Wiggy NES covers

[wiggy]

Just a quick example, instead of using the maroon as all over the cover, maybe have a dark color shadowing from the Mario sprites, or vica versa.

I feel your going for a VERY retro American 1940's pin strip feel. At least that's how I feel when I look at the cover.

This is just a suggestion (again this is your cover, it doesn't matter what I say), but on the spine, try making it white, with a 2-3mm over lap of the maroon on either side, allowing both the top and bottom banners to extend on to the spine, without the new white spine touching the border. Keep a small maroon border around both the Nintendo and spine logo. I can make a rough mock up it you want?

I'm having a hard time following.  You mind mocking it up?

NES games in the US originally used the round seal.  I personally prefer it.

Indeed, but the round seals were like these:
..

Not trying to troll, but I know you love consistency just as much as clean and minimalist designs.

Too much blah blah in those.

You know ME, I'm all about look over having the perfect date, barcode, and all that stuff

That Zelda cover would be tits if you used a sprite Triforce instead of the triangle outline.

Considering that I won't be using sprites for EVERY cover, I didn't feel too bad breaking away for Zelda, and this is why



Little extra bling!

I really like these a lot and would not change anything. I'm surprised how many people already don't like these very much. Guess that's what happens when you set the standard so high. One question though, is the white outside border part of the template or is that to help you cut to size. Personally I think that would make these look great boxed up with a small white border if it is part of the template.

I didn't expect too much love.  Minimal isn't really a favorite here.  

Yes, the border IS part of the template.  Again, I wanted to get that retro, antiqued look, and the border with the distressed paper overlay helps that IMO.  

Don't get me wrong, I totally dig them. I just think that a sprite Triforce would be in keeping with the rest of the image. As it is, it makes a slight disconnect from the minimalist triangle to the 8 bit Link.

I really like the retro vibe of these though.

He did say that he was going to make it a tri-force, just all shiney after the printout.

[Dravenae]

I'm having a hard time following.  You mind mocking it up?

Sure, keep in mind, its going to be a quick, rough mock up.

[akumaizer]

I love them Wiggy!  Not a style that I would use myself but I can definitely appreciate the aesthetic.  I think they look fantastic as is and I'm looking forward to seeing more.

[wiggy]

Sure, keep in mind, its going to be a quick, rough mock up.

Sure, that's no prob.  Hey, do you want my template to work with?  It's in vector format (.AI).

I love them Wiggy!  Not a style that I would use myself but I can definitely appreciate the aesthetic.  I think they look fantastic as is and I'm looking forward to seeing more.

Thanks!  I put em on the shelf, and I really do like how they look, especially in contrast to the SNES collection by which they'll be hanging out.  I'll post some more pics soon.

[autobot]

Those covers look hot dude! Don't change a damn thing to your format!

As per our earlier talk, i'm definitely convinced that the cover sprite, and graphic scheme is more than enough for this theme to hold together! Bravo, it's a beautiful, unique, and original template! Well done wiggy!

[wiggy]

Thank you, good sir

[Azarkhel]

Looks good Wig, quick to make and an effective design. Can definitely see why you'd want something you can smash together quickly. Trying to finish off my SNES collection has completely defeated me.

You thinking sprites for Nintendo titles then whatever art you can find for the rest? Just curious about where your drawing the line for Sprites/No Sprites on these.

Only one thing I dont like about the template itself, the "Nintendo Entertainment System" on the spine. Dosn't have the same impact as the logos for the other systems. Not really your fault though, can't do anything about that without doing a redesign/re-imagining of the NES branding. Just all that small text crammed together...bleh, ran into the same issue when I tried to do a NES template.

[wiggy]

I thought about using the little graphic that I made for TF's template, but I'm not sure why I didn't :/  Maybe I'll dig it up and see how it works...


As far as sprites go, I guess it'll largely depend on whether a) the game has sprites that are at all memorable, and b) whether I feel like vectorizing them.

For those that don't end up with sprite art, I'll just do simple silhouette vector drawings. 

[Azarkhel]

Vectoring sprites a necessity? Surely nearest neighbor scaling would produce a clean enough result?

[wiggy]

For the most part it does, but once in a while it'll do weird shit like double up a row of pixels when I print (from Illustrator).

The bonus to building the vectors is that I can easily swap color pallettes. I needed to for Link on Zelda 2 because the original brown color was too close to the shade of gold that I used for the backdrop, and I just desaturated some parts of ol' Scrooge McDuck a bit on the Ducktales cover.  Doesn't take long to make em, otherwise I wouldn't be. I've actually got a pretty nifty trick for makings them super fast at this point


edit: got a few on the shelf.

[Azarkhel]

Looks good to me, I dig the reasoning behind the design. Classic games should look like classics, definitely get a "Penguin Books" vibe from these.

I'd still look at the top logo on the spine though.

[wiggy]

I think I'll play around with the spine logo/graphic that I did for TFs hybrid template. That cold use some more"pop", for sure.

[wiggy]

So, this maybe?  The small amount of type on the back is growing on me a bit.

V3


versus V2


and V1


On a side note, my wife, who point blank told me that "I normally hate those things", really, REALLY likes them and actually said she would like to have them in the living room.  She's a BIG book reader, so I feel like my book-look mission has been accomplished.

edit:  Not sure if I like the bigger spine logo when they're all line up.  Seems sort of clunky to me.  What do you guys think?  the wife prefers the chunky logo.

[Quazimoto]

Love the simplified cover style.  Would definately case my NES collection like that if I had one.  Excellent idea for sure...

I'd vote for no logo on the lower spine though.  IMO, the simple "Nintendo Entertainment System" on top is enough.  Any more and I think you'd lose a but of that simple elegance.

[oatmeal flavor]

I vote for nes at the bottom.