New Cover for Kayfabe?

[Matt Gwinn]

A few people have recommended that I change the cover for the next print run of Kayfabe and possibly move back to the original cover.

Was just wondering what people thought.

Here are 4 options.

http://errantknightgames.com/kayfabe/covers.html

,Matt

[Andrew Morris]

Keeping in mind I know nothing about your game, I like them in this order: 1, 2, 4, 3. The first option seems much better than the other three, which are pretty much the same. The first one just seems "fuller." It's more engaging to me.

[Valamir]

I'd go with #2.

The current cover is good, but an empty arena just isn't very evocative.  On TV it is...you've got the dramatic panning, the noise of the crowd, over excited announcers shouting platitudes, and then the entrance music starts for the next match and by then the imagery has you totally primed.

Tough to capture that in a still cover pic.  


I think the dark background colors look far more dramatic and root the image better.  With a white background you know that the wrestlers are "cut-outs"...there is no screaming crowd in the background...there is no background.  With the dark background your mind is more willing to believe that, yes, there IS something back there...you just can't see it because the house lights are down and the spot lights are on the ring.  It gives a sense of depth to the image.

So between image #2 and #3, I like #2 because it seems better balanced from a composition standpoint.  The wrestlers are falling off the bottom in #3 where as in #2 the top and bottom title bands center the image.  Plus, with the advent of watching letter box formats on regular aspected TV sets, our eyes are already used to focusing on an image with a dark band above and below, so it seems familiar to arrange the picture that way.


As a brainstorm that might be worth trying.  What if you made the back ground of #2 transparent, and put it on top of the current cover (or maybe the current cover with the brightness turned way down).  Just enough to give a bigger cue that there is a full arena behind the image.

Might be pretty impactful...might just be cluttered.  I can't decide which...it looks pretty cool in my imagination though.

[Matt Gwinn]

Added an Option 5 which is basicly the current cover, minus the empty seats, plus a couple wrestlers in the ring.

,Matt

[Keith Senkowski]

Matt,

Gotta say I dig option 4 of the 5 the most.  First one, like Ralph says, doesn't work cause it is missing the elements TV gives ya.  I feel the same way about 5.  

Of the three grappling covers, number 4 feels like a snapshot of an actual wrestling match.  Number 2's bottom border bugs me, and number 3's lighting is too bright.  It lacks the Friday Night Fight feel of 2 and 4.

Keith

[Valamir]

That's not bad either.

If you wanted to go that route, I'd be tempted to make it a tag team and add a guy in red pointing urgently while a guy in blue is about to launch himself from the top rope and plaster the red guy in the ring.

My only concern is that the characters are so small in #5.

That may well be a feature since the game isn't really about wrestlers in the ring, but about the business of wrestling...and in the business of wrestling the actual characters in the ring ARE pretty small by comparison.  So in that sense I really like the symbolism of it.

But, sometimes really clever symbolism winds up not making for the most attention grabbing cover.

For my dollars I can appreciate #5...but the cover that really says "Hey YOU...Yeah You, Punk...pick me up and check me out right now!" is #2

[Andrew Morris]

I like number 5 best. But, as others have said, a more engaging image might be a better way to go.

[Yokiboy]

Hi Matt,

Let me preface that I'm a huge wrestling fan. I really like the current cover, option 1, but option 2 is alright as well.

Feel free to use this image of Abdullah the Butcher sticking a fork in me as your cover.  ;)

TTFN,

Yoki

P.S. The BBCode to insert images seems to work fine in Preview mode, how come I've never seen anyone use this at the Forge? I'm actually not complaining though, as it makes it a safer read at work.  :D

[jdagna]

I like option #2 the best - the black background and closeup of the guys really works, and I think having the subtitle at the bottom helps anchor the whole thing.

Consider using your current cover (or a version of it) for a back cover image.  The low contrast and stillness of it would work perfectly below or behind descriptive text.

[Andrew Morris]

P.S. The BBCode to insert images seems to work fine in Preview mode, how come I've never seen anyone use this at the Forge? I'm actually not complaining though, as it makes it a safer read at work.  :D

I believe that's against policy here, because it takes up space. But I'm not sure, I'd have to go through the etiquette stickies again to be sure.

[Ria]

I think option 5 is the most dynamic.
The runner-up is option 2.

[Trish2]

I like Option 5 with Option 2's bottom. I'd probably also have the stands extended like they are in the curent cover.... and maybe fading out before it meets the red text.

Remove the white text from above the ring and put it into the dark space below.

[Matt Gwinn]

I think I'm gonna compromise and do both 2 and 5.  I'm gonna use 2 as the front cover and 5 as the back cover.

Thanks for all your help folks.

,Matt

[Ria]

#2 will make a great cover, and #5 will make a great back cover. Good idea!