Miniatures and why we love them! (part 4/5)

As I developed the Solar Echoes game, I originally looked into producing miniatures the traditional way, pricing companies that make casts and use a process called injection-molding, among other methods. For a small company like Corefun Studios, this method was far too expensive and required very large upfront costs. When an investor provided a 3D printer, I began to realize that making miniatures for Solar Echoes might actually be affordable, and looked into finding the best way to design the miniatures. At first, I thought a traditional sculptor would be the way to go—I planned to 3D-scan the physical sculpt and then input that data into a 3D printer. But after talking with people on various forums, I realized that going directly to an artist talented in 3D sculpting would produce the best detail. I found Jeremy Gosser at Time Portal Games, and he introduced me to Shapeways—a company that prints 3D sculpts that can be ordered online and then mailed directly to your doorstep. Jeremy worked with me in designing the 3D sculpts, and then I uploaded the data for each figure to Shapeways. I've been very pleased with the results, and the cost of the lower-resolution miniatures is the same that you would find for traditionally cast miniatures sold at Reaper Miniatures, averaging around $6 a figure.

Shapeways 3D Miniatures