Rather than build a world in “Minecraft”, Jordan Hufnagel has brought Minecraft to the world. Sort of.
Posted on Reddit last week and catching our eye was Hufnagel’s (aka Reddit user Drshibby’s) “Catan” set, which features 3D printed production tiles symbolizing lumber, brick, wool, grain, and ore (plus a single desert tile) that resemble “Minecraft’s” iconic blocky aesthetic.
“My son was a big part of my inspiration,” Hufnagel said. “I’ve been playing Minecraft since one of the mid-alpha releases, and I’ve helped to foster a love of both Minecraft and board games. He found a long-discarded box of mountain and wheat tiles, and his reactions and joy at seeing new tiles printed and painted is a driving force behind my completion of the set.”
Hufnagel designed the tiles in AutoCAD over the course of two weeks. He then printed them in PLA on an Ender 3 S1. The designs aren’t quite finished, he said, but he intends to have them fully completed by the end of January. After that, he’s planning to release them. The only question is where.
“They may just end up on Thingiverse,” he said. “I haven’t reached a final decision, but I am considering a $5 Etsy release to help recoup a bit of my time.”
Wherever they end up, the tiles look to be so well-made that they might as well be licensed merchandise, making them well worth a few bucks in our opinion. To keep up with Hufnagel’s process, take a look at his Reddit post and check in with his profile – or bookmark this article, which we’ll update when the designs are publicly released.
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License: The text of "This Redditor Created a 3D Printable Minecraft-Themed Catan Set" by All3DP is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.