledge $40 or more
109 backers
Two copies of the rule book for you and a friend! (Please add $5 for international backers.)
Estimated delivery: Jun 2012Pledge $50 or more
111 backers
The Mobile Frame Zero: Rapid Attack book & PDF with a sheet of special edition decals for all three factions designed by Joshua A.C. Newman! You'll need dice and LEGO or another building toy to play. (please add $5 for international backers.)
Estimated delivery: Jun 2012Pledge $60 or more
12 backers
Three copies of the game! You people sure like to play with your friends!
Estimated delivery: Jun 2012Pledge $70 or more
26 backers
Two copies of the game with decals! You guys sure have a lot of friends! (please add $5 for international backers)
Estimated delivery: Jun 2012Pledge $100 or more
14 backers
Three hard copies of the game (with PDF, like every other level), plus decals for everyone! (please add $5 for international backers.)
Estimated delivery: Jun 2012Pledge $120 or more
11 backers All gone!
| THE MOBILE FRAME GARAGE | A kit of LEGO parts hand-selected by Soren, designed to set up players who don't own LEGO to make mobile frames of any faction. Use it to make five fully-equipped frames from the instructions in the book or design your own! Add any LEGO or Mega Bloks set from the store or buy some weapons from Brickarms.com to customize your company! Specially designed for players who don't have LEGO at their disposal, and priced as low as we can afford, so if you've got a big bin of bricks, please leave this limited kit for those who don't have them! Of course, it comes with the rules and decals from above. (please add $10 for international backers.)
Estimated delivery: Jun 2012Pledge $150 or more
37 backers All gone!
| THE MOBILE FRAME GARAGE! | I've been working hard to get them and now my dream is coming true! Thanks to Paul Janssen, I'm able to offer more Garage kits to backers! Of course, comes with a PDF and hardcopy of the rules and a decal set. (please add $10 for international backers.)
Estimated delivery: Jun 2012Pledge $175 or more
58 backers Limited (31 of 89 left)
|THE MOBILE FRAME GARAGE| OK, here's 100 more! The parts list for the Garage is in the FAQ. Please consider ordering parts from Pick-a-Brick or Bricklink if you're concerned about price. I only want happy backers! Because of the extraordinary success of the Garage kits, they'll all come with bits of terrain and/or objectives! Includes the PDF, rules, and decals. (Please add $10 for international backers)
Estimated delivery: Jun 2012Pledge $190 or more
12 backers All gone!
|THE MOBILE FRAME GARAGE| The final level of Mobile Frame Garages! Paul Janssen's working hard to collect parts from all over the world to satisfy demand. It's very unlikely he'll be able to do any more of these at all! As before, includes the PDF, rulebook and decals. (please add $10 for international backers.)
Estimated delivery: Jun 2012Pledge $200 or more
2 backers All gone!
| A SOREN SPECIAL EDITION KIT! | "We die here today for God!" The Ijad company "Armored of God", known by Free Colonists and Legionnaires alike as the White Devils. Led by the scholar Adaj, they use their artillery to great effect against unbelievers. Of course, it comes with rules and decals. (please add $10 for international backers.)
Estimated delivery: Jun 2012Pledge $200 or more
2 backers All gone!
| A SOREN SPECIAL EDITION KIT! | "We're not all going to make it. But we're going to win." The United Mars Foreign Legion company, the Red Shoulders, charges in fast in their ACT-02. They wading into direct fire range and dealing withering fire. Slow but well-armed, they rely on dealing damage rather than speed or hiding out of range. Of course, comes with the rules and decals. (please add $10 for international backers.)
Estimated delivery: Jun 2012Pledge $200 or more
2 backers All gone!
| A SOREN SPECIAL EDITION KIT! | "This machine kills Fascists." The Free Colonies company Haski's Hammer, led by Comrade-Captain Lahus Haski, has converted old labor frames, scavenged mobile frames, and industrial machinery into a fast-moving, close fighting, coordinated machine of liberation. Of course, comes with the rules and decals. (please add $10 for international backers.)
Estimated delivery: Jun 2012Pledge $400 or more
5 backers All gone!
| CUSTOM MOBILE FRAME COMPANY BY JOSHUA| Designed to your specification! You'll talk with him about what faction you want and how you want it to work tactically. Joshua will build and ship your company to you. Includes the rules and decals. (please add $10 for international backers.)
Estimated delivery: Jul 2012Pledge $600 or more
5 backers All gone!
| CUSTOM MOBILE FRAME COMPANY BY SOREN | Designed to your specification! You'll get an interview with Joshua (for tactical advice) and Soren (so he can put his mad skills to work) where you'll tell them what faction you want and discuss how you want it to work tactically. Soren will build and ship your company to you. Includes the rules and decals. (please add $10 for international backers.)
Estimated delivery: Jun 2012
Comments
Creator Mantisking on April 10, 2012
@Tom McKimm -- You have pictures from Saturday? Please!
Creator Renato Ramonda on April 10, 2012
Let me cast a vote for Space Battle rules, too.
With MFZ 001 you are giving us a modern, dynamic and fresh take on BattleTech and such... MFZ Space Battles would give us (finally, I should add) a modern take on Battlefleet Gothic (with much better looking ships, I'd add)!
I would be very keen to know the direction you're thinking for the dynamics of the battle: most space battle games just recreate Age of Sail battles between spaceships anyway... I'm intrigued.
Creator Noah Doyle on April 5, 2012
The green crescent most certainly has very clear religious connotations. If the makers aren't going to use red crosses because of their religious connotations, then the green crescent should be right out.
Creator Darksyntax on April 3, 2012
Not sure the "green moon" gets you away from the religious connotations concern as it's just a color invert of the red crescent (http://www.ifrc.org).
Creator Roger Carbol on April 3, 2012
This is just crazy-talk, but: would it be possible to get a stencil cut at this scale?
Creator Joshua A.C. Newman on April 3, 2012
@Michael, brilliant!
@Henry, good callback, too. I'll consider it.
Creator Henry Dunn on April 3, 2012
You could go the Dr. Who route and use a green moon instead of a red cross, still have the medical insignia without the religious connotations.
http://images.wikia.com/tardis/images/d/d8/GreenMoon.jpg
Creator Michael on April 3, 2012
Mudflap guys!
http://www.prosportstickers.com/product_images/z/17b_mudflap_man_oval_decal__96521.jpg
Creator Andrew on April 3, 2012
Well there it is.
How about a diamond, heart, and club to go with the spade up there.
Creator Roger Carbol on April 3, 2012
Some of these might be fun: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NATO_Military_Symbols_for_Land_Based_Systems
Creator Joshua A.C. Newman on April 3, 2012
@Andrew, "This Machine Kills Fascists" is CLEVERLY HIDDEN right in the center of the sheet!
@Crackpot, they're vinyl self-adhesive. Waterslide and rub-on are too fragile for stuff you actually play with and can't clear-coat.
Creator crackpotTheorist on April 3, 2012
So are these going to be wetslide or rub on?
Creator Andrew on April 3, 2012
Aside from battle damage and kill silhouettes (great ideas, by the way), I might suggest a sunburst or a four leaf clover. Always a big fan of a winged sword.
And, well, it may be too intricate, but how about one that says "This machine kills fascists"?
Creator Joshua A.C. Newman on April 2, 2012
@Adam, Yeah, I'll definitely have this up for download at some point.
@Lee, they're all straight-line cuts. That means you could do them with scissors if you needed to.
Creator Adam S on April 2, 2012
Another option is providing a good resolution digital copy of the decal sheets and having people print them onto their own decal paper: http://www.decalpaper.com
Creator Jason Middleton on April 2, 2012
Lots and lots of great ideas so far. I have to say that while they look really great, I can get decals of numerals on my own at the hobby store. Either that or print them myself at home. I'd rather that real estate on the sheet be given over to cooler images, faction-specific logos, battle damage, etc. etc.
Creator Lee Langston on April 2, 2012
Man, I am not getting stickers, but I would prefer die cut myself. Some of us are good with X-actos, but I have friends that can't cut a straight line with a straight edge and would likely lose a finger tip or 3...
Creator Adriano Trancoso on April 2, 2012
+1 for the Xs, white and black.
One cool thing would be missile launchers, that way we wouldn't need to rely on had to find 1x1 tiles.
Creator Joshua A.C. Newman on April 2, 2012
Darksyntax and Ralph, it's a neat idea. I'll see if it fits!
Bryan, almost certainly. It takes a while to ramp up to retail after a Kickstarter, so don't expect it soon, but I'll do it as soon as I can.
Creator Bryan Campbell on April 2, 2012
Those look really good. Will these be available later? I'm unsure if I can up my pledge right now.
Creator Ralph Mazza on April 2, 2012
+1 on the Fleur-de-lis Oh, yeah^2!
Creator Stuart Nicholson on April 2, 2012
Oops I'm blind, NO STEP is already there ;)
Creator Darksyntax on April 2, 2012
Any chance the final sticker sheet(s) will end up as DLC? Same purchase method as the rule book maybe?
And as a huge Dumas fan, I gotta suggest a fleur-de-lis. Musketeer Mechs? Oh, yeah!
Creator Kairam Ahmed Hamdan on April 2, 2012
Faction-specific, please!
Creator Sean Schoonmaker on April 2, 2012
I'd just like to say that this idea is brilliant.
Exactly what I've come to expect from these folks!
Creator Stuart Nicholson on April 2, 2012
"DANGER" has been suggested, another classic could be: "NO STEP" hazard stickers.
Creator Talarius on April 2, 2012
I'd like a simple black or grey "X" symbol for 1x1s as seen on the UMFL Green Chub on the front page. I've always translated that "X" as good for representing ammo boxes.
Creator Joshua A.C. Newman on April 2, 2012
Ryan, they're gonna cost me a lot, but I think that's exactly what I'm going to do.
Creator Ryan Carroll on April 2, 2012
If you had more time before PAX East I'd have recommended some Penny Arcade referential decals to give away at your demos. Two or three days is cutting it awfully close, though.
Creator Joshua A.C. Newman on April 2, 2012
@Mike: They're transparent. It also turns out I can print in white, which means some very exciting things.
You're right about more pieces that are faction-specific. I think that's the real kicker of an idea here. I'll see what I can do!
Creator Mike Rayhawk on April 2, 2012
Are these clear decals or opaque stickers? How precise are we going to have to be with the X-Acto knives?
You know what I'd love to see more than anything else is a broader variety of decals for each of the main factions, to help lower the barrier to investing into the in-game fiction.
Creator Mance on April 2, 2012
@ Joshua: no need to make them, I meant there are tons of stickers at http://www.cobrastickers.com up for purchase. So you don't have to reinvent the wheel. They have metal bullet damage and glass damage stickers, but they don't have laser or burn marks. I plan to purchase their "cobra" sticker package, and the troop ranking package. I love your current sticker package as is especially the hazard marks and signs. I posted the links as an supplement for others to use on the frames.
Creator Leo Lalande on April 2, 2012
I don't have any suggestions at the moment; but I'm definitely cool with xacto knifing my decals if it means I get more of them. I'm a papercraft modeller as a secondary hobby; so I'm no stranger to xacto knifes.
Creator Ramcat on April 2, 2012
Fire wolves? Cool... Not just black silhouettes either (red, blue, green, yellow, etc...).
Creator Shawn Graham on April 2, 2012
Maybe a gavel would be cool, and hash marks, as if they have been counting mechs they've taken down. Truck hazard signs.
Creator Joshua A.C. Newman on April 2, 2012
Mance, I actually opted against using a Cobra logo — just too IP-entangled for me to dare to do something like sell it. It's a surprisingly good logo though!
Creator Joshua A.C. Newman on April 2, 2012
Another set of decals, huh? Gbuuuuhhhh... that's frustratingly complicated. I'll see if I can work that. I'll likely have some left over after the Kickstarter. If so, I'll put them up for sale.
Also, can the wolf be on fire?
Creator Mance on April 2, 2012
If be cool if we can get laser scar battle damage, but I was showing you the stickers we ordered from cobrastickers. They have small bullet damage stickers that can attach to the frames. Plus I plan to make an squad of "cobra" frames. :)
Creator Ramcat on April 2, 2012
More stickers (this might get me to up my pledge, would love a double sticker option), I can cut my own.
As for images to add, google "wolf silhouette", and change "wolf" to bear, eagle, sword, tiger, lion, roman, shield, tank, etc...
Creator Joshua A.C. Newman on April 2, 2012
Matt, I'm sorry to say that I haven't yet tried these particular decals and can't say precisely how easy they'll be to remove. It shouldn't be overly difficult. I considered static cling decals but they don't adhere well to surfaces with finger crud on them and these will be handled constantly.
Mance, wait, did you suggest....BATTLE DAMAGE?
Ok, yes, I'll make some battle damage. Some doodling has shown that it can be done.
Creator Mance on April 2, 2012
I enjoy some more kill tallies. As for the battle damage we order some of these: http://www.cobrastickers.com/index.php…
Creator Matt Lohkamp on April 2, 2012
I think I can handle cutting them out myself. How removable are they, out of curiosity? To that end, there isn't some sort if miraculous static cling sticker material that will reasonably adhere to Legos but is easy to remove and reattach, is there? It'd be nice if the decals could be as reconfigurable as the bricks themselves, though I have no idea if that's reasonably possible.
Creator Ryan Carroll on April 2, 2012
The mention of the red cross makes me wonder if there's rules for battlefield repairs.
But anyway, on topic: I'd love to see some other military-rank style decals, maybe just lieutenant and captain bars to keep things simple enough to see at 1x1 size. Also, since someone brought up the Halo emblems, I've used the Valkyrie emblem since Halo 2 (sword with wings, very cool). Might be hard to make that visible at 1x1, though.
Creator Carter on April 2, 2012
On the topic of battle damage, I'd also love to see rust stickers, something like http://athousandgreatideas.files.wordpress.com/2009/11/rusty1.jpg…
Beyond that, kill tallies would be awesome - maybe some iconic Chub silhouettes with red Xs over them across a 1x4 tile?
Creator Joshua A.C. Newman on April 2, 2012
Totally sold on the Red Crystal. I'm a little surprised one didn't end up on the sheet already.
Lord Dragon Master, there already are some. They're in that same "random" column.
Creator Jerome Hall on April 2, 2012
So awesome, more stickers = better. I can handle an X-acto knife.
Creator Adriano Trancoso on April 2, 2012
Ik, You must feed of me already, so my last post on this:
- the Red Crystal (neutral RedCross/Crescent symbol): http://www.icrc.org/eng/resources/documents/misc/emblem-history.htm Should address your concerns, I think.
- Ejection seats warnings (I see you have something similar, but maybe a 1x1 version of it?
- Simple "DANGER" text in red, over transparency.
Creator Lord Dragon Master on April 2, 2012
You need some sort of check mark or X. Something that frames would have on to count the number of other frames they have downed during their career.
Creator Joshua A.C. Newman on April 2, 2012
The Red Cross comes from the Knights Templar. That's why they don't operate in Israel or Muslim countries.
Shield silhouettes are a GREAT idea.
Creator Alex Taylor on April 2, 2012
What is between Emergency and This End...?