3D-Printed Dune Chess Set
parametric-architecture.com
parametric-architecture.com
One thing that immediately jumps out at me about this chessboard is the use of varied ground plane -- how the back rows are high up, whereas the middle of the board is down below. The high ground really evokes a sense of power of the "senior" pieces, and casts the middle rows below as the inevitable battleground. One can imagine pieces mounting an uphill attack in the later stages of the game. Such a simple thing, and so effective!
Upon reading the article it occurred to me that the same method could be used to make those kinds of "dune core" pieces, with sand instead of ceramic powders. There must be a sand-binder-gelling solution formulation that can handle the task.
[1]https://voxleone.com/2024/03/05/3d-printing-im-making-a-500c...
I imagine the details that currently (and insufficiently in my opinion) distinguish the colors would be obliterated.
Edit:
> For a game of chess to function effectively it’s crucial you clearly differentiate between both opposition pieces, and, the alternate spaces on which those pieces play. In a mono-material set such as this, a binary contrast between rippled and smooth surfaces (reflective of the contrasting states of sand) become the primary signifier of this difference.
I think this artwork optimises for aesthetics over usability.
Both sets are aesthetically pleasing and usable, just to different degrees.
I think that’s ok? I’ve seen many chess sets whose primary function was aesthetic rather than to be played.
The thing with aesthetics is that it’s highly subjective.
The concept is great, the board is absolutely beautiful, and, at first glance, the curve is aesthetically pleasing while not getting in the way of reading the board. Texture as the "colour" works great. The figures, though, just look like they ran out of steam, it's like the "horse drawing" meme. They're not evocative of chess pieces, they're not particularly evocative of sand structures either. They're just... there. They're pretty enough, I guess, but in a generic way.
When you add to that that the photos have an impossible pawn formation, it kind of screams of "I don't actually care about the subject of my art piece".
Older chess sets like the Lewis Chessmen from the 1200s look substantially different, having both better aesthetics and usability than the currently popular set. Like having a bishop that is recognizable as a bishop, not a medium-height round thing with a notch in the top.
If you don't want to imitate the standard chess set, improving on it isn't that difficult as long as you don't care about mass production from wood. This set somehow manages to be worse
If you are a chess player, you are thinking strategy and tactics, and the pieces (at best) blend into the mental background, and (at worst) are a distraction from the game.
Which leaves custom sets to the realm of the collector and the enthusiast, people who like to have and think about, but not so much to do.
But I'm let down because my chess partner is a 9 year old who is still learning basic strategies.
Oh yeah. That's a reasonable tradeoff.
Just aziaziazi's comment made it sound like the only aspect where distinguisability matters is the colour. So I pointed out that I don't have a problem telling the sides apart, while have more of a problem distinguishing the piece's type.
But as you say this is a decorative chess set, and in that regard I think it is a very sucesfull one.
it was still unplayable and more of a decoration
This set is certainly a cool art piece, but not particularly functional if a player has trouble distinguishing pieces visually.
The queen looks like a slightly larger version of the bishop (or is that the knight?), I could see someone confusing them if they're sitting at different levels.
This is either a human writing overly complex, abstract prose, or an LLM. I’d hoped for interesting text to accompany the admittedly very unique chess set, but this is just overwrought and abstract for no good reason.
It's got a nice 'go' feel especially with the bowls of pieces, that engraved board is great.. just a great prop. Big ups to the production designers.
I clicked through because I was hoping to see something related to the book or movies, or even the Jodorowsky project that never materialized.
> the Dune Chess Set
is capitalized as that's the product name, eg: our new Honda Accord .. etc.
Elsewhere in the article the word is capitalized as it appears in
Title Case Headings Or Subheadings In Which Every Word Including Dune Is Capitalized.
This Rook Tower theme pack-away wooden chess board is also wonderfully designed for aesthetic:
https://odditymall.com/rook-tower-pack-away-wooden-chess-boa...
Edit: cool looking chess set.
1. Aesthetics completely annihilates function. I mean good luck figuring the pieces apart.
2. To me it looks like shit. I mean the pieces look ok-ish (I don't really like the curve stuff, I think they could be a lot better, but ok), but the board, oh my god it's hideous. The idea of the curved board is so bad. ugh. It's sad though cause the material is awesome.
Come on architects, you can do a lot better than that.
It's very modern. Like those web sites that are light grey on darker grey. And the fact that you can't see if a square is white or black when a piece is on it is like they hide interactable elements in web 3.99 or whatever they're at now.
I prefer the official sizes/shapes.
Can you download this somewhere? I don't see it.