85 replies to this topic

[supercat]

Dangerboy670, on Fri Dec 2, 2005 7:36 PM, said:

*edit* - Er...Looks like I'd need a yellow one too...oops!

Yeah, there are six jewel colors. Cute idea, but it might be a pain for inventory purposes. I know Albert's generally careful, but it would be rather unfortunate if a slight slip caused all the cartridges to vanish in a massive chain-reaction.

[supercat]

I've done a few more cleanups on the Strat-O-Gems logo (except I need something nice for an "O"; maybe a top view of a brilliant-cut diamond would be good). A neon effect would be cool. Note that the color picture is for illustrative purposes only; the graphics are really rather ratty.

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Edited by supercat, Fri Dec 2, 2005 8:32 PM.

[Albert]

I've added four more entries, from Jason Dvorak and Luis David Meneses Macchiavello:

Strat-O-Gems Deluxe Label Contest Submissions

I like the idea of using the different colored cartridge shells with different color labels, that's pretty clever. But it would add a few dollars to the cost of the game since the colored/clear shells are more expensive for me to use than recycled black carts.

..Al

[supercat]

I do like some of the new designs. Haven't seen anything quite 'perfect' yet, though.

[AtariAger]

jferio, on Wed Nov 23, 2005 8:04 PM, said:

Here's an update; same layout, font Britannic Bold used whereever applicable.
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Great work by all so far! But I'm liking this one...good job man! I was going to suggest working on the font a little also. You took care of it though.

Very nice.

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Edited by AtariAger, Sat Dec 3, 2005 12:25 AM.

[jferio]

supercat, on Wed Nov 30, 2005 10:16 PM, said:

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Give this one a shot. I can interpolate properly if one of my designs is approved.

I think I prefer the downward-angle view, though this one is not without promise. The rightmost 'vanishing' gem needs to be brigher, though.

I'm not really happy with the 'STRATOGEMS' colors yet, and while the middle gem looks nice it doesn't really look like an "O".

Any possibility of doing a neon logo or a diagonal script "deluxe"?

Logo variant, with brighter vanishing gems. Tried for the 'neon' look for the letters. Replaced the gem in the title with something more rounded.

I'm still not afraid to tweak these for you, and mix and match the elements of all my submissions thus far.

[supercat]

jferio, on Sat Dec 3, 2005 12:11 PM, said:

Logo variant, with brighter vanishing gems. Tried for the 'neon' look for the letters. Replaced the gem in the title with something more rounded.
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Letters don't really look "neon", but are a bit hard to read. The upper corners don't really look great. I may post a little more 'helper' artwork, but I'm trying to get the game done.

[supercat]

Here's another take on the logo. The right-side "S" isn't quite right (I forgot to apply the slight tweaking I did on the left "S", but here's an example of 'neon' effect (copy, blur, boost contrast, invert, paste).

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[supercat]

BTW, nice round "O" gem.

[jferio]

supercat, on Sat Dec 3, 2005 9:37 PM, said:

Here's another take on the logo.  The right-side "S" isn't quite right (I forgot to apply the slight tweaking I did on the left "S", but here's an example of 'neon' effect (copy, blur, boost contrast, invert, paste).

Here's one more pass. Hopefully this is much closer.

I have some trouble applying quick blurs in Adobe Illustrator, but I can work on this.

And the 'O' was actually based on a piece of clip art I had handy .

[supercat]

jferio, on Sun Dec 4, 2005 12:04 PM, said:

Here's one more pass. Hopefully this is much closer.

The logo seems to dark and I don't really like the "E". Perhaps you could shove the crossbar down a bit to "fit" the neon pattern. Also, the logo colors are a bit dark, and as I said before I think it might look better if you put a "signboard" behind the logo similar to what appears on the title screen.

Edited by supercat, Sun Dec 4, 2005 1:44 PM.

[jferio]

supercat, on Sun Dec 4, 2005 11:46 AM, said:

The logo seems to dark and I don't really like the "E".  Perhaps you could shove the crossbar down a bit to "fit" the neon pattern.  Also, the logo colors are a bit dark, and as I said before I think it might look better if you put a "signboard" behind the logo similar to what appears on the title screen.

Fixed the 'E' in the logo, and added a black signboard background to it. It's difficult to make a multicolored logo 'glow' correctly. If it were single color, it would be easier to optimize the image so that the logo would be bright against the background. I did take the liberty of putting a border around the signboard, so that it doesn't just cut a big piece of the background out.

[supercat]

jferio, on Sun Dec 4, 2005 2:42 PM, said:

Fixed the 'E' in the logo, and added a black signboard background to it. It's difficult to make a multicolored logo 'glow' correctly. If it were single color, it would be easier to optimize the image so that the logo would be bright against the background. I did take the liberty of putting a border around the signboard, so that it doesn't just cut a big piece of the background out.
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The "E" is good now. The signboard border doesn't really look good; it would look better if it was uniform thickness and ran to the top, left, and right [as it is, it looks thicker in parts than others; the thicker look is as it should be]. It also looks as though there's a large blank area within the signboard. Perhaps lowering STRATOGEMS just a skosh (keeping "deluxe" where it is) and then moving the Joystick/Atarivox info in some of the remaining space might look good ("Use left joystick. Atarivox Enhanced.")

Also, what means exist to make the logo "glow"? I would think some iterations of blurring and increasing contrast might help. Also, it would be good if you could make "DELUXE" glow in front of the "S", so that the "DELUXE" illuminated the "S" but not vice versa.

[jferio]

supercat, on Sun Dec 4, 2005 12:51 PM, said:

The "E" is good now.  The signboard border doesn't really look good; it would look better if it was uniform thickness and ran to the top, left, and right [as it is, it looks thicker in parts than others; the thicker look is as it should be].  It also looks as though there's a large blank area within the signboard.  Perhaps lowering STRATOGEMS just a skosh (keeping "deluxe" where it is) and then moving the Joystick/Atarivox info in some of the remaining space might look good ("Use left joystick.  Atarivox Enhanced.")

Also, what means exist to make the logo "glow"?  I would think some iterations of blurring and increasing contrast might help.  Also, it would be good if you could make "DELUXE" glow in front of the "S", so that the "DELUXE" illuminated the "S" but not vice versa.

I changed the grouping of the objects so that 'deluxe' has it's own blur, eliminated the border, moved the joystick and atarivox type into the signboard, and finally, ramped the contrast in Photoshop, since Illustrator doesn't allow me the control I need over it.

I also did a 'new logo' version of my first submission for comparison.

[Lost Monkey]

So... this was a contest?

[jferio]

Lost Monkey, on Sun Dec 4, 2005 2:04 PM, said:

So... this was a contest?

To my knowledge, it's still a contest until 11:59 CST tonight.

I'm a graphic designer by trade, and we appear to have gotten carried away a bit... heh heh...

[Nathan Strum]

I don't think it's necessary to nitpick the entries to perfection during the contest. The labels I've done were all tweaked to some degree after the fact.

I think the important thing is to pick the one that has the concept closest to what you're looking for, then work with the artist afterwards to dial it in.

But that's just my 25¢.

[jferio]

Nathan Strum, on Sun Dec 4, 2005 2:44 PM, said:

I don't think it's necessary to nitpick the entries to perfection during the contest. The labels I've done were all tweaked to some degree after the fact.

I think the important thing is to pick the one that has the concept closest to what you're looking for, then work with the artist afterwards to dial it in.

But that's just my 25¢.

As I said, we got carried away. I do things like this for a living, and when the client wants a change, I jump right on it.

I just hope we didn't inadvertently drive people away...

[Lost Monkey]

I'll be honest.. I didn't even notice this thread until today.. so I had no hope in hell of getting anything decent together anyway, but after reading through it, I know that I wouldn't have wanted to.

BTW: Nice job to everyone who has submitted, there is some great looking stuff there!

[supercat]

Lost Monkey, on Sun Dec 4, 2005 7:04 PM, said:

I'll be honest.. I didn't even notice this thread until today.. so I had no hope in hell of getting anything decent together anyway, but after reading through it, I know that I wouldn't have wanted to.

BTW: Nice job to everyone who has submitted, there is some great looking stuff there!

Sorry if I came across poorly; I've never been involved in one of these things before, and I have no idea of the proper balance of trying to suggest what I like versus letting people run wild. In retrospect, I probably should have approached things differently but hindsight is 20/20. I do appreciate the variety of entries; I even like some that went against what I asked for.

[Nathan Strum]

I would have entered, but I've been so involved in another project I just didn't have the time to put something together. I really like the game, too. If only the deadline were next week... oh well.

[jferio]

Nathan Strum, on Sun Dec 4, 2005 9:13 PM, said:

I would have entered, but I've been so involved in another project I just didn't have the time to put something together. I really like the game, too. If only the deadline were next week... oh well.

Hey, I've seen a few contests come and go here, and I've had a different problem. And that being my Muse not talking to me. Which means that I didn't have a terribly high interest in doing a label.

And that sucks worse than not having the time, I can tell you.

[pmpddytim]

I just like making lables. I never expect to win, I think my style is a bit odd and not many peoples cup of tea. I just have fun thinking stuff up and seeing if I can do it. Plus it lets me practice my photoshop/gimp skills. I find it hard to just sit down and make somthing. Its a lot easier when someone says make a label for this game, make a cover for this book. It may not be what be exactly what the person wanted but I didn't know I wanted a metalic red Xmas tree until I saw it, up until then I wanted a reguar green one....

-Tim

[Nathan Strum]

jferio, on Sun Dec 4, 2005 9:35 PM, said:

Hey, I've seen a few contests come and go here, and I've had a different problem. And that being my Muse not talking to me. Which means that I didn't have a terribly high interest in doing a label.

I hear that. I've had my muse desert me on more than a few occasions. Actually, I plan to write a blog entry about that subject.

Once my muse for writing it shows up, that is.

Anyway, I had a sketch for this contest sitting around for a couple of weeks that I really liked, and decided to take a shot at entering. Not sure if I made it in on time or not. But I'm glad I did something with the sketch. I hate leaving an idea unfinished.

[infaction]

I didn't read through the whole thread but I'm curious if there will be a winner chosen from the entries submitted prior to the deadline. It didn't sound like any were quite what the programmer was looking for. Mine is the second from the top on the entries page. I'd like to say that I can alter the font style or any other elements if it is chosen; all drawing and effects were generated in vector format so everything is completely editable.