It had to be able to connect to what is actually in the game.
It had to be made in the game's color pallet.
It had to have some personality.
Cover:
So keeping these in mind I decided to expound on one of key points in the mechanic and that was riding a dinosaur. Zalien riding a raptor on a console screen introduces the one of the key mechanics as well as the games interface before the player even starts playing. The Zayleons watching the console are meant to enforce the feeling that the player is being watched, that they are gathering the elements for a reason. The alien script "explaining" the mechanics of dino riding is not just fun but put the emphasis on the mechanic again. While I could have put a catchy title or dramatic plotline on the cover I didn't want to break the feel of a "schematic/computer manual" feel of the cover so I simply marketed the game as an experience and integrated it as part of the console as yet another bit of computer information.
Back:
Keeping with the technological schematic feel I intergrated a set of "command screens", similar to the ones we used in the C++ classes for our text based games, as the "menus" which will contain the pertinent information such as the copyright, the team, the story, and the other important tidits. I didn't want the whole thing to be a mass of black square however so I put our log in the blue "screen" area, I figure that it wouldn't be too awkward since computer screens can have graphics on their screens as well as windows open, and I put an image of Zalien that we haven't used in the game quite yet. I didn't want Zalien to fade into the background so I popped him up a bit by having his graphic over the command boxes thus giving the impression that he is showing of the screenshots and drawing the eye towards them. The fact he is wrapped in bandages is funny and gives the impresssion that playing this game is a challenging adventure.
Alright let me know what you think and while that happens I will be ironing...XD
The empty black rectangles will have screenshots in them.
ReplyDeleteHave you tried printing it? It might be hard to read the story on the back. Seems kind of cramped. I'm also curious as to why aliens that have the technology to go back in time are using DOS menus?
ReplyDeleteThe title looks wrong. It looks like it italicized. Also in our title everything is supposed to be uppercase.
The raptor on the front looks odd standing on nothing. It seems like there should be ground or something under it. I get what you're going for, but it looks odd.
I'm also a bit confused on the proportions of your screenshot boxes. Unless you were planning to put two shot next to each other without a boarder. Otherwise it looks like our game is presented in widescreen.
Todd's name needs to be capitalized. He's a proper noun.
I like the overall look. You stayed with the games colors and theme. As for the DOS menu look our whole interface is this way. Some things you may want to look at are the story (Tom is right it may be to tiny to read). The top banner with the title is not the same as our game interface or website. What if you just did a couple screen shots and the credits on the back.
ReplyDeleteOur interface doesn't consist of DOS menus. Most of it is holographic designs coming out of Zaliens arm. In fact I don't see any part in the interface except the title that has green letters on a black background.
ReplyDeleteI have tried rpinting it and it is readable. I will bring the printed version to class so you can see what I asked people to look at and read. The tile is not italicized, it's in the same font as everything else in our game, if it looks strange that may be because every letter isn't capitalized.
ReplyDeleteI see the point about the widescreen Tom, I didn't think about that but you are right as for the DOS menus, why wouldn't aliens be using DOS menus? It's a design that utilizes something that people may have seen and recognize without being really off the wall. When it comes to alien tech and races they are all usually based off something that is recognizable to us if we take a good look.
The top banner isn't the same simply because it took up too much room on the space up top so I altered it a little bit so it doesn't bend.
Todd is proper? XD I'll fix that as I'm putting the screenshots in, as well as the long boxes. Thank you Tom and Malina.
I just think that if that's what you're going for it seems out of place. Everything we have in the game has a higher standard than DOS (holograms, time travel device, mind control). I just believe adding it here, and only here, makes no sense.
ReplyDelete