Doppel Is A Physical Digital Miniature!

Instead of a giant case of miniatures, you could soon be using a handful of programmable LED minis. These new gadgets, currently on Kickstarter, allow you to display your character's custom image on both sides of a twin-screen standee.

And it's not just visual--these minis also make noises! You can have character specific sound effects from sword clashes to spellcasting.

Designed for a 1-inch grid, these minis represent regular medium-sized creatures. It will set you back about $160 per mini (each with a charging case) on the Kickstarter, although the eventual retail price will apparently be closer to $280.

The Kickstarter cites compatibility with D&D, Star Wars, Fate, Vampire, Numenera, Pathfinder, and Cypher System, although I'm not clear what's required to make an image compatible with a game.

You can find Doppel on Kickstarter here for the next 3 weeks.

 

[Zaukrie]

At this risk of piling on, this raises a more general point that I don't think gets made enough: dismissing criticism like this as (objectionable) "negativity" or (as I've seen elsewhere) "commerce-shaming" is a way of siding with business interests against consumers. It undercuts our collective ability to preserve a hobby culture that rewards excellence over cynical cash-grabs, and that minimizes financial barriers to entry. One might, conceivably, want a hobby in which selling gimmicky, overpriced tchotchkes is frowned upon.

Whose side are you on? The consumer's, or the profiteer's?

You think this is some big business?

 

[General_Tangent]

I have a prototype at home, it worked pretty well.... No sound.....

Do you know what sort of microcontroller is inside?

 

[Zaukrie]

Do you know what sort of microcontroller is inside?

I can't recall. This is from a different KS ... Two years ago, I think?

 

[General_Tangent]

I can't recall. This is from a different KS ... Two years ago, I think?

Ah no worries, thank you.

 

[General_Tangent]

Having a look at the project I think it's likely to be using an ESP32 microcontroller as I've seen a fake Nixie tube clock using one to control eight small IPS panels.

 

[Jahydin]

4. OLED displays are still overly pricy.

Just wanted to point out this doesn't even use OLED.

 

[aco175]

I mean, they had this in the 70's, we should have something cool by now.

Although I am still waiting for my jetpack.

 

[kigmatzomat]

Great Idea, but the price is... way too high.
I can see 3 design issues right off

Same thoughts went through my head.

Full Color eInk is not available in that size, but that's just a matter of getting the right Chinese company to make it; enough bulk, and it should be doable.
...
1"×2.1" is a standard size of tiny display; monochrome are about $4-$6, using standard SPI. A full color in that size would be about $30-$50 depending upon DPI, given current 4 color (Black/White/Red/Yellow) eInk run $25 including an ESP32 microcontroller.

From a form-factor standpoint, I don't know if it should be a stand-up "card", a flat "pog" or maybe a multi-sided or round pillar. (I know there are some e-paper products that are flexible or at least not brittle)

The pog has limited display area, but is very material efficient. A decent resolution display might offset the small size and still be price-conscious.

The card/pillar probably come down to the best available modules. I feel like the 4-sided pillar would be the most viable on a table but is also the hardest to build and the highest BoM (unless there's an existing flexible display already made at scale)

I'd say have nothing but contacts/pogo pins on the "mini" and have a case/base with the esp board, preferably one with Bluetooth that uses a standard profile for image transfer.

 

[aramis erak]

Same thoughts went through my head.



From a form-factor standpoint, I don't know if it should be a stand-up "card", a flat "pog" or maybe a multi-sided or round pillar. (I know there are some e-paper products that are flexible or at least not brittle)

The pog has limited display area, but is very material efficient. A decent resolution display might offset the small size and still be price-conscious.

The card/pillar probably come down to the best available modules. I feel like the 4-sided pillar would be the most viable on a table but is also the hardest to build and the highest BoM (unless there's an existing flexible display already made at scale)

I'd say have nothing but contacts/pogo pins on the "mini" and have a case/base with the esp board, preferably one with Bluetooth that uses a standard profile for image transfer.

1.5" diagonal color eink is available; using the costs from the Black/White/Red/Yellow ones, a 2×2" display pog would be about $10 to make, counting a screen, case and two connectors (SPI ribbon connector tied to a pin-receiver.) the controller would need a bit more, probably be about $40-$50 - using a larger display, plus having battery box and external power connectors, a handful of buttons (push to pog, 2 to 4 selector keys, and an action key, plus a power switch). But you only need one or two controllers...

The problem is that 1.5" display is a 2.1×2.3" minimum package, due to the location of the SPI connector. Which is a bit big for the standard 1" squares or 32mm hexes.

At present, the minimum eInk sizes are aimed at only 3 basic purposes: Shelf displays, smart watches, and other small device readouts. That small one 1×½ is suitable for a watch, or a battery bank status display, or a walkie-talkie display...

 

[kronovan]

Honestly, were I to replace standard miniatures with anything digital, it'd have to feature a holographic image that's viewable from all angles - all sides and top. Only viewable from 2 faces that're roughly right angles to the tabletop wouldn't work for me, mostly because I'm over 6 ft and when seated my head is fairly high above the table. As well, for something that only has 8 hours of battery life and possibly less after a year or so of use, I can't see burning juice on sound effects.

The character imaging software only being able to run on iOS or Android is a put off too - why would I start using RPG image software on my Android, when all that I own and use is on my Windows PC. Maybe I missed something there -hope I did- because it just doesnt' make sense that the software can't run on MacOS or Windows and can't be uploaded to the miniature device via a USB-C.

Anyhow...power to the developer if they achieve success with their kickstarter, but it's not something I'm going to crowd fund.