BYOAC 2004 Custom Token Design Thread.

[Santoro]

I am sure this could be done.  They have much more compex designs on the website.  That looks great.  

(Personally I would say THE GAME IS NEVER OVER.)

[dag2000]

what about

let the games begin

as a slogan

[dag2000]

BTW, shouldn't it be only one electron in each orbit.  Sorry if I'm just being annoying, but  dual electrons visually bother me.

[Santoro]

BTW, shouldn't it be only one electron in each orbit.  Sorry if I'm just being annoying, but  dual electrons visually bother me.

I'm not much of a Physicist, but I think it is possible for an atom to have more than 1 free electron?

Oh- I hadn't noticed that there were two per ring. That may not physically appropriate, but I think it looks OK.

[patrickl]

I am sure this could be done.  They have much more compex designs on the website.  That looks great.  

(Personally I would say THE GAME IS NEVER OVER.)

OK, fixed a problem in the BYOAC logo and changed the text.



I don't think you can have two electrons in one orbit, but I don't see an easy way to remove the extra electron. The electrons seem to be fixed in the trail (or at least some older version of the electron is in the background). Actually I think it looks nicer with two  

I have also uploaded the CorelDRAW file if anyone wants to butcher Pixels logo any further than I did    Download: BYOAC_Token.cdr (CorelDRAW 11)

[MinerAl]

"Better Living Through Gaming" goes better with the atom logo.  Both have kind of a retro/50's/Atomic Age feel to them.  Somebody mentioned it earlier, which made me notice: two electrons in each path is weird.

How would an arcade font "Game Over" with a circle-slash (\), like an American no parking or no smoking sign, work?  That would make a whole side.  (see below)

I like the atari player one guy better than the men's bathroom guy.  

I'd like to see "www.arcadecontrols.com" on it.   The w's balance the .com nicely.

Could we use a PacMan or other arcade font for the lettering?

[mmmPeanutButter]

"Better Living Through Gaming" goes better with the atom logo.  Both have kind of a retro/50's/Atomic Age feel to them.  Somebody mentioned it earlier, which made me notice: two electrons in each path is weird.

I think we all know I agree with the slogan choice...

but with regards to the one electron... wont it look unbalanced and sort of bare without two?  I think I'd have to see a mock-up (sorry, my corel draw is too old to handle that file)

[Chris]

"Better Living Through Gaming" goes better with the atom logo.  Both have kind of a retro/50's/Atomic Age feel to them.  Somebody mentioned it earlier, which made me notice: two electrons in each path is weird.

I think we all know I agree with the slogan choice...

but with regards to the one electron... wont it look unbalanced and sort of bare without two?  I think I'd have to see a mock-up (sorry, my corel draw is too old to handle that file)

Yes, and because of that I personally like the version I did without electrons... but I feel bad enough appropriating Pixelhugger's design as much as I have so I wanted to stay true to it.  In my version, the electrons on the back of the orbit are slightly smaller, so there's already a certain amount of unbalancing.

I'll post a version without electrons with the BYOAC in the middle.

[patrickl]

OK one more then:



Looks a bit "empty" to me.

:edit: Changed slogan to a larger font and wider character spacing

[mmmPeanutButter]

OK one more then:



Looks a bit "empty" to me.

what about w i d e n i n g the text a little bit?
Or the text could just be a little bigger??

[Chris]

Without atoms, with "the game is never over", and with the full site name:

[patrickl]

OK one more then:
Looks a bit "empty" to me.

what about w i d e n i n g the text a little bit?
Or the text could just be a little bigger??

Actually I was talking about the atom and electrons being empty (with only 3 electrons), but I fixed the text in the original message now.

[Santoro]

Without atoms, with "the game is never over", and with the full site name:

I like this mostly except the rings are obscured a little too much so that it doesn't look like rings anymore.   Could you make them bigger, or rotate the rings a bit?

[mmmPeanutButter]

OK one more then:
Looks a bit "empty" to me.

what about w i d e n i n g the text a little bit?
Or the text could just be a little bigger??

Actually I was talking about the atom and electrons being empty (with only 3 electrons), but I fixed the text in the original message now.

I like post 128 the best so far.  Great work Patrick!  Maybe it would look better with two electrons on each, but then the "sub-atomic particle people" will get upset!  

... but I still like the way byoc is written in post 97...  so many decissions!!  arghh  


(btw, this post is single-handidly killing my work productivity)

[Chris]

Okay, here we go: bigger rings, smaller electrons with only 1 per orbit:

[patrickl]

I think the double outline and criss crossing electron trails make #97 look too messy.

I do like double electrons per orbit better.

[mmmPeanutButter]

Chris, I do like your last one...

But could you try it with the "better living through gaming" slogan, the same rings from post 124, and then what about putting something around the "build your own arcade controls" just like it's around BYOC so that the electron lines don't look discontinuous...

I really think it's coming along wery well!!

[Chris]

Chris, I do like your last one...

But could you try it with the "better living through gaming" slogan, the same rings from post 124, and then what about putting something around the "build your own arcade controls" just like it's around BYOC so that the electron lines don't look discontinuous...

I tried both of these options.  The slogan doesn't fit on the top, so we'd have to split it into top and bottom, losing the URL.

When I put a border around the "build your own arcade controls", even more of the rings were obscured and it just looked like a mess.  Personally, I prefer the cleaner version with just the Pac-Man in the middle and no BYOAC at all (although I should probably add electrons to that one).  That version also gives us more room for text, as the BYOAC bumps out into the text ring.

[patrickl]

Chris, I do like your last one...

But could you try it with the "better living through gaming" slogan, the same rings from post 124, and then what about putting something around the "build your own arcade controls" just like it's around BYOC so that the electron lines don't look discontinuous...

I really think it's coming along wery well!!

So basically you want everything different, but you like the design  

FWIW, I think it looks too cluttered. Even more so than #97.

[Santoro]

Hey, what about little Pac-Men as electrons? Too corny?

[Chris]

Hey, what about little Pac-Men as electrons? Too corny?

Tried that; doesn't look good on the orbits.

[patrickl]

Hey, what about little Pac-Men as electrons? Too corny?

I tried that, but to me it looked silly. Guess I should have kept a copy though.

[robbiec]

What if post 87 was on one side and post 134 on the other,
but pacman was normal(alive and eating dots) and instead of saying the website, have the year the games died,1984.

[Chris]

Hey, what about little Pac-Men as electrons? Too corny?

I tried that, but to me it looked silly. Guess I should have kept a copy though.

Plus there's the problem that with any character, there will be arguments about which character from which game, and pretty soon the whole token is covered with fighter characters...  

My original thought, if we had the capability of multiple levels, was to have the center be round with a very subtle depression where the mouth was, so you had to look at it a moment to see that it was Pac-Man.

[mmmPeanutButter]

Chris, I do like your last one...

But could you try it with the "better living through gaming" slogan, the same rings from post 124, and then what about putting something around the "build your own arcade controls" just like it's around BYOC so that the electron lines don't look discontinuous...

I really think it's coming along wery well!!

So basically you want everything different, but you like the design  

FWIW, I think it looks too cluttered. Even more so than #97.

Well, what I was saying is that I like the "build your own controls" part, but then when you started saying about the clutter...  I was thinking...

The tokens that we're showing are 3x as big as the tokens really will be.  Maybe we should make them actual size.  That might help us better determine what looks cluttered (because 3x smaller and the "build your own arcade controls" would be tiny.  Like for an ant.).

(BTW - I don't mean any disrespect to any of our talented designers, just offering my opinions... if you think I'm out of line, call me on it)  

[Chris]

Chris, I do like your last one...

But could you try it with the "better living through gaming" slogan, the same rings from post 124, and then what about putting something around the "build your own arcade controls" just like it's around BYOC so that the electron lines don't look discontinuous...

I really think it's coming along wery well!!

So basically you want everything different, but you like the design  

FWIW, I think it looks too cluttered. Even more so than #97.

Well, what I was saying is that I like the "build your own controls" part, but then when you started saying about the clutter...  I was thinking...

The tokens that we're showing are 3x as big as the tokens really will be.  Maybe we should make them actual size.  That might help us better determine what looks cluttered (because 3x smaller and the "build your own arcade controls" would be tiny.  Like for an ant.).

"Actual size" depens on your screen, of course... I'm on a 19" LCD...

At quarter size, "Build your own arcade controls" is SMALLER than "In God We Trust" on an old-style quarter.  The slogan is about halfway between the size of "The United States Of America" and "E. Pluribus Unum" on the back of an old-style quarter.

Put a quarter on your monitor on top of this image, and adjust mentally until they're the same size.

edit: Seeing it at quarter size is VERY exciting!  I can totally see a bunch of these in my hand!

[Calawala]

I am at work so I can't put in too much time atm...

I think the post 97 design is the best of the atomic BYOAC designs so far.  The solid letters look so much better imho.  The additions since, the small letters, adjustments to the atomic rings, etc, are just cluttering it up I think.  Also, remeber that the coin will be 1 inch or so.  Will we be able to even read those small words?

One small detail, the www.arcadecontrols.com logo in your design is all lowercaps.  Does it need to be uppercase?

Couple suggestions for slogans:
Atomic BYOAC:
top half - BUILD YOUR OWN  
bottom half - ARCADE CONTROLS

Atari side:
top half - NO CASH VALUE or GAME NOT OVER
bottom half - WWW.ARCADECONTROLS.COM

For me, I still like the atomic MAME/Player 1 (bathroom) design slightly better.  The atari P1 still gets me thinkin YMCA.  But whatever, not a big deal and it still a way cool design.  Too bad we couldnt have 4 coin side designs availble and have people order custom coins choosing from 4 sides.

Maybe when I get gome tonight I will play a little with AmericanDemon's Pac-man design (if thats ok with you).

Chris, could you attach the font so I could download it?  (is that possible?)

- Calawala

[Santoro]

At quarter size, "Build your own arcade controls" is SMALLER than "In God We Trust" on an old-style quarter.  The slogan is about halfway between the size of "The United States Of America" and "E. Pluribus Unum" on the back of an old-style quarter.

Ick, that probably won't work aesthetically, nor with the Mint.   Sounds like we are back to 97 or 124.  I almost think the border fonts need to be bigger!?

[Chris]

At quarter size, "Build your own arcade controls" is SMALLER than "In God We Trust" on an old-style quarter.  The slogan is about halfway between the size of "The United States Of America" and "E. Pluribus Unum" on the back of an old-style quarter.

Ick, that probably won't work aesthetically, nor with the Mint.   Sounds like we are back to 97 or 124.  I almost think the border fonts need to be bigger!?

They'd still be larger than the date on Surgeville's token.  I think the URL needs to be larger, but the slogan is fine.  I think BYOAC without an explanation of what it stands for is meaningless.  It might be better to keep BYOAC references off the back side so the die could be reused if another group wants a MAME token.

I again refer back to the pre-BYOAC Pac-Man version from #61; electrons could be added or slogans modified on that version to taste.  I can also change the font on that one (Prototype) to the Handel used on all the othes.

For those that don't waht to look back, here's #61:

[Chris]

And here's that version small:

[eb]

Just to confuse the issue a little.




Maybe it's just me, but the aluminium is so much more attractive than the brass.

[Santoro]

Chris and everyone else,  put together whatever you like.  You are doing fabulous work, I don't want to second guess every thing you do.    I did issue guidlines earlier to help focus us, but if someone wants to submit a new idea, there is no reason they can't.  If the group loves it, that will be evident.

Probably around Monday I will pull together what I think are the top 5-7 most popular as finalists and create (yet another) thread as a poll to pick the winning sides.  

[Matt, GoC]

The tokens that we're showing are 3x as big as the tokens really will be.  Maybe we should make them actual size.

You mean they don't come that big???

BTW, Chris, there's a small glitch on the first "M" in "MEMORIES" on your post #61 coin (pacman in electron field).  It's on the very left.

[Chris]

BTW, Chris, there's a small glitch on the first "M" in "MEMORIES" on your post #61 coin (pacman in electron field).  It's on the very left.

I know.  It's not in the original vector file, it's just a glitch on that image.

[AmericanDemon]

I am at work so I can't put in too much time atm...

I think the post 97 design is the best of the atomic BYOAC designs so far.  The solid letters look so much better imho.  The additions since, the small letters, adjustments to the atomic rings, etc, are just cluttering it up I think.  Also, remeber that the coin will be 1 inch or so.  Will we be able to even read those small words?

One small detail, the www.arcadecontrols.com logo in your design is all lowercaps.  Does it need to be uppercase?

Couple suggestions for slogans:
Atomic BYOAC:
top half - BUILD YOUR OWN  
bottom half - ARCADE CONTROLS

Atari side:
top half - NO CASH VALUE or GAME NOT OVER
bottom half - WWW.ARCADECONTROLS.COM

For me, I still like the atomic MAME/Player 1 (bathroom) design slightly better.  The atari P1 still gets me thinkin YMCA.  But whatever, not a big deal and it still a way cool design.  Too bad we couldnt have 4 coin side designs availble and have people order custom coins choosing from 4 sides.

Maybe when I get gome tonight I will play a little with AmericanDemon's Pac-man design (if thats ok with you).

Chris, could you attach the font so I could download it?  (is that possible?)

- Calawala

Yeah thats cool.  I just threw something together to begin with.  Lets see how it looks!  

[KevSteele]

Chris,

I really like your adding the words "Build Your Own Arcade Controls" around the BYOAC logo - solves the "what does that mean?" question completely!

Of course, the Atomic Pac-Man looks good - have you tried orbiting ghosts yet?

Kevin

[Pixelhugger]

PixelHugger, I know that you are busy - If you can take a crack at the atomic logo with BYOAC as the text that would be awesome.  (Though if you are too busy I am sure someone will step up to the plate.  Just say the word.  I know I hate when people give me tasks when I'm not around!  

Here is my original atomic design revised for BYOAC. A few times. Obviously the type can be flopped to read upright on the bottom (as in the MAME ver) if preferred.

I'd like to have the option to finalize it since it is sort of my "baby"  

I agree with the comment about BEE-O-AK. We crossed this bridge in the T-Shirt thread. And in designing the shirts, a number of non BYOACers who saw the stuff I was working on mispronounced it exactly that way. I vote for spelling it out somewhere on the coin.

I put my vote in for Chris' happy guy player on the other side. While it doesn't say "player one start to me," now I'm not sure that it really even should. I really like the idea of using the Atari style player icon which is immediately recognizable to any "retrogamer" and the fact that it conveys fun and looks dynamic is a better value added than the P1 button anyway. Please stike my YMCA comment from the record!  

Here's a blank coin for anyone who wants it.

[Santoro]

 

This place never fails to humble me.

[Surgeville]

At quarter size, "Build your own arcade controls" is SMALLER than "In God We Trust" on an old-style quarter.  The slogan is about halfway between the size of "The United States Of America" and "E. Pluribus Unum" on the back of an old-style quarter.

Ick, that probably won't work aesthetically, nor with the Mint.   Sounds like we are back to 97 or 124.  I almost think the border fonts need to be bigger!?

They'd still be larger than the date on Surgeville's token.  I think the URL needs to be larger, but the slogan is fine.  I think BYOAC without an explanation of what it stands for is meaningless.  It might be better to keep BYOAC references off the back side so the die could be reused if another group wants a MAME token.

I again refer back to the pre-BYOAC Pac-Man version from #61; electrons could be added or slogans modified on that version to taste.  I can also change the font on that one (Prototype) to the Handel used on all the othes.

Because it's so small, the date on the token is pretty unreadable if you don't know what it is.  On the scan it is fairly blown up, so it makes it more readable.  I wanted some type of score on the "game side" of my token and since the tokens are just for my own use I put my birthday for the score just to make it more personal, even if my family and friends have to ask what it reads.

Like I said before, liberate any ideas you want from my design.

[Pixelhugger]

And as another instance of "convergent evolution" or Jungian collective subconcious - all of these were done before todays posts...so it seems the Pac dots idea was floating around idependently in a number of people's heads.... which validates it's appropriateness