Let me tell you a story about building something truly unique. As a small business owner, I’m always competing with much bigger companies. Some of them probably spend more on their tools than we do on rent! But here’s the thing, big companies play it safe. They don’t take risks. Me? I can go wild, think outside the box, and create things they’d never dare to. That’s where the fun begins.

Inspired by my favorite tabletop RPG, Invisible Sun (shout out to Monte Cook Games, but they didn’t pay me for this!), I decided to build something I’m calling the Black Cube Gaming PC. Now, just so we’re clear—this thing isn’t for sale. It’s my tribute to the game I love, a piece of hardware fan art, if you will. I’m not affiliated with Monte Cook Games; I just want to share how much I love what they’ve created!

If you’re into RPGs like Dungeons and Dragons but feel like you need something more, you gotta check out Invisible Sun. This game has the most brilliant magic system I’ve ever seen, and the way the mechanics flow is just… elegant. Plus, the folks at Monte Cook Games are just good people, plain and simple.

So, where did the inspiration for the Black Cube PC come from? Invisible Sun arrives in this massive, heavy box, packed with books, cards, and dice. We joke around saying, “Lift with your legs, not your back,” because it’s no lightweight. What’s wild is that everything in the box is a non-standard size, so they really had to think outside the box (literally and figuratively) to get it all to fit. That kind of creativity inspired me to build a gaming PC that reflects that same spirit.

Building from the Ground Up

I wanted to take the concept of the game’s “Path of Suns”—a board where cards are revealed, kinda like tarot—and build a black cube PC with that same magical energy.

But here’s the catch: building a custom gaming computer case from scratch is no walk in the park. I wanted a simple design with black plexiglass on four sides, and here’s the kicker— to turn it on, you place a statue on top of the case, which triggers a switch and lights up the Path of Suns from below. Cool, right? Easy? Nope!

Let me tell you what went down…

Simple design …. So I thought

I started by checking out other cases, but nothing really captured what I was going for. So I decided to build the Black Cube from scratch. First, we worked on the frame. This is where it got tricky. The original design wasted a lot of space, so I worked with our engineer to reposition the power supply. There’s no rule saying where the power supply has to go as long as it doesn’t overheat, right?

The Hard Part: The Exterior

You’d think building a cube is simple. Ha! The real challenge wasn’t the computer parts—it was making the exterior look sleek while keeping everything functional. I had to design an aluminum frame to hold the plexiglass panels, all without scratching or damaging them. If you’ve ever worked with plexiglass, you know it’s temperamental—it scratches and melts way too easily.

This image is the first attempt at the internal frame of The Black Cube Computer case! The problem I have is that the cost of building the rest of the case was going to be cost-prohibitive because of its height. Talking with our engineer I mentioned that in the current configuration, there would be a lot of wasted space, and we could move the power supply to the other side of the case! There are no rules saying where the power supply is located as long as heat and cabling are not an issue.

I realized that I couldn’t just cut the aluminum frame to fit the panels exactly because the corners would stick out. So, I had to measure the corner joints carefully to make sure all you see on the sides is clean, flawless glass.

And then, of course, I had to think about how to attach this whole setup to the case in a way that makes the computer portable and doesn’t mess up airflow. Speaking of which…

Airflow: Keeping it Cool

If you’ve ever had a computer with bad airflow, you know what happens—it turns into a mini oven with great graphics for a short while. I didn’t want that to happen with the Black Cube. I needed to figure out how to get enough airflow without compromising the sleek design.

Here’s something I’ve learned: air doesn’t have to flow in a straight line to cool your components, but it definitely helps. And wherever air goes, dust follows. So, I designed the bottom of the case to stay open, with a mesh to catch dust and pet hair before they can clog up the system. I’m also toying with the idea of adding four intake fans on the bottom to boost airflow even more.

Making the Path of suns

The idea is to have the cube solid black until you turn on the computer. to do this I needed to make it so light that only shines through parts of the path of suns. If the cube was white this would have been a snap! However, I needed to work with a negative image.

I tried a few things like painting with wax (too splotchy and the lines too thick)

I tried using thin lines of glue to mark the lines (That did not work as it discolored the plexiglass)

I did this by taking regular clear plexiglass and carving the design by hand using an image as a guide. Then I covered the plexiglass with a super thin layer of spraypaint. From there I carved it again using my already carved lines as a ummm err Path.

The carving would then allow light to shine through only the areas of the carving. Cool huh!

Now the image to the right shows that at the time the spray paint did not go on as even as I would have liked. This is ok because I knew this was going to happen. From here I added masks to each of the points in the path and sprayed another layer.

Now the programming!

It would be easy to have a single light to illuminate the cube from the inside but I was no going for easy. In Invisible Sun each of the “Suns” has a different colour. (Colour is very important to how the game is played). So I wanted to have each of the points in the path light up in sequence with the correct colour. The best way to do this is with an Arduino and a series of LED ring lights.

For me, this was easy. I program a lot in my shop, I love creating fun window displays using simple robots and light shows.

I chose an Arduino because this would allow the computer to light up regardless of what motherboard internal hardware was used, this would also be independent of the operating system. The idea was that if I wanted to upgrade the computer at any point I would not have to reinstall the software needed to operate the computer case. This would mean however I would need to make my own circuit board to help the Arduino control the lights.

Yes I am in Geek heven!