(Topic ID: 61802)

Your thoughts on these Free Play cards?

By swampfire

10 years ago


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  • 17 posts
  • 9 Pinsiders participating
  • Latest reply 10 years ago by Aurich
  • Topic is favorited by 1 Pinsider

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    #1 10 years ago

    I made my "Free Play" cards with these guidelines in mind:

    1. Don't duplicate information that's already on the game. For me, the title and manufacturer are redundant.
    2. Use high-quality 300dpi artwork that isn't in the game, instead of duplicating what's on the backglass or playfield. I'd make an exception for small art that could be highlighted, like the babe in the boat in Fathom.
    3. Make the credits as large as possible, without obscuring the artwork. I found that leaving off the role ("Software", "Art", "Audio", etc.) lets me use a bigger font. If you're already into pinball, you know that Margaret Hudson does Art and Chris Granner does Audio.
    4. Only one image per card; keep it simple.
    5. Include the year the game was made (I need to add this to some of my examples below).

    Comments welcome!

    lotr-credits-small.jpglotr-credits-small.jpg csi-credits-small.jpgcsi-credits-small.jpg Avatar-credits-small.jpgAvatar-credits-small.jpg

    #2 10 years ago

    Bump for people who are bored of the lockbar thread and the WoZ playfield thread...

    #3 10 years ago

    Nice cards! I definitely agree that things should not be duplicated - especially right on the apron. For example on ACDC there is a huge ACDC logo on the center of the apron, yet people still put huge ACDC logos on free play and instruction cards. I chose an instruction card without one and had to make my own free play card. I did break your rule of putting the year though. AC_DC_Price_Premium.jpgAC_DC_Price_Premium.jpg

    #4 10 years ago
    Quoted from swampfire:

    3. Make the credits as large as possible, without obscuring the artwork. I found that leaving off the role ("Software", "Art", "Audio", etc.) lets me use a bigger font. If you're already into pinball, you know that Margaret Hudson does Art and Chris Granner does Audio.

    Really nice, but your number 3 is just way too obscure for 99.9% of the world. You're going to have lots of people asking if those are the actors from the movie or what.

    #5 10 years ago
    Quoted from RCA1:

    Really nice, but your number 3 is just way too obscure for 99.9% of the world. You're going to have lots of people asking if those are the actors from the movie or what.

    Yeah, but I only invite 1% of the world into my gameroom. I love showing people that Margaret Hudson is still kicking ass and taking names after all these years.

    #6 10 years ago

    Nice design premise and cards SF.

    Looking forward to your future cards.

    Don't forget to include them on the database.

    http://www.pinballrebel.com/game/pins/card/card.htm

    #7 10 years ago

    The Liv Tyler one is hard to look at. But overall an interesting take on them.

    #8 10 years ago
    Quoted from TheLaw:

    The Liv Tyler one is hard to look at. But overall an interesting take on them.

    Why? I'm curious. I was trying to make up for the homely picture of her just above that card.

    I'd really like to replace those 2 apron decals with more attractive ones.

    #9 10 years ago
    Quoted from swampfire:

    Why? I'm curious.

    I don't find her attractive at all, and i don;t think of her when I think of LOTR...although I don;t know a ton aboot the books or characters...but I've seen all the movies.

    #10 10 years ago

    Help me out, I have no idea what games these are from

    #11 10 years ago
    Quoted from jewboyflowerhead:

    Help me out, I have no idea what games these are from

    Guessing LOTR, CSI, Avatar

    EDIT: Although the CSI one lends itself to more of an XMEN vibe

    #12 10 years ago

    Liv is always the easiest on my eyes

    I think the LOTR could use more color and background in the dark area by names.

    Font is two large and detracts attention from DNA coding on CSI.

    Avatar overall I like the best.

    I think in all of them the names are just two big and in the middle of pictures. If the names were visable but not so pronounced I think all three would look much better. Good pics selected IMO.

    #13 10 years ago

    Great work!!

    #14 10 years ago
    Quoted from Shoot_Again:

    Liv is always the easiest on my eyes
    I think the LOTR could use more color and background in the dark area by names.
    Font is two large and detracts attention from DNA coding on CSI.
    Avatar overall I like the best.
    I think in all of them the names are just two big and in the middle of pictures. If the names were visable but not so pronounced I think all three would look much better. Good pics selected IMO.

    Great feedback, thanks! My son picked the Avatar background; he's the artistic one one the family.

    #15 10 years ago

    Thank you! I'll post these at full resolution to Ken at Pinball Rebel tomorrow.

    #16 10 years ago

    It's funny how I think a bit differently than you when I design my cards, just goes to show how many approaches there are.

    Quoted from swampfire:

    I made my "Free Play" cards with these guidelines in mind:
    1. Don't duplicate information that's already on the game. For me, the title and manufacturer are redundant.

    Agreed, but that goes for the design team as well, it's printed right there on the playfield most times, no need to put it on the card. I leave it off.

    2. Use high-quality 300dpi artwork that isn't in the game, instead of duplicating what's on the backglass or playfield. I'd make an exception for small art that could be highlighted, like the babe in the boat in Fathom.

    Agreed on 300dpi, and I'm while I'm not big on straight up duplicating, I think it's important that the tone of the art matches the game, and ties the playfield and the translite together. There should be a stylistic link between them all.

    3. Make the credits as large as possible, without obscuring the artwork.

    Less is more, too much text is clutter to me. The card should have no more than a few focal points. So I agree on making text legible and clear, but don't care for the design team credits or a ton of copy.

    4. Only one image per card; keep it simple.

    I prefer a composition over a single image, something original, while still keeping in mind the above clutter and style thinking.

    5. Include the year the game was made

    Agreed, year is great. I also like to include the number of units produced if possible. I get cheeky with it and put things like "Machine 1/5000". Other key info is the Free Play text, it's supposed to be a pricing card, and I like it clear that my machine is on free play.

    Just my approaches, no one person's opinion on this is any more valid than anyone else's, just a matter of personal tastes and whims.

    #17 10 years ago

    I just (finally) posted my Shadow alternate translite that I've been working on, and as part of it I did some instruction/free play cards. So here's an example of one of my cards that hopefully sticks with the principles I laid out, just like yours stick with your list.

    Instruction-Cards.jpgInstruction-Cards.jpg

    I don't want to hijack your thread with my design, but you can see the translite here:

    http://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/the-shadow-new-original-alternate-translite-speaker-panel-cards

    to see what I mean about how I like to tie the card's style into both the translite and playfield. So in this case the imagery is related, but not exactly copied, and the colors and fonts pull in some from the playfield. The "Free Play" font was chosen because it feels similar to the Bally logo for instance, and the title font on the instructions comes from the scenes area of the playfield, colors are from the apron and playfield, etc.

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