Hey guys, I just happen to pop on here today and catch up on looking through a lot of the work everyone's been doing. Sorry I basically dropped off the face of the earth! :-X For the past six months I have been so busy with work, dating/girlfriend, broken computer, new computer, more work, and other life things that I haven't had much time to even play many games, let alone do any new cover-related work. I still need to buy some of ShadowFox's Genesis cases and more GB cases, let alone his SNES cases! ;D
Kaiede, you've done a fantastic job! If you want to take my templates and yours and combine them into a final version for each, you have my blessing to do that. :) I also agree with you on removing "For One to Two Players". Before I got busy, I was even considering a drastic more minimal approach to the back, essentially removing all the legal stuff at the bottom. I thought about how much of a pain it is to update that with every cover and kind of thought "why do I even need this legal stuff on here, if the point of the cover is for people's personal collections?" But whatever you want to do from here, go for it! ;) You covers in the UGC thread look great, I hope you'll make some ShadowFox versions once you have the template finalized.
Damn, this one's doing the same thing. Is it because I'm using the old ass free CS2? What version of PS are you using?
Yea looked into Affinity, realized it's mac only, hmm
I'll give it another shot tonight after work and let ya know. I gotta do a home inspection tonight too for my new house so may be late or even tomorrow
On the flip side once I get a new home I'll have to rethink how all my games and consoles will be displayed, and will be a good time to migrate to these better covers and better cases
Just wanted to say I really love this format. I'm going to try to learn how to use PS to make some of these covers on my own. Right now I just have all my covers in UGC format with Shenske's template, but I'm going to need to reprint covers anyway, so I might as well start using these. Awesome work to both TF and Kaiede, this style really pops and gives each game it's own unique look and feel.
Hey sorry for the delay, I ended up spending a lot longer inspecting that house then I thought I would lol. Have to change where I'll put my home theater and also where I'll put my games collection. That being said, I did get a chance to download the new 1.2 template you put up and it seems to be working correctly now. I'm not that good in photoshop (I get the concept of layers and the blend tool but thats about it lol) but the layers don't error out everytime I load it up, so to me it seems to be working now. Thanks for going back and re-releasing that!
If you ever did make a tutorial I would definitlry take a gander through that and try to figure this stuff out, I really do love these covers
He never made a handheld one in this fashion did he? I searched through some of the stuff on the forums but couldn't find anything. I'm not asking for someone to go make one, I can only imagine how annoying and time consuming that must be, but if one existed I would love to print a few out and see about redoing my handheld collections
I've updated Super Mario All-Stars to your new template, and converted Super Mario World and Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars as well!
I'll work on the rest, as well as more of my old ones over the next few days. Go ahead and do Final Fantasy III, I don't have any plans to do that series.
Also....just beginning to experiment...
(http://i63.tinypic.com/2dl6hja.png)
For now, I'm just pulling the text boxes from my original photoshop files for those covers or copying and editing them from my previous template. For now it works for me.
Yeah I know it would make the universal template more complicated, I'd be okay having Famicom as a separate template myself, but ultimately you can make the final call. Part of the reason I went with gold lines instead of white was because it otherwise looked too similar to N64. I wanted the Famicom look to be somewhat inspired by the Famicom Mini boxes for GBA.
And together lined up:
(http://i66.tinypic.com/2rma3rt.png)
I'd love to see some styling of Dragon Quest. I think mine was earlier in this thread but it wasn't as good.
I think tonight I'll put together the FF3 cover. I'm also thinking I should open up requests since I currently have the time to do a few for a night or two a week. That might not be true in a month, so take advantage while you can, I guess. ;D
Not entirely sure about what I did to the "Licensed By Nintendo" badge for Secret of Evermore. Should I just hide it on this one?
Jebus, you've been busy TF, I need to start catching up. :oI'd love to see some styling of Dragon Quest. I think mine was earlier in this thread but it wasn't as good.
I think yours was posted to the UGC thread. I'm pretty sure I'm the one who (rather harshly) critiqued it. Are you looking at the NES games or the SNES? I think my goal for now is to focus on the SNES/SFC (that's what I collect, the NES just doesn't have the nostalgia for me), and if you are looking at DQ V or VI, I can try to put one of them in my queue.
Yeah that'd be mine. Mainly snes games. Looking and getting e repro games and would love to box them up. No rush at all. If you want amy of the art assets i used for the dq covers i can find them for you
These look great! I've made a Mega Man X cover with your template and want to post it here, but I'm wondering how do you make the 3D previews?
So both DQ V and VI? Just trying to be crystal clear here. ;)
Since they are SFC games, they would be somewhat low priority, but I can try to slip one in with the others I do on a given week. And I would probably be producing Japanese-style covers. Not that I have anything against reproductions, but I prefer to do a cover that works for both the reproduction and the original.
Here's my new contributions for the week: Final Fantasy III, Soul Blazer (since I did Illusion of Gaia already), Secret of Evermore, and Earthbound (Request).
These look great! I've made a Mega Man X cover with your template and want to post it here, but I'm wondering how do you make the 3D previews?
Here's my new contributions for the week: Final Fantasy III, Soul Blazer (since I did Illusion of Gaia already), Secret of Evermore, and Earthbound (Request).
EB looks amazing! Thank you so much!
Thanks! And what is the font used for the back text?
NOTE: The font I use on the back of my covers is called AvantGarde Medium BT. It is freely available here: http://fontzone.net/font-details/Avant+Garde+Medium+BT/
Thanks! And just one more thing, I read the tutorial and I'm kind of confused about using the barcode generator. What am I meant to select for barcode type and text?
- I think TF and I differ on this last point, so feel free to land on either side. But my personal take is if the retail box doesn't have the "Only for Nintendo", then I don't put it on the custom cover, even if it was only released for the SNES, to honor the original design to some extent. But this is more for personal taste, so do what you like here.
The link to the AvantGarde Medium BT font says for me it doesn't work due to it being taken down for copyright reasons. Can someone else clarify this or is it just me? If it's not just me, I have the original ttf file which I can upload to Dropbox and link here.
Kaiede, is the Super Famicom part of the template ready to go or is there more you wanted to do to it? I have a couple old covers ready to be converted if it is.
Kaiede, take a look at how I created two groups of layers at the top for Famicom and Wii Elements. That might be a simple way to include this Famicom design in the games template. All the user has to do is toggle that group on when doing that system. If you think that will work and it looks good, feel free to add Famicom to your next template revision.
...I'm crap at finding spare artwork....
Kaiede, take a look at how I created two groups of layers at the top for Famicom and Wii Elements. That might be a simple way to include this Famicom design in the games template. All the user has to do is toggle that group on when doing that system. If you think that will work and it looks good, feel free to add Famicom to your next template revision.
When you aren't finding what you are looking for in a google image search try looking up the Japanese name. Google what the Japanese name is, copy and paste it into google. IE: Hagane in Japan is called "Steel"(鋼). Since Steel is so generic add Super Famicom (スーパーファミコン) to your google search and see what happens.
It doesn't always work but I've had good luck doing this over the years. :)
I've updated the template to 1.4 with your Famicom pieces, and with the tweaks I wanted to make. Making a Famicom/Super Famicom cover is a bit more involved now, since you need to also look at the 'Fixed Content' layer group and toggle the US/JP layer groups within that to get things to switch around for you. I don't yet know how to replicate your Cover Project banner, so the Super Famicom currently uses the SNES one. Feel free to address that. ;)
Now that everything's all set up, I've made Famicom covers for Super Mario Bros., Super Mario USA, and Super Mario Bros. 3...
Super Famicom covers for Mario & Wario, and a custom cover for Godzilla: Destroy All Monsters (Kaijuu Daikessen in Japan, I'm using the title it would have had in North America according to Nintendo Power)...
Now that everything's all set up, I've made Famicom covers for Super Mario Bros., Super Mario USA, and Super Mario Bros. 3...
Super Famicom covers for Mario & Wario, and a custom cover for Godzilla: Destroy All Monsters (Kaijuu Daikessen in Japan, I'm using the title it would have had in North America according to Nintendo Power)...
So, with the Famicom/Super Famicom template, there is a layer group you should probably toggle if you want the Japanese Legalese. Japan doesn't use the seal, either. It's under the "Background for All Systems" and has two groups, one for US, one JP.
just a heads up I noticed on your Mario 3 box that one can "Dosge cannon balls"
Added covers for Mega Man X2 and X3!
For some reason I can't save NES covers as JPGs. Is this just me or something wrong with the template?
(http://i.imgur.com/vVG2Gms.png)
(http://i.imgur.com/RrseSZk.png)
I know Kaiede got to put up his Super Metroid cover before me, but I thought I'd put mine up anyways for anyone who wants it with the original NA box art.
And man do they look good printed out. Hows the fit, TF?
They fit perfectly! :D Everything looks great. I ended up purchasing the Red River paper suggested here (http://www.thecoverproject.net/forums/index.php?topic=17268.msg153109#msg153109), and it looks professional (printer issues aside). I can't wait for the SNES and N64 cases so we can see many more of them lined up!
If anyone else prints any out, please share pictures!
The only critique I have of these new covers really is that personally, I like the desaturated backgrounds. Letting the color bleed out is an artistic decision, and may make some of the covers pop a bit better, but it does break consistency. Up to you which way you want to go with it.
The only critique I have of these new covers really is that personally, I like the desaturated backgrounds. Letting the color bleed out is an artistic decision, and may make some of the covers pop a bit better, but it does break consistency. Up to you which way you want to go with it.
Yeah I did a compression between your, TF's and my covers and found that mine stick out a bit too much, so I've updated all of my covers to make them look more in line.
And I noticed the front page link to my SNES covers goes to my folder with all my covers, the SNES specific folder can be found here: https://www.dropbox.com/sh/ydld37wgs8ia1jg/AAAYl8Tz6NDtZtYZq_Y0VD3Oa?dl=0
Is that having them desaturated and then having the blend at 30%? I can't quite remember what the exact term was but I followed the guide in the psd and that's how Hagane turned out.
I printed out my NES covers and despite some printer issues, I think they turned out great! (forgive my phone's camera quality)
I can't speak to Super Mario World as I haven't printed any SNES covers yet, but I meant that I was personally having issues with my printer - i.e. low ink, my printer is crappy quality. But I've never had any major issues printing the UGC or BitBox versions of these covers on inkjet before. Sometimes there are instances where a color appears a little darker but I don't recall any where it was enough that it seemed drastically different. Now laser printers have given me all sorts of trouble printing these and other covers with very dark colors.
Before I got super busy, back around January, I went to the Fed Ex print shop hoping to test print and eventually have all my covers printed there so I didn't have to mess with it. Unfortunately they were all too dark (and their machines really wanted to resize the covers too) so I gave up and went back to my inkjet. If any covers print out really odd, let me know and I'll adjust them.
yeah I think I'm going to replace all of my current CGC cover art with these once there's more of a selection, I don't have to many cases but I've only seen a few of the games I have on here so far. Once the SNES ones are offered at a lower quantity I'll just go to printing out art from here on in for my SNES and SFC games.
yeah I think I'm going to replace all of my current CGC cover art with these once there's more of a selection, I don't have to many cases but I've only seen a few of the games I have on here so far. Once the SNES ones are offered at a lower quantity I'll just go to printing out art from here on in for my SNES and SFC games.
Any in particular you looking for? I could probably get them done over the next few days.
yeah I think I'm going to replace all of my current CGC cover art with these once there's more of a selection, I don't have to many cases but I've only seen a few of the games I have on here so far. Once the SNES ones are offered at a lower quantity I'll just go to printing out art from here on in for my SNES and SFC games.
Any in particular you looking for? I could probably get them done over the next few days.
SNES
Start Trek TNG
I was also thinking it might be easier on me in the long run to have these printed out at like a kinkos or office max, any thoughts on special instructions I should give the clerks?
I could just list off what I have since it's not a large collection yet, if you happen to get to them cool
NES
Batman
Blaster Master
TMNT 1
Dibs :)
Are we working through N64 stuff too, I know Fox doesn't have those cases out yet and I figure they'll all be dun eventually anyway.
Are we working through N64 stuff too, I know Fox doesn't have those cases out yet and I figure they'll all be dun eventually anyway.
I've made 3 N64 covers so far and the template is all set, so they can certainly be made.
@Kaiede - Nice work on the TNG cover! (in addition to Star Wars I am also a big Star Trek fan) ;D However, your dropbox link seems to be broken now, I can't access any of your covers.
Added Turtles in Time to my dropbox link. Not to happy with this one, the logo is a bit hard to see against the background.
I'm planning to create alternative versions of my covers if the you like them, stricly following the template so we can expand the existing library.
Link to the dropbox:
https://www.dropbox.com/sh/th66qk703v778b2/AADylhNoaBAL1IFbYFXj-EGba?dl=0
If you look at how TF and I have handled lighter backgrounds (Sparkster), that might give you a few ideas on how to address it here. But the general idea is using blended layers to darken the background around the text, and layer effects around logos (black glows for example) to create the contrast needed.
So I just started getting back into retro gaming, played/owned a lot of these games growing up but the majority of them were stolen over the years. I just started buying them again and came across this site while looking for cover art (I had already found the ShadowFox cases prior while looking for cases) saw these covers and since I have no previous cases, these will probably be what I do my collection in once I get to order some ShadowFox cases.
Anyways, I just thought I would give making one a try from my collection that I didn't see yet, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles for NES. I'm not a pro or anything, I have messed around with GIMP for awhile touching up family photos, but this is the first time I tried anything like this so the template helped, let me know what you think. I made one with the Cover Project website on the back and one without.
https://www.dropbox.com/sh/8k4j2qnd5wyfj8o/AACnM5bOyGwqyzUwLmvAJqz1a?dl=0 (https://www.dropbox.com/sh/8k4j2qnd5wyfj8o/AACnM5bOyGwqyzUwLmvAJqz1a?dl=0)
Kaiede: Those look nice. I also just noticed the background image on the spines, you all rotated the images 90 degrees, I didn't on mine, makes me wonder if I should flip them now so they match the others. Although the images I used I picked because I wasn't rotating them so they probably wouldn't work/look good rotated, I'd have to look for others.
Mostly I think the text on the back of the Shadowrun cover. The original cover is thematic, but pretty poor in terms of readability (although Seiken Densetsu 3 still takes the cake for bad box readability). I would have tried to mimic it a bit, but otherwise focused more on text color and typeface to bring attention the way the original box did. You can look at my Zombies cover, Kirby Super Star, or Breath of Fire II to see how I've done this on mine.
Nice Metal Gear cover. That was on my to do list as well, now I can skip it :)
Ok so I made one for Karnov I just finished today. But I want to ask your opinions on it, specifically the back image. As you can see there is not much text on the back of the box so I had a pretty big space to fill even with putting spaces in the text. There wasn't much good art for the game that I could find so I ended up using a picture of Karnov but from a later fighting game he was also in. Do you think it looks good? I was kind of hesitant using art from another game of the same character like this but I needed something big. The other thing I thought of was just cutting out the cover image of him with the pillars behind him and putting it there, but also didn't like the idea of using the cover image again.
So I've added Goof Troop and Street Fighter II Turbo for the SNES, both of them PAL versions. Both of them can be found in my Dropbox folder.
@Lecrough - When I first put together this template for UGCs, my main focus was on Super Nintendo because I wanted something different from the SNES vertical template on this site. My collection is primarily SNES and N64, and I only have a small handful of NES games.
So admittedly, NES was an afterthought when I made this template. I was thinking in terms of showcasing the horizontal art from SNES and N64, not the vertical NES art when I designed it. At one time I toyed with a SMS/Genesis/32X version of this template, but realized that the vertical art would be a problem there too.
Maybe there needs to be some sort of alternate front design for some NES games? Something that would allow much more art vertically. I haven't had much time to work on covers in a while, but if you guys come up with something, I have no problem with an alternate front design being added to the template..
Very nice work, BTW. I'm curious if you'd be willing to share the original PSDs if you still have them so US versions could be made more easily? Specifically I'm thinking of TMNT IV, which does need some cleanup because of the different naming in the US vs EU. The others I'm thinking of are Street Fighter II and Goof Troop as there's currently no US versions of the covers. I'd be willing to do the work myself, but it would save me some time if I wasn't starting from scratch. :)
Yeah it gives me a page that says it's an invalid or deleted file that has either been removed or moved. It's weird it's just that one.
Damn, this one's doing the same thing. Is it because I'm using the old ass free CS2? What version of PS are you using?
Im partial to Cooler Master and Fractal myself but Ive heard good things about the Corsair cases. If youre looking for airflow have a look at the Cooler Master HAF series cases. Any preferences about aesthetics?Wait when did we start talking about Computer cases? I thought this was about Game cases.
Spammer he is?Im partial to Cooler Master and Fractal myself but Ive heard good things about the Corsair cases. If youre looking for airflow have a look at the Cooler Master HAF series cases. Any preferences about aesthetics?Wait when did we start talking about Computer cases? I thought this was about Game cases.
I am a BIG cooler Master HAF supporter. Wife bought me the big full tower HAF for christmas in 2016.
I added some covers for F-Zero, Mega Man Soccer, NBA Jam, and Turtles in Time here (https://drive.google.com/open?id=1GDyFNhylMP4Nj90LLLCfgx_2vL9O56qD). If anybody ever wants any of the PSD files to make some changes, just let me know! I think there's definitely room for improvement on some of the covers I've posted.
More covers! I think I'm getting better at this, refining some of my earlier techniques.
Super Turrican
Legend of the Mystical Ninja
Contra III: The Alien Wars
Super Punch-Out!
Axelay
TMNT IV: Turtles in Time
I created the TMNT cover the same day Peppercrab posted his. Oh well ;D
@TyranicalFacist - some of those SNES covers are on my to-do list as well. Super Bomberman 1 & 2 and Disney's Aladdin for sure, I was thinking of doing the Bomberman covers next.
Lastly, anyone have any good resources for high-res art (other than this site obviously). I've been pulling from mobygames.com and giantbomb.com a fair bit, anyone have any other go-to sites?
So Super Bomberman is proving a little challenging, as I haven't been able to find a high resolution scan of the NA box art. I did throw together a Disney's Aladdin cover though, came our pretty nice.
Disney's Aladdin
https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1rjX1H8ZxUgl4KfWMEVd3vwoZEhCq8xlu (https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1rjX1H8ZxUgl4KfWMEVd3vwoZEhCq8xlu)
I'll keep looking for Super Bomberman and will work on Super Bomberman 2 next.
Is Mega Man Soccer a lower-res preview file? It seems small and blurry to me.
Is Mega Man Soccer a lower-res preview file? It seems small and blurry to me.
Not sure what happened here, but I uploaded a new version that should be the normal size. Thanks!
This was what I used to help make the Super Bomberman BitBox case a while back. Maybe it will help?
https://app.box.com/s/6qg53st8k855q9jv67hjo9o7jg8f2lw0