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Design of the Game Board

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jwarrend
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Joined: 08/03/2008
Design of the Game Board

crabclaw wrote:

The group I have to play test with are like, "If it doesn't totally blow me away with first impressions forget it -- it dont wanna play it".

You have my sympathy. There's nothing I hate more than finishing a playtest game, and the playtesters want to complain about the artwork rather than try to see past it to the game underneath. I don't really like playtesting with people like that if I can help it.

Of course, you can't always choose your playtesters, and at any rate, it appears you've risen to the challenge. They'll certainly be blown away by the visuals!

Good luck,

Jeff

Anonymous
Design of the Game Board

Here's a look at the wavy rendition -- I may alter it some as in I'm in no hurry to finalize the project.

seo
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Design of the Game Board

Yeah, I love it now. :D
Have you softened the bridges too? BTW, I forgot to tell you, but the black text also looks much better than the original white one.

If your playtesters don't like the board you should be looking for new people, 'cause it is really beautifull.

Seo

Anonymous
Design of the Game Board

I tooks jpfed's advice and made the ocean color less grainy -- plus I used color burn brush to bring out the castle images a bit! Thanks guys!

High res pic:

[url][/url]

Anonymous
Design of the Game Board

I tooks jpfed's advice and made the ocean color less grainy -- plus I used color burn brush to bring out the castle images a bit! Thanks guys!

High res pic:

http://home.comcast.net/~cmccann01/nyomythya_map7.jpg

Yogurt
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Design of the Game Board

Brilliant. Thanks for the Photoshop tips, Seo and Jpfed. Learning a lot.

Yogurt

Anonymous
Design of the Game Board

Quote:
A couple of things though ... I assume you meant 25x35 inches -- the single-quote marks you used usually designate feet.

David St. Hubbins: I do not, for one, think that the problem was that the band was down. I think that the problem *may* have been, that there was a Stonehenge monument on the stage that was in danger of being *crushed* by a *dwarf*. Alright? That tended to understate the hugeness of the object.

Ian Faith: I really think you're just making much too big a thing out of it.

Derek Smalls: Making a big thing out of it would have been a good idea.

____

Ian Faith: Nigel gave me a drawing that said 18 inches. Now, whether or not he knows the difference between feet and inches is not my problem. I do what I'm told.

David St. Hubbins: But you're not as confused as him are you. I mean, it's not your job to be as confused as Nigel.

Anonymous
Design of the Game Board

Thanks for the bump Puff N Stuff -- Ummmm I'm still waiting for a part on the printer to arrive at which point you see I'll be able to print cause it's not working and we need the new part then we can push the button and it'll print so when it's printed I'll show some picture of the printed print ahhhhh

Why get one retread when you can get two for the price of one like two-in-one see? :D

DSfan
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Design of the Game Board

While my question doesn't relate to your board crabclaw, I thought I would stick it here because it relates to both the gameboard and photoshop.

I just currently created a tile in Photoshop. The tiles will be used to create the board. But, I am just learning how to use Photoshop so I have a few questions.

1. How would you get to preview the size of the tile before you print it?

2. How would you go about putting the tile into microsoft Word, and resizing it with out distorting the image of the tile?

Thanks a bunch,
-Justin

seo
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Design of the Game Board

I'm not sure what you mean with "preview the size before you print".

You can set the size in real world measures (cm or inches) with Image,Image size. There you can set the size you want your image to print. Resolution is also set here. 250-300 ppi is a good resolution both for inkjet and laser printers and for further film output for offsett printing if you plan to use the image for commertial publishing.

Usually you will rather create your image with the desired size and resolution from the start, as each time you resize in Photoshop (or any raster program) you loose some image quality. If you're not sure of the exact size you're going to need, work with a higher size/resolution then downsample, as enlarging the image will create more noticeable artifacts and quality loss. Lack of sharpness due to downsizing can usually be compansated applying the unsharp mask filter afterwards.

If you mean how to view the image on screen matching the real world size, that will change depending on the size of your monitor and the resolution you have set. The easiest way is simply pplace a ruler in front of the screen to check the size of the image, and press +<+> or +<-> to enlarge/reduce the onscreen size until you approximately match the desired size. 1:1 in Photoshop means one image pixel matching one screen pixel, not one inch measuring one inch on screen.

When not at 1:1, image quality on screen will vary a lot depending on the screen pixels/image pixels ratio. at 50%, 25%, 12.5%, etc you'll get a good quality on screen, while at any other % image quality on screen will suffer. This doesn't affect printed quality, just onscreen quality.

To place it on MSWord you just save the tile as a TIFF file, then in Word Select Insert, Image, From file. Once placed, click on it and drag the corner handlers to resize proportionally. But if you set the right size in Photoshop, you shouldn't have any need to resize in Word.

Seo

DSfan
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Design of the Game Board

Thanks a bunch Seo, transfering it to Word was smooth and simple.

Right now I am working on the other two tiles I need, but I thought I would post the Terrea Tile now. Its almost done except I need to place some crystal shaped things in the middle of it.

1. Does anybody know where I could find something like that (A group of Crystals)?

http://www.bgdf.com/files/My_Uploads/DSfan/terrea2.tif

Thanks,
-Justin

seo
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Design of the Game Board

Try this places, maybe one of the pictures fits your idea:

http://www.raven9.freeserve.co.uk/witchway/WWcrystals.htm
http://pia.alscher.ch/
http://www.arco-iris.com/George/microscopes/quartz_04.jpg

A hint for placing the crystals on your tile: crystals have some transparency, and unless you find crystal pics taken with a background similar to your tile, once placed they will look like this:

rather than this, which is probably more credible:

To acheive the effect, once placed, resized and sharpened, follow this simple steps:
1. Duplicate the crystal layer twice. Now you have three copies.
2. To the one on the top, set the opacity to something around 35% (slider on top right of the layers palette). You won't notice any change yet.
2. To the one on the middle, set the blending mode (drop menu on top left of the layers palette) to multiply, opacity to about 75%
3. To the bottom one, change blending mode to Hard light, and adjust curves (CTRL+M) as in the picture below:

That's it. You might need to play a bit with the opacity values for the top layers and the curve adjustment on the bottom one to acheive the right effect for the crystal pic you're going to use.

Seo

DSfan
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Design of the Game Board

Is there a way to blend the backround of an image (like black) with the color of the tile?

Thanks,
-Justin

DSfan
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Design of the Game Board

Alright, I just finished my tiles. Let me know what you think.

http://www.bgdf.com/files/My_Uploads/DSfan/terrea2.tif

The above file is the tile I posted earlier but I added the Moonbeam patch in the center.

http://www.bgdf.com/files/My_Uploads/DSfan/maria2.tif

The above file is the rocky terrain tile called Maria.

http://www.bgdf.com/files/My_Uploads/DSfan/basin3.tif

The above file is the Basin. On the basin is a base, because this is where units are produced and Moonbeam is returned. I stuck with a neutral white color for the base, but I might change it so that there will be four colors corresponding to the player colors in the game.

Again, let me know what you think.

-Justin

seo
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Design of the Game Board

I like'em! :-)

I would soften the gray one a bit, so it doesn't seem so monocromatic. Something really subtle, though.

Just convert to RGB and apply Hue/Saturation:

Good job. :-)

Seo

SteelShark
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Joined: 12/31/1969
Design of the Game Board

Isn't that base picture from Star Craft?

DSfan
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Design of the Game Board

Thanks Seo, ya it does look better with the softer grey.

Quote:
Isn't that base picture from StarCraft?

Yes, Steel Shark that is the base from StarCraft. I thought it would suit the sci-fi theme of my game well.

It was also the closest to what I wanted without having to create one from scratch.

Thanks,
-Justin

DSfan
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Joined: 12/31/1969
Design of the Game Board

Oh yes, a couple questions before I forget them.

1. Currently I am just going to use some stuff I found at an arts and crafts store that has a core of foam in the middle to place the tiles on. Do you think this would look good or should I go with wood?

2. Should I cover a tile with a whole printout or should I leave a bit of white showing around the sides?

Thanks again,
-Justin

seo
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Design of the Game Board

1. Foam board sounds fine, wood would be more durable, but I'm not sure it will suit the visual of the crystals, etc. Maybe some thick cardboard. But I think foamboard might work fine. This is just based on the tiles you posted, though.

2. I would print a full sheet of tiles side by side, paste it to the foamboard or whatever you decide using, then cut the pieces. So my vote goes for no white border. If you want a white border, though, you can leave it in the sheet, between tiles. But I wouldn't go for an image smaller than the actual tile so the white of the foamboard shows around the mage, because that would mean carefully pasting the tiles one by one.

HTH,
Seo

OutsideLime
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Joined: 12/31/1969
Design of the Game Board

bizarre... I was doing some research on Google for work... I do props & signage for TV commercials, and sometimes need to compile visual reference for design choices....

I'm looking for samples of small-town "welcome to" signs, with one of those plaques underneath that reads "home of the 2001 Baseball champs" or some variation thereof.. so I type in "home of" on Google and select "large images only".. page 4 of the results, I see a beautiful render of a map that looks somehow familiar... Click on it and here I am!

Seems like the BGDF hunts me down wherever I may be!

~Josh

Anonymous
Design of the Game Board

This is kind of an old topic but I've been thinking about this because the board has been completed for sometime now -- all I need to do is print it. I have access to a large format printer -- it's just the file of the map only exist on a computer that was over the summer hit by lightning and has damage where the power meets the motherboard so it's kind of on-one-hour-and-off-the-next -- and I don't have a CD burner -- and the list of obstacles that only money can resolve go on and on -- and I don't have spare money -- so first things first -- I need to get a large capacity USB drive so that I can get it to a computer where I can burn it to a DVD or CD. So -- let me see if I can do that -- doubtful but and I have to wonder, "is it all worth it???"

seo
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Design of the Game Board

Can't help you but most prepress and wide format printing companies have removable disks that they use for cases like yours. Maybe you should ask the people with the printer if they can help you.

Another option would be a digital camera. Most work also as USB discs.

HTH,

Seo

Anonymous
the crystal artwork

nice job seo

Jesse
(BullDog)

seo
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Design of the Game Board

Thanks. :-)
I was just helping with minnor tips, the real merit is from crabclaw, who made the original map.

Seo

Anonymous
Design of the Game Board

thanks seo -- i have a new 8 megapixel canon at work -- ill check out that avenue!

Lor
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Design of the Game Board

Crabclaw, I can't believe the beauty and clarity of the board-- I'm amazed it was a physical model. There are so many techniques to give you something like this in PS, but there's an uncanny intangible which comes from your technique... definitely got me thinking.

In any event, you can revise it fairly easily now that it's virtual, using rubber stamp cloning and the like.

Kreitler
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Joined: 12/31/1969
Design of the Game Board

crabclaw wrote:
This is kind of an old topic but I've been thinking about this because the board has been completed for sometime now -- all I need to do is print it. I have access to a large format printer -- it's just the file of the map only exist on a computer that was over the summer hit by lightning and has damage where the power meets the motherboard so it's kind of on-one-hour-and-off-the-next -- and I don't have a CD burner -- and the list of obstacles that only money can resolve go on and on -- and I don't have spare money -- so first things first -- I need to get a large capacity USB drive so that I can get it to a computer where I can burn it to a DVD or CD. So -- let me see if I can do that -- doubtful but and I have to wonder, "is it all worth it???"

You could always remove the internal hard disk from the damaged computer and pop it into another machine. Removal is a very simple process -- undo some screws and pull out two plugs.

Re-installation can be a bit harder, but is usually also pretty easy. If you're unsure about it, maybe there's an IT guy at work who could help you. You'd be able to get the whole thing done for the cost of a six-pack of his/her favorite soda, which should be considerably cheaper than a USB drive. :)

Kreitler

Anonymous
Design of the Game Board

Gah I’m at one of the these computer café gigs, but on a good note a computer-fixin’ buddy is working on my comp and will give me a free CD read/writer …so it’s all good. Thanks for the support guys!

Anonymous
Design of the Game Board

...in designing remember the four elementals; analog, digital, nature, imagination and pull them all together :D

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