A Tasty Verbcoin

stepsoversnails · Sun 27/03/2011 04:37:01

This is a rough design for the verbcoin in my game.

You have to believe me when i say a coat of arms made from breakfast foods is relevant to my game.
The images you see are also the actual size they will appear in the game. The final version will have colour and replace the lined shading with coloured shading. The bottom banner has the action appear on it (Kick rock, lick icecream, talk to old man).
So i need advice on different breakfast items i could incorporate into the design. Also, if anybody has any good medieval fonts that read clearly in AGS that would be much appreciated.

Moresco · Sun 27/03/2011 07:58:10

I see a teapot....and a shield, and some lined curly things going around it...and a banner.

I don't see anything that makes me think breakfast.

Bowl of cereal....a spoon, a stack of pancakes...pancake syrup, a frying pan with some eggs and bacon, a jug full of OJ, maybe some salt and pepper shakers although that's not strictly "think breakfast".

That's all I can think of right now.

stepsoversnails · Sun 27/03/2011 08:42:20

the "lined curly things" are actually bacon.

TomatoesInTheHead · Sun 27/03/2011 09:08:08

To me, a teapot alone is already breakfast-related enough (bacon not so much, but that depends on culture). In the game, I probably won't look too long at the verbcoin, so it suffices if it fits nicely in there.

Will the icons be animated when selected?

I don't know about the banner... I doubt "talk to old man" and such would fit on it with a reazonable font size, and without being broken into two lines.
Maybe make the banner a bit wider and less tall?

stepsoversnails · Sun 27/03/2011 09:28:55

so far all the actions have fit in the banner.
I'm really trying to push the medieval/food thing here. Bacon is pretty common breakfast food in america and where i'm from, Australia.
Their actually meant to be a weird sort of variation of the flares you would find on a real coat of arms.
such as these.

the verb coin is consistent with the world surrounding it.
I'm really looking for ideas on the medieval/breakfast food thing rather than just breakfast.

Babar · Sun 27/03/2011 09:50:48

The hand is obvious enough, but I think you should change the look(?) and talk(?), because even with the 2nd image showing them after having the mouse over them, I can't tell which is which.

stepsoversnails · Sun 27/03/2011 09:57:27

yes.
i think i made a mistake having the character pull the little OOOooo face for the look icon.
but the actual faces themselves are the same as the face of the main character. I do see your point though.

Babar · Sun 27/03/2011 10:13:39

While it may ruin or complicate the shield motif if you remove one of the ordinaries, one idea is having only 1 bigger face, where you can click the eyes or the mouth? Then maybe you could use the second area for an inventory button.

I'm not too worried about the size of the banner, unless you game is in a really high resolution?

stepsoversnails · Sun 27/03/2011 10:16:09

its at 800x600.
the banner works great for now. But if it complicates things i'm okay with removing it. Good idea with the single face. I'll have to make some more alternatives.

Moresco · Sun 27/03/2011 10:17:50

Quote from: stepsoversnails on Sun 27/03/2011 08:42:20
the "lined curly things" are actually bacon.

oooooooooooooooooH.

Ok then, I see bacon too. Mmm, bacon.

For the look one, you could have his eyes BULGE out, or just one eye even. I think that could look cool in your present style.

And for the face, ditch the eyes and just zoom in on the mouth and make him spit some letters out of his mouth while you're hovering it or something. Some random letters, or something just pe-tooing right out of his moufff. Ptoowie! I dunno, I'm sorry it's late at night.

Babar · Sun 27/03/2011 10:19:47

Third post of what could've all been in 1 post

Another idea is have it arranged as it is now, but instead of the entire face, just have the eyes/s and mouth/s showing in each area.

Tabata · Sun 27/03/2011 10:29:14

I'm not really sure, if I understood your question the right way, but I'll try to give some ideas about breakfast-items.

I find an egg cup to be international known as typical for breakfast:
"take/give" - getting the egg out/in there
"talk" - you could do a crack-line to lift the head a little like talking
"use" - break it to change into a "sunny side up"
"walk" - give it little legs (like stickman) an do a moonwalk

Nearly everyone needs cutlery for breakfast, wich can be used in several ways to be animated and not to forget, something hot in a cup (tea/coffe) to get awake.

Is there a typical pattern tablecloths in Australia or America you could use as background?

If you want it more international there also can be used a toast, a croissant, a bread roll, glass of honey/marmalade.

TomatoesInTheHead · Sun 27/03/2011 10:31:58

For a more medieval look (though it seems not be very common in heraldry), maybe you can try adding a fork and a spoon/knife each surrounded by a strip of bacon, or crossed behind the shield, to give the impression of some breakfast-medieval-ish weaponry.
More or less similar to this one:

stepsoversnails · Sun 27/03/2011 10:35:56

The egg suggestions are great because the character himself is an egg.

And forks and knifes crossed also make sense because in this little universe of food people they use cutlery as their weapons.
I think i have a few new ideas now but i'm still keen on keeping the action banner.

Tabata · Sun 27/03/2011 10:37:58

Well, which actions are needed?

stepsoversnails · Sun 27/03/2011 17:18:37

here is a new one that keeps it a bit more simple.
I took out the little action banner thing, too.

Tabata · Sun 27/03/2011 18:13:12

Nice!
Is it for a special reason, you choose two forks, instead of one spoon and a knife or fork?

ddq · Sun 27/03/2011 18:45:13

Quote from: Tabata on Sun 27/03/2011 18:13:12
Nice!
Is it for a special reason, you choose two forks, instead of one spoon and a knife or fork?

Clearly, Tabata, those are sporks. Sporks. Honestly, I'm disgusted by your lack of discrimination among cutlery.

I think it's a very stylish verbcoin. I might recommend making the sporks a bit smaller or less prominent, since they take up a lot of room.

Tabata · Sun 27/03/2011 18:51:44

Sorry - my fault (I'm to old for such modern stuff)

So let's change the question to: Why not a knife and a spork?
(I want to make me a bread roll with butter and some other unhealthy stuff

)

Shane 'ProgZmax' Stevens · Wed 30/03/2011 04:12:43

Another approach would be to have the shield shaped more like a plate, with two eggs (eyes= LOOK) and below it a bent rasher of bacon like a smiley face (mouth= TALK) and then use the fork as a pickup/use action. A nice pile of poorly-balanced pancakes above the plate with syrup pouring down each side to form the 'border' with some drippy bits at the bottom would complete the effect, and you could of course have other stuff along the border.

You could give the fork more clarity by showing it stuck into some other food. The knife could likewise fulfill the same purpose as the fork or be modified for a different verb.

Just some ideas.