Designing a new chess set - Looking for feedback

I'm designing a chess set that is weighted with ball bearings and comes in at about 6 lbs for the set (Sextuple weighted - 4.25" King height (170 grams) with 1.75" diameter base). This is a centerpiece and isn't intended for tournament play or travel. It is derived from the classic Staunton - playing with the negative space and revealing the often "hidden" weights. This is my take of a modern design but is rooted in the recognizable features of the classic set. They are intended to be 3d printable with no supports. 

Does this interest anyone? Or is it too unfamiliar / unplayable? - If the latter- what can be done to make it more playable?

I think it looks great; very unique/original design, great as a display set, and could even be playable with a few tweaks. I think you nailed it with the king/queen/pawn design, but the bishop/knight/rook are a little too similar (although they also look great); I think if you were to play with/differentiate the bishop/knight/rook designs enough, it would both improve the aesthetic and make the set playable. Of the three minor pieces, I think the rook is the best as it captures the essence of a traditional rook shape; the knight and bishop need some adjustment to better reflect their traditional shape and to differentiate themselves from each other/king/queen. I think you have a marketable product here.

Wow- that's some great feedback! thanks! I'm curious about the differentiation. I have a collar on the pieces - opting to only differentiate each head. I can push that differentiation more- but Do I need to differentiate the body for the knight as well?

I agree with MGT88 about the design.

It may just be the image but the "headpieces" on the white pieces seem to be a different colour to the body. I don't know if that's intentional but I think a more seamless appearance would be desirable. It might even help distinguish the bishop and knight more, since at the mometn they look more obviously like a common body (notwithstanding slightly different collars) with just a different head.

I'm always interested in new and original/unique designs. My interest in chess sets exceeds my (responsible) financial wherewithal so I'm not going to say "oh yeah I'd definitely buy it" but I would definitely seriously consider it if "perfected".

I think the knight is in need of the most adjustment to reflect a traditional knight shape more; this alone would go a very long way. The knight will be difficult to adjust because you’re going with a headless design (using only collars to differentiate each piece, for the most part) and the head of the knight is what gives its distinct shape; off the top of my head, maybe you could have some “reigns” projecting forward from the collar which are arched/curved to suggest a knight head shape. In regards to the bodies, this is something you should consider differentiating more as well; the king and queen bodies are appropriate, however, the minor piece bodies are too similar (especially the knight and bishop); you may want to play with ideas like slimming the bishop and “puffing up” the chest of the knight; the rook body looks good (although it would be possible to exaggerate its shape a bit more). The key with the bodies will be maintaining a consistent/harmonized design across all pieces while also differentiating enough to distinguish each piece; I think this will be achievable by simply keeping the lower half of each piece the same and then “flaring” out at the top (e.g., puffing out the knight chest).

A few additional comments; you could maybe keep the knight collar design and just exaggerate it more by tilting the collar forward and extending it back farther (almost like a pair of horns protuding backward from a goat head or something); in regards to the bishop, you could do something similar by having the collar points point inwards more and extend/sharpen them (together this would help suggest a bishop mitre).

It must be the photo. The pieces are most definitely the same color / material

Hmm. I'm opting more for a uniform body across all pieces currently - which is fairly important for me design-wise. Here is a side view of the design in comparison with a more traditional knight and bishop style.
This should show those features more. And as you can see there is a sort of de-anthropomorphization of the knight- making sure it has a "face" which seems important to give it character. You can also see that the Bishop retains the Miter (and I leaned heavily on the source of the original source of the Bishop Headpiece to inform the design). Every piece essentially has the same body- just scaled to different sizes - with the Rook, Knight, and Bishop sharing the same exact size body, King and Queen share, and then the pawns (making 3 distinct sized bodies). I felt this choice unified the chess pieces the best and is part of the main tenants that may differentiate this chess set from others. 

 

That all being said, I will definitely take your feedback and try out a few concepts with different body styles and I really really appreciate all of the comments so far!

Wow these are really cool! I think it is pretty easy to differentiate the knight from the bishop from the side but they are harder to tell from the front. Personally I think I could play with them and not have too many issues telling them apart

 

Googly eyes will fix everything.  ;-)

Seriously, very nice design and an interesting modern take.  Differentiation is definitely an issue, though, especially for tired old eyes.

Yeah, I see what you were trying to do; it's probably a good idea to keep the bodies uniform like you're describing here, however, the bishop/knight are just not recognizable enough; if you can figure something out with the bishop/knight collars to really distinguish them/set them apart, I think you'll have a marketable product as I mentioned in my first post (e.g., maybe you could sell the design to HoS or something). I would add to this that if you were able to distinguish the knight, it would probably provide enough contrast with the bishop alone to where the bishop shape suddenly "pops" and becomes a recognizable bishop.

+1

What do you guys think of this Knight design?

Looks great!

Interesting design. Looks like a conversation piece and good display set. I don't think it would be a set to play with though. A frontal design only is cool but with very little back piece reference. Pieces my be a bit confusing which is which, The Knight is a better improvement but the set would be something to get use to for gameplay.

After a little more refinement- this is the finished piece. I feel like the bishop pops more with the knight change! Thanks everyone! If you have any other comments (maybe a name for the set?) or anything else I would love to hear it! 

Looks great! As expected, simply distinguishing the knight alone as made the original bishop design pop/work much better. In regards to a name, maybe something like “Modern Negative Staunton” or “Negative Contemporary Staunton”.

I like the "Modern Negative Staunton!"

You could also play with “Future Modern” somehow; “Future Modern Negative Staunton”

The knight is much better now!

I'd suggest not using the word "Negative" - it has, uh, negative connotations to non-artists.