**DESIGN PERIOD COMPLETE - 2007 BYOAC Token FRONT SIDE Design Thread**

[Santoro]

Man, has it been another year?

This thread is for the design discussions and proposals regarding the front (obverse) side of the 2007 BYOAC token.

We are designing  .984" (25mm) tokens.  Submissions should be in black and white only.  White should indicate the lowest point of the token, black the highest.  If you want to show half-height details use gray. Different levels of gray are OK.  Of interest as you design,  the 'lowest' or 'deepest' point on the token will usually be shiny because it doesn't require machining.

So that those of us who are not Photoshop Gurus are given a fair shot , no 'blinged' renderings should be posted. (Bling refers to color, photorealistic renderings.)


Guidelines/Rules
-No R-Rated material
--No trademarked or copyrighted images. (Pacman, etc...) MAME IS OK though, we have approval to use the logo if we like as long as we respect the spirit of MAME - i.e. no references to playing thousands of games, etc.
-No Bling - refer to the 2004 thread below to see how blinged line art turns out. Pixelhugger will bling all final entries for us.  Thanks!
-Should display "Build Your Own Arcade Controls" (or at least "BYOAC") and the www.arcadecontrols.com URL on the front because BYOAC is the whole point of the tokens.
-If at all possible you should have your art in vector format. (AI for example.)  Next best is very high-res raster (Hi-res meaning greater than or equal to 300DPI,) but I discourage it because we have always used vector with superb results.  Low-res artwork won't work, you will need to have someone fix it up for you.  Vector fonts need to be converted to curves.

If you are submitting what you consider your final proposal, please say so in your post. Otherwise we will assume you are submitting it for group discussion and tweaking.

This is a sample from 2004:


Here are previous years' threads for reference.
2006 Front
2006 Back
2005 Front
2005 Back
2004 combined thread

Go for it!

[pointdablame]

wow.. it's that time of year already huh?  Awesome.

Maybe I'll actually try to think up an idea this year, but probably not 

[sez]

Okay, I'll have a go.

This is only a draft version - submitted purely for group discussion and nipple tweaking.

Love Sez.

[Ed_McCarron]

OK, don't anyone panic... Serious design.

A first, from me.

Something serious, that is.

EDit:  Eh, guess I should read the rules.  Tempest is copyrighted, I assume...  Oh well.  I'll consider it an Illustrator lesson.

[Joystick Jerk]

I was thinking maybe make the coin sort of exotic looking, like it was an arcade token from south america or something. Sort of has an incan/aztec feeling to it, with the BYOAC logo carved in stone atop an incan pyramid. This is of course a rough mockup, final quality will be much higher. Just looking to get opinions on the concept and layout right now.

[RandyT]

Ok, here's a submission.  Not a final design, so anything goes.

*edit*  Bling removed

BTW, why two separate threads for this anyway?  Trying to separate the front and back of a token is like trying to arrange your box end wrenches into right and left handed piles. 


RandyT

[Pixelhugger]

BTW, why two separate threads for this anyway?

Yeah, it is a pain. Although I think it works better that way.

My understanding in the past was that the "front" should be specifically the BYOAC side, with a strong BYOAC logo or design. The "back" could be more obscure and may not even reference BYOAC.

Without separate voting on each side (and especially throwing MAME into the mix) you could end up with two winning designs which both felt obscure, or non BYOAC related, or this year both MAME themed. The voting gets a bit hotly contested, and people are likely to get upset if one of the two winning designs is nixed for a less popular one because neither feels like a good BYOAC side.

I guess the point is that IMO one side should feel like it represents BYOAC and the back supports the hobby in general. If you look at each of the past 3 years that's how it has played out. 2004: BYOAC / Happy P1 guy 2005: BYOAC / Upright cab 2006: BYOAC / Cocktail cab. Each has a distinct logo side and a supporting side, even if the supporting side references BYOAC. Of course, you could argue that having a specific BYOAC side isn't important, but I think that's what the tokens are all about. After all the tokens are meant to represent BYOAC, not to be arcade tokens sold through BYOAC. Obviously it's just my opinion, and it is a pain to have multiple threads. But I think it does help keep a design focus that works in the end. 2 cents 

EDIT: Plus if tokens weren't meant to have heads and tails God wouldn't have made them with two sides.  

[Pixelhugger]

Here's a slam dunk winner.....

ROM...go vectorize that exploding hex background of yours. Nothing, nothing would look cooler stamped in metal.

[RandyT]

Without separate voting on each side (and especially throwing MAME into the mix) you could end up with two winning designs which both felt obscure, or non BYOAC related, or this year both MAME themed. The voting gets a bit hotly contested, and people are likely to get upset if one of the two winning designs is nixed for a less popular one because neither feels like a good BYOAC side.

So....why not just pull the the best BYOAC related design for the front and and the best BYOAC related, or not, design for the other side?  Might eliminate some cross postings and make things easier to keep track of.

At minimum, state the exact requirements for each side (must be BYOAC related for the "front", etc...)

RandyT

[Pixelhugger]

Hmmm. Good point. At least all the desings and discussion could be posted to the same thread.... and the designers could specify how they'd like the design grouped for voting-front back or either.

[missioncontrol]

really it doesn't matter which side it's posted in, if someone thinks it should be on the reverse side from where it's posted all they have to do is nominate it for the other side...

[missioncontrol]

here's what I have so far... trying to decide on a background.... I'm leaving out the slogan and additional text as I'm sure it will come down to a vote for the slogan anyways....

[NIVO]

stickied for your pleasure 

[aumameman]

How exciting it is to think that we may have 2007 BYOAC tokens!

[Pixelhugger]

If Santoro is interested, I'm willing to bling final entries as long as they can be provided properly. IMO it's important that all the final entries be given identical treatment. If someone else has a better way to bling and is willing to do them, I happily defer. 

For me to do the blinging I'd need the file of the final design setup in black, white and grey as Santoro outlined above. No gradients. No embossing. Just line art and solid greyscale shapes.

The best format for the process is Illustrator. If that's not available, a layered Photoshop file at 2000x2000 pixels will work. If that's not possible a JPEG of the same size (2000 x 2000) can be used but the results may not look very good.

Cross posted in "BACK SIDE" thread.

[missioncontrol]

here's a little more work involved in my creation....

[Kremmit]

<cricket chirp>

..
..
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<cricket chirp>

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..
..

<cricket chirp>


You guys get the feeling nobody's reading this here in the Artwork forum?  I know it's the right forum, but the whole subject moved from Main to here awfully fast.  I have to wonder how many people that don't read everything every day totally missed the fact that this is on again.  And you know that most folks don't ever look in "Artwork" at all.

[Kremmit]

Wow, Saint's up late.

 

[Havok]

Yup - I had missed it...

 

[ARCADE5280]

Here's an idea using the BYOAC as a vector like maze...

[Kaytrim]

Can't really read that maze.

[ARCADE5280]

Thanks Kaytrim...since i've been looking at it, I see the BYOAC immediately.  Is this any better???

[Santoro]

It's a lot like an optical illusion, once I see it, I see it.  But it takes a minute to see it.

[Kaytrim]

Looking better but the 'BY' is still a little hard to read the 'OAC' is great.  The 'B' is the worst of the bunch.

[patrickl]

 can't see the B

[Pixelhugger]

I really, really like it! I do think it needs something like floating dots or bricks in the halls to give it more of a "game" feel. Otherwise it looks very architectutal.. like a floorplan. But very cool.

Maybe add floating dots leading to ... errr... powerups... like a saw blade, a drill, a try-square. Heh. Or maybe not.

[ARCADE5280]

Thanks.

Heres a completely different direction...tron like...

[saint]

Interesting. Needs more of something to fill the white space. Something like a muted Tron game background?

[Kremmit]

Hey, I like those.  Still need tweaking, but the basic ideas are good. 

Maybe a maze that's not as deep would be easier to read?

[JoyMonkey]

I started something, but I'm completely out of ideas this year. I figured it'd be nice if the border of the token could be a little reminiscent of a monitor bezel and came up with this thing that doesn't look anything like a bezel really. 
The center area is up to the eye of the beholder; use your imagination and it can be anything you want kids!

[missioncontrol]

Hey JM I really like that do you have the template and can I use it with my design?

[unclet]

Actually it would be cool if the token was not solid at all.

Assume the whitespace in the token by Arcade5280  or JoyMonkey was simply space which you could stick you finger through.   Pretty cool I think.

[Santoro]

I'd be cool, but it wouldn't work in most mechs.  The weight would be 'wrong.'

[Joystick Jerk]

Interesting. Needs more of something to fill the white space. Something like a muted Tron game background?

I wouldn't necessarily say that. Yes, the white space is boring on paper (so to speak), but could be very clean and elegant when stamped into metal.

[missioncontrol]

how's this?

[KevSteele]

Here's one more for consideration (in whole or just pieces parts  )

[GadgetGeek]

Kev...How about "To MAME (tm) and Destroy"?

[saint]

I like this one! Is that a copyright concern?

* saint goes and looks at the beasties from Space Invaders.

Here's one more for consideration (in whole or just pieces parts  )

[KevSteele]

I like this one! Is that a copyright concern?

* saint goes and looks at the beasties from Space Invaders.

It's not a Space Invader. It's very Space Invader-esque, but original (okay, not by me -- it's artwork from iStockPhoto - I purchased it and a license to use it for both commercial and non-commercial use)

Gadget Geek:

To MAME(tm) and Destroy tends to bring to mind the "MAMEing" of old cabinets, which may not be the best mental image we want to bring across. A longer version of the slogan could be "We Preserve So We Can Destroy", but I like the short version better. 

Here's a pic of the invaders I had to choose from in the AI file:

[KevSteele]

A variation of the original, if the invader is judged too close to a "real" invader: