Is this a good PQ4 style?

[Sonny Bonds]

Great job on the aged version of officer Storm. Thats exactly what I imagine years of hard and stressful police work will do to a person.

[Knox]

ProgZmax: Hey, much much better! Ok, I like it! Thanks, Ill use your version if you dont mind...I also really like the ref pic you posted, Ill try to see if I can do something with that.

Sonny Bonds: Thanks! I always thought that games needed more older people in them

S: You're right on that, I took the main pic of Storm as a rookie and just painted over it/resized facial features, added wrinkles, etc...but kept the neutral emotion. Ill  try some different versions to see if I can get it a bit more varied. Ill change the nose size a bit aswell and modify slightly the lips throughout (not too much though)

GarageGothic: Ok, Ill see if I can make those black marks look better (they ARE photoshop brush strokes, )

As for those curious of how these different versions of Brian will be implemented in the gameplay, all I can say is you'll have to wait when its done...so like in 15 years from now

[Digital Mosaic Games]

I just have to say: WOOOOOW!!!
This is so beautiful! I´m sure this is the true PQ-Style. When I look just at the graphics I must say it could be the best PQ-Part ever. When the story and the puzzles fits it IS PQ-Part ever(in my opinion).

I wish you good luck, motivation and keep up the genius work!!!

[Knox]

Hi guys,

I havent been able to work much on this project of mine, things are going slow! However, Ive been trying to decide what design to go with the guides (issued to RVPD officers):

Version A:                                                                Version B:


Which versions do you like best? Also if you like parts of version A, and parts of version B, let me know, I can try to mash both together. Thanks for your input, Ive narrowed it down to these last 2 styles.

[Tramponline]

Looks great General_Knox! I get a very strong feeling of reminiscence looking
at your screen-shots.

Even though B looks neat, personally I'd prefer Version A. Considering the genre
and the intended purpose of those manuals (police paraphernalia as a "tool of trade" etc.),
I'd go with the more plain approach of version A.

I also rather like the lesser use of shading at the sides, which seems more realistic to me
and doesn't have that "computer generated/ fake-3D"-flavour to it in my opinion.

Did a quick'n messy mash-up of the first manual in version A inlcuding those elements I liked best:

• ...the golden banner right at the top seemed a tad too bold, I moved it down a bit and
   divided it.
  
  
• I liked the bottom part of version B very much.

[Sonny Bonds]

Definitely the first one here too. I like the clean, plain approach of version A.  If you'd like General_Knox, I can give you an example of what our guides look like over here (via PM). Altough they both look neat and authentic as it is.

[Shane 'ProgZmax' Stevens]

I'd say not to let yourself get bogged down in basic aesthetics most people (and indeed the average player) won't even pay attention to.  Both designs work so it doesn't really matter to me which you use.  One thing I will say is if I were to have done it I would've used a wavy US flag pattern as the backdrop for ALL of them and merely altered the color of the text, if that.  Most of these manuals and guides tend to be mass-produced by the same publisher with the same general look and feel since they are companion pieces.  Think of this as an encylopedia set.  All of the volumes look the same but cover different topics because they are meant to be taken as a whole; the way you've colored these, while nice, almost makes them feel unrelated.  I don't think the average player will have any problem with it, but I would have saved some time making the designs the same.

I did some googling and I notice these guides tend to look the same regardless of state but they seem to vary by color.

Here's one for Massachusetts for 2011:
http://www.fire-police-ems.com/books/bm59785.jpg

And Arizona:
http://www.lexisnexis.com/store/images/bstore/product/lexisnexis/genfieldguidered.jpg



Apparently, they've got the whole thing condensed into this rather handy field guide as well:

http://www.galls.com/style-BK086-general_catalog-police-field-guide;jsessionid=2179F419FF33BE6DAC62CC4067F83882


Instead of having different booklets you could do something like the above and have the main categories as tabs like the booklet does for quick access.

[Sonny Bonds]

I see your point ProgZmax, but take a look at this for example. These are examples of guides in our neck of the woods. (Holland) Its almost identical to General Knox's, color-wise.

[Knox]

@Trampoline: Hey I like what you did! Ill incorporate it if you dont mind. I think I agree with you, A is better...less busy. I like the bottom of B too, so actually Ill go with pretty much what you suggested.

@ProgZmax: Wow, I actually own that condensed pocket-manual (the very same one), hehe!! Its pretty cool, I took a lot of info from it and placed it into the RVPD field manual. Im basing them on the CA versions from LAW-Tech, but changing them enough so I dont enfringe on copywrite stuff
You know making just one booklet is actually a good idea too...with tabs! Much less work...MUCH less sprites too!! Ill try that out and let you see what it looks like

@SonnyBonds: Sure, Ill pm you, Id LOVE to see them!!

Thnx for the help, I DO get bogged down in minor details...gGrrRrr, thats why me-not-advancing-too-quickly!!