Not another same ole feedback/direction post! Oh... wait... yes it is...

[JustAskJack]

Heya builders...

Coming close to the finishing stages of my frankencab finally... and have been picking away at the artwork/design for a bit... this will be running mame, a pile of consoles etc, the works.

Was almost done and ready to finalize artwork last week, but after mocking up the artwork onto a cab, it just felt like something was missing... so I started playing with some ideas based on the name we picked for it... and I am now at a point where I'm feeling pretty good about it... but still feel like somethings off... so I'd like some feedback to see if it can get me over the hump.

(Disclaimer: I'm working on this with a couple buddies from work, and the seemingly unpopular 'character collage' was unanimously chosen, so that element needs to stay, although I tried to do it as nicely as possible)

Anyway, here is about where I was at last week...



The "Arcade" title was placeholder until we settled on a name... which ended up being "The Archive"

I didn't like some of the artwork, so I swapped it out, I took out the drawn DD characters and replaced them with the sprites, and played with a couple other concepts. That's when I mocked it up onto a mini cab to see what it'll eventually look like... and I printed a b&w draft to put on the actual side of the cab to make sure measurements were correct.





After looking at it on the cab, I decided the main logo was too low... and the game logos needed to go...  so I made all my changes and mocked it up onto something to see it all together:



This is when I really felt it was missing something. Playing with the idea of an Archive I wanted to add some Fallout-esque texture and feel to it... so I eventually ended up here:



Then I felt the logo didn't fit so I started playing with that... which lead to other changes... and finally to where I'm at now:






So that's where I am now, and I'm happy with the direction... but I'm struggling with Niko... I have GTA on the cab so wanted to include something from that series... I dumped the pac-man from the upper right, it didn't fit after I textured the background. Not sure who/what I would replace the space where Niko is with if I removed him... and not sure if I should add any more sprites/characters.

I'm open to hear your thoughts
Thanks in advance
 

[nitz]

IMHO the sprites + Niko look out of place. Either dump them or replace them with art similar to the rest and it would look pretty good.

 

[discobiscuits]

Cool stuff, I like 3rd from the bottom best, the arcade with space invader logo , no pacman or joystick.

Where do you get all the characters? do you just put it together in photoshop, i want a marquee like that.

thanks

[shponglefan]

Ditto what nitz said.  When creating a collage of characters/art, you generally want everything to be the same style so a sense of unity is achieved.  In this case, you have a mix of comic-book/semi-realistic characters like the Subzero/Scorpian, Ryu, etc, which is mixed in with a bunch of sprite characters, then a cartoony Dirk and a 3D rendered Niko.  Those contrasting styles clash and the result looks random.  Especially those sprites along the bottom.

I would pick a single unified style of art and create a collage based around that.  That might mean getting rid of images you otherwise would want to keep, but the end result will look better for it.

[Le Chuck]

Double or triple ditto to losing the mismatched styles and going with a single style.  I like the SF players myself.

[JOHN HOWARD]

Overall looks pretty good I think, especially the logo and ‘fallout’ look. Drawing a full mental blank at the moment, what game is the one on the far left with the gorilla and Godzilla destroying the building? Monster mash is ringing bells for some reason?

[Monkeyvoodoo]

Overall looks pretty good I think, especially the logo and ‘fallout’ look. Drawing a full mental blank at the moment, what game is the one on the far left with the gorilla and Godzilla destroying the building? Monster mash is ringing bells for some reason?

Rampage is what you're thinking of.


Sent from a pineapple under the sea

[JDFan]

Overall looks pretty good I think, especially the logo and ‘fallout’ look. Drawing a full mental blank at the moment, what game is the one on the far left with the gorilla and Godzilla destroying the building? Monster mash is ringing bells for some reason?

That would be RAMPAGE !

[JOHN HOWARD]

thanks for that guys

[JustAskJack]

Heya guys, appreciate the feedback. Made me go back and try alot of different ideas and suggestions.

Went back and and forth with losing and re-adding the pixel guys... tried to go with a unified art style but it seemed too ... vanilla.

In the end we wanted to stick with the bottom up approach...  from pixels to rendered etc... so I tried to make it a little more cohesive... keeping the pixel guys on the bottom, and keeping similar art styles as it grew upwards. But I had to call it at some point or I could keep tweaking forever, so I finalized it and sent it off to print. here was the final result:



Thanks again

 

[yotsuya]

I think it would have looked great without any characters at all, but still retaining everything else.

[JustAskJack]

I think it would have looked great without any characters at all, but still retaining everything else.

I strongly agree with you. That was one of the alternates I definitely struggled with... it does look great that way too. But... as with all creative projects, it's difficult to settle... since a little tweak this way or a design choice that way also looks good... like I mentioned, I had to just call it... if I waited until I was 100% satisfied (which likely wouldn't ever happen), then it would never get printed... heh.

And now you have me second guessing again  

[jdbailey1206]

I think it would have looked great without any characters at all, but still retaining everything else.

I agree with yotsuya.  If you lost the characters it would almost look like an entrance to an area called the archieves with the sides of your cabinet representing the doors. 

I have the same problem with artwork.  I have gone through about 3 designs and I am still trying to decide which one I want to go with.  Its a pain in the butt.   

Either way looks good.  Can't wait to see the CP.

[mgb]

I think the latest revision looks good except for the little sprites.

I like the fact that you included the character from Machinarium but that's one of the sprites that don't fit.

[jmike]

I think the latest revision looks good except for the little sprites.

I like the fact that you included the character from Machinarium but that's one of the sprites that don't fit.

I'm with mgb
         You can always save the characters for your next project. I can totally see this art on a pedestal CP.

 

[shponglefan]

Came out pretty decent in the end.  Only other thing I would suggest would be desaturating & lowering contrast on background characters compared to foreground characters.  Creates a better sense of depth that way.

edited to add: Oops, nevermind see you sent to print!