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Need advice/idea for graphic design of cover

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Tue, 05/11/2010 - 21:09
larienna
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I have almost finished my game. The only thing left to do is to design the cover box of my game. Since I am not an artist, I cannot do a drawing. I have searched the internet for public domain stuff and I am now looking for ideas on how I could design a box cover that looks good and that does not require too much skills.

Here is what I have so far:

I have 3 public domain paintings, that I found on wikimedia commons, which are too small in resolution to fit the whole box (search "viking" on wikimedia commons").

In my game, there are maps and I could and reuse in my cover.

My ideas so far:

For the title and content design of the cover that is no problem. The problem is the background.

Idea 1: Instead of using map, use a cloth texture. Add the title and content over this background.

Idea 2: Create a map made of multiple map pieces like a 2x3 grid. Pass an old photo filter on it.

Idea 3: Use the map as a bumpmap that will engrave the map on another texture.

Idea 4: Use any of the textures above and integrate the 3 public domain painting in the background. Still, I have no idea how the pictures should be aligned with the title and what kind of border mask would look good on the picture.

Right now, My rule book is in portrait format. I was thinking of making the box in paysage format, but since I could reuse my box cover for the rule, maybe I should make it in portrait format.

Any body have ideas on what could look best?

I am currently using The GIMP.

Thank you for any feedback

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Wed, 05/12/2010 - 14:26
#1
Black Canyon
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Try them all

Why don't you try all of those ideas and then compare them to see which one looks best? Or better yet, post them all here or on BGG for critique and design help.

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Thu, 05/13/2010 - 10:57
#2
boardgameguru
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Deviant

Deviantart have good cheap artists

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Tue, 05/18/2010 - 11:27
#3
hulken
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I can think of some more

I can think of some more options you might want to consider. Depending on the type of picturs you wanted you can do al sort of colage, i also did a quick seartch on wiki, you can put 4 picturs side by side and a 5:th on top in the center. that way you can still use the smaler pictur and it still cover the whole box.

Also you can go with onley the smal pictur and put som runestones, serpents woth x-cross paterns or just the x-cross paterns on the side. That would defenetly give you a viking feel.

You can also contact one of the vikingreinactment groups thet exists. Ask them if you can use some of there photografs in youre game. Alsmost 100% garanteed they will say yes. I already know of one game that have done this, the game With Sword And Shield from 3CG did this.

The last idea i got depends on wether you will publish the game youre self or not. If you ar onley making a prototype to show publishers you can use what ever art you like, aslong as you do not clame credit for it. It is ok to pimpout youre game in anny way you like. Just think of it as loaning some plastic bits and pices from another game. Same with the art, just aslong as you do not sell it or make anny money and so on.

I hope I have bin of some help to you.

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Tue, 05/18/2010 - 11:43
#4
larienna
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The objective is to sell it.

The objective is to sell it. Else it would not be a problem.

Here is a sample of what I did so far:

http://www.bgdf.com/node/3231

According to my girlfriend, the colors are not good and I should have used gold letters instead. She also said that the format could be OK for the rule book, but for the box, it should be in landscape format.

So maybe I'll just work on the color. I thought of placing one of the picture below the title but my girlfriend keep saying it would be horrible.

Else what do you think?

I also not sure about the subtitle, maybe I should include the viking theme in the subtitle.

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Tue, 05/18/2010 - 21:20
#5
hulken
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Where are the vikings?

Well if the object is to sell it then I still think ther other options are still good. After looking at the cover you have done I can just way one thing where are the vikings. Nothing even hints that the game is about vikings, I do not realy know how mutch of the game involves the vikings but if I go by what you have posted I would think a lot.

The cover looks ok, you can clearly se its a map, and I think youre girlfriend is correct regarding the gold letters. If youre game is a historic game that takes place somewhere in particular then I would use a map of that on the cover. As it is now I have no clue where that map is from. Also if the game do not take place somewhere in particular then I would probobly go for a diferent cover.

Also you might want to reconsider the name of the game, it is not realy very vikingy and do not give of a viking feel. It gives of mor of a medieval fell "Fallen Kingdom". Also I think you should put somthing catchy in the subtitle. Like "onley one can survive" or som other thing that goes well with the game. The one you got now sort of looks like you ust have taken the text from the back and put it on the front.

I hope you do not think I am to harsh I am onley trying to help. If you want you can send me som info about the game and we can try coming up with a better name. Or maby the name is ok it is hard to tell becaus al I know is that the game involves vikings =)

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Tue, 05/18/2010 - 23:22
#6
RogueKoi
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I'd be glad to offer services

If it would help I'd be happy to offer Graphic Design Services. I can send you a couple samples and a quote if you are interested.

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Wed, 05/19/2010 - 08:34
#7
larienna
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Viking theme

Quote:
Also you might want to reconsider the name of the game, it is not realy very vikingy and do not give of a viking feel. It gives of mor of a medieval fell "Fallen Kingdom".

In the early design, I was using a medieval theme. I changed the theme in the middle of the design and I thought of keeping the same title since well vikings have kingdoms of their own too. I just feel very bad to change the title at the last minute.

I agree to have a more vikingish subtitle.

It is a not an historical game, so yes the map is only there for esthetic purposes.

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Wed, 05/19/2010 - 08:36
#8
larienna
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As somebody suggested in the

As somebody suggested in the picture comment, I also had the idea where I could add on the map a compass, lines, sea monsters and ship so that it looks like an old map.

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Wed, 05/19/2010 - 11:29
#9
hulken
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The map

Well my point regarding using the map on the cover was that if it is a map of a well known place then people will recognice it. If it is not a then it is just a map, it might still be a cool map but it will not help you sell the game.

Regarding the vikingtheme, yes the vikings did to some extent have kings. I did some quick sertches and I did come up with a handfull of names for the diferent contries. And this is for an age that spans several hundrer years. But it is al about how people persive the vikings not what is correct. For instens the vikings have a image of plunders and this is a unfair prtret of them. shure they did it but most of the time they traded end explored. But they have become known as plunderers so thats how people se them. Same thing koes for the kings I would say. Ask around among youre friends about if the vikings had kings or chifs. And go whith the answer you get. There where still chifs even if they in tern where ruled bu a king. Also you have to take into account that there where not the best of comunications avalible to them so the chife where often left to his own demise and a couple of time they would gather with the king.

Good luck with youre game annyway =) if you think I can be of anny help to you in teh future just send me a message. =)

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Wed, 05/19/2010 - 13:11
#10
bfistric
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Need advice/idea for graphic design of cover

I like the title font, but for the subtitle I would suggest a different one. It is barely legible and perhaps a bit too long as was already suggested. You could get sth a little more catchy. Regarding the rest of cover, is there a reason why you insist on having this map or would you just as equally replace it? I would definitely recommend hiring a designer for this project or composing a picture from modified free vectors and backgrounds if you can't afford a designer

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Thu, 05/20/2010 - 08:34
#11
larienna
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I made some changes

I made some changes to the cover, the picture can be found here:

http://www.bgdf.com/node/3243

-------------------
Here are some modification to the first cover.

First, I tried adding some black and white clip art. It is not the final selection of clip art, it is just to give an idea of how it look. Else the only other thing I thought is to add longitude lines.

Second, I changed the background texture for light gray instead of yellow. I makes the water more blue than in the previous version.

Third, I added a gradient with a burn filter over the map, so that one side of the map gets darker to represent the concept of decay.

The burn effect seem to work better when there was a yellow background but there was a larger "black only" area.

I will need to change the subtitle of the game since it is not very hot and I might find a better clip art selection.

What do you think?

----------------------

My girlfriend suggested of making a more abstrat cover where you could have shapes that represent water, a shore, some mountains and have the letters of the title built so that it looks like houses of a village. That ways it would more be like an abstract relation the the concepts of the theme rather than actually seeing a real picture.

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Thu, 05/20/2010 - 23:43
#12
Redcap
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Not too bad for 100% free

Not too bad for 100% free assets. My wife is at book club and I am tired of working on my projects for the moment so I gave my hand at it. Here is my take: http://www.bgdf.com/node/3247 Note it is only about 40 minutes of work or so, so it is a little rough around the edges.

I also changed the subtitle from invasion to warfare , I thought it gave it a more rich feeling.

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Fri, 05/21/2010 - 08:46
#13
larienna
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This is awesome. Tell me how

This is awesome. Tell me how you did it since it is almost what I wanted to do.

I like the burned map, but not the fire in the map. So having an old burned map would be interesting. What kind of filters did you use to do the burning? I could burn one side or one corner of the map.

For the old map, I wanted to actually convert my map picture as an old map. I was not really sure of how I could actually do that. I first tought of using an old photo filter or saturate the colors. But it did not give the same results as yours.Again did you use a special filter or you got the map as it is.

For the subtitle, I rapidly thought of

Rise and fall of viking civilisations
(I did not want to repeat kingdom, so I used civilisation)
but I think it is simmilar to Vinci.

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Fri, 05/21/2010 - 08:50
#14
Redcap
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Filter Forge

I used this program www.filterforge.com

There is a free 30 day trial if you want to use it, and it is a stand alone program (Though it works with photoshop as well.) You can make your own filters for it if you want to, and have an oppurtunity to get it for free.

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Fri, 05/21/2010 - 15:38
#15
larienna
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I already herd of filter

I already herd of filter forge but I thought it was a photoshop plugin. I did not know it was also a standalone program.

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Sat, 05/22/2010 - 18:57
#16
patrick stevens
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cover art

I have a viking ship painting my sister did at:
http://viewmorepics.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=viewImage&friendID=...

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Sat, 05/22/2010 - 20:40
#17
larienna
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This is another attempts to

This is another attempts to make a cool cover. The changes are:

- Placed the title on 2 lines for bigger letters
- Made the letters brighter for better visibility
- Added some cracks to the letters as people suggested
- Made some edge detection to reinforce the outline of the map.
- Added some relief to the background texture
- changed the dark gradient and placed the letters under the gradient
- added a shadow around the picture
- Changed the ship and added a dragon

I forgot to add the sub-title, but was thinking of using
"Vikings fighting for the glory of their god"

Since, the goal of the game is to accumulate glory points.

I thought of adding more clip-art on the map like if this was the flag of the kingdom that lives in that area. I would use the same icon than my unit tokens. But I am not sure if it would be too much.

http://www.bgdf.com/node/3258

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Tue, 05/25/2010 - 18:49
#18
Sasachaz
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Honesty...

Hey, so here's what I think.

It's lots of fun to make your own art and to do everything yourself. I know that's a huge draw for me. However, you really aught to be realistic when creating this stuff. Look through some of the cover art on BGG to get an idea of how yours stacks up.

If you're just having fun and aren't interested in really selling copies, kudos to you! If you really want to sell you're game you aught to hire a graphic artist or really invest in graphic software and a graphical education.

Just my honest opinion ;)

Cheers, -Sasachaz

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