New AGS Website

[RickJ]

I like the bottom one the best.  What do you think about painting over it with some highlights and lowlights to give it some more depth and pizzazz?

[markbilly]

All of those are much better, good job!

The last one is the best, I have to agree. I also agree with not having  on the logo. He means absolutely sod all to me (whether this be morally acceptable or not doesn't matter!  ).

[Babar]

Completely abandoning Larry and Roger and stuff makes me sad.

Why not use it in some places, and then have a little "What's up with the goofy-head guy all over the site?" question in some FAQ or About or maybe even the main page?

[Darth Mandarb]

I like the bottom one the best.  What do you think about painting over it with some highlights and lowlights to give it some more depth and pizzazz?

It has a slight bevel/emboss on it ... perhaps make it a tad stronger and more noticable?

Why not use it in some places, and then have a little "What's up with the goofy-head guy all over the site?" question in some FAQ or About or maybe even the main page?

I've said it before, I'm not opposed to putting something in the header area that contains AGS history/relevance.  I just don't like it being in/around the logo!  There's space up there for many things.  I just don't feel a "banner" as the site/forums have now will work in the new design but there are many other alternative solutions we could try!

I like the progress that is being made, but is this really the best way to design a website? If it's all going to so micro-analysed over and over, it won't ever get done! If we just choose one person who volunteers to do it, shows a decent mockup and is willing to do the whole thing?

Yeah ... it's odd because, on a business level, I'd refuse to work like this (with so much input that the process takes months).  But I am enjoying this ...  I think we're really hammering down what it needs to make it primo for AGS.  However I do agree that, at some point, we just need to say enough is enough and go with something or we'll just keep battin' around new and improved ideas!  If there's one thing I've learnt it's that after you've looked at something for a few months it starts to feel old to you and you get the urge to improve even if it doesn't need it!

[m0ds]

People don't create and distribute AGS games, nor create and update an AGS Wiki if the intention is that everything we do in AGS history should be forgotten the next day. Saying Larry Vales holds no relevance can really only apply if you're either new here as of yesterday or you simply use AGS for yourself and don't really care about what becomes of it and other people's work...which seems pretty nasty. Abraham Lincoln is dead and has been for long enough but he's still remembered and pictured in modern stuff. Still, this community has always liked it like that; forget the old, start with the new. I'm not going to keep up this debate about having AGS symbolism in the logo but I have to say I'm dissapointed in those who seem to think relating the creations of the product to the product isn't "right" for the website. But as Darth suggests, hopefully an area up the top there can have some AGS characters.

[Snarky]

Larry Vales is one character from one old game out of literally thousands. I've been around here for six years and I have frankly no idea who he is or why he's particularly significant. And, like people have said, he looks pretty cruddy, he's not a particularly appealing mascot, and the art style clashes quite hard with the new site design. And as for tradition, well, he's not in the site banner now!

I absolutely think we should highlight various AGS games, new and old, throughout the website. The proposed design does a pretty good job of that, I think. Integrating some old character into the logo isn't necessary.

The design process isn't ideal, but in a more professional situation you'd preferably sit down with the client and collect requirements and design goals in advance, which we haven't been able to. Besides, you can cover things a lot more efficiently in a face-to-face meeting than on an online discussion forum, so people could provide this amount of input over just a week or two. I've been working on some application projects recently where we design a UI with an outside contractor, and we go through about a dozen iterations of the visual design from first mockups to final prototype, most of them over 2-3 weeks. And that's after we've locked down the information architecture and feature requirements, and sketched out some wireframe ideas.

Darth, is there any chance you could switch out the S and maybe the v to some other, similar font? Something from the Hobo font family might be a good match, and it provides better shapes for those particular letters, in my opinion. I really hate the lack of curve in the S, and don't much care for the kink in the v.

[Darth Mandarb]

Snarky - excellent suggestion!  I love the Hobo font(s).

Tried a few differing styles here:

1. flat
2. slight bevel
3. same as 2, but softened
4. subtle drop-shadow
5. more dynamically colored

I, lately, am lovin' the simple/flat look (like #1 or #4) but this is just my personal preferences.  I like the look of the last one, but it causes a clash with the simple shape of the cup I think.

[GarageGothic]

I really like the second one from the bottom (I also quite liked the bottom example in your previous post, though the 'S' reminded me too much of The Sims logo, this new font is very pleasant to look at).

I also totally agree with Snarky in regards to Larry Vales. I did play the games, long time ago, before I even knew about AGS. But while they were decent games and a good example of what could be done with the engine at the time, I never really understood the iconic status of the character. Why not Jake McUrk or Rob Blanc? (Must be the sideburns, right?). But I DO like the idea of a small (and changing) gallery of characters standing on the side to add a bit of color and whimsy to page.

[Ryan Timothy B]

How about something less rounded?  Here's a quick attempt:


(Warning: It might be slightly washed out compared to the rest of the stuff on the site )

[Takyon]

I prefer Ryans font, the other looks too soft and child like

[LimpingFish]

Number three seems like a winner to me. I can see Snarky's point with the v, but the I quite like the S. The slight drop-shadowy look to number four is nice too, but I agree that flat might be the way to go. 

[markbilly]

I agree with LimpingFish. I don't like all the shadows and stuff on Ryan's edit...

[Ryan Timothy B]

I also think the 2nd from the bottom, the flat colored text by darth, in  image limpingfish had posted is also the best one.
I was mainly just playing around.   But I definitely hate the cartoony text of Hobo.

[Snarky]

Well, how about something like this?



Essentially just replacing the v and S with the Hobo glyph alternatives. I had to fake it since I didn't have the other font Darth has been using; it would look cleaner if you did it properly.

[m0ds]

Jesus Christ. Larry Vales is one of many popular characters. Agreed he's maybe a little out of date but then that's effectively saying Nelly Cootalot or Trilby are not noted characters of the AGS scene despite the fact they won recent awards. And any others. To me it's like assuming Theme Park was never part of Bullfrog's list of games. If you come here and can't think of ONE AGS character, sorry, you're just a forum douche who just wants to be heard and doesn't give a shit about all the rest. Nah, this pisses me the fuck off. Now you've replaced the blue cup with "a cup". Sorry, why? If you don't want the things AGS has created in the logo why have a cup that holds barely any significance to the dominant blue cup figure? But as I said, I'll leave it there. Alright, maybe one more pissed up comment...

If you won't have any AGS characters why will you have SSH's image? I'm the only fucker that ever seems to rate the articles on that blog, why is that considered such a relation to the community and characters from the game's arent? Like the panel rating, if you choose to allowed this to be discussed publically then I presume you realise it's open to debate and ridicule. And I'll be honest, the current logo is bland and shite, especially considering some of you are artistic geniuses.

[Takyon]

Lol true the logo is very boring. The colour scheme and everything just looks washed out and old fashioned imo but like someone said it's taken long enough to decide on colours anyway.

[m0ds]

Alright I admit the latest title looks better than the rest. But I'm sorry, the whole "characters aren't important" stuff really gets to me. When you folks have been here 10 years and find that people choose to forget everything you've come to love and appreciate, I hope you put your geek aside and realise they're being douchebags.

[Takyon]

Personally I can't really comment because I've been here for just over a year, but I really don't see the need for the characters being in the main design. It just looks kind of unprofessional imho. It doesn't mean they're not important but why not have them somewhere else?

[Snarky]

Chill, Mods. No one is saying characters aren't important (except JH, apparently). I think everyone's been supportive of having a few of them standing around in the masthead area, like in ProgZ's version. Could Larry be among them? Sure. The issue is associating one particular character with the logo, essentially saying that "this is the official AGS mascot, from the official AGS game." That becomes an even stranger idea when he doesn't even seem to mean all that much to a significant segment of the community.

Not having Larry in the logo doesn't mean he has to be purged from the memory of those who still cherish him. Like I said before, he's not in the logo now, so why is his omission such a big deal? The game will be in the database, and if there's a "History of AGS" page I'm sure there'll be room for him there. And sorry if it upsets you that I don't care about Larry. But I wasn't here back when he apparently was so important, and I never played the game, so why should I? I'm sure there are things that are important to groups within this community that you don't care particularly about.

SSH's icon is by the column for his blog, which makes sense. Putting SSH up by the logo, on the other hand, would make no sense. That said, I don't think it looks that good either. We're just focusing on another matter right now.

The WIP design we have is a compromise, and I don't think anyone is 100% satisfied with every part of it. If you have a better idea for a logo design, please go ahead and share.

[m0ds]

Well to me it stands out as people saying they do not want to be associated with it. And It's not because of a personal connection necessarily if someone said Shifters Box or Just Another Point & Click Adventure weren't worthy or "necessary" (uggh) on the front page I'd have a go. Something reflecting the games needs to be there and the web designer needs some form of self-pride of elitism whatever to choose which AGS related characters fall into the design. Shit, I can't understand why people just don't want to be reminded of the good stuff. No matter how irrelevant or off putting it is - IT'S THE GOOD STUFF thats come out of all this. And IMO that should be reflected instantly to every new web viewer. If I had seen that when I initially searched AGS I would have been en-tranced. Instead, I was barely able to read a thread in Times New Roman. I am chilled Snarky I just enjoy this line of debate... The one that questions why people feel there's no need to associate the games with the engine in the banner images. But I'm sorry, I'm trying to avoid discussing it. So please don't feed the me, Snarky