The Cover Project
Artist's Corner => CD Case Covers => Topic started by: k_huntington on May 15, 2018, 02:02:07 PM
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hi, i'm keith and i'm a sega cd addict. have been since 1993 when i first saw sewer shark on a big screen tv on display at a department store.
i have made a few custom covers here and there to fix some issues (lethal enforcers longbox style tray insert, as it never had a tray, added the yellow stripes to a surgical strike as it is now dual format, made a prize fighter one as my copy was the X'EYE pack-in version in the cardboard digipac thingy, among some other things here and there) i am a huge fan of the jewel case long boxes, and its alwasy pained me to see the internet embrace the dvd insert options, but there have never been a good reliable location to get replacement cases, so i get it. its a cheaper and more convenient format. but i feel its necessary there should be standard size options available that could be use in case someone picks up a loose disc, or let's be honest here, the sega cd is one of like 2 platforms that has zero copy protection, so how many people have a sega cd unit and a wall of DVD cases with cd-rs in them? if you want to go the cd-r method, thats fine, but hey, let's do it with some style!
another point of contention is the dvd style inserts that are widely available, some of them either have the wrong spine logos used, or hand typed with the complete wrong typeface. i have gone through and redone ALOT of spine logos (not all, but alot. compare my cliffhanger with the one on cover project, and my DUNE with the one thats been posted and you'll see, the font choices already displayed could use some revision)
so ok, we get covers and tray inserts for 149 games, some with multiple color ways to represent their repressing, and then what? i have to now go on ebay and spend $10 for NFL Trivia just to get a good case? well... here is where my urgency in the project came into play.
a few months ago, Josh from Limited Run Games announced he was setting up manufacturing for the original sega long box jewel cases, but mentioned he was looking at a target cost of about $10 per jewel case, at those prices it would be ok to buy a case to replace the busted snatcher you have, but that is not a sound pricepoint for the entire 149 title library if that is someones goal. then came some other bloke from Alaska, who announced his version at $3 a case currently. that is much more manageable. so a box of 10 cases for $30 on amazon prime, free shipping. so that got me to thinking.... i have a vast collection of sega cd games, basically for the FMV titles, and for the 3rd party cartridge games on cd with redbook audio (mortal kombat, nba jam, that stuff) but i just could not care less about j-rpgs or space shooters, however i wouldnt mind have copies laying around... i'm just not going to justify $170 for popful mail. eff that. the replacement cases got my wheels turning though. for $40 in materieals i could have the 10 most expensive games in the sega cd library on my shelf, and call it done. so i ordered a box and took to photoshop to break past the DVD case format we have all grown so accustomed to over the past 10 years or however long they have been a thing. a few days later, the cases arrived, the "10 most expensive games" .PSDs were done, i took them to work and started printing.
i have done test print, after test print, after test print, after test print, to ensure color is correct, and sizing is accurate to the standard jewel case long box. i finally got one that was 100% spot on to the mm, so i saved that as a template and the races were off. The wife went on a 12 day vacation to visit family out of state, so while the house was empty it was the perfect chance to set up and just start bulldozing through these covers….
instead of doing all standardized blu stripe spine, I wanted to do the games in their original release format (and some I did in multiple color ways, like Nihgt Trap, Wonder Dog, and Rise Of The Dragon to name a few, as they had repressings)so for the blue spine games, they have the standard blue stripe spine we have all come to expect. For the cardboard box games, I did the jewel case to look exactly how the cardboard case would look if it was sitting in a plastic protector. Since the boxes used the entire front space, the covers art for those were made wider than the jewel case counterparts, so I sourced the art from the longer manuals when it looked right, or just centered the graphic in the middle with some dead space on top and bottom with others. Not entirely ideal, but it was more important to me to present the cover art with zero cropping, than it was to “fill all the empty space!”
TL/DR: I made .psd files of all of the US sega cd games in standard jewel case format sizing, and once printed they look great, come even indistinguishable from the originals.
so now I have all 149 US games and all variants of color done, I would like to have them posted to the cover project sega cd directory on the main page. i’m not interested in just posted them to the forum, because I’ve been coming to this page for 8 years, and 4 weeks ago was the first time I’ve ever even clicked on the forum. but I’m still trying to figure out the logistics on that. I would like if I could just get an FTP address and send an entire folder directory to the server, and as that would be easier than having to go cover by cover by cover by cover. I have about 314 jpgs to upload??? So is there an easier way to get them to the page so they can be forever immortalized alongside all the dvd format covers?
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Upload away man.
I don't think you will get a stickied thread to post over Shenske's 700+ NES on the main page (if that's what you are asking)
And if they are not accepted, you won't get a reason behind why not due to our admins Nazi Quality Standards, which is why we request you post them on the forum first for evaluation.
But to each their own. The website is ancient, and other than either 1) giving them directly to an admin or 2) manually uploading 1 at a time, there's really no other way to be "credited" if they are accepted.
(https://s9.postimg.cc/nu4nd1227/Capture.jpg)
I will also say, I didn't read this entire post, it's way too long for my attention span
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Hey Keith,
Welcome to the site (forum side).
I'd love to get a copy of these files to case up my own collection. If it comes to it, you could upload to a box account or something like that?
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no, i'm not looking for a pinned post. i just meant to have the covers on the individual game search pages. yeah. but i have a domain so push comes to shove i would probably just upload to my own domain and make a quick mid 90s text based webpage. nothing as amazing as ratigators though. lol i sent 1 cover to the page just to evaluate how long it takes to post, if it actually goes through and judge if the process would be worth it from there... i saw that starblade was the only game on the site in this "format" but one thing to note, my covers are bifold. so its essentially the front and the blue stripes wrap around to the back and some generic form letter type copyright at the bottom.
>>here is a sample of some assorted ones i printed the other day (https://twitter.com/k_huntington/status/996609342207033346)<< just to examine color accuracy and such. cause another thing i wasnted to fix were some of the colors like Night Trap is a red box, but the dvd case format cover on this site has it as like mauve. so i corrected that to reflect the accurate color.
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The process of approving and uploading covers to the main site, as I understand it, is currently broken, as in it is not functioning right now. Could an admin verify, please?
There's also the stringent quality standards for the main site that most covers do not meet, which is why lots of people just upload covers to the forums for peer review and improve on them after the fact. Lots of the best covers started in the forums and made their way to the site proper later.
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Yeah, at the moment we still cant access the FTP which is how we upload covers to the site. Snowcone (site owner) is aware of the situation and said he would look into it, but we have yet to hear back from him regarding the situation. Our hands are tied until this gets fixed unfortunately.
To comment on the subject of this thread, I think it would be a great idea to start uploading inserts for Sega CD/Saturn games with reproduction long box jewel cases on the way. To be honest we should probably do this all jewel case based games.
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ok. well as i said, i already have the entire sega cd library done, because i have like 60 some games on it already so i had a great starting point for reference. as for saturn, someone(s?) else can attack that library.
if you guys want me to post them to the forum as a thread, it'll probably take a few days to format the html and have corresponding thumbs and all that ready to go. i'll get started ont hat tonigt is making thumbs and start categorizing and getting stuff posted to my domain. i'll see how much of an undertaking it would be to format all that afterwards and just post it as 1 post once its all ready???
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ok. well as i said, i already have the entire sega cd library done, because i have like 60 some games on it already so i had a great starting point for reference. as for saturn, someone(s?) else can attack that library.
if you guys want me to post them to the forum as a thread, it'll probably take a few days to format the html and have corresponding thumbs and all that ready to go. i'll get started ont hat tonigt is making thumbs and start categorizing and getting stuff posted to my domain. i'll see how much of an undertaking it would be to format all that afterwards and just post it as 1 post once its all ready???
Personally, I think that's the best way, especially when the upload function isn't working. I feel that's the best way to keep it organized, especially if there is a preview image with it.
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ok. all of the images have been uploaded.... now the LOOONNNGGG tedious process typing out all this stuff. this may take several days....
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Awesome stuff, can't wait to see them.
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Hi there k_huntington,
Just wondering, did you say that there's a guy selling SEGA CD cases at $3ea? Or is it an alternative case that will do the trick?
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It's a box of 10 cases for $30. I did a quick review on YouTube, here ya go... https://youtu.be/BetnFmzzp14
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My replacement cases arrived today. I can't wait for these!! Thanks, k_huntington!!
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They're up. I posted a new topic on this, and changed the topic of this thread to a more generic title to avoid confusion.
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Hi there k_huntington,
Just wondering, did you say that there's a guy selling SEGA CD cases at $3ea? Or is it an alternative case that will do the trick?
It's a box of 10 cases for $30. I did a quick review on YouTube, here ya go... https://youtu.be/BetnFmzzp14
Just so you know, the cases of 10 for $30 are the first run with the trays that don't fit right. They are working on a fix that will allow the tray to fit in the case better on the next batch. While the fit will be better on the second batch, the price will mostly likely go back up to the original price before the discount.
Also, Limited Run Games will have their own replacement cases out soon. Their cases will cost more, but will have a much better quality plastic and closer fit to the originals. In other words, you will get what you pay for.
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Just so you know, the cases of 10 for $30 are the first run with the trays that don't fit right.
the tray not fitting is completely addressed in my video.
this is how i look at it:
to replace a broken original case for snatcher or keio, by all means, i would wait for LRG and their replacements, as $10 a pop, sure it will be expensive, but a much more sound investment for a few super expensive games.
now for someone who has a sega cd unit, is cd-ring majorite of the library, and printing out inserts, the cheapo case more than suffice. i don't personally think its necesary having cases that snuggly fit or snuggly close when they are burned games.
for all the commons that you have with busted cases, thats more of a grey area, and dependent on your personal perception of what is sufficient or not. my own collection, i only have just a few cases that are busted badly, i've managed to have overwhelmingly great luck with sega cd cases all staying fairly pristine. so i will wait for the LRG to replace those few i have that are busted, for burning CD-Rs though, its completely a no brainer, cheapo cases for life. :D