| yksehtniycul
|
don't play with me 'cause you're playing with fire |
I've been using "Show most recent posts to the forum." at the top of the BBS index.
I wish the forum tracked unread threads, but it just seems to track the boards. There is a 2.0 version, but it's not regarded as stable yet, and I haven't looked into it's features. I'm not really sure how many forums are able to track threads on a per member basis, but I'm pretty sure I've used ones that did before.
As soon as someone comes up with a better banner we'll use it, but I tried to address some concerns about the banner as easily as possible. I'm not nuts about the "megami tensei information society" bit or font... but I feel like Megami Tensei should be somewhere, and mentioning it in the game list up top wouldn't cut it. Looking at the old front page if you didn't know what Digital Devil was a reference too / the Jack Bros, you wouldn't have had much to go on... but I imagine even if you pop something into a search engine it wouldn't matter much, Digital Devil / Megami Tensei either way. Not like anyone just stumbles across something on the internet at random anymore anyhow.
I do think recognizing the site as a "society" is important at this point... though the language is a little stuffy either way.
I rather like this banner, though I don't know that it's as good as the sum of it's parts. The moon and kerberos are very primeval imagery I think. And together they work well. It still needs some thought though I'm afraid before I'll feel satisfied. I really wish you could see more of Kerberos in that silhouette. I might just add a tail to it some day or something (I prefer the thinner bifurcated kind personally)
I'd prefer to give the website a more hellish feel, versus cutesy frost this and that, but that's just me.
The Tony :: About :: Games :: Articles :: Lexicon :: Demonary :: Forums :: Links bar will go eventually. I think after some devil databases are ready for browsing we can just put direct links to the most used databases there, and a drop down box at the end for the remaining ones.
At any rate, enough mumbling for now.
« Last Edit: October 14, 2008, 10:44:54 PM by yksehtniycul »
|
Logged yksehtniycul has 2094 Posts (+0/-0 Karma) |
|
|
| DevilRy
|
Being the most important can't be seen in the eyes |
I am up entirely too late. 
|
Logged DevilRy has 435 Posts (+23/-0 Karma) |
|
|
| yksehtniycul
|
don't play with me 'cause you're playing with fire |
That banner kinda leaves me speechless... how serious is this? It's really cool, but at the same time it has too much character if you know what I mean. Its really retro in an ironic sort of way (that is hipster speak if the Colbert Report is any indicator)
I'm personally opposed to Japanese in site imagery. But it's so tempting I'd put it on rotation. Especially if we had like a series of Megaten thru the ages banners done with the art/style of the era. That would be really awesome actually. Plus anything pre Revelations: Persona would technically be in Japanese kinda.
You gotta admit it definitely doesn't look contemporary  :
Btw, the banner is a front page link now (I had to layer an invisible image on top of it -- html is so silly sometimes)
When I have time I'll limit it to just the inset banner area
|
Logged yksehtniycul has 2094 Posts (+0/-0 Karma) |
|
|
| yksehtniycul
|
don't play with me 'cause you're playing with fire |
I wonder if there is any MTI&2 era concept art floating around out there (other than what's in the manuals)
I'd love to see a complete lineup of art for every devil for those games if such a thing exists 
|
Logged yksehtniycul has 2094 Posts (+0/-0 Karma) |
|
|
| DevilRy
|
Being the most important can't be seen in the eyes |
I don't know, just throwing things together in my free time, so not very serious. I just threw Kerberos on there to keep with the current theme, but I could use virtually any piece of Megaten artwork for that spot.
|
Logged DevilRy has 435 Posts (+23/-0 Karma) |
|
|
| yksehtniycul
|
don't play with me 'cause you're playing with fire |
I like the idea of using a series of retro pieces up to contemporary banners. That would be a very ambitious but probably worthwhile effort... not to mention the only way I could imagine capturing the entire spectrum of Megaten. However say what you may, I think a contemporary banner given the nature of the site, should look more or less like a corporate banner you'd find on any corporate website these days (save for all the innocuously smiling people arranged in all colours and family units)
My logic is the mission of the site appears to be less fan oriented, and more akin to a completely public historical preservation society.
I like the idea of being able to insert simple announcements over the banner, so make sure you leave room for that (generally speaking you want it to be the lowest text on the banner so it doesn't overlap other text as viewers adjust their font sizes)
|
Logged yksehtniycul has 2094 Posts (+0/-0 Karma) |
|
|
| yksehtniycul
|
don't play with me 'cause you're playing with fire |
I just uploaded yet another iteration of the same old banner to the front page. It's looking more commercial I think...
I discovered a way to make the text stand out that way while trying to make the "information society" typeface more conspicuous. It's just a gradient fill with an outline around the text layer (from Photoshops blending options)
Btw, anyone think "internet society" would be better than "info society"? Or is that too redundant for the internet? I kinda like society, cause it has an occultish ring too it 
I think this banner is going somewhere. I still think it could use some twiddling around the Kerberos and background fill. There could very well be a better Kerberos silhouette than that if I went back to that part of the anime. I originally chose that one more for the composition of the now cut boy/girl couple. I know in one silhouette he is growling. He also shakes himself clean of Loki ectoplasm, which is pretty cute 
|
Logged yksehtniycul has 2094 Posts (+0/-0 Karma) |
|
|
What do you think of "Virtual Society"?
Signature under construction 'cause the last one died.
|
Logged Emilio Morales has 1133 Posts (+25/-0 Karma) |
|
|
| yksehtniycul
|
don't play with me 'cause you're playing with fire |
What do you think of "Virtual Society"?
We are very real last I check... well speaking for myself 
Just kidding. Virtual Society is a bit of an oxymoron... no offense, I'm no wordsmith, but I'm thinking it doesn't roll off the tongue so well. Neither does "internet" for that matter, but "information society" just sounds slightly more conflated. It's probably fine, though I'm open to alternatives (it's just a banner after all at this point)
Nice try though
|
Logged yksehtniycul has 2094 Posts (+0/-0 Karma) |
|
|
| yksehtniycul
|
don't play with me 'cause you're playing with fire |
Ok, now this one is damn slick 
The only part that could use work is the Kerberos silhouette, which will mean going back and capturing some new raw data. I sharpened it up, but that's all I can do with the pixels I have for now. I'm not sure the sharpening looks ok, but it was just so blurry it stood out against the crispness of everything else 
« Last Edit: October 16, 2008, 09:02:38 PM by yksehtniycul »
|
Logged yksehtniycul has 2094 Posts (+0/-0 Karma) |
|
|
| yksehtniycul
|
don't play with me 'cause you're playing with fire |
I think I finally found the perfect mix of colours. Ctrl+Shift+R to make sure you're seeing the latest banner.
I think maybe the bbs banner needs some work now 
If anyone knows of any scans of the BBS Kerberos on the web, I wanna see them
I lifted it off the back of my Kyuuyaku guide. It was actually white on skyblue too (edited: and very blemished)
« Last Edit: October 17, 2008, 11:13:20 PM by yksehtniycul »
|
Logged yksehtniycul has 2094 Posts (+0/-0 Karma) |
|
|
| DevilRy
|
Being the most important can't be seen in the eyes |
Feel free to use these in addition to Kerberos if you want, maybe put them on rotation?
« Last Edit: October 17, 2008, 10:58:08 PM by DevilRy »
|
Logged DevilRy has 435 Posts (+23/-0 Karma) |
|
|
| yksehtniycul
|
don't play with me 'cause you're playing with fire |
They'd probably work better in rotation with the moon in the current setup. Thanks btw 
If you wanna make stuff to rotate with the Kerberos, probably best to stick with the high contrast white feel that blends into the white of the background. It can clip on the bottom and right, but not the top (or left obviously)
edited: If it does clip on bottom and right, it should do both (so there isn't a broken off island of blue) ...it also probably works best if it clips off the whole corner too. Try to avoid the lettering.
« Last Edit: October 17, 2008, 11:12:09 PM by yksehtniycul »
|
Logged yksehtniycul has 2094 Posts (+0/-0 Karma) |
|
|
| yksehtniycul
|
don't play with me 'cause you're playing with fire |
Feel free to use these in addition to Kerberos if you want, maybe put them on rotation?
Oh! I get it now, in rotation on the BBS banner. Yeah that will work well I think
edited: If you want, the BBS font is still up in the air. I think just flat ghost white works best for now. No drop shadow. That is the way the forums banners are by default for this theme. I want the Japanese out too. And not the same font as on the current website banner. Something hellish might be cool I think... if that means anything. Not necessarily gothic or anything, though sharp serifs might work. Just something with charisma would be nice. No "information society" stuff please.
I plan on darkening up the background on the BBS banner panel when I can get around to it.
PS: The font should fill in the same space vertical space as the Kerberos. And preferably the final image should be the same size as the current (will save me from tweaking the theme) ...and it would be best if the text went to the end as well.
« Last Edit: October 17, 2008, 11:20:29 PM by yksehtniycul »
|
Logged yksehtniycul has 2094 Posts (+0/-0 Karma) |
|
|
| yksehtniycul
|
don't play with me 'cause you're playing with fire |
I dunno on second thought... I gotta admit I just love the way the Kerberos stands on the line and faces the left like a piece of gothic heraldry. I'd rather not switch him out I think. Though I would like a better version of the same illustration. We can definitely see about doing something else with those graphics though.
PS: I'm done negotiating with myself
« Last Edit: October 17, 2008, 11:24:37 PM by yksehtniycul »
|
Logged yksehtniycul has 2094 Posts (+0/-0 Karma) |
|
|
|
