Valherjar: Core Cover for Critique

[GregS]

Alright Gang,

Time to throw myself on the mercy of the court.  Suggestions and ego crushing comments are welcome.  ;)  The one thing I know about it already, though, is that it's a bit dark.  That's a product of the reduction in both size and resolution more than anything, but if it's too dark let me know and I'll lighten it up more.


Small (646x600 pixels)
http://www.gmpress.com/valherjar/graphics/CoreCoverLowResSmall.jpg

Large (8.5x11 inches)
http://www.gmpress.com/valherjar/graphics/CoreCoverLowRes.jpg


Thanks!

Greg

[indiedog]

I like it! Looks very cool. And no - it is NOT too dark! Thumbs up

[madelf]

Not bad.

I might make the "Valherjar" a little taller & "The Chosen Slain" sub-title a little smaller, myself. And the sub-title could stand either a touch of lighter color on the edges, or a color that contrasts better with the black background. That might give that little extra snap.

Looks good though.

[greedo1379]

The "Game Monkey Press" looks a little low (assuming that the bottom of the picture is the bottom of the cover).

But it looks like a cool game!  I would certainly pick it up and flip through it.

[jdagna]

Well... I'm going to reveal the fact that I know very little about Norse legends by saying that the main thing I don't like about the cover is that doesn't seem to say "Raganarok in the modern day" to me.  And yeah, I'm kind of expecting a guy with a beard and a horned helmet.  I do at least recognize the word Ragnarok as being a Norse version of Armageddon, but if I didn't notice that, I wouldn't have much of an idea of what the cover is trying to say.

I'm sure your back cover would make up for a lot of my ignorance, but if something doesn't really catch me right away, I might not ever turn to the back cover.  I'm not sure how to fix the problem unless you can think of an equally-good tag line to replace your "Epic Role-Playing in a Modern Day Ragnarok"  Perhaps "Modern Role-Playing in the Final Days of Ragnarok" or something like that might be a little more informative, but it might not be a big enough issue to worry about.

Purely from a design standpoint, I like it a lot.  I think the only comment I'd make is that it looks like you have small margins on the right and left, but not at the top and bottom.  Evening things up might help a little.

[GregS]

Thanks, everyone, for the feedback thus far.  I've implemented several suggestions.

As for Justin's critique, I certainly understand it but I'm at a total loss for what to do about it.  I took the game around to several gamer events, including having a booth at Origins just to gather market data, and came up with a few simple, but difficult to overcome, issues.

The first is the name.  Valherjar is an original word and so, without question, no-one knows what it means...unless you know enough Norse to put the root words together.  And, truthfully, I didn't want to use it...but found nothing that tested as well.  The second is what tag to use.  The third was how to convey the game in a single image.

In the end I tallied all the research and pieced it out as best I could.  My argument, as a whole, boils down to the fact that I have two ways to grab you with my cover:  a modern guy with magic, an axe, and a shotgun.  The second is the tag.  Designed to hit people who will be intrigued by the concept, I honestly don't expect the game to have "impulse appeal" to anyone who doesn't get it, or isn't intrigued by the picture enough to care.  


But I'll certainly play around with it more...

[Shreyas Sampat]

I would reconsider the Photoshop flames around "Valherjar". They draw attention away from the text and the image, which has its own (great-looking) flames that look very different. Try picking a golden-pink off the man's face for the text color, and omit the flames; that'll make the word stand out without having to use what is obviously and jarringly a digital effect.

[jdagna]

As for Justin's critique, I certainly understand it but I'm at a total loss for what to do about it.  I took the game around to several gamer events, including having a booth at Origins just to gather market data, and came up with a few simple, but difficult to overcome, issues.

I had a suspicion something like this was probably the case, and I think everything is good, even if not ideal.  I mean, the two most popular games of all time are Dungeons&Dragons and Vampire the Masquerade - both have really clear concepts conveyed instantly through the titles alone and I think that's a factor in their success.

But then, here I am with this weird Latin title, so I'm not in much position to throw stones :)

I also think a neutral title can be an advantage over a title that may turn people away or carry connotations you don't want.

Anyway, I wouldn't stress over it if you've alrady thought about these issues and come up with a solution as best as you're able to.

[greyorm]

Put a black margin on the bottom. Put the company title in there...for all the gods' sakes, don't put it on the picture (as it is now)! I say that because it looks jarring that the image has no other text on it but that one piece. Plus, as mentioned already, the co. title feels far too close to the bottom margin ("It's going to jump! Don't do it, man! You've got so much to live for!").

Other than that, I think it looks fine from a design standpoint. The cover art, unfortunately, does not catch my eye because it is static (ie: nothing is happening to draw the viewer in -- it is basically just some guy posing in an alley).

Static portraits can work, however, so more than the above, it is that the tones in the image are too gray. For the background, this state is fine (and desirable!), but when the same occurs in the foreground, it means the foreground fades into the background.

See if you can get the artist to brighten up the foreground colors somehow (either through literal brightening of the foreground colors, extending the existing foreground colors, or through increased foreground contrast).

Obviously, I don't know if changing the cover art would be problematic at this juncture, or if you even want to, but if you find the above useful, those are my suggestions for improvement.

[GregS]

Thanks, evereyone.  Lots of great suggestions.  I'll spend the rest of the week playing around with it...see how different drafts look.

Out of curiosity, for those who didn't like the image, how does this strike you (note this is not in cover format).

http://www.gmpress.com/valherjar/graphics/Year1LoRes.jpg

[tldenmark]

Time to throw myself on the mercy of the court.

Hey Greg - that cover is excellent! And I'm am an extremely tough critic!

It's not too dark at all, its perfect for the subject matter. Often I lighten images 15% and increase contrast 5% in photoshop because images can tend to darken when printed, if your worried about it being too dark.

[greedo1379]

Greg - that last cover is awesome!

[greyorm]

Dude, THAT is what I am talking about! Put that image on the cover of your book! (You can still use the other one as an interior character illustration.)

EDIT: Two suggestions that should not be too hard for the artist to implement: stick some runes on those folks (as with the individual on the originally shown cover); forehead for the guy, shoulder for the women.

I mention this not knowing if the rune-bearing is important to the game, but if so, then it should be there. It would also give a further link in the image to Norse mythology, more concrete to general gamers than the Odinic eyepatch of the male (and the rings on the beast).

But even so, this is definitely cover material as is.

[Jack Aidley]

I actually prefer the first cover image; the second one is a bit "Ooo - a big monster and some people killing it; I've never seen that before" to me wheras I find the first one genuinely intreging. Each to their own, hey?

The two things that jar me most about the cover are: the cheap special effect flames on the Valherjar title - get your artist to do you some proper flaming letters if you want them; they'd look so much better. And put a designers name on it, I'd be much more inclined to buy a game made by a person than a company.

I agree with the above comments about borders, and the positioning of the text. I'm not too fond of the all centred text - it seems rather bland to me.

[timfire]

I actually prefer the first cover image; the second one is a bit "Ooo - a big monster and some people killing it; I've never seen that before" to me wheras I find the first one genuinely intreging. Each to their own, hey?

Yeah, while I don't mean to just say "me too", well... Me too, I agree with what Jack said.

I'll also say that I don't think the idea of the flaming title is bad, maybe its just not-so-good application. If you re-work the flames it could still work.