A discussion on what you'd like to see in 2d paper human sized minis, in general, and how customizeable or non customizeable you'd like them to be.

What would you like to see? Mix and match poses, weaponry, armor, limbs? Colorable sections? Decals? Faces? 2D comic style artwork, 3d renders or something in between? The technical side of getting a way to customze the minis isn't really an issue, but more of what people want in a paper mini. has anyone done this to any extent yet? Do you have favorite paper mini artists out there?

Thinking about lead and plastic minis, usually you have a fair bit of latitude in painting and customizing them to your liking. Of course, this is usually also the part that takes the longest. When you move to static pre colored pre posed paper minis, you get a mini that's finished, but also devoid of creative ownership. Then again, this is similar to when you buy a pre painted traditional mini...

I've been wrapping my mind around this for a little while now, and I have a few ideas (especially some great basing ideas from the topic I started a little while back), but I'd like to see what some other gamers and builders think.

I'm thinking, generally, customizing of some sort on the computer before printing them out, but customizing after the mini is printed is possible (though might be a bit fiddly).

Also, why do you prefer (or not prefer) using traditional minis over paper minis? Is the customization of normal minis a plus or a minus to you?

Food for thought.

Thanks,

UCM's still an evolving format-it's been through three generations, two of which have been publicly tested with both free and commercial products.

Truth be told, I'm never quite finished experimenting with the format itself. I usually play with features and stuff that never get released for various reasons.

My ultimate goal is to find the sweet spot which addresses all of the things which a format like that is supposed to bring to the table, and make it cross-platform to boot. Right now, it's Windows-only, and that leaves out users of other operating systems. I'm not exactly happy about that, but I'm a Windows programmer and I don't own any Mac or Linux machines.

The fourth generation of UCM is supposed to consolidate the best features from Generations 1 to 3 into a final cross-platform format that's compatible with both scenery and vehicles, and which is even friendlier to kitbashing. Then I have to create tools which make it easy for other developers to use. That last bit is a lot more involved than it sounds, especially since the elegant way is to let developers use their existing workflow as much as possible.

Using it for customizable standees is a great idea. I'd like to make the process easier for others to get to grips with, though.

-Mel

Yup. Heard of it and visited it a time or two. I hang out on the Wizards DDM board, and occasionally check maxminis (I used to be on maxminis far more often - even won the first completed organized vassal Campaign (Salvation) - but the whole Chaotic Good incident and the oldtimers blind defense of that sleazebag really turned me off of maxminis).

I still play on vassal once every blue moon, but mostly play locally. I am now (as of last week, actually) our store's official TO for DDM events.