Final Look? Vote

I like the counters and dice - I'm a fan of stylized art.

I'm not fond of the map. It seems too lumpy in contrast to the sharpness of the rest of the graphics. It's also very plain in comparison. I would have expected a much more detailed map. But of course, without knowing the game, who's to say that this is not the perfect map? ;)

Is it a game about trying to leave the earth when it's too populated / devastated to live on?

I'd like the map to be as stylized as the other cards. Like in Supremacy - the whole thing looked and felt like it was designed by the same designer. This doesn't have the same feel.

The map needs to be as "techno-cool" as the other components, IMO.

The die faces and tiles are hot. The map is not. I guess that point has been made already. The high-contrast mostly black-and-white look you've generated on the bits is good (great actually, love those icons on the tiles) and could also work on the map, but you need to create that contrast by differentiating between land and sea more effectively.

Simply making the sea black would snap the whole thing into focus, but then you'll need to make adjustments to get other features to stand out. You seem to be printing with 2 colours... black and red onto white. So use your red in the map more. If you are not limited to just those colours, I would really recommend a more ambitious colouring effort on the map.. it just seems to want to be more detailed.

I would offer to submit a sample, but whoever is doing your graphics seems very skilled as it is. Judging from the other bits and the site presentation, I would guess that the map was done last, and in a hurry.

~Josh

You might also want to try a different projection for the map. The problem with the Mercator projection is that the far north and south are hugely exaggerated -- it doesn't make much sense for Antarctica to have 7 areas while Africa only has 3. Plus, you could get some cool techno-effects using other projections, for example http://www.geography.hunter.cuny.edu/mp/pbander/berghaus.gif.

Is there any significance to the irregular white outlines on the bottom half of the first 2 tiles? If so, I didn't get it.

I might use it, and if so, you will be in the many thanks section of the game!

No prob! I'm happy to help. If you do end up using it in the final edition, drop me a PM and I'll give you my name so you don't have to thank a message board handle. =P

Just one small thing,
Your tiles are in english, and your map has french on it.

I know its hard being in a bilingual environment. When I design my game, I keep writing frenglish all the time.

Since you're in Montreal, if you need tests, drop me a PM.

Good luck.

Just doing a follow up to see how the design is coming along. The game was looking pretty good last I checked. Has anything changed?

I like the "Crooked Borders" version best, it looks more natural and is easier on my eyes.

The black territories are a little hard to see, but that may be due to the small size of the images. If you lightened the ocean areas a little it would help the black territories stand out a bit more. Then again, it may not be an issue on a full sized version.

I like the "Crooked Borders" better too. Since the outlines of the continents already have crooked borders, having straight interior borders looks artificial and less like the maps we're used to seeing.

The red and white areas really stand out visually, which leaves me wondering if the black areas are impassible, radioactive, flooded, or something (especially since the oceans are black too). I'd suggest making them brighter -- a darker red or perhaps gray might fit your color scheme.

My vote also goes toward crooked borders. This map also looks significantly better than the original. :D

The Grid patterned card looks more balanced, but both seem very top-heavy, probably from the green grid design. You either need to incorporate that into the Grid card background, or you need to make the Icon on the Steel card embossed with heavy shadows.

So my vote is for Grid, but it needs work.

Hi,

The board is really astounding. Wow! I like both cards, too, although I feel like the steel gray seems too unified on the whole cards. You could try adding lines to simulate metal plates joined together, add screws or rust. You could also add art in the gray sections in each corner of the board, that could represent the universe in which the game is played. This would add to the theme, but some people could feel like the board is overloaded with more graphics added. You might want other people's opinion on my suggestions, since I do not have much experience on visual designs of game components.

Regards,

Jeb