DIGITAL_DEVIL_DATABASE Community Forum

If anyone can get a hold of Tony, we need the uncomposited graphics for the main site. That means we need the art files used to create the banners etcetera, in as high a resolution as possible or in scalable formats, and separated out into layers so they can be re-composed.

In the meantime, if anyone would like to try to reverse engineer this stuff, then be my guest. But that isn't the best way of going about things clearly.

Also if anyone recognizes the fonts used in the banners, please let me know.


PS: Jose said he would try to contact Tony about it last I heard from him, but that was ages ago. Go go Jose as usual!

Wonder why Jose hasn't shown up by now :confused:

He's an enigma wrapped in a mystery...

edited: One day he'll show up and just act like everything is normal??

At least a message of "I'm okay" or something like that. :sick: He is indeed a big mystery.  :ninja:

I noticed the other day the main website can't be viewed in full on an 800 pixel wide display. I think I'm going to have to rearrange it. I'd start working on it now, but it's not a huge priority for me personally, and it's something I could easily get caught up in, so I'll put it off for a while.

At any rate, there is a good chance the look of the website will end up being changed pretty radically.

In general users are not offering to help with development of the site. And it seems Tony is in denial of it's existence. Haven't heard from Jose in forever.

At any rate, in the meantime, if you have any ideas, please help us brainstorm on what a new site might look like. I'll begin by changing the site as little as possible. But to begin with the fullwidth banner will have to go. If anyone would like to keep the banner style on the website. I recommend you disassemble the banner for me, so all aspects of it are on separate layers. If you could remake the banner from scratch with a higher resolution (or better yet make it scalable) that would be even better.

I can throw together some banners if you want.  No offense to Tony (or whoever) but I always thought the main site was pretty ugly.  Complementary color schemes tend to look pretty pukity.

I think we should retro out the site a lot.  Maybe try to make the tables look like the old SMT menus.  It's pretty ambitious but it probably can be done.  As long as I don't have to work with code.  I know HTML, BBS code, CSS style sets, and a little bit of PERL, but I'm seriously clueless on all the rest.

Well just on the technical front, the site has a number of serious accessibility issues. Plus the present layout appears to be a bit of a kludge for wordpress which often generates a number of fatal errors if you click around the site a little.

I'm seriously considering just starting from the default Wordpress theme and going from there. I don't have any major inspiration at this point. I think it's probably a better idea to just get something minimal up that works asap.

If I decide to fuck everything up (which I know is going to likely piss off / turn off a lot of users) I might first go shopping around for alternative Wordpress themes to start from. But my gut instinct is to just go default and work from scratch.


I actually dug out the original Megaten anime looking for some inspiration. I find a hard time grasping how to wangle something like that into an interface though. I think Ideally I'd like the layout to have lots of retro computer equipment all over the place and magnetic tape reels -- that sort of thing. You know, playing off the "database" theme and sticking to the root precepts of Megatendom.


For now though, my thanking is I'd need some basic graphics help to go forward. And again I worry about people getting bent out of shape about change. But the site like I said, is just technically poorly designed in so many ways from a basic accessibility standpoint (graphically it's fine as far as I'm concerned, but I don't have tools I'd need to maintain it's current presentation)



At any rate, the default Wordpress setup is a very minimalist blue on white look. I made a basic banner logo that I think works that I could work into the blue header which I'll attach. The white would feed directly into it. I think the graphic represents the heart of Megaten. The only logo I think I'd prefer would something better with the same elements, or better yet something like a computer (probably a portable) with something really digital/occult-like in the display. To do that right it'd probably have to be an art-piece from scratch (that looked like professional art)


At any rate, Tony had a blog category basically setup for every game, and banners for every game. That's way too much I think, and not very farsighted. So I'll probably break the news categories down to pretty much what the forum categories are. All the Persona games go into one category for example. Each category will need an avataar that should pretty well represent the entire series. For Persona the obvious pick is Igor for example. These avatars won't be worked into the banner. Instead they'll be somewhere underneath it (though probably overlapping it somewhat) like that Microsoft Word paper clip.

Smaller versions of these avatars will appear in each blog post instead of the boxed in decals currently on the front page.

The avatars should more or less all look as similar in style as possible, but should be actual production art from the game probably. They should basically look like the avatars you'd expect to see next to a text box in a game. The avatars will have completely transparent backgrounds and should only be flat on the bottom.


If you wanna help produce stuff, mostly I'll need those avatars worked out. I think that'll be enough to get the site back to a functional state and swap over to a new theme.

We will also need a new font. We probably need two actually... one for the bbs and one for the website banner. I think I'd like something that looks pixely with some desintegrating if possible (like the effect used in the anime lettering)


The problem so far is the public just doesn't seem interested enough in Megaten community website to warrant such loving care. That is my major moral dilemma at this point. I don't want this place to be staffed by a handful of people. I want the entire community to pull it's own weight.

If it was so staffed, at the least said people should be financially compensated. It's just too much work to shoulder.



Below is my only idea for a banner graphic so far. Along with the lettering and everything else you'd expect. It has the four elements of Megaten which should be in every cannon game as far as I'm concerned; Izanagi, Izanami, Kerberos, and Hinokagutsuchi (the sword)

I think baby steps at this point is probably the best policy.  Truth be told the Megaten community tends to be spread out quite a bit.  I mean the Persona games may as well be their own fandom by now.  This place is pretty dead too you have to admit.

I'll see what I can do as far as avatars go.  Any particular size?

Size? Bigger is always better. You can always downsize, but you can't upsize :wink:

Basically you're looking at an image hunt best as I can figure it. The Igor on the Persona Revelations game page is a good example I think. Still keep the highest resolutions possible of whatever you can find.

Try to pick characters that are common to every major title in a section whenever possible. Even if that means not using the key characters. You can even do a collage of characters if you need to... like with the DS leads for example. Or alternatively for DS you might use that little red Devil with the bowl hair style... that seems to only appear in those games. Just try to think like that. Jakyou might be best for MegamiTensei and so on.

What about that eyed yin yang symbol for the Kuzunoha Detective Agency?

Just use characters with a recognizable neck/head. Cut them from the chest up or so.

Besides, that symbol only represents for DS1 afaik. There will be only one avatar for this scheme, for the entire DS series.

We could keep the two Jack Bros on the front page for the site news avatar. But I'll need a version that isn't cut off on the top. Or some other version of those two.

Nope, it's the symbol for Kuzunoha.  It's even the icon that shows up as your saved games for Raidou on your memory card.  It's fairly prominent in Soul Hackers too.

I guess it could qualify then if we decided to go with an all insignia avatar scheme. Though I tend to lean that way myself, it seems pretty lifeless if you think about it. Plus insignia's tend to create more of a loud patchy presentation, than character avatars to. Character avatars get more leeway because you can impose a personality upon them.

Are we working on this?

I came across a free DS mix disc that came with my DS3 import with the three DS boys on front. If we decide to go with that I can scan it if it's hard to find.

Oddly enough this version of Raidou has an eye patch. Is that something that happens to him in the game, or possibly an older version of Raidou in the coming title? Or just a weird quirk of this particular piece of artwork?

PS: Anyone know if Kaneko has ever done a CG version of Jakyou? You know, the high gloss vector graphics stuff that started with P2.

If not the P1 and Devil Summoner generation type stuff would work as well, but Jakyou was pretty absent during that period...

I'm working on it, slowly but surely.  I'll upload some tomorrow probably.

Btw, that Toro gif is double-sized. It might look better if the pixels were dropped down to one rather than 2x2.

http://www.dokuganryu.com/scans/megaten/kanekoIII/530.jpg

Might be the best we can get.

I didn't make the Toro gif.  I swiped it from somebody...  :sweatdrop:

Never worked with gifs before?

I've got a graphic for Persona related news:

(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v299/phantomlimbs/igor-news.png)

Kerberos for IMAGINE news:

(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v299/phantomlimbs/kerberos-news.png)

Jyakyou for Shin Megami Tensei news:

(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v299/phantomlimbs/jyakyou-news.png)

For Devil Summoner news:

(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v299/phantomlimbs/devilsummoners-news.png)

Jack Frost & Jack Lantern for general Megaten news:

(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v299/phantomlimbs/jackbros-news.png)

Mock-up for a new banner design?

(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v299/phantomlimbs/dddbbanner.png)

(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v299/phantomlimbs/DDDBACCESS.gif)

Made this for fun.  :ninja:

These are good but you need to re-crop most of them so that only the bottom of the image is cut off. I'll resize them and adjust the colour so they stand out more -- many of these are pretty dirty/bleak.

Something else will have to be used for IMAGINE. I can't find anything, so we might have to use an in-game screenshot instead. The Snakeman character would probably be best if anyone knows of any larger artwork of him. I vaguely remember some being used for promotional stuff on the website. But the official one on the character page is way too small to use. And they're just the polygon models anyhow I think.

http://img168.imageshack.us/img168/3279/mega3bug6.jpg (don't use this, but this is the guy)

I like the logo, but I don't think we can use it in the banner. I'm also thinking the Japanese is unnecessary, though I realize it's a play on the old Digital Devil Monogatari/story logo. If we do use it, we should rip the lettering right off the 1&2 boxart and replace the monogatari bit with database kanji/forced-furigana.

Finding the right fonts for the logo could be a long process with many candidates.

edited: (http://www.megatenonline.com/beginner/images/capturelv30/photo_a01c.jpg) (still a little small -- a screenshot will probably work)

Also I need you to clean those little green specks out of Jakyou's dirty old robes.

Why can't we use Kerberos for IMAGINE news?  I think it makes more sense than using a polygonal model.  Plus, I have no idea who that character is.

Igor is too hunched to accurately crop only at the bottom, the DS image itself is cropped on either side already, and the Jack Bros. image would be the whole frame if I didn't crop it at either side.  Granted, the Kerberos one is a little wonky, but he just looks like a white lion if you don't include any of his spine.

I'll see what I can do about cleaning up Jyakyou.  In the meantime we can hammer out what to use for IMAGINE related news.

Then play IMAGINE :wink:


Kerberos is out. I can scan the entire DS image if it's needed. And Igor's hunch is good to go. Basically like I said, I can't use it if it is cropped wrong.


We can use Snakeman. I'll get a larger screenshot before everything is up. Don't worry about the sizes. I'll re-size them to whatever is needed. It'll take me a while before I'll be able to get to these at any rate...

Like I said before. Crop at the chest... and we're not using anything without a recognizable neck/head (Kerberos doesn't qualify -- besides Kerberos is too generic to represent any title, much less IMAGINE)

Can't.  Computer sucks.  :face15:  Plus MMORPGs are boring.


So the Igor one is usable then?


It's going to look ugly.  Art, art, art, polygons, art, art, art.  It'll look weird and out of place.


I DID crop at the chest... For every single one.   :confused:  Kerberos has been on everything I've seen regarding Imagine (even the icons for the Japanese site), whereas I've never seen broke-ass Escape from New York Snake on anything.

I think Snakeman will look ok. Once you shrink it down to avatar size it'll look like the others more or less save for the faux ink lines (I won't stop you from adding some if you wanna)

Igor is great. But like I've been saying his back is missing. Correct that. The same Igor was/is on the old Revelations banner, so I know "the back is out there."

Hmmmm...  Well...

I'm thinking you're better off on your own for this one.  You're more than capable of doing this all yourself and I don't feel like trying to anticipate you to avoid redoing everything every step of the way.

Good luck though.

I've no plans of doing anything around here on my own. In fact it's a super burden on me, so every thing I don't technically have to do, I'd prefer to do everything I can to avoid doing.

All I asked is you re-crop Igor so he has a back. If that's too much trouble, please don't try to make me feel all guilty.

It's not as if I didn't issue clear instructions up front :sweatdrop:


edited: You didn't have to crop anything at all technically. But I need someone's help for the image hunt and processing. This is a charity after all.

Well I'm not going to do it all for you.  If you want specific things with the website you have to lay them out specifically and implicitly.  The only reason I prepared those images was for something to break on between bouts of painting.

Pointedly, you were NOT clear about cropping on either side of the image until after I already did it.  It's not that big of a deal but you can't say you were specific about this before hand.

I'd rather not get into an argument with you about the finer points of graphic design but I'd like to point out that a crop of Igor hunched over his phone looks a lot better without the hump.

I'm just starting to get the distinct feeling that this isn't going to work out and I'd rather not waste my time. 

I type "at any rate" too often when banging out posts :redface:

I thought you did a fine job of it. I'm trying to match your enthusiasm, but I'm pouring a lot more hours into rehabilitating this website-con-community than I'd probably like to. However you feel I hope you'll keep an air of good humor about yourself. If you have doubts or sour feelings, please try to use the PM facilities.


Igor is a hunch back. Besides like I said, I can't use him as is. I don't intend to stick the avatars in portals. The layout will be more 3D than that. You'll like it, but it's not worth the time to explain. We need category avatars. If you can't help, all we can do is wait on another white knight to save the day...

PS: Nothing here is "for [me]". I can't stress that enough. I'm just trying to preserve a piece of the internet that represents a lot of peoples time and care. Though I appreciate your personal donation of time to the edifice that is this website. Try to appreciate it's a drop in the bucket compared to my own. If anything I deserve a serious vacation any day now. Without experience operating all aspects of a website, it's hard to consider the amount of effort required. Much less all the challenges this particular site's situation entail. So please, please spare me your grief - unless it's just killing you inside, I don't need it.

Technically we gotta get a minimal functional presentation back up so the site can move forward. I encourage anyone to please help me help us do that however you can.

If the site languishes, it's because the community let it. Not because someone abandoned it and someone else disappeared. I think that's a fair deal, and I'll stand by it.

Actually I read it as "will have transparent backgrounds only and should be flat on the bottom."

Random dyslexia?  :doh:

I still think Kerberos is a better choice for Imagine, though maybe not that image.  There's got to be a better choice than that Snakeman character.   

http://www.mmo-station.com/_special/megami/1.jpg
http://megaten.mmorpg.bz/images/title.jpg
http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51ot4VY5efL._SS500_.jpg

I see Cu Chulain a lot though too...
http://www.gungho.jp/megami/campaign/images/campaign/webmoney080424/title01_wm.jpg

It just seems like Kerberos is on pretty much all the packaging and advertising.

If you played IMAGINE you'd understand why Snakeman is the only possible choice. Besides, Kerberos is completely inappropriate and doesn't represent IMAGINE at all frankly. Of course you'll see him and Cu Chulaind.... they're probably the most well known powerful Devils these days... hence why the two servers are named after them. Neither plays a role in IMAGINE.

Garmr is 100x more IMAGINE than Kerberos for example.

(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v299/phantomlimbs/igor-news-1.png)
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v299/phantomlimbs/jackbros-news-1.png)
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v299/phantomlimbs/devilsummoners-news-1.png)

Those'll work. I'll see you get a heaping serving of karma as usual sooner or later :smokin:

Igor has got to be probably the best all around character Megaten has spawned yet :aroused:

I'll try to make a Snakeman pic. I actually think it kinda works for IMAGINE to be a polygon model on some level. It is kinda different afterall.

If you get bored or are feeling adventuress, you can try to come up with an Anime, Manga, and Merchandise avataar.

For anime I wouldn't mind seeing something done with these two somehow:

http://www.digitaldevildb.com/images/misc/cels/8.jpg
http://www.digitaldevildb.com/images/misc/cels/9.jpg

Try to make it transparent in the background, but you can end up with a drawn on type effect. Probably just kinda overlap the two heads with the drawing underneath would be cool.

For Manga find something b/w with a Manga style. Almost anything is cool as long as it looks Megatenish. Again still in the neck/head motif.

And for Merchandise something plasticy (ie. an actual photograph of a figurine)

For books I'm not sure... that would be the novels, and artbooks, guides, etcetera. Maybe some character reading a book... if it can be found???

Here is some raw materials for Snakeman. One is with a kind of anti-aliasing enabled (vasoline on the lense) ...however it isn't raster aliasing -- it is probably just a blurring of the textures. As you can see there is still a hard edge around the model itself (which should make clearing the background easier either way)

I suggest you either use a global blur filter on the un-antialiased image, and even try blurring the aliased one... so to decide which one to you fits in best with the others. I think it's pretty close to a kaneko piece as is myself. If you just drew some faux outlines on it (like the ones used unnecessarily in many contemporary Kaneko pieces) you probably couldn't tell from a lower resolution reproduction which is in-game or graphic art (save for some rought polygon silhouettes)

*uh oh, I'm getting an error about an "upload folder" being full*

I raised the upload folder size from ~10MB to ~100MB. I hope no one else was unable to upload something they wanted to :sweatdrop:

[removed attachments so not to waste space]

I wish the lighting was more interesting. Eventually I'll probably find a better place to take the screenshot :rolleyes:

(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v299/phantomlimbs/jyakyou-news-1.png)

Crumb clean :rolleyes:

I didn't notice the speckles on this monitor.   :sweatdrop:  It must be too dark or something.

I've streamlined the category system. Well I added more categories, but they're all hierarchical now, and the front page I hacked to only display the top-level categories (I'm going to have to lean on the Wordpress people to make this a feature)

I noticed while I was at it, you didn't prepare a Digital Devil Saga avatar. So I just thought I'd remind you!

I'll probably get to this sometime this afternoon if all goes well.

(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v299/phantomlimbs/serphandsera-news.png)

I've never liked the look of that egg girl. But that is probably the best version of her I've seen.

It looks very cool, but I wonder if it's not too over the top for an avatar??


PS: His arm looks like a fancy straw :tongue:

On second thought we can probably use it. It just needs to be cut higher. And it might not hurt to bump the girl up higher. I can edit it to my liking... but I'd still like to see alternative avatars if you have any proposals. The arm kinda complicates things.

For merch items:

(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v299/phantomlimbs/blackfrost-news.png)

EDIT: There.

Wow!! This one is really cool! Cangratulations DevilRy!  :wink:

Thanks.  :smile:  I need to brush up on my graphic design skills.  I haven't really done anything serious since college.

Did you do something too that one?

I cleaned it up a bit.  I noticed that I missed a few spots and I just went ahead and further cropped it.

The DDSaga one that is :wink:

Yup, that's the one I was talking about.  :sweatdrop:

I wonder what it would look like if the girl was flipped around and put behind the arm?? Would that be sacrilege? It would use the space more efficiently.

Yeah, I think it would be since it would invert the image and put Sarah's atma on the wrong side.  The Devil Summoner one is a pretty big waste of space too.  If you shrink it down it should fit fine.  I was thinking of going with an image of Seraph too actually but s/he's only in DDS2.

I just realized that it has the Digital Devil Saga 2 logo in the corner of the box for that Black Frost toy...  I don't remember him even being in either game...?  :confused:

The DS one is fine (I actually know how these'll be used)

It's not a composition thing, it's a layout thing. I like the DDSaga one, but I just don't think it will work. At the minimum the crop would have to be much higher, then that would throw the arm into question, which really isn't removable, and still consumes too much space for what it is. Plust the natural crop for that piece doesn't seem like it should be at the chest as there is a lot going on there.

I really don't know DDSaga, but I imagine there must be many more options available. Though that artwork is particularly nice (except the forearm seems a bit silly -- imo)

I kinda prefer using quirky characters that are perhaps more central to the game than the lead characters themselves (which generally have little personality) ...though in the DS case, I just couldn't come up with anything else that links all the games.

That's the other thing: there's not much production art floating around for DDS.  Most of the scans I've seen are generally of polygonal models.  It's a pity too since a lot of the 'evil' Asura demon forms are pretty neat looking. 

Jenna Angel might be a good choice though.

While I'm at it I might as well ask:

Does anyone have a larger scan of this image????:
(http://www.atlus.co.jp/cs/game/pstation/shinmegami/image/midashi_photo.jpg)

I also have found that image around the net, but nope, I only found it at a low resolution :sick: too bad, 'cause is really cool the portrait! :dazed:

How does this strike everyone as a new site banner?

(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v299/phantomlimbs/dddb-banner.png)

It may work. :smile:

It's a bit out there. I like the theme of the current banner but the execution is pretty poor. I might try finding a better image of the boy/girl to edit over them.

You'd have to find a better font, but I don't care if the banner gets shuffled out every day. Whether or not the font should change from banner to banner is debatable.

PS: I realize I asked for a pixely font, but that's not really what I imagined. Plus if I got what I imagined it wouldn't work with the current banner anyhow. I definitely don't wanna adopt the SMT seal of solomon. Even though I like it, I think it's too divisive. It's ok as long as it's just a banner decal and the banner get's shuffled though.

Is that YHVH btw? Don't think so?? :nolaff:

Nope, it's not YHVH, I can't remember the name of that demon right now, but is one of those that hides in the ground and come up when they attack and they have wings in their heads.

http://www.dokuganryu.com/scans/megaten/comickers/03.jpg

Yeah... I think I knew the one in advance (though I don't think I've seen it personally in a game)

I just thought it was funny to point out it was eerily similar :smug:

Another thing to bear in mind while crafting banners... is asap the banner will have to be expandable horizontally to accommodate a wider page. Also the current banner height is just based on the default Wordpress theme. So we could change that at this point if we wanted to.

At any rate, basically the final banner will be at least three images. One for the graphic, another for the expandable background, and another for the font, which will float in from the left.

I recommend for your banner there a serif font to match the seal at minimum.

PS: The page avatar will float and overlap the banner somewhat.

Just a preliminary effort to see what to put up in lieu of the current banner.  I just don't have the same level of confidence in it as you do I guess...

I was thinking about how maybe using different banners for the varying series might be a good idea.  I don't know how minimalist of an approach you're going for though.

The font on the tetragrammaton does have serifs, they're just not as visible since it's so small.  I debated on the placement of it for a while although I must admit I'm not sure how well it jives with the banner.  If anything it kinda covers up some of neater details over in the corner.  Regardless, the only letters that actually *have* serifs in the DIGITAL DEVIL DATABASE font are the Is.

My thoughts were that it makes more sense to use an image like that one to focus on the "devil" aspect of the title of the website.  I mean "boy-girl-kerberos," isn't really self-explanatory to the uninitiated.  A Devil-Database to me evokes imagery of swarms of demons and I think is more fitting with the content on the whole of the site. 

I meant the DIGITAL DEVIL DATABASE should be serifed like the fonts in the seal (the underscores are not necessary btw -- and many serif fonts serif just about every letter afaik)

I think my idea of a pixelated font is probably closer to what you'd get by taking a normal font and running some cheesy pixelate filter over it. But at any rate, that is for v2.0 or v3 (however you wanna think about it) after the dust settles and a long vacation....

I don't think the name means it's actually a Devil Database. It's just a play on the millions of other four letter acronym DB sites out there that try to encompass everything on a particular subject. If anything the Digital Devil part harkens back to the original titles.

My biggest deal is I think if there's gonna be one Megaten database to rule them all, it's gotta be pretty scientific and objective about the way it operates. That means not paying more service to any particular strain of Megaten for example. So the easiest way to be true to roots is to reach back as far as possible.

You know, if SMT is the New Testament, where does that leave the "Jewish" Megateners. It's easier to just use what is common as the basis for everything else. And not only that, I think the core elements of Megaten are powerful. A boy a girl and his dog out to slay god. Really what else is there??

On the other hand I'm all for revolving banners (I'm not for section specific banners) ...but for that we need a handful of banners to get started. For instance, if you do a fallen angel banner like that, it basically implies in fairness you need an angel banner too. At any rate, I'll probably only do the one banner. So it'll be up to the self appointed art dept to bang out more. I like sticking with the duotone blue on white look for now however. I don't think we need to swap out the banner just yet. But if you wanna make a collection of banners, I suggest you focus more on the imagery and less on mocking up the actual banners. Cause like I said, the html for the banners will be a bit complicated.

Here is a more interesting take on Snakeman I just grabbed while watching an in-game movie...

Well, that was the intention.  That and to highlight the consistent elements of the Megaten that have been there since the beginning - the devils, which are a lot more interesting than the mains IMO.


Another reason to highlight the demons rather than one testament over another.  :wink:


I'm just messing around with fonts, seeing what I think works and what doesn't.  I'm all for the gradient look of the banner I'm just more concerned with choice of imagery.

You don't actually have to use a gradient. You can have a texture effect, but in one direction it basically has to trail off into noise so the side of the banner where the graphic ends doesn't cut off something important. Technically I can pull that off by just layering the rounded corners over the top of the banners I think.

As for the devils, they are so ubiquitous they kinda lack charisma, though I like all those horde graphics. When done ok they kinda make up for it. Still I think that is more of a rotating banner thing. I just feel more comfortable using the older stuff for the top banner. It just happens some of the few artwork that is sophisticated enough is from the anime and possibly the novel artwork, which I've yet to plumb.

Manga? (though technically a novel illustration)
(http://www.sumarucity.com/megami/gallery/ddst/book3e.jpg)

The goddess logos on the top right corner of these are interesting...
(http://www.sumarucity.com/megami/gallery/ddst/plate2.jpg)
(http://www.sumarucity.com/megami/gallery/ddst/plate3.jpg)

Just for fun. Not sure who these characters are...
(http://www.sumarucity.com/megami/gallery/ddst/plate4.jpg)

Awesome scans!! :eek:

I have a feeling we should definitely work "Megami Tensei" somehow into a subtitle alongside the title in logos.

Another Manga like piece....
(http://www.sumarucity.com/megami/gallery/ddst/book1i.jpg)

Missed this somehow...  But a quick response before I pass out for the night.  :goodnight:

The big-head guy is, funny enough, Abaddon:
http://www.dokuganryu.com/scans/megaten/kanekoIII/513.jpg

who has an evil twin, Alsiel:
http://www.dokuganryu.com/scans/megaten/kanekoIII/512.jpg

So any Saga alternatives in the pipeline?

For DDS News:

Thanks, but please keep trying :redface:

That image isn't high enough quality anyways, but whoever that chick is, she isn't doing it for me :sweatdrop:

PS: These aren't really news avatars as much as page avatars (to add some colour / remind you what you're looking at)

Hopefully we'll be able to work them into post icons as well.

That's cuz Jenna's also a dude.  :rainbow:

Anyway, speaking of also dudes:

Where did you get this images, DevilRy? I haven't seen those front potraits of the caracters. :confused:

Scans of the front covers of the guidebooks.  Dokuganryu has most of them:

http://www.dokuganryu.com/scans/megaten/dds/

Ooooh!! Yeah!! I totally forgot about it, :doh: thanks!

Why won't this character work?

(http://www.dokuganryu.com/scans/megaten/dds/33.jpg)

Does it talk btw? What's with all the cats btw??

DDS just looks like a weird ass game world :rainbow:

Did you use the images in that gallery to make your original DDSaga avatar? I hope it wasn't as much work as it looks like :hearton:

Since it's a collage, can't we work with it some more? Still I like the cat (thought I haven't played the game)

The cat better fits the mold of the sort of avatar I'd prefer to see.

There isn't any actual art for Schroedinger (the cat) afaik.  I figured using him would be confusing too because of Gotou in the Devil Summoner Raidou games. 

It has those Langolier looking bells. Japanese fantasy sure has a lot of cat familiars... I wonder if they're basically part of the baka-neko tradition (I think that's what they're called)

There doesn't seem to be much "actual art" for any of these characters. It's not a big deal. I'm more worried, that everything I've seen from DDS seems to have a grainy texture to it. Hopefully that will come out after some down sizing.

Full body shot here: http://www.dokuganryu.com/scans/megaten/dds/t26.jpg

The quality suffers a bit though.

For IMAGINE:

Thanks, that'll be cool :smokin:

I just finished mixing up the news categories a bit, and categorizing a lot of the old news.

I'm not so sure at this point the news categories should feature avatars. I mean they might as well work like the main blog. At any rate if they did, it would take some thought I think.

Btw if you wanna we could use avatars for some of the other game sections... though we can just default to the Jack Bros I guess.

This version of the cat seems much better:

http://www.digitaldevildb.com/images/gameart/digital_devil_saga/model/schroeder.jpg