I'm planning to try myself at a resource management / strategy game (think a not so complex Colonization).
Here's a first draft of some icons:
(http://img258.imageshack.us/img258/9895/itemsqg0.png)
Are they instantly recognizable? Internationally?
Comments & suggestions/paintovers appreciated.
i would say from left to right:
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picture frame, meat, corn, water, beer, vodka, wood, gasoline, pistol, rifle, shotgun, truck, generator, horse, mobile phones, another horse (donkey)
Forgot to comment...
I think they are very nice. Maybe add some drops to the water tap and change the angle of the handguns grip, the barrel should be straight.
Here's what I see:
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1st row: meat, wheat, water, beer, liquor
2nd row: wood, fuel, handgun, sniper rifle, shotgun
3rd row: car, energy generator, horse, walkie-talkies
Last icon: horse
Do the two horse icons represent two different things or are they two alternatives for the same thing?
Thanks, you got it all right.
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The thing in the top left is just the icon's border.
The fifth icon in the top row doesn't represent a special liquor, just booze in general.
Those down there are meant to be walkie-talkies, correct.
The horse's head is an alternative, I'm not sure which one I'm gonna use yet.
The ones I think could use some work are the liquor, the shotgun and the generator. Sure, they're recognizeable, but not as instantly recognizeable as the others.
The liquor bottle isn't clearly "bottle-shaped". It might help if you gave it a lip. The angle on the shotgun is dramatic, but the perspective makes it look pretty much just like two pipes. I briefly considered whether it might represent oil pipelines. As for the generator, I doubt I would have realized what it was without the thunderbolt symbol. Maybe focus more on the wheel and axle of the generator. I think those are the most recognizeable components.
left to right:
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hard without colour but meat, corn, water/tap, alcohol (beer), alcohol (spirits), wood, petrol, pistol, sniper rifle, sawn-off, truck, horse, walkie-talkie (radio), another horse.
I think they are really nice. Are you keeping that style, or colouring them? I like the style and colours now.
What resolution do you want to use for those icons?
Thanks for the comments, guys!
They will be colored, completely repixeled, to be exact.
I'm going for lowres, so the icons are going to be something around 24x24.
EDIT:
Here's a first attempt to convert those to pixels:
(http://img527.imageshack.us/img527/6175/itemspixeledyb4.png)
(ignore the crappy icon border)
The second alcohol one now looks more (to my eyes) like a jug of milk; the wheat/grain looks . . . odd; and the rifle and shotgun are a little too small for my liking (perhaps exaggerate the proportions so as to allow for greater detail and therefore clarity? eta: or just do what progz did, heh).
Those are the only ones I see issues with; I like the water pipe, beer, and pistol ones especially (though the pistol is a little more vaguely defined compared to the sharp contrast found in the rest).
I think these look great and are very recognizable on their own. The problem as I see it is your choice of background color, which makes the weapons in particular more difficult to identify than they should be.
1. Added a drop shadow to bring out the shapes.
2. Went back and lightened the values slightly.
(http://members.cox.net/progzmax/itemspixeledyb4.png)
You could alternatively use a darker, more neutral background color. Nice work.
What Redwall said: grain looks weird, liquor looks like milk and the rifle and shotgun should be more defined. Also the neck of the beer bottle looks too short to me and the steak could use more saturation. The rest looks good.
The proportions on that tap are a bit off.
Would look better with a smaller faucet(?) and a larger... erm... turny-bit, (as you can tell - I'm not a plumber).