Marquee Feedback

[namedos]

Well, three designs and at least a hundred hours later I'm getting better at Photoshop and I've got a marquee that is going in the direction that I want. 

I like the collage theme so I've tried to throw in some characters that I like associated with Mame and have them interact with the lettering to some extent.  I will be adding in a couple more characters.

I will be redoing the background to make the flaring smoother and I will probably darken it up some.

I'm interested in any positive or negative feedback that you might have.  Thanks!!!!

[jbrem41]

Just my 2 cents, its looking fantastic.  But my personal taste would be to put the cabinet of both sides of the text and then put at bomb in the middle where the explosion is happening.  Just my 2 cents, looking great though.

[Thurman]

Like you said, try smoothing the yellow flare a little bit to make it blend into the red.  And darkening the background will also make your "Arcade Explosion" title more noticable.  Right now the letters seem to blend in with the busy background a bit.

Other than that, great start!  I like your color scheme and character placement.  Keep us updated.

[namedos]

Thanks for the input.

I've tried experimenting with two cabinets, different locations, exploding cabinet and some dynamite around it.  The best balance seems to be larger text and a smaller arcade.

In the original the letters stand out a lot more because of the bevel effect and the chrome look. 

Thanks again.

[ChadTower]

Something about the plain, common MAME cab in the middle of the orange burst looks out of place.  I can't put my finger on exactly why.

[namedos]

ChadTower,
The cabinet in the middle is actually a Mario Brothers Cabinet that I filtered with with a neon look to add a splash of color to it.  When you see the high res version it is easily recognizable.  However, I'm not sure that is the best filtering I could be using.  Leaving it as a rendered view doesn't look right when you compare it to the collage of characters. 

I think it is good to have it there but it is not the central theme of the marquee.  Probably should try other filters and maybe make it more opaque.  Any other ideas?

Thanks for offering some feedback.

Any thoughts about the border?  Should it be the same format as the font or something more subtle or more expressive???

[namedos]

Made several modifications to the characters.  Changed the border to almost black.  Which looks better, the top or bottom?

Still need to clean up the background image.

Thanks.

[TOK]

Something about the plain, common MAME cab in the middle of the orange burst looks out of place.  I can't put my finger on exactly why.

I like the marquee, but I agree with this. I think I'd try to make the cab look as if it's swelling or bursting, perhaps in the initial stages of the exlosion that let everything out. You're definitely on the right track!

[namedos]

Fixed the background so it is a smoother transition.

Modified the cabinet with a blur effect to give it motion.

Modified the border with a better outline effect.

Added Donkey Kong and a barrel and took out Dirk.

Which text do you like better...Arcade or Explosion?

Any other thoughts or suggestions?

[TurboC--]

Wario, Luigi and Mario (for the most part), among others are primarily associated with consoles.  So personally I would concentrate on icons that are more in line with the arcade (and the classic era but that's my taste.)

[namedos]

Turbo,
Thanks...I did think about that.  However, Mario and Luigi are in a game I used to play alot, Mario Brothers, which is the cab that is blowing up in the background.  Sonic is also on a few different arcade machines.  I did stretch it with Wario but the picture seemed to fit what was happening so well that I initially threw it in there and have stuck with it.

Spiderman has his own game and is also in the Capcom fighting games.  Other games that I played a lot but couldn't find any graphics that were worth anything were Pole Position, Spy Hunter and Galaga.

Again, thanks for the feedback.

[TurboC--]

Hmm, how about switching to the old Mario Bros. graphics versions of Mario and Luigi then?