Below is the third in a series of posts documenting the final development of Deluxe Turbo Racing 360 for GDC. I hope to continue the posts up through GDC and after.

Part 3: Fabricating the Play Surface

Over the weekend we worked to finish the playing surface for DTR 360. Our design called for a 40″ x 40″ play surface, very flat, with foam core on top to reduce noise.

The plan was to cut 10″ x 40″ inch strips of plywood and assemble them back into a 40″x 40″ table at GDC, permitting us to take the surface on the plane as checked luggage for only 25 bucks.

 

 

 

Unfortunately, we had a hard time finding any plywood flat enough and still be a reasonable price. Setting aside concerns, we went ahead and bought some plywood and experimented with screw mounted feet–allowing the surface to be adjusted on the fly at GDC–to make sure it was level. This seemed to work well, and the surface looked really nice raised up a few inches. Our fears were invevitably confirmed though, as it was evident though that the 10″ slabs were too warped. Because our prototype board worked so well functionally, we decided to avoid the risk and go with a simple design consistent with what already worked. This meant an additional 30 bucks to ship it, and we probably won’t ship it back, but, ya know, C’est la vie.

 

 

What we decided on was a solid 40″ x 40″ play surface of 3/4 inch MDF, a piece of 1/2 inch foam core on top to reduce noise and (a pleasant surprise) add more nuance to the controls, and finally a print out game board.

 

The sides of the MDF were painted the same Heirloom White as the other non-player specific fabricated items, and kept the foam core was left unpainted, as its pure white looks nice next to the Heirloom White.

 

The surface print has muted colors to make sure the controllers really pop on the surface. The colors are red and grey/green, based on another part of the primary color scheme, to isolate the board from any specific player.

 

We used a spray adhesive to mount the foam core to the MDF, and the play surface print to the foam core.

 

 

In order to keep the price low on the print out, we divided it in two so our friend could print the image at her work. We taped the pieces together on the back side before adhering them to the foam core. THe downside of this was a visible seem and some exposed tack from the tape. Concerned about the controllers contacting the tape, we painted over the seam, which sealed in the tackiness, but was an eye sore on the otherwise clean design. WIth only a few hours to get the board to FedEx in time to use ground shipping (half the price), we quickly threw down some lines with Sharpie to try and hide the seam/paint more, and if needed we can work more on the surface in SF.

 

 

Everything done, John and I wrapped the surface with a bunch of cardboard boxes I scavenged from Wal-Mart the night before, and we taped the hell out of that box for a good 30 minutes.

 

Satisfied, we dropped our package of at FedEx with 30 minutes to spare.

 

 

Stay tuned for part four!