Calling Creative Gamers: Create & 3D Print Cuppy for ‘Cupcakes and Critters’ — Be Featured as Game Character on Release

Ignoring that battle of the bulge still reminiscent of the holidays, it’s important to feel good about yourself, and in our world sometimes quite simply that means complete immersion in the world of the cupcake, from eating them to defending them — to designing and 3D printing them as well. No matter the caloric danger, there’s a call to arms for defending the sugary confections, as well as taking on an important 3D design and printing task via Autodesk and the game’s creators.

Dark chocolate with shavings. Simple vanilla. Raspberry swirl topped with multi-colored sprinkles. Luxurious and creme-filled. No matter what time of the year — or day — who doesn’t get excited about cupcakes? If you experience the triumvirate of pleasures in your life — cupcakes, gaming, and 3D design — it’s time to roll up your shirtsleeves and set to work at meeting the challenge both Autodesk and the Cupcakes and Critters team put before you now: making a 3D design of Cuppy that can be featured in the soon-to-be-released game, as well as 3D printed.

Cuppy gets around. He’s becoming more than just an awesome marketing tool — he’s everywhere the Cupcakes and Critters team is. The mascot has become part of the Cupcakes and Critters family and gaming community. While he’s much-loved and photographed, he has yet to have his likeness rendered in a 3D model, and the team looks for some creative new Cuppy designs to incorporate into the game. The hope is that this will encourage everyone to 3D print their own Cuppy characters as well.

As Cupcakes and Critters approaches its final release date, much-awaited, they call on fans to use the Autocad Tinkercad design tool to make their own Cuppy characters. Free and user-friendly, Tinkercad allows fans to design their own versions of the popular Cuppy and save them to the gallery, hashtagged #Cuppy — and then 3D print them if they so wish, as Tinkercad accepts standard .stl files.

While Cupcakes and Critters has an innocuous, whimsical sound to it, it’s a complex game of customization, strategy, and teamwork — with a team of game designers who have put an enormous amount of hard work into the game. They’ve built a loyal following and have plans to keep integrating it into a complete community and social experience.

“We want them to come for the game and then stay for the friends,” said Steven, creator of Cupcakes and Critters.

The game is single-player or can be experienced as a cross-platform, multi-player experience. Using touch controls, either on mobile or web, players strategize to protect cupcakes from an array of critters. Highly customizable, players can defend their sole cupcake or even create complete, expansive cupcake neighborhoods while gaming with peers. Keeping the tastebuds at the ready and the juices flowing, cupcakes are decorated with delectable toppings throughout the game for protection and healing.

The creators of Cupcakes and Critters are a unique and dedicated young indie team, planning to see the game and its design — as well as expansion — through to the highest level it can achieve as it begins to experience more popularity. They’ve put their finances and careers on the line as all their creativity and energy has been poured into the game, and if you watch the video below, you are sure to become as inspired about Cupcakes and Critters as they are, as well as wanting to try your hand at seeing your own Cuppy in the game. It’s entirely possible that your design could become part of the Cupcakes and Critters community, and certainly easy enough to try.

“I wanted to make a 3D-printable Cuppy from Cupcakes and Critters and someone suggested I take a look at Tinkercad. I was planning on importing the 3D file from the game but figured I’d see if I would recreate it with Tinkercad’s tools. At first I was skeptical about using browser based 3D modeling tools; thinking they’re either too cumbersome to easily achieve my ideas. However when I first loaded up Tinkercad, I was presented with a series of hands on tutorials that were surprisingly easy to follow while cleverly teaching me the few basic concepts I wanted to know,” said Steven.

“It wasn’t long before I was dragging, stretching, spinning and coloring simple shapes into Cupcake in a matter of minutes. Then just when I thought I had my design figured out, I discovered the community section of shapes–pages and pages of cool custom shapes I could pick from. Now Cupcake has a cool spiral of whipped cream thanks to other tinkerers that shared their work!” said Steven.

They want you to look at Cuppy as “a delicious friend.” And soon you should check out the game too — which is more than just that — it’s a work of art. Above all, remember the rule: No eating cupcakes in front of Cuppy.

Click here to find out more about designing and 3D printing your own Cuppy.

Are you going to submit a Cuppy character of your own using Tinkercad? Are you waiting for this game’s final release? Tell us your thoughts in the 3D Printed Cuppy forum over at 3DPB.com. Check out some behind-the-scenes info on the video and ensuing playlist below.