Universal Nintendo Handhelds Cover Thread

[Arseen]

I'd try to line the spine GBA & DS next to each other intead of on top each other, as now they take too big chunk of the spine space.

Otherwise I like the idea.

[AxelSteelBMX]

PREVIEW: MegaMan Battle Network 5: Team ProtoMan (NTSC-U)


Okay, I just wanted to show what I've been working on. This is a low-res copy of the next cover I'm working on. As you can see, right now I'm working on it within larryinc64's 3DS-size template. I intend to finish it once he releases the DS-sized version of his template. Although I had some decent scans to work off of for this one, I ended up having to recreate the entire cover due to certain visual elements not cleaning up well enough. As a result, it's not technically "retail" any more, but that's beside the point.

I'm looking for some pointers. The actual cover features a white grid over the yellow background like the one you see here. However, I can't figure out how to make the grid act like the one on the actual retail cover (bright and white in a radius around the logos/windows/character art and a little more faded and closer to yellow everywhere else; check the cover on the site to see what I'm talking about). I'm using GIMP as I am poor and cannot afford Photoshop. I think the cover, by this point, looks pretty good as-is, but it'd be better if I could re-create the effect I've described. Anyone skilled in image manipulation wanna give me some advice, pretty please?

Cheers.

[larryinc64]

Try making two layers, One plain yellow, other the grid with the yellow BG, use the eraser tool with the occupancy set lower and erase the parts were the white grid is less visible.

The art on the original seems to be over to the right more.

I'll see if I can make the DS template later this week.

[AxelSteelBMX]

Yeah, you're absolutely right. I'll put some more work into it; I'll mess with different combinations of layers, adjust their opacities, and use erasing tools to get it to the point where it looks about right. Thanks for pointing me in the right direction.

The front art? Yeah, the retail cover is off to the right a bit more. But I had to rebuild the whole thing because there were lots of elements in the original scan that I couldn't clean up properly, and the front image was part of that. So I tracked down the artwork Capcom used for the cover, but there isn't a copy anywhere I could find that shows more of MegaMan's buster on the left side. The image you see is just barely under the GBA border overhang on the left and can't be moved over any further. But I also never liked the fact that everyone on the cover was off-center to begin with (Team Colonel has the same problem, and it's really odd to see MegaMan basically crowded mostly off of the cover of his own game), so even though it's not retail-perfect, I prefer the aesthetics of having the art properly centered. But if I can find another version of the cover art that has the left and right borders expanded, I'll make another version of the cover with the retail art orientation.

Thanks for your help.

[larryinc64]

One thing you can do is try to link up the new art with the scan, and try to blend them to fill in the missing parts.
That's what I do when I'm working with lower quality scans and have to combine 4 or so images to make one.

Some of the Bevel and Drop shadows on the GBA logos seem to be missing from your cover. probably a layer effect transition problem from Photoshop to Gimp. Try using one of my covers to fix it, I may make a simplified template soon to fix this in Gimp.

[AxelSteelBMX]

Oh, that's interesting; I see what you mean about the bevels and drop shadows. I'll see if I can figure out what went wrong, but it may indeed be an issue when importing to GIMP, since I had to make my own drop shadow layer when I used Shenske's template to make my Mega Man GB covers.

I'll try to re-create the cover image as best as I can. Thanks.

[larryinc64]

Just take one of my completed GBA covers, and over lay it, cutting out stuff not needed. Some drop shadows were normal layers, not layer effects, so that's probably why its still there.

[AxelSteelBMX]

larryinc64: I worked out the issue I was having with the effect on the white grid pattern, and used the sidebars on your GBA covers to fix the problems with the missing elements. Thanks for your help. I'll show off the finished product once I've imported it into the DS-sized version of your template (once it's been released).

[larryinc64]

I'll make he template tomorrow, or later today if I feel the drive, It should no take very long. I'll also make a simplified template that should fix the GIMP problems.

[AxelSteelBMX]

Fantastic; you're a right hero. Thanks so much.

[larryinc64]

So I modified my 3DS template for DS cases, Here is a spine banner comparison, old on left and new on right. GB and GBA should blend in with older covers well, but GBC may stick out more,

Game Boy/ Game Boy Color/ Game Boy Advance DS Template

Optimised For GIMP Version

The Gimp Version merges the banners into one layer, removing drop Shadow and other layer effect problems.
I'll convert my 3DS covers to DS covers eventualy, If there are any requests, it will hapen sooner, for a full list of new 3DS covers, and the template itself, see the 3DS Template Cover Thread. All 3DS covers were remastered, or uses new scans, and many do not exist in DS form.

[AxelSteelBMX]

Those look really nice; thanks a ton for catering to those of us that are poor and Irish. I'm downloading now!

[AxelSteelBMX]

(GBA) MegaMan Battle Network 5: Team ProtoMan (NTSC-U)

Get it here!

(GBA) MegaMan Battle Network 5: Team Colonel (NTSC-U)

Get it here!

Thanks to larryinc64's updated template, these two custom covers are now finished. I remade both of them almost completely from scratch, and there are a couple of differences between these covers and their retail versions. First, the art on the covers has been adjusted so that Lan is centered on the cover and there is a better balance between MegaMan and each version's respective team leader, but if there is enough demand, I will come back to these later and provide variants with the off-center cover art. I also took a couple of liberties with the back of the Team ProtoMan cover, and used art from that version's Navis arranged similarly to the back of the Team Colonel cover because I couldn't track down the resource necessary to make it retail-accurate. It's easy to not notice, but I'll be able to correct this if I can find the right piece of art later.

For now though, I'm really pleased with how these turned out, and I hope you like them as well. Cheers.

[larryinc64]

Looks grate, especially for something made from scratch.
Did you use the Gimp version of the template (The smaller "Optimized For GIMP Version" link)?
Drop shadows and Bevels are missing again, except on the back for some reason.

[AxelSteelBMX]

Thanks. Yeah, I used the GIMP-optimized version and noticed that as well, so I just took your advice and used a copy of the bar on the back from the covers you've got in your Box account, so it turned out okay.