How does my icon for my new game 'Mad Pigs' look? How could I improve it?

jckmcgraw

Hello Everybody,

I am getting very close to publishing my first game, and was wondering what everybody thought of the icon I have made. This is only my second image made using Inkscape, so I'm still new to computer graphic design and such.



Thanks for the feedback!
Jack McGraw

MoonMouse

Hey there @jckmcgraw

I'd say you're on track for a great icon.
I've whipped up a quick little something. It's far from perfect, but I hope it can help give a few pointers.



If you're going for the cartoonish look like in your first image, then the small details are what really make an image. Rather than have a flat colour for your piggy's face, try using a subtle gradient, moving from a lighter to a darker blue. It mightn't seem like much of a difference, but it all adds up in the final picture.

You also might want to try and add lighting and shadowing so that your picture can have a kind of 3-dimensional quality. I see that you've added a white shine to your piggy. It's a good idea, but the type of hilight you've used kinda makes the pig look wet or shiny. It'd probably be suitable if your piggy was a bubble or a water-breathing merpig, but since I assume its just an ordinary, dry, blue pig, it's best if you keep the shine towards the edge of the pig's face. Maybe even try adding a shadow down the bottom of his face, and under his nose and eyes - to give it that extra depth.

As far as the background is concerned, your on the right track. The blue contrasts the red and yellow quite nicely. However, I think that the bright yellow and bright red are a bit too "much". They stand out too much from each other - and the boldness of them both kinda detracts from the main subject of the picture, the pig.

Anyhoo, I hope this has helped somewhat.
All the best with your app

MM

Zoyt

It's... A good start. Try adding some gradients and a little more excitement. And blue pigs? If it doesn't match the game graphics, don't use it. Don't get me wrong, it's a great start.

jckmcgraw

@Zoyt

It is a very colorful, cartoony game, so the blue matches. One problem that I am foreseeing is that all of the graphics in the game are hand drawn as you can see below.





Here is another icon (hand drawn) that I had first.



Thanks for the quick reply,
Jack McGraw

bazookaBen

try chibi characters

patapple

In the screenshot the color aren't lucid as in the first icon. Try to match the draw of the first icon, with the colors of the second one.

jckmcgraw

@bazookaBen What do you mean?

@patapple Ok. It's just that I can't really change the hand-drawn images.

@MoonMouse Thank you so much for the extensive answer, and awesome drawing you made yourself! I really learned a lot out of simply comparing mine with yours, and realized everything you said was very true. Here is an updated version with much of the things you said.

UPDATED ICON



Is there anything that I missed? Was there some parts that don't look good? Is the background a little less bold?

Thanks!
Jack McGraw

crazycam99

@jckmcgraw I think the controls don't match the art in the screenshots. You should draw them too.

jckmcgraw

@crazycam99

Kind of irrelevant to the thread, but sounded like a good idea! Here are some new screenshots. Do they look any better?



The red button A is the image when you press it. It changes back instantly once you release it.



Is there any other suggestions on the icon?

Thanks for everybody's feedback!
Jack McGraw

crazycam99

I think the A button in the first screenshot is better. Keep the thumbstick the same size but make the image a bit smaller, because it looks too big compared to the thumbstick base.

jckmcgraw

@crazycam99

The A in the second screen shot is when you press it or are holding it down, so all you will really notice is the red hugh.

I have added to my ToDo list to make thumb-stick smaller. However, when I test it on my iPhone, the thumb-stick looks relatively small. I'll probably make it just a little bit smaller.

Thanks for the help,
Jack McGraw

BazookaTime

I m not sure if you are using those backgrounds in game or not but if you are I would suggest looking for something different. Those backgrounds get used in a lot of games for some reason.

jckmcgraw

@BazookaTime

Really? Then again I did find them in a free-to-use art pack :P

I'll change them up before publishing. Thanks for letting me know!

Any tips on the icon?

Thanks,
Jack McGraw

BazookaTime

I actually like the icon and the hand drawn art. Reguarding the backgrounds I have that pack as well but never used it due to seeing it in other games. there was a Mini Cannon GS game that just came out a month or so back using the Blue BG.

Anyway....good luck with the game.

jckmcgraw

Thanks!

MoonMouse

Heya @jckmcgraw

Good job with the new icon. It looks much better.
If anything, I'd try to give the background colours a little more 'citrus'. Perhaps make the orange a little stronger. If you want, you could also apply a gradient to the background rays like you did with the pig's face. Moving from perhaps a more "reddish" shade of orange to a more "yellowy" one.


MM

jckmcgraw

@MoonMouse

I was starting to mess with the background, and made the red a little bit darker which looked nice.

However, I was working on everything late last night, and managed to delete the .svg file. Not in the trash, not in Inkscape's recents. Nowhere

When I get some time in the next couple of days I'm going to recreate it (as similar as possible), and change the background. Thank you for your all of your help!

Jack McGraw

MoonMouse

@jckmcgraw

Yowch, sorry to hear that :S

I've had that happen to me on more than one occasion... Spend ages on a piece of work, forget to save, and then have photoshop crash... It ain't fun.

If it helps at all, even for future projects, it might be a good idea to get some kind of recovery program. DiskDrill is apparently really good, but you're looking at around $90.
TestDisk and PhotoRec are both free recovery programs. I haven't used them before so I don't know how good either of them are. But hey, if there's a chance they might save you from having to redo your work, why not give 'em a shot? You've got nothing to lose

All the best

MM

GreenHavenGames

Also, if you have Time Machine active, turn it on and your file should be saved many times. I use Drop Box and Time Machine. That way I have physical redundancy and off site backups. Each type maintains versions backups. It's a lot of piece of mind and only costs me the price of an external drive, plus $10 a month for the Dropbox monthly service.

jckmcgraw

@moonmouse
@greenhavengames

Thanks for your advice for backups. I have just hooked up an external harddrive to time machine and I will be backing up nightly. Additionally, I will save files on both dropbox and the computer. I don't think I'll have Piece o Mind until something actually goes wrong and it works :P

Thanks,
Jack McGraw

GreenHavenGames

In a day or two, try restoring files from the two programs. Learn their requirements and weaknesses/limitations so that you aren't relying on hope. They work great, but aren't perfect.

jckmcgraw

@greenhavengames

Ok thanks!

LeonardDeveloper

Looks pretty cool with clouds and a border, Your free to use this if you want;
(This preview is low-res and is badly cropped by the way, I can send you the proper one if you like it)


(Email me if you want all sizes thermoapps(at)gmail.com

macewan

Please let us know when this comes out. I want a copy. @MoonMouse version of the icon gets two thumbs up.

jckmcgraw

@LeonardDeveloper

Just sent you an email.

@macewan

I'll try to remember. When I publish, I'll post it in the forum under announcing games.

Thank you everybody for all of your help. I really appreciate it!
Jack McGraw