The Cover Project

General Category => FAQs, Guides, Templates and Vector Logos => Topic started by: Dravenae on June 12, 2013, 02:01:37 PM

Title: Font Discussion
Post by: Dravenae on June 12, 2013, 02:01:37 PM
Hey guys! I was just wondering what fonts are some of your favorite fonts to use when making a cover? Any suggestions?

I've been making my own Mega Drive, SNES, and N64 templates at the moment, and I've been favoring three different fonts in particular; Arial Bold, Century Gothic, and Century Gothic Bold.

When making my templates and covers, I want things to be as universal as possible, so I've been thinking of just using a certain font on all of the spines instead of individual logo's (what are you thoughts on that?).

I'm just wondering are there any (free) fonts that you recommend?
Title: Re: Font Discussion
Post by: taigr81m on June 12, 2013, 02:27:22 PM
good discussion, mate.
I don't like Arial. Helvetica is the best choice for SNES covers because most of the covers have a similar typeface. I Like Helvetica World the best.
MS Sans Serif is also a good font. I like Century Gothic too.

I got Ravenscroft free from Disney and I like it. I downloaded it in the late nineties.
Title: Re: Font Discussion
Post by: wiggy on June 12, 2013, 02:33:25 PM
Century Gothic is a favorite of mine. I use it for a LOT of things. 

Other good ones that I often use:

DIN 1451
DIN 30640
Eras
Eurostyle
Futura
Helvetica (Really, you could use this family of fonts and nothing else)
Kabel

Title: Re: Font Discussion
Post by: Dravenae on June 12, 2013, 02:35:33 PM
Helvetica nice recommendation.
Title: Re: Font Discussion
Post by: irvgotti452 on June 12, 2013, 02:42:52 PM
Lol looks to be unanimous. My favorite is Helvetica and Helvetica Neue (something like that).
Title: Re: Font Discussion
Post by: shenske on June 12, 2013, 04:14:22 PM
Good recommendations.

I use the Arial family in my vertical covers for consistency. Everyone has Arial and no need for font downloads.
Title: Re: Font Discussion
Post by: Dravenae on June 12, 2013, 04:27:37 PM
Century Gothic is a favorite of mine. I use it for a LOT of things.  

I actually PM'd you asking you what font you were using on the back of your Genesis covers. While waiting for you to get the message I decided I'd have a go and filter through GIMPs stock fonts. I had a good feeling with search the letter C, lo and behold, century gothic catches my eye. I though, "close enough. That will do".

good discussion, mate.
I don't like Arial. Helvetica is the best choice for SNES covers because most of the covers have a similar typeface. I Like Helvetica World the best.

Thinking of giving Helvetica a go for my spine/front logo's. I want a consistent/uniform look, and I quite like the look of Helvetica.

@ Shenske. I see you got yourself a copy of Golden Sun? Fucking awesome game hey?

EDIT: Good news. I think I've sorted out my Mega Drive spine dilemma! I tried using Helvetica, but GIMP didn't have it, so I went with Century Gothic. In my opinion it looks amazing. I think I'm gonna use it on all of my spines from now on.
Title: Re: Font Discussion
Post by: JDavis on June 13, 2013, 04:58:08 AM
I've been using Univers for the backs of my cases.
Title: Re: Font Discussion
Post by: pumanchero on June 13, 2013, 05:03:09 AM
Other fonts frequently used are
Futura (nintendo DS)
Gill Sans (Game Boy)
Eras (Konami)
Korinna (Capcom)
Title: Re: Font Discussion
Post by: kaysow on June 13, 2013, 05:05:24 AM
mostly recreating and touching stuff up, so lots and lots of helvetica variants. also, off the top of my head, nes games tend to use zürich a lot.
Title: Re: Font Discussion
Post by: Dravenae on June 13, 2013, 07:46:57 AM
Cheers for the recommendations guys! As I'm planning to make templates for the majority of my systems. I have plenty of fonts to try now!
Title: Re: Font Discussion
Post by: Dravenae on June 24, 2013, 02:37:14 PM
Anyone know what the font is used on the Nintendo DS PAL covers? I'm making my own template for GB, GBC, GBA games at the moment. I might just go with my good old faithful century gothic, but let us know anyways. Thanks in advance.
Title: Re: Font Discussion
Post by: Lumberjack42 on July 14, 2013, 12:23:32 PM
A lot of the older games use Swis721.
Lot of Nintendo games around the GBA, GC era use Tw Cen Condensed
Title: Re: Font Discussion
Post by: PaulBearer on October 04, 2013, 07:02:16 PM
Hi!

I'm thinking of making a couple of EU Saturn and Mega CD (SEGA CD) covers and I'm unsure about two fonts..

#1:
The font used on the back for the description on Saturn games such as this one:
http://www.sega-club.com/Archiv/Saturn/VirtuaFighterRemix.jpg (http://www.sega-club.com/Archiv/Saturn/VirtuaFighterRemix.jpg)
I will make the scans myself, but I want to retype the text to make it look crisp.

#2
The Dodge-looking font on the spine of EU Mega CD games.. like this one where it says "Silpheed":
http://stiggyblog.files.wordpress.com/2013/05/silpheedcd.jpg?w=549&h=421 (http://stiggyblog.files.wordpress.com/2013/05/silpheedcd.jpg?w=549&h=421)

I'd really appreciate your help, Thanks!
Title: Re: Font Discussion - Adding Copyright and Trademark symbols
Post by: videogametrader on October 04, 2013, 10:11:01 PM
Found this while trying to figure out how to add a copyright symbol. It is a great time saver.

How to Insert Trademark or Copyright Symbols is easy...
if you know the ASCII code.  All typed characters are represented by a numeric value from the ASCII table.

Hold down the ALT key plus the ASCII code to get (The code is after the name):

™ Trademark 0153
® Registered 0174
© Copyright 0169
« Double Left Arrows 0171
» Double Right Arrows 0187
♥ Heart 3
▲ Triangle 30
♦ Diamond 4
♣ Club 5
♠ Spade 6
♂ Men 11
♀ Women 12
♪ Music Note 13
♫ Double Music Notes 14
º Degree 167
¢ Cents 155
etc...
Title: Re: Font Discussion
Post by: Arseen on October 05, 2013, 03:36:03 AM
I did the SNES Flintstones cover yesterday, I used drop shadow for the text, but I'm not completely happy with the result, so:

What are good x-offset, y-offset, blur, thickness and color (in 255.255.255 format) to use with the drop shadow?
I use Paint.net, so if Photoshop has different parameters give them I try to adapt them.
Thank you.