Since the first time we got in touch with Unchained Games, creators of the Thre3Dee Tabletop project, we have felt a particular sympathy for them. As we already told you in our article, they are carrying out their project with contagious love and enthusiasm and have a very interesting long-term goal, a big project called Hidden Galaxy. This is why we thought of sharing a chat making this interview.
Can you introduce the Unchained Games team a little more in detail?
Of course, We have a small team, me (Saba) and Elena (located in Belgium) are the founders of the company, we are also working on the gameplay of our first game and recently started to create Thre3Dee tabletop! Then we have our Georgian part of the team, Nicholas Rein. He is our 3D character artist both for the game and Thre3Dee tabletop. We also have Sandro Sulakauri, who is our lead illustrator working together with Dea Kerauli and Beqa Chipchiuri, who is also the story writer for both Hidden Galaxy and Thre3Dee Tabletop. His stories are
translated by Irina Galyautdinova from Russia!
How did you come up with making Thre3Dee Tabletop?
A couple of months ago, we had hit a serious obstacle and had to put our main project on hold. We didn’t want to lose any time, so we thought that a first Kickstarter experience would be beneficial for Hidden Galaxy. This was when we decided to turn our hobby into something more and came up with Thre3Dee Tabletop!
How long does it take on average to make a miniature? How many drafts do you make before considering the file finished?
[Nicholas] On average, it takes about 2-3 initial drafts to finalize the concept and shapes, then a couple of days to finish the model, depending on how much detail the model has.
[Saba & Elena] We have to work a lot on the bonus contents, but we really enjoy it. We’ve managed to finish each model in 4-8 hours, but they will require more time to be finished and optimized for printing.
Which 3D printer do you use? Do you have any advice or limitations to give to possible backers? And can the prints be made in any size?
We use the Phrozen Make and the Ender 3. Both are “low budget” printers who work quite well. Regarding the limitations, we are planning to optimize the models as good as possible for both printers. This way, we want to eliminate all possible flaws and print failures! If there will be any, then it will be well communicated in the instructions PDF. In theory, you should be able to print the models in any size, but we haven’t tested it yet. In case of scaling down, the only problem would be the loss of detail.
Which role-playing games do you prefer and which ones inspire you most?
We think that there are a lot of amazing games out there, both tabletop and video games. We don’t think it would be fair to name some as we could forget one that doesn’t deserves to be forgotten! But one has to be mentioned. It is a game that has build the fundaments of our love for gaming. Because of this game, we have loved and hated many other games. The game that we are talking about is the MMORPG called Runescape. Although we do not play it anymore since our game time entirely depends on which tabletop games our friends bring on game night, it still has a space in our hearts.
In the presentation video and in this interview you mention a project that slowly should become a Kickstarter. The name is Hidden Galaxy. What is it about?
We could write a whole book about Hidden Galaxy, but this time we will try to keep it short! The idea was born approximately two and a half years ago. Now it is a part of our life, and it has stolen our hearts! It is what brought this team together and what we are working on even when we are asleep!
It is an open world tabletop RPG for 1-4 players with currently three game modes! The game is set in a fantasy world with a strong backstory. The main purpose is to survive the undead army and try to understand the events that are happening, but as it is an open world game there are many different aspects and ways to play the game. If you would be interested, then you could check out our website. Here you can also find the first part of Hidden Galaxy’s lore. We will be slowly revealing more and more of this game after our current Kickstarter. Keep your eyes open because Hidden Galaxy will launch on Kickstarter in 2020!
There are very precise names that you have given to the miniatures. Are “The Soulless Ones” and “Creatures of Fire” related to Hidden Galaxy?
As you may have noticed, we’ve revealed the existence of an Easter egg for the Thre3dee tabletop Kickstarter campaign. As we are huge fans of Easter eggs in games, we are planning to have more for the Hidden Galaxy during its Kickstarter and, of course, also hidden in the game.
This is why we can’t answer this question, Wink wink…
Choosing to give secret bonus content in more or less random moments instead of writing them immediately was a particular choice. Putting them all on the project page would have maybe attracted more people. Announcing them in this way makes the updates much more awaited and is, in my opinion, very nice. How did you come to this choice?
We were so overwhelmed on the launch day that we immediately fell in love with the Kickstarter community. So we thought about giving them as many things as we could. We now believe that this will be a thing for every Thre3dee Tabletop campaign. We strongly believe that Kickstarter is not a place to sell your product but a place to enhance it with the help of the backers. So far, the Bonus contents have brought great things to Thre3Dee tabletop. This would not have happened without the support of the backers.
How did you feel about your first Kickstarter experience? If you could go back, would you change anything in its management?
We would change a lot, that’s why we launched this project to learn from it and prepare for our big campaign. The things we would do differently are mostly technical and marketing related. We are going to work on engaging the backers more and try to give our backers an unforgettable Kickstarter experience! Overall we are thrilled with the results of this campaign. We want to thank all our backers for their support!
If you make other miniature projects in the future, will they be compatible and linkable to the current ones? Or are you planning expansions of this current Kickstarter?
This is a difficult question, We have already come up with ideas for Thre3dee Tabletop 2, but nothing is for sure yet only that we will be back next year with an even bigger campaign!
What are your future plans? Do you have a dream in the drawer regarding future publications?
Our dream is to become a known company, one that would make a difference. We do not want to be your mainstream company with mainstream Kickstarter projects. We have all been there and played the same style games over and over again, backed Kickstarter campaigns that felt the same way. So we want to change this! Two months ago we started to work full time on this company, and we hope that our work will be appreciated and most important that the people will harvest joy from our creations!