• New Horizons on Maelstrom
    Maelstrom New Horizons


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Promotional Materials

Pieter Boelen said:
Cool! Only comments:
- It wouldn't be attached to the main banner, so it would still look like two components.
- Should the icons themselves be made to fit in better with their background? Or not....
Click to expand...
On the one hand, I don't think we need to make them 'part of' the main banner, because in some cases it might be better to use them without it, and the plank texture above at least works by itself.
However... if we used something like a sea texture instead, based on the sea in the banner, the icons might look good both with and without the banner.

And I do think the flat icons look slightly out of place on the plank texture, admittedly. I'd rather stick to the flat aesthetic in general, rather than change the icons to fit the skeuomorphic aesthetic of the plank, though that's just my preference.

Pieter Boelen said:
By the way, does anyone know how to add a transparency effect to the surrounding of the banner?
It doesn't display very well on non-white backgrounds, such as seen here: http://www.subsim.com/radioroom/showthread.php?t=212926
Click to expand...
I've just been leaving out any fancy border effects because I think it suits the design better, but from the looks of things, that banner you linked to just needs an alpha channel.
I thought it was saved as a JPG and so had lost its transparency, but it seems to be a PNG, so that's not the problem.
 
Armada said:
On the one hand, I don't think we need to make them 'part of' the main banner, because in some cases it might be better to use them without it, and the plank texture above at least works by itself.
However... if we used something like a sea texture instead, based on the sea in the banner, the icons might look good both with and without the banner.
Click to expand...
Sounds interesting to me. :cheers

Armada said:
I've just been leaving out any fancy border effects because I think it suits the design better, but from the looks of things, that banner you linked to just needs an alpha channel.
I thought it was saved as a JPG and so had lost its transparency, but it seems to be a PNG, so that's not the problem.
Click to expand...
It simple doesn't have an alpha channel. Because while I did mess around with those in the past, I never did figure out how to do them well.
 
Pieter Boelen said:
It simple doesn't have an alpha channel. Because while I did mess around with those in the past, I never did figure out how to do them well.
Click to expand...
I imagine there should be a simple option for it somewhere (you use Photoshop, right?). In GIMP, I just right-click the layer and select Add Alpha Channel. :shrug
There's also a Color to Alpha option, which for example lets you convert white to transparency, so perhaps you need something like that to fix those borders.

Any Photoshop users able to lend Pieter a hand?
 
OK, one more try with the icons and banner:

HoOBanner550x100Logos.jpg

SeaLeftEnd42px.png
SeaRightEnd42px.png


Simple sea texture taken from the full-size banner, and I couldn't think of what to do for the ends, so I just used a fade effect.
Looks better to me than the plank texture. What do you think?
 
I've got to admit I did quite like the plank. But this new one probably works better with the "flat design".
Looks pretty good when centred under the banner without a white line between as well:

HoOBanner550x100Logos.jpg

SeaLeftEnd42px.png
SeaRightEnd42px.png

What would happen if you round off the corners a bit like in this design?

Edit: AGH! Why does this stupid forum insist on putting a white line inbetween where it doesn't belong?!? :whipa
 
Pieter Boelen said:
What would happen if you round off the corners a bit like in this design?
Click to expand...
Not sure it would look any better, personally.
I'll set up this banner on the IndieDB page to see how it looks in a different environment.

Pieter Boelen said:
Edit: AGH! Why does this stupid forum insist on putting a white line inbetween where it doesn't belong?!? :whipa
Click to expand...
Must be something in the template files, though it's not immediately clear to me where it's getting that margin from. :facepalm
 
It's up on IndieDB now, showing the banner and icons without a gap in between.
I'm surprised how well the icons blend in with the banner, even though they only use a small repeating sea tile.

What does everyone else think? Any more suggestions, or should we use it as-is?
 
Definitely better than anything we have had before! :cheers

How would the bottom part work though if we add/remove some of the icons? The sea wouldn't match anymore, right?

For IndieDB purposes, we could use the bigger version....
HoOBannerMedium.png
 
Pieter Boelen said:
How would the bottom part work though if we add/remove some of the icons? The sea wouldn't match anymore, right?
Click to expand...
The sea doesn't actually match, it just seems like it does. It's the same 42 pixel square of sea repeating for each icon, except for the ends.

I've change the IndieDB banner to the larger one so you can see how it looks.
 
Armada said:
The sea doesn't actually match, it just seems like it does. It's the same 42 pixel square of sea repeating for each icon, except for the ends.
Click to expand...
HA! Clever! :rofl

Armada said:
I've change the IndieDB banner to the larger one so you can see how it looks.
Click to expand...
Hey, nice thought there! I actually had the one I posted in mind, but this shows even more of the picture itself. :onya
 
So is it safe to assume I can remove the plank icons and icons with extra margins from the FTP? It's getting a bit cluttered with this stuff. :read
 
Yeah, just get rid of the old stuff. We can also update my original opening post with the new versions, I think.
Plus... Put it on a "press kit" area of heartsofoakgame.com or something. :wp
 
Will do, and good idea about a press kit page. For now I think we'll just have to use this thread.
 
Opening post updated with the latest editions of everything (I think).
If anything still needs modifying, @Armada should be able to take care of that. :doff
 
Does anyone have the original image that we're using in these banners, or know which thread it was posted in?
I think it's time we updated the CryDev profile with this banner, but it needs to be 630px wide, and the current one is 550px wide.
 
See attached. You should have it in the collection of screenshots I uploaded as well. It is under "Models Ships\St. Albans by Wedori".
 

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