Dial Designer
The Dial Designer gives you a two-disc workspace for designing game dials — those clever rotating discs used for secret simultaneous action selection, health/damage tracking, and other circular game mechanics. You design the top disc (the one players rotate) and the bottom disc (the fixed base with the reveal window) separately, then preview how they work together.
What Is a Game Dial?
A game dial consists of two circular cardstock discs connected at the center with a paper fastener. The top disc rotates freely around the center pivot, while the bottom disc stays fixed. A window cut out of the top disc (or a pointer on its edge) reveals one segment of the bottom disc at a time.
Common uses in board games:
- Action selection: Players secretly choose an action by rotating their dial, then reveal simultaneously.
- Stat tracking: Rotate to track health, shields, or other values without using tokens.
- Hidden information: Rotate to keep a current game state secret until revealed.
- Random selection: Spin the dial for a randomized outcome.
The Two-Disc Workspace
When you select a dial component type, the canvas shows a split view:
- Top Disc (left): The rotating disc the player handles. Contains the window cutout (or pointer indicator) and any branding or decoration on the visible face.
- Bottom Disc (right): The fixed base. Contains the segments with values or symbols that are revealed through the window.
Both discs are circular. The face navigation strip labels them "Top" and "Bottom". Click either to make it the active editing surface. A live Rotation Preview panel at the top right shows how the assembled dial will look at various rotation positions.
Tip: The two discs are exported as separate image files: one for the top disc and one for the bottom. TGC handles assembly — they die-cut both, punch the center holes, and ship them with brass paper fasteners.
Segment Creation and Styling
The bottom disc is divided into equal segments. In the Dial Designer panel (right side), set:
- Segment Count: How many positions the dial has (typically 6–24).
- Segment Labels: Enter a label for each segment (number, icon, text). Use the segment list in the panel to add and edit them.
- Label Font & Size: Font family, size, weight, and color for all segment labels.
- Segment Fill Colors: Each segment can have its own background color. Click the color swatch next to each segment in the list.
- Alternating Colors: Toggle to automatically alternate between two colors across all segments for a cleaner look.
- Divider Lines: Thin lines between segments. Set color and width.
- Center Circle: A decorative circle at the pivot point. Set its diameter, color, and whether it is solid or hollow.
Label positioning is calculated automatically — labels are placed at the radial midpoint of each segment and rotated to face outward. You can override the rotation offset for all labels in the panel.
Rotation Mechanics
The top disc sits over the bottom disc and rotates around the shared center. Key properties of the top disc:
- Window Shape: The cutout through which the bottom disc is visible. Options: circular aperture, rectangular slot, wedge/pie slice, or custom shape.
- Window Position: Where on the top disc the window is located (typically near the edge, 80–90% of the radius from center).
- Window Size: Must be large enough to fully reveal one segment without showing adjacent segments.
- Pointer Indicator: An alternative to a cutout window — a printed arrow or notch at the edge that aligns with the visible segment on the bottom disc.
- Snap Positions: For physical dials, each segment is a discrete stop position. TGC achieves this by scoring the paper at segment boundaries so the disc clicks into place when rotated.
Tip: Use the Rotation Preview to check that the window size is correct. Rotate the preview through several positions and verify that exactly one segment is visible with no bleed onto adjacent segments. Adjust the window arc size until it cleanly frames one segment.
Window and Reveal Areas
The window in the top disc is a die-cut hole in the physical component. In Chitmunk, you mark the window area as a cutout zone in the properties panel. During export, Chitmunk renders the top disc with the window area transparent (alpha channel = 0) so TGC knows where to die-cut.
Design considerations for the window area:
- Window bleed: Add 1–2mm of bleed around the window cutout edge so the die-cut does not leave a thin white border.
- Window framing: A decorative frame around the window (a ring shape, a banner, a compass rose) draws the eye to the reveal area and looks more intentional than a plain hole.
- Readable segment size: The segment visible through the window should be large enough to read its label at arm's length during play. Size the window and segment count accordingly.
Tips & Best Practices
- Keep segment count simple: More segments give more precision but make each segment smaller and harder to read. 8–12 segments is a good range for most game dials.
- Use icon mode for action dials: Icons read faster than text during play. Pair a small text label with a large icon in each segment for maximum clarity.
- Test the assembled dial before finalizing: Print a prototype on paper, cut out both discs, and connect them with a paper fastener. Physical testing reveals window size and readability issues that the digital preview cannot fully simulate.
- Match top and bottom disc diameters exactly: Both discs must be exactly the same diameter for the TGC assembly to work. The component spec locks this — do not resize one disc independently.
- Center pivot decoration: The brass fastener covers the center of both discs. Avoid placing important content within 5mm of the center pivot.