Author Topic: Getting ready to start...opinions on marquee (Read 4260 times)

ffingers · « **on:** October 10, 2009, 03:30:53 am »

so this is my first revision, but i am sort of liking it....

i still have to tweak things so it's even and whatnot....but i am very curious as to what you guys think about it...honestly....

any suggestions are definitely welcomed...

the CP would be the same black and read look with a ring running around the outside of the CP and adding some flair to it....

if i go with it, i also plan on modding a maLa interface as well...

anyways...let me know...

Franco B · « **Reply #1 on:** October 10, 2009, 10:50:50 am »

I love it, looks great

I'm sure some of the more savvy art guys may give you some suggestions but it works for me

Epyx · « **Reply #2 on:** October 10, 2009, 11:20:57 am »

I like it too...do you have a version with a Capital F for free?

Chris · « **Reply #3 on:** October 12, 2009, 02:04:29 am »

Very nice! I wonder if you could half-tone the gradient to give it more of an "old-school" feel....

ffingers · « **Reply #4 on:** October 12, 2009, 01:46:37 pm »

the capital f....no...the font doesn't use capitals so i am sort of stuck with it unless i draw an 'F'....

as for half-toning the gradient...that's a cool idea too...as you can see, i was trying to go for the retro look...i also am debating replacing the smiley with a quarter....as my wife put it..."the smiley face looks like the wal-mart smiley face"...lol...

in all honesty though, i am VERY torn on it....on the one hand i like it....or the other, it feels very plain to me....i did work on an Akuma-inspired marquee with red smoke, lightning and two images off deviant-art (that if i post, will get permission first)....i called it the "haducade"....i like that the new one has more going on....but i also really like the simplicity of this one....

any more thoughts??

Chris · « **Reply #5 on:** October 12, 2009, 02:05:33 pm »

Wouldn't a quarter be out of place on a "free play" marquee?

ffingers · « **Reply #6 on:** October 12, 2009, 02:09:59 pm »

haha...yeah i guess you'd be right

maybe the quarter would represent the money you are saving...haha....

i dunno...i am just not too keen on the happy face...maybe i'll find a pixelated arcade image and use that instead....

Chris · « **Reply #7 on:** October 12, 2009, 02:29:15 pm »

How about just the top left corner of a large star, keeping wit the theme from the other side of the marquee?

Very quick and dirty example:

ffingers · « **Reply #8 on:** October 12, 2009, 02:35:30 pm »

yeah that may work...my only concern is the over abundance of white...maybe if i colored the star that would work...ugh...the decisions...lol

ffingers · « **Reply #9 on:** October 13, 2009, 12:24:57 am »

alright...here is a new version of the original "free play" but renamed to "1up arcade"...

and a second version based around akuma...

thoughts??

thanks...

Chris · « **Reply #10 on:** October 13, 2009, 03:15:29 am »

I cannot give you an honest opinion on the second one as I am not fond of fighters.

As far as "1up Arcade", I do not think the pixellated character works, for me at least. In the 80's, if they showed a game character, it was in cartoon form, not in its pixellated form. Your original looked like a marquee from the 80's, your new one looks like a marquee from the 2000's trying to look like the 80's.

garnerb350 · « **Reply #11 on:** October 13, 2009, 01:06:37 pm »

Just an opinion....don't kill the messenger...

If you are building an "arcade cab" then why are you placing images/icons/etc of consoles?
Its an arcade cab...find characters from arcade games...
Yes, my cab has the console games, but I consider those a perk...

1. make a theme
2. base your artwork around that theme
3. its your cab, so make it however you want it to be...its going to be in your house/business/etc

Me, tell the truth, I was quite impressed with the "freeplay" marquee( 1st image you posted)....nice work...

I remember I went through this same dilemma when i was creating the marquee for my cab...
trust me ...don't overengineer it...

Quote from: Franco B on October 10, 2009, 10:50:50 am

I love it, looks great

+1

ffingers · « **Reply #12 on:** October 13, 2009, 01:15:47 pm »

yeah i keep going back to the first one...i liked the overall simplicity of it...i am just not fond of the smiley face...haha...

i also figured it would be easier to do the CP in a simple retro style with the red/black/white outlines and whatnot...

i ventured into the "akuma" style marquee because i am a die-hard fighting nut, but i think making a good CP that I was happy with would take forever considering the real estate to take into account...

i also liked the name "free play" as it was the term used in old arcades where you won another turn....i also thought it would be cool since i am not going to put in a working coin slot....i figured i would put "free play" labeling the quarter button on the admin panel...sort of tying it together....

i think where i am at is still at the original, but i need something other than the smiley face....i wasn't keen on the star as it had too much white and i don't want to color it yellow??

i dunno...any thoughts on what to use instead of a smiley face?

oh and garner...i never kill the messenger...i just appreciate the info...you know how it is...you stare at something for hours and you think it doesn't look good anymore...it's really hard to keep perspective when you have stared at something for hours on end....

garnerb350 · « **Reply #13 on:** October 13, 2009, 01:59:19 pm »

( you like fighter games) ...what about this instead of ole smiley....

I vectorized an image of Ryu and made a photoshop fireball...this is the same Ryu i have on my marquee... it was an image of Ryu fighting Akuma...

fireball missing on the marquee i'm showing ya...but you get the point...

Akuma never impressed me... but I moved on from SF to MK and the rest when he came into the picture...

could this help?

ffingers · « **Reply #14 on:** October 13, 2009, 02:09:40 pm »

that's pretty awesome...i really like that scene between akuma and ryu...ugh...damn you garner...now you have me waffling about the fighter inspired cab....damn you :shaking fist: ....lol

that was what i was thinking about for the cp but hadn't found anything i liked....argghhh....now i am really confused

garnerb350 · « **Reply #15 on:** October 13, 2009, 02:22:21 pm »

hahaha....just ask yourself what do you want....?

oh and that pdf is for you...to use if you want...if you perfer the AI file...i can send it to ya...

ffingers · « **Reply #16 on:** October 13, 2009, 02:28:44 pm »

oh man this is so upsetting...haha...in a good way....

if i used that scene it would be on the CP so i would have to build a somewhat "matching-eqsue" marquee and maLa frontend...which may be difficult so they work together....hmmmm....

i could go with the AWESOME fighting pic as my base, but have to work harder on making coordinating pieces....

or i could go with the simpler retro look, but it's not nearly as eye-popping....

i like both ideas equally i think....i really don't know what to do...ugh...

ammitz · « **Reply #17 on:** October 13, 2009, 02:47:37 pm »

My choice would be the first one with the smiley.

Clean, nice and simpel in a positive way.

garnerb350 · « **Reply #18 on:** October 13, 2009, 02:52:21 pm »

Quote from: ammitz on October 13, 2009, 02:47:37 pm

My choice would be the first one with the smiley.

Clean, nice and simpel in a positive way.

+1
Dont worry.....be hap-py...

ffingers · « **Reply #19 on:** October 13, 2009, 02:56:28 pm »

alright guys...i am going to bite the bullet and just commit to the first one i put up...i am going to tweak so it's clean and then convert it to vector so i have a vector version....once i have it nailed down, i'll post it up again hopefully with a maLa interface....considering i don't quite know the dimensions of my control panel...i don't quite think i can work on that yet....

btw....how do you design a full-scale graphic for your cp?....do you figure the dimensions and do a smaller version and then vectorize it and scale it up? or do you work with the full image...i use photoshop more than illustrator...just fyi...just curious....the marquee is easy as it's just a rectangle, but considering i need to match button placement and whatnot for the CP....any suggestions?

garnerb350 · « **Reply #20 on:** October 13, 2009, 03:49:24 pm »

That were you get into the vector/rastor confusion...When I was doing my stuff....All I did was open AI..place teh image i wanted, and placed it on the "artboard" they way i wanted...stretched/shrunk the imag to where I wanted...made it a template...and start vectoring...

Good guide is this...

http://www.arcadecontrols.com/files/Miscellaneous/VectorTutorial_v1_3.zip

Frostillicus made that tutorial up...it can help ya...

also if you want check out Zorg's vector images...

http://vectorlib.free.fr/

Chris · « **Reply #21 on:** October 13, 2009, 05:04:22 pm »

Quote from: ffingers on October 13, 2009, 01:15:47 pm

i also liked the name "free play" as it was the term used in old arcades where you won another turn....

My earliest memories of that were not "Free play", but "Extended Play", which might also make a good marquee name...

ffingers · « **Reply #22 on:** October 13, 2009, 05:06:56 pm »

it might have been "extended play" but i remember when i use to play skee ball, or flip a game, we always use to say to each other "you got a free play".....dunno...lol...either works though....same effect

Chris · « **Reply #23 on:** October 13, 2009, 05:18:28 pm »

Quote from: ffingers on October 13, 2009, 05:06:56 pm

it might have been "extended play" but i remember when i use to play skee ball, or flip a game, we always use to say to each other "you got a free play".....dunno...lol...either works though....same effect

I guess the thought in me head is that maybe "Free Play" sounds like the ultra-generic "NEW GAME" marquees you would see whereas "Extended Play" sonds more like a title.

Note that I love your design.... my suggestions and criticisms should in no way take away from that.

theegg · « **Reply #24 on:** October 13, 2009, 07:50:32 pm »

I kinda like the star more I agree the white needs to be toned down a little maybe try yellow stars.
But the smiley face reminds me of Wal-mart.
The overall design is spot on love the lettering.

Gamester · « **Reply #25 on:** October 14, 2009, 12:16:59 am »

Quote from: ffingers on October 13, 2009, 01:15:47 pm

i dunno...any thoughts on what to use instead of a smiley face?

Maybe replace the smiley face with Pac-Man? Would keep the look very similar, but would actually be an arcade character instead of the Wal-Mart smiley face.

garnerb350 · « **Reply #26 on:** October 14, 2009, 09:05:57 am »

Quote from: Gamester on October 14, 2009, 12:16:59 am

Maybe replace the smiley face with Pac-Man? Would keep the look very similar, but would actually be an arcade character instead of the Wal-Mart smiley face.

I agree also...something iconic...say Pac man, or if you want another character DK...( if you want retro)...there is a bunch of vector arcade characters to choose from....... or what is considered iconic in your mind?...

Im looking from Gamester perspective...maybe try one of these?

hahahaha...Re-reading this post....Dont you love the madness?

ffingers · « **Reply #27 on:** November 17, 2009, 01:14:34 am »

for anyone still keeping track...i think i settled on a final marquee...you like???

garnerb350 · « **Reply #28 on:** November 17, 2009, 08:47:41 am »

Looks good...
This is nitpicking...but I would flip pacman to have him facing the text. And just a reminder, if you are going to do other artwork ( i.e. CP, Sideart, Bezel, kick panel) make sure that you keep a consistity by using the same font...other than that...it look great to me.

Gamester · « **Reply #29 on:** November 17, 2009, 04:09:31 pm »

Quote from: garnerb350 on November 17, 2009, 08:47:41 am

Looks good...
This is nitpicking...but I would flip pacman to have him facing the text.

+1

ffingers · « **Reply #30 on:** November 17, 2009, 04:15:39 pm »

yeah i thought about flipping him..it was 1 AM when i was doing it last night...

i was a little tired...easy enough to fix...

as for the CP and rest....totally got that covered....my mala theme will match and so will the CP....i don't think i am going to do sideart primarily for the cost of having it printed...i am already dropping a lot of coin.....perhaps i will in the future...but for now...it will likely just be black sides to start...

garnerb350 · « **Reply #31 on:** November 18, 2009, 08:53:06 am »

Quote from: ffingers on November 17, 2009, 04:15:39 pm

i am already dropping a lot of coin.....perhaps i will in the future...but for now...it will likely just be black sides to start...

Dont worry...you dont have a deadline....you going through the same thing we all have been through... I think I placed my sideart 4-6 months after i finished mine...and i still need to do a cp overlay on mine...so we all have things to do, but always remember that "it" can wait. Thats my ABC after school special message for today.

Hell, I working on a new cab...and I might be lucky to work on it for an hour once a week...right now just sanding and preparing the body for painting...and i still need to find me a used pc and monitor...

sean-o-mac · « **Reply #32 on:** November 18, 2009, 09:02:22 am »

Thats sweet fingers. +1

ffingers · « **Reply #33 on:** November 18, 2009, 10:32:18 am »

Thanks, it's the first thing of artwork for my cab i am really happy with!

ammitz · « **Reply #34 on:** November 20, 2009, 07:20:40 am »

Very nice.

thatitalian · « **Reply #35 on:** November 21, 2009, 10:43:07 am »

Very nice! I would do a small few tweaks, namely to the text to make it stand out more, and make the circle round, and make the white opaque background behind the red follow the red completely around instead of being cut off (on the right side).

But overall it is pretty good!


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