Ren'Py I have just finished creating a game cover..

[DanStory]

I need some advice from you guys to make this game cover look better.
For example, the tittle is too big or small and bla bla like that.
or i should add some effect or something just tell me.
Oh, and I'm currently working on a game, but it might take a little longer because I'm doing it alone.
At least, the characters and models look like this.
Thanks for your help..

 

[GNVE]

There is a lot going on in the image but nothing is drawing the eye. A lot of characters are wearing grey or black on a grey or black background with a grey title. If I was looking on the game page I wouldn't even notice the game.

Some characters are larger then others Why? are they more important? And if so why isn't the only male character displayed. Do all these characters need to be on the banner? Are the girls not in Grey or black more important?

All the characters are looking at me in a neutral way. Why do I care? Maybe have them look at someone that is important and how they feel about that character? Or give just one of them a smile (or other emotion) that signals something important.

Why are two characters not wearing grey or black? Why is that important?

Here is a post I made a while back that has some good info in it for someone in a similar situation.

The most important thing a banner needs to do is make me care. Something needs to draw me in. Your banner does not do that unfortunately. I know it is a bit harsh but I hope you are able to work with this.

 

[anne O'nymous]

Ok, you'll like it even less that GNVE answer, but...


Hmm, seeing that cover, my first thought was "oh, look, yet another random harem game".

Then I noticed MC's scar, and his closed eyes. What in fact made it even more random. I can't really explain why, but it's really the feeling I got.

After, I noticed the woman in red. The only one that isn't like the other, who are in neutral colors like GNVE said. So it became "yet another random incest harem game". Because why make her stand out, if it's not because she's radically different from all the others ? And since everything is generic until now, she can only be the mother.

On top of this, why the fuck this symmetrical construction ? Coupled to the globally neutral colors, it reinforce the feeling of boredom conveyed by the cover. It looks like a soviet era building, or a

You must be registered to see the links

, purely functional.

And finally came the moment where I noticed that, as GNVE also said, they are all looking at me. When coupled with MC's closed eyes, it make them looks like puppet he mentally control. I picture a horror movie where the villain close his eyes, and the following instant all the dolls in the room become alive and want to kill at will.

So, if your game is a random incest harem one, telling the story of a serial killer, or fucker, that control women bodies, then your cover is perfect. Else, well, I would say that it missed the target.



Of course, "criticism is easy and art is difficult", but really there's not much that works with this cover.

It want to tell me something, because one wouldn't pass so much time weighting the girls size and building such symmetry for no reasons. But it in fact tell nothing.
Would it be the usual flat assembly of girls, it wouldn't be a problem, because it's generic. It's the "I have absolutely no idea for an appealing cover, so I'll not even try" kind of cover. It tell nothing, and claim it out loud. But, as said, it's not the case with your cover.

I don't expect the cover to give me the desire to try the game, because it need real skills that near to no one have on the scene. But at least if it's not a pure generic one, then it should picture me curious, what isn't the case at all here. I don't want to know more about the game, therefore I would directly jump to the screenshots without caring about the description ; yet only if one of the tag caught my interest.

 

[Deleted member 2282952]

Here is a post I made a while back that has some good info in it for someone in a similar situation.

I just wanted to shout out that this is a good post. One thing I would highlight is that different orientations can look good, as long as there is a purpose within the larger context of an image.

You definitely want to make a look that is yours, like a specific light, style, shaders, etc.

GNVE and aon gave great feedback - I will just say that head sizes are different, and you should use more contrasting in lightning to highlight the areas you want the players to focus on.

 

[rayminator]

Best thing to do is to look at everyone else and think what you can do different then others but look at mine
mine is different from other you have to make yours to stand out more then others

 

[MissFortune]

No disrespect to GNVE, but 100% throw rule of thirds out the window. It's great for beginners, but is very much worthless beyond that. Nor will it ever really apply to relatively busy banners. Beyond that, their post (and the linked) is largely on point.

What makes a good banner, generally, is color theory. Look at the bigger games in the latest updates. What immediately sticks out? WVM, Mist, and Lust Theory 2. All of them are use complimentary colors/tints/shades to make themselves stand out. These are banners, and on this website (among others), they act as book covers. And you can bet people are judging by them. So, what would be an example of bad ones? Leap of Faith. There's no logo, colors that would give way to some kind of identity. It's more or less just a picture of a girl's eyes (if I recall.). Despite the VNs success, I'd say it's quite terrible, honestly.

With the right mix of colors, you don't even have to animate your banner like you're seeing more and more of. Contrast and complimentary (and even analogous) colors are your friend. Knowing colors will take you further than just banner or logo design, it'll help your renders when setting up scenes. For example, here's one of my banners:



There's clearly an abundance of black here. Along with yellow, which you can see pops up a bit near the far right side on the uniform and in the lighting. But the black and yellow plays more than just a design role. It's an aesthetic role that stays consistent with the overarching theme, from the GUI to the uniforms within the story's renders. Especially as it gets further into the story.



It's something you see in basic color design from the beginning of any project, from advertisements to movies. They all have a set of color that are used throughout, as it gives the work identity. See The

You must be registered to see the links

trailer, for example. You'll see a lot orange/red and cyan/aqua/teal, with variations of each elsewhere.

So, if you take a look at your banner's title. What do we see? Red. I'd say ditch the background, render out the figures as PNG with no background at all, and then put them on a darker background. Perhaps a black to dark red gradient. Maybe add a sprinkle red to each character. Maybe a necklace for one, a hairpiece for another, and if your story has some supernatural elements, perhaps even the eyes. I'd also get a bit more legible with the font and reemphasize the color. Something like so:



Of course, you'd want to either make all of the girls smaller and make them all fit on the same line, or just ditch the bottom two all together. Hopefully this helps a bit.

 

[Deleted member 2282952]

View attachment 2736385

The nodding animation is a great touch. I suddenly have the urge to do something similar but with a focus on blinking/screaming... time to render...

Out of curiosity, what sort of Photoshop post-processing do you use for those yellow particles (like the image on the right)?

See The

You must be registered to see the links

10/10

 

[MissFortune]

Out of curiosity, what sort of Photoshop post-processing do you use for those yellow particles (like the image on the right)?

You mean on the signature?

For the background, I use this free dust/grain overlay set:

You must be registered to see the links

. Works good for backgrounds if you play with the opacity and mask away some of the dirtier/brighter parts. For still images with particles, I use

You must be registered to see the links

almost exclusively. For video, it's

You must be registered to see the links

.

Or did you mean this one? This is just bokeh created through Daz's depth of field.

 

[Deleted member 2282952]

You mean on the signature?

For the background, I use this free dust/grain overlay set:

You must be registered to see the links

. Works good for backgrounds if you play with the opacity and mask away some of the dirtier/brighter parts. For still images with particles, I use

You must be registered to see the links

almost exclusively. For video, it's

You must be registered to see the links

.

Or did you mean this one? This is just bokeh created through Daz's depth of field.

You've answered everything I was looking for - thanks!

 

[GNVE]

No disrespect to GNVE, but 100% throw rule of thirds out the window. It's great for beginners, but is very much worthless beyond that. Nor will it ever really apply to relatively busy banners. Beyond that, their post (and the linked) is largely on point.

To be fair that post was to a complete beginner. I can see a few ways to use it in a busy banner. Some more subtle than others. Even if for most (busy) banners it is not useful. I think it is important to know about the rules guidelines so you can break or follow them with intent.

What makes a good banner, generally, is color theory. Look at the bigger games in the latest updates. What immediately sticks out? WVM, Mist, and Lust Theory 2. All of them are use complimentary colors/tints/shades to make themselves stand out. These are banners, and on this website (among others), they act as book covers. And you can bet people are judging by them. So, what would be an example of bad ones? Leap of Faith. There's no logo, colors that would give way to some kind of identity. It's more or less just a picture of a girl's eyes (if I recall.). Despite the VNs success, I'd say it's quite terrible, honestly.

Great addition and very important. There are some extra dimensions to this. I know that in book covers a lot of them went through a colour change a few years ago due to them having to stand out on a site rather then a bookshelf in a store. (I wanna say it went from red to yellow but it has been to long that I saw a vid about it so I don't know for sure)
Also it is important to consider the tone of your VN. Don't go dark and gloomy for a happy go lucky VN or the other way around. The banner sets expectations for the tone of the VN and can attract the wrong player if done wrong.

Your rough draft for the banner looks good btw.

 

[DanStory]

There is a lot going on in the image but nothing is drawing the eye. A lot of characters are wearing grey or black on a grey or black background with a grey title. If I was looking on the game page I wouldn't even notice the game.

Some characters are larger then others Why? are they more important? And if so why isn't the only male character displayed. Do all these characters need to be on the banner? Are the girls not in Grey or black more important?

All the characters are looking at me in a neutral way. Why do I care? Maybe have them look at someone that is important and how they feel about that character? Or give just one of them a smile (or other emotion) that signals something important.

Why are two characters not wearing grey or black? Why is that important?

Here is a post I made a while back that has some good info in it for someone in a similar situation.

The most important thing a banner needs to do is make me care. Something needs to draw me in. Your banner does not do that unfortunately. I know it is a bit harsh but I hope you are able to work with this.

Thanks, bro. I will recreate the banner and make sure to convey its purpose and meaning more effectively.
it's not harsh, You're doing what needs to be done to make me better.
thank you.

 

[DanStory]

Ok, you'll like it even less that GNVE answer, but...


Hmm, seeing that cover, my first thought was "oh, look, yet another random harem game".

Then I noticed MC's scar, and his closed eyes. What in fact made it even more random. I can't really explain why, but it's really the feeling I got.

After, I noticed the woman in red. The only one that isn't like the other, who are in neutral colors like GNVE said. So it became "yet another random incest harem game". Because why make her stand out, if it's not because she's radically different from all the others ? And since everything is generic until now, she can only be the mother.

On top of this, why the fuck this symmetrical construction ? Coupled to the globally neutral colors, it reinforce the feeling of boredom conveyed by the cover. It looks like a soviet era building, or a

You must be registered to see the links

, purely functional.

And finally came the moment where I noticed that, as GNVE also said, they are all looking at me. When coupled with MC's closed eyes, it make them looks like puppet he mentally control. I picture a horror movie where the villain close his eyes, and the following instant all the dolls in the room become alive and want to kill at will.

So, if your game is a random incest harem one, telling the story of a serial killer, or fucker, that control women bodies, then your cover is perfect. Else, well, I would say that it missed the target.



Of course, "criticism is easy and art is difficult", but really there's not much that works with this cover.

It want to tell me something, because one wouldn't pass so much time weighting the girls size and building such symmetry for no reasons. But it in fact tell nothing.
Would it be the usual flat assembly of girls, it wouldn't be a problem, because it's generic. It's the "I have absolutely no idea for an appealing cover, so I'll not even try" kind of cover. It tell nothing, and claim it out loud. But, as said, it's not the case with your cover.

I don't expect the cover to give me the desire to try the game, because it need real skills that near to no one have on the scene. But at least if it's not a pure generic one, then it should picture me curious, what isn't the case at all here. I don't want to know more about the game, therefore I would directly jump to the screenshots without caring about the description ; yet only if one of the tag caught my interest.

I focus more on creating visual novels with adult elements, so everything requires a process to achieve what the main character desires.

For example, the MC is handsome and muscular, and I want to incorporate some intimate moments with him. However, not just like that. I want to create situations where you have to achieve certain goals or make someone interested in you through multiple choices.

And yeah, I want to create a horror or thriller visual novel with adult elements, incorporating puzzles similar to typical thrillers. The background setting will have different time zones, day and night, each carrying its own significance. That's why there are three girls on the left and three on the right, representing their respective lives.

I will try to improve it further. Thank you for your suggestions.

If you have any more questions or suggestions, tell me. Thank you!

 

[DanStory]

I just wanted to shout out that this is a good post. One thing I would highlight is that different orientations can look good, as long as there is a purpose within the larger context of an image.

You definitely want to make a look that is yours, like a specific light, style, shaders, etc.

GNVE and aon gave great feedback - I will just say that head sizes are different, and you should use more contrasting in lightning to highlight the areas you want the players to focus on.

Thanks, ill recreate it.

 

[DanStory]

No disrespect to GNVE, but 100% throw rule of thirds out the window. It's great for beginners, but is very much worthless beyond that. Nor will it ever really apply to relatively busy banners. Beyond that, their post (and the linked) is largely on point.

What makes a good banner, generally, is color theory. Look at the bigger games in the latest updates. What immediately sticks out? WVM, Mist, and Lust Theory 2. All of them are use complimentary colors/tints/shades to make themselves stand out. These are banners, and on this website (among others), they act as book covers. And you can bet people are judging by them. So, what would be an example of bad ones? Leap of Faith. There's no logo, colors that would give way to some kind of identity. It's more or less just a picture of a girl's eyes (if I recall.). Despite the VNs success, I'd say it's quite terrible, honestly.

With the right mix of colors, you don't even have to animate your banner like you're seeing more and more of. Contrast and complimentary (and even analogous) colors are your friend. Knowing colors will take you further than just banner or logo design, it'll help your renders when setting up scenes. For example, here's one of my banners:

View attachment 2736385

There's clearly an abundance of black here. Along with yellow, which you can see pops up a bit near the far right side on the uniform and in the lighting. But the black and yellow plays more than just a design role. It's an aesthetic role that stays consistent with the overarching theme, from the GUI to the uniforms within the story's renders. Especially as it gets further into the story.

View attachment 2736425 View attachment 2736426 View attachment 2736430

It's something you see in basic color design from the beginning of any project, from advertisements to movies. They all have a set of color that are used throughout, as it gives the work identity. See The

You must be registered to see the links

trailer, for example. You'll see a lot orange/red and cyan/aqua/teal, with variations of each elsewhere.

So, if you take a look at your banner's title. What do we see? Red. I'd say ditch the background, render out the figures as PNG with no background at all, and then put them on a darker background. Perhaps a black to dark red gradient. Maybe add a sprinkle red to each character. Maybe a necklace for one, a hairpiece for another, and if your story has some supernatural elements, perhaps even the eyes. I'd also get a bit more legible with the font and reemphasize the color. Something like so:

View attachment 2736531

Of course, you'd want to either make all of the girls smaller and make them all fit on the same line, or just ditch the bottom two all together. Hopefully this helps a bit.

Wow, the image you corrected looks great.
I will use it as a reference to recreate the banner.
Thank you..