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Will Fantasy Flight ever hire a real graphic designer?
craniac wrote:
sagrilarus wrote: Are we all leaping to the conclusion that the number listed on that web site is correct and complete? Salary data is notoriously bad, where one person misreporting (or not reporting) can swing a number $15,000, especially if there are a low number of employees in the sample size. It's often based on job advertisements.
I think the important thing to keep in mind here, once we are done pretending to care about labor issues, is that the games just look so cheesy.
Is that Mike Brady cheering the knights?
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- Sagrilarus
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craniac wrote:
sagrilarus wrote: Are we all leaping to the conclusion that the number listed on that web site is correct and complete? Salary data is notoriously bad, where one person misreporting (or not reporting) can swing a number $15,000, especially if there are a low number of employees in the sample size. It's often based on job advertisements.
I think the important thing to keep in mind here, once we are done pretending to care about labor issues, is that the games just look so cheesy.
When it comes to Coats of Arms, size matters.
This is how fights and wars were started in Medieval period:
Sir Antlers, thou art surely named Sir "Spit-Frog" for thou hast a small fiddle and ballocks...
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metalface13 wrote: Let's not forget they are based in Minnesota which I imagine has a pretty low cost of living.
It ain't Vancouver, but housing prices have been... difficult.
CityData.com wrote: Estimated median house or condo value in 2013: $197,900 (it was $113,700 in 2000)
Mean prices in 2013: All housing units: $250,864; Detached houses: $256,440; Townhouses or other attached units: $212,487; In 2-unit structures: $176,839; In 3-to-4-unit structures: $147,229; In 5-or-more-unit structures: $259,945; Mobile homes: $22,982
Median gross rent in 2013: $852.
That rent figure counts a lot of places that you and I probably wouldn't feel comfortable living in. Mobile homes are not available anywhere within the metro area proper. The 5+ unit structures are new developments, which is becoming the norm anywhere there's enough free space to build them.
Utilities and groceries and stuff are more than fair, though. Be prepared to spend some money on heat. If you're an apartment dweller then get that heat included.
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Anyone see the cover to Flick em Up, it's horrid. Although the wooden box is pretty cool.
Now FFG has my favorite box cover of all time with the original Chaos in the Old World, this year I picked up both Tigris and Samurai and they look great. Very restrained for FFG and certainly suitable for the subject matter and style of play.
Their fantasy type games have the kind of cover you would expect, they look professional but a little dorky because, well, fantasy boardgames are a little dorky. I'm just thinking through the games from them that I have.. Runewars, Runeage, Tide of Iron, Ingenious, Imperial Assault... they look fine. Great even. I don't see the issue. Are we honestly going to believe that some other games company is doing a better job in the graphic design department? I don't see it. Flying Frog? Z-Man? ... they, if anything, look like they've taken from FFG.
It's a shame the designer gets paid so little but I don't think they're games look any worse than anyone else's.
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Thanks metal, I had written a 3 paragraph diatribe about graphic design vs art direction, but deiced not to post it. Your response is far more articulate than mine would have been.metalface13 wrote: Agreed, FFG's design is pretty much on par with the other big game companies like Wizards of the Coast and Paizo. Let's not forget there is a distinction between graphic design and illustration. There's some overlap between graphic designers and illustrators but it's not always there. The overall look and feel for the product is the responsibility of the art director and/or creative director.
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Now let's look at a frame from Frank Miller's The Dark Knight Returns, drawn by Frank Miller and Klaus Janson. I am not a comics guy--I had to look this up.
Here is an image from the game Tokaido:
Now here is the cover for Imperial Assault, which is perfectly fine:
Somebody more articulate than myself will have to explain the difference between these images.
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So really, they're all quite different.
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Good graphic design is an important tool that makes games easier and more enjoyable to play. Poor graphic design gives you a headache.
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- Dr. Mabuse
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THIS!ubarose wrote: Those are mostly examples of illustration. Graphic design is the art of visual communication. Graphic design for games is mostly about layout, text, and iconography; ls text clear, or do you need to squint? Does the important stuff stand out or do you need to hunt for it? Can you glance across the table and assess what your opponents have, or do you have to stop the game, walk around the table and try to read the small print on a bunch of cards they have I front of them? Are boundaries and paths clear on game boards and maps, or are left scratching your head about some markings that might be terrain or might be decoration?
Good graphic design is an important tool that makes games easier and more enjoyable to play. Poor graphic design gives you a headache.
Here are some game component examples.
Good design:
All pertinent information is placed on the right hand side of the card, which guides the eye naturally from left to right and top to bottom. The character's special abilities text box is given plenty of white space (or room between text, images and/or edges) which makes it easy to read at a glance.
The most important information is in the lower right hand corner (where the eye again will move to naturally) and is emphasied with a black background. The only place a large swath of black is used on the card. Icons and coloured squares (the kind of dice you'll roll) are used as shorthand for tertiary abilities. As a bonus the character's portrait faces to the right of the card with its gun barrel acting as an additional guide toward its ability box. THAT is fucking great design at work.
Bad Design:
Where does the eye go to? What is the most important information? Why are there so many colours? Look at the tiny paragraph of text SQUEEEZED into a tiny area and its surrounding white space being overlapped by images. The blocky cut out image of a boot at the bottom of the card is just bad for number of reasons. First off the white background should have been removed, secondly its being overlapped by the Mexican flag bearing senorita (with the text Chihuahua squished on top of the flag) in the background of both those images is ANOTHER image of mountains. There are SEVEN different images on this card. Not all of them necessary. What information can new players get by looking at this card? Not much. It's a nightmare.
Maybe it's because I follow boardgame discussions more closely than any other pop culture medium but the majority of people who post positively or negatively about "graphic design" in boardgames, normally don't understand what they are talking about. When it's good, you should never notice it's even there.
(Just to be clear, I randomly picked these two cards from their respective boxes)
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