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Feedback request: Icons


Ulb

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After tinkering for a while I have come to realize that it is actually quite a bit harder than expected to produce icons that are reasonably close to the original BG2 or even ToB style.

 

So, before I waste time to create another 30 or so icons that might not live up to what people expect and might not get used in the end, I'd like to get some feedback on the ones I have done so far, particularly on their general style.

 

I have thrown in some BG2/ToB/TuTu icons for better comparison.

 

6tvJAoL.png

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I hate you... :devlook:
But I do love the pictures. :love:

 

What comes to style, I-and you too probably- have noticed the ToB icons have this greater blue in their borders, but the BG1s don't, as they have 1 pixel black border. I would like to have consistency ... I have played the game enough and can at least identify 4 of the pictures. LOVE them(the 3 top ones and the second one from left on the second row).

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Thanks for your feedback, glad to hear you like them.

 

I have looked through all the maps and there are quite a few out door areas with very little besides snow and rocks, so a lot of the icons would probably end up looking like the first one in the example picture above (minus the statue).

 

 

As for the borders, yeah ToB deviates a lot in that regard.

 

I'll wait for some more feedback, especially from K4thos since it is his mod.

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looks promising, thanks :)

I have looked through all the maps and there are quite a few out door areas with very little besides snow and rocks, so a lot of the icons would probably end up looking like the first one in the example picture above (minus the statue)

maybe focusing on landmarks instead of surranding roads and snow would make it less repetitive? For example in your third image that tower could be the only thing on the icon. In other places cave entrances, like in original icons etc.

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maybe focusing on landmarks instead of surranding roads and snow would make it less repetitive? For example in your third image that tower could be the only thing on the icon. In other places cave entrances, like in original icons etc

 

 

That's a good point and I have thought about that too.

The problem is with that approach towns and other major areas would become indistinguishable from “simple” outdoor areas.

Especially in BG1 (but in BG2 as well) outdoor areas are very distinct from towns and such.

 

Fiann also has a point I guess; a lot of the BG icons are rather generic as well.

 

Anyway, since you are fine with the look in general I'll go ahead and give it some more work.

I'll update you guys once I'm done with all the base icons so you can give me feedback on them before I start with the individual border-frames.

 

Thanks for your feedback. :)

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Heya,

 

I have finished the base icons and am ready for some constructive criticism before I go ahead and craft all the individual frames.

 

It wasn't that easy to produce anything usable for some of the IWD2 maps as they are literally nothing but snow and rocks with a horrible color palette on top of it. Other than that I think the icons are overall decent.

 

Here is a mock-up map so you get an idea what they would look like in-game.

 

LgcXnZD.jpg

 

Let me know what you think.

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it's awesome :O

:thumbsup:

 

...

the only thing i don't like is the color of the snow which varies a bit too much for my taste. could you make it more of a same hue? not totally same just 50% more sameish? aaalso, 2000 and 6000 are really similar in shape, from a distance they look like the same location in different seasons :) they're both sort of kidney shaped and have similar features on them. cutting a chunk out of one of them to confuse the shape should do the trick i think.

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:thumbsup:

 

aaalso, 2000 and 6000 are really similar in shape, from a distance they look like the same location in different seasons :) they're both sort of kidney shaped and have similar features on them. cutting a chunk out of one of them to confuse the shape should do the trick i think.

 

in fact it is the same area (IWD2 version). It's undecided how we will deal with IWD2 variants of Kuldahar, Kuldahar Pass, Dragon's Eye and the Severed Hand. Current plan is to implement first IWD2 chapters and follow the original story and later open up other areas that doesn't exist in IWD1 just for a side content without referencing the travel to Kuldahar (which wouldn't make sense). So if the AR6000 map from IWD2 will be used, which is not certain yet, than the icon placement would be in the exact same place as AR2000 from IWD1. Sorry for confusion.

Some feedback regarding icons. I really like following ones:
XOUlxyP.png
What they have in common are the edges that are made of landmarks, which makes the icon fit nicely, imo. Not sure what makes the rest of them less appealing to me, maybe it's the snow color or maybe some of them feel a little flat when the edges are made just by a line that ends the snow.

 

- 5200 - removing the snow below castle would probably make the icon look even better.

 

- 2100 (Kuldahar) - icon doesn't really look like a tree :p Maybe instead of in-game image you could use some outside sources like:
http://www.chip.pl/blobimgs/2014/09/original/nBbMZp0EvWPUbhZLvXH8.jpeg

http://i.imgur.com/AYgVeJU.png
http://www.gildiarpg.pl/media/images/2012/01/02/kuldahar_load.jpg

- 4000 (Dragon's Eye) - not sure if it's jpg compression but I don't see that it is a cave shaped like a dragon. The important part is a cave, not the road to it. Maybe IWD2 variant of the area would be better source for the icon?
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/35433122/AR6100.PNG
or this wallpaper:
http://manaczyherbata.pl/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/icwnd1.jpg

or the original icon:

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/35433122/da.png

- 8001 (Dorn's Deep) - how about adding below statue of a dwarf without any surroundings instead of focusing on lava and tiny statues?
http://cd8ba0b44a15c10065fd-24461f391e20b7336331d5789078af53.r23.cf1.rackcdn.com/baldursgate.vanillaforums.com/FileUpload/cd/093c5726c42a30b1295b706c1c073e.jpg

- 1000, 1100, 1200 (Targos) - I think we should consider turning Targos into 1 icon on the map. When I now look at the larger icons that place on the map would be too crowded. It's not like Targos is some huge place like Athkatla, so connecting it via travel regions sounds like a good idea. In such case only icon 1000 would be used (sorry that I didn't think about it before you started working on the other two)

 

- 3000 (IWD2) - this one looks like it's a top down veiw instead of isometric like other BG icons. If there is nothing intersting there than why not just a rock or something that doesn't resamble the area in any way? (you know, like in those BG1 icons)

 

I'm not a graphic artist, so not sure if my ideas makes sense. If you like current icons well enough than we can implement them without any changes. It's up to you.

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off-topic:

 

aaalso, 2000 and 6000 are really similar in shape, from a distance they look like the same location in different seasons :) they're both sort of kidney shaped and have similar features on them. cutting a chunk out of one of them to confuse the shape should do the trick i think.

 

in fact it is the same area (IWD2 version). It's undecided how we will deal with IWD2 variants of Kuldahar, Kuldahar Pass, Dragon's Eye and the Severed Hand. Current plan is to implement first IWD2 chapters and follow the original story and later open up other areas that doesn't exist in IWD1 just for a side content without referencing the travel to Kuldahar (which wouldn't make sense). So if the AR6000 map from IWD2 will be used, which is not certain yet, than the icon placement would be in the exact same place as AR2000 from IWD1. Sorry for confusion.

 

I get it, it's not confusing :)

If IWD2 Kuldahar is used, what happens to IWD1 Kuldahar?

Admittedly not very much happens in the IWD1 Kuldahar. It's mostly "The map with Arundel's hut"

Maybe migrating important IWD1 Kuldahar content to AR6000 is an option? (important content = interactions connected to the main IWD story and store wares)

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If IWD2 Kuldahar is used, what happens to IWD1 Kuldahar?

it's the other way around - IWD1 is used, IWD2 is redudant. Implementing story content from last IWD2 chapters (which is releated to visting areas that also exists in IWD1 and speaking to older version of NPCs present in IWD1) wouldn't make sense in the context.

 

Admittedly not very much happens in the IWD1 Kuldahar. It's mostly "The map with Arundel's hut"

Maybe migrating important IWD1 Kuldahar content to AR6000 is an option? (important content = interactions connected to the main IWD story and store wares)

Could you elaborate more on this? Not sure if I understand you correctly. At which point should the IWD2 version of Kuldahar Pass replace IWD1 one? Logically it would be after the end of IWD1 main compaign (notice that there is no longer snow there). edit: topic for such discussion has been created here.

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Thank you all for the feedback and the praise, I appreciate it. :)

 

 

the only thing i don't like is the color of the snow which varies a bit too much for my taste

 

You certainly have a point.

I think the issue is more the stark contrast between some of the snow icons next to each other. I'll look into it and see if I can soften that up a little.

 

 

5200 - removing the snow below castle would probably make the icon look even better.

 

I think it might look a little odd without any snow since it only shows a very small part of the castle but it might look better with a little less now. I'll give it a try.

 

 

2100 (Kuldahar) - icon doesn't really look like a tree :p Maybe instead of in-game image you could use some outside sources

 

I agree, it is my least favorite of the set.

I couldn't really produce anything better from the area map but the images you linked look promising and I'll rework it.

 

 

4000 (Dragon's Eye) - not sure if it's jpg compression but I don't see that it is a cave shaped like a dragon. The important part is a cave, not the road to it. Maybe IWD2 variant of the area would be better source for the icon?

 

As I have said before; I don't really have a clue about IWD and I didn't even notice the cave exterior was dragon shaped before you pointed it out.

Will look into it and try to come up with something more fitting.

 

 

8001 (Dorn's Deep) - how about adding below statue of a dwarf without any surroundings instead of focusing on lava and tiny statues?

 

I'll also look into this one though I don't think it is too terrible as it is, so no promises. :)

 

 

1000, 1100, 1200 (Targos) - I think we should consider turning Targos into 1 icon on the map. When I now look at the larger icons that place on the map would be too crowded. It's not like Targos is some huge place like Athkatla, so connecting it via travel regions sounds like a good idea. In such case only icon 1000 would be used (sorry that I didn't think about it before you started working on the other two)

 

Not sure if 1000 would be the best choice out of the three. A bigger version of 1100 might be better suited since it looks more like a town. (I'm not a huge fan of the 1000 icon.)

 

Let me know once you've reached a decision on how many icons to use and I'll try to craft a new one more in line with IW1 areas 1000/9100.

 

 

3000 (IWD2) - this one looks like it's a top down veiw instead of isometric like other BG icons. If there is nothing intersting there than why not just a rock or something that doesn't resamble the area in any way? (you know, like in those BG1 icons)

 

I must admit I can't see any issue with the icon.

It is a very flat area (apart from the gulches) so maybe that is what's causing that impression for you?

 

I'll give those icons some more work and update you guys once I'm done.

 

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Heya, here is a new mock-up with some of the improvements we talked about.

 

Changes:

 

- Adjusted snow color of various icons to better fit with the more “blueish” colored ones.

- Replaced icon 2100 (Kuldahar) with a new one.

- Replaced icon 4000 (Dragon's Eye) with a new one.

- Replaced icon 8001(Dorn's Deep) with a new one.

 

Some notes:

 

- I only replaced the icons on the actual map, the icons on the reference chart are still the old versions.

- I removed the snow from area 5200 but it looked pretty stupid in my opinion so I scrapped that idea for now.

- I haven't touched icons 1000/1100/1200 (Targos) since it is not yet clear whether they will be used in their current form.

 

Let me know what you think.

 

GISaUol.jpg

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