Discussion: Announcing the City of Heroes Design a Loading Screen Contest!
By
Alexander_Drako,
Posted on: 2010-08-20 20:49 in News, Events and Announcement Discussion
Being a bit of a PS novice, I'm wondering if there's somewhere to acquire the fonts used in the loading screens? Loading one of the screens up in my PS CS3 Extended gives me a notice saying the font included isn't available in my software and will need to be added to the software. So anyone willing to help a PS n00b and point me in the right direction to get the necessary font(s) or explain how to get around this?
Dear whoever it concerns,
The hero files say they are corrupt when I download and open them in Photoshop CS3 (although they open anyway). The hazard zone image also says it is incompatible with my version of photoshop, and villain files load just fine ... What gives ?
CHAMPION!
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Originally Posted by Noble Savage
However, because it's an indoor mapset, you may find that there's not a lot you can do to enhance this (maybe ambient occlusion). Would be interested to see you prove me wrong though.
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Originally Posted by Orion_Star_EU
Yeah I was about to say. It's just...tunnels... and Trolls...
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Wish I was allowed to enter ):
Good luck to those that can.
I really like seeing this sort of competition.
I don't suffer from altitis, I enjoy every minute of it.
Thank you Devs & Community people for a great game.
So sad to be ending ):
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Well the Abandoned Sewers has it's own loading screen at the moment. I was a bit confused as to why it was left out.|
Originally Posted by Zamuel
I have to wonder...since the Tunnels of the Trolls is technically just there for the sake of leading to the Cavern of Transcendence trial, would an allowable loophole be using a shot from the Trial instance itself? While a disqualified zone, it's the type of thing that would be good for the Abandoned Sewer Network (though I assume it's just going to get a copy/paste of whatever the Sewer Network gets).
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And using Cavern of Transcendence for some images would be great if we are allowed.
[CENTER]Euro side: [B]@Orion Star[/B] & [B]@Orions Star[/B][/CENTER]
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This is what I had with CS4. Villain screens loading fine, Hero ones playing up. After I fiddled about and saved the hero screens a couple of times each, they started working okay. The hazard frame however, has not worked at all for me thus far. |
Originally Posted by BigMoneyHustla
Dear whoever it concerns,
The hero files say they are corrupt when I download and open them in Photoshop CS3 (although they open anyway). The hazard zone image also says it is incompatible with my version of photoshop, and villain files load just fine ... What gives ? |
Edit: Scratch that. Trying to open the hero frames I had saved isn't working today. The annoying thing is, it can load up a perfectly fine preview in Bridge, but just can't open it. Gah.
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Can we use /demorecord screenshots to remove characters?
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Originally Posted by Noble Savage
1a. Someone in OCR will have to answer this one.
2a. Do your best to avoid shooting characters, but on live, we realize that this will be difficult. We'll probably photoshop out any npcs/players that happen to sneak through. 3a. You'll need to use the provided frames for this contest. Hero side has an new format, for starters. 4a. Widescreen is not something you'll need to worry about for this contest. Use the provided frames, and you'll be golden. 1b. Submit as many as you like--there are a lot of zones to cover, and we want to have as many good choices as we can get. 2b. No. Thanks! |
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Originally Posted by Lord_Kalistoh
Can we use /demorecord screenshots to remove characters?
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OK, nevermind. It seems demo playbacks draws at minimum settings instead of our actual settings.
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Add -project eucoh to the .exe shortcut you are using, or it won't use your EU settings.
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Originally Posted by Lord_Kalistoh
OK, nevermind. It seems demo playbacks draws at minimum settings instead of our actual settings.
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[CENTER]Euro side: [B]@Orion Star[/B] & [B]@Orions Star[/B][/CENTER]
Would anyone who's ABLE to open these files be willing to save them with maximized compatability and put them up for download elsewhere? Or should we wait until the devs get back into the offices on monday?
-STEELE =)
Allied to all sides so that no matter what, I'll come out on top!
Oh, and Crimson demands you play this arc-> Twisted Knives (MA Arc #397769)
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I'd quite like this too, if at all possible. If it'd be a problem, then it can of course wait for some dev attention, but to have access to the blue screens sooner would be great.|
Originally Posted by EmperorSteele
Would anyone who's ABLE to open these files be willing to save them with maximized compatability and put them up for download elsewhere? Or should we wait until the devs get back into the offices on monday?
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On the note of no NPCs if you can avoid it, can I assume that Monster Island is an exception to this rule? The current screen has a Quarry on it, and without the monsters, Tempest Quay isn't really worth snapping.
I'm also curious as to how the person who'll be opening the emails would prefer multiple submissions. If I were to submit one screen for each zone, for example, would one attachment per email be preffered, or as many attachments per email as I can manage? I understand this may not be up to Mr. Savage, but I'd like to know before the competition's over, obviously.
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Thanks, I''l give it a try.
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Originally Posted by Orion_Star_EU
Add -project eucoh to the .exe shortcut you are using, or it won't use your EU settings.
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Well, I would like to send one submission per email. Each base file is around 8~9 MB. I have finished a couple of screens and they ended being around 14~16 MB.|
Originally Posted by StormSurvivor
I'd quite like this too, if at all possible. If it'd be a problem, then it can of course wait for some dev attention, but to have access to the blue screens sooner would be great.
On the note of no NPCs if you can avoid it, can I assume that Monster Island is an exception to this rule? The current screen has a Quarry on it, and without the monsters, Tempest Quay isn't really worth snapping. I'm also curious as to how the person who'll be opening the emails would prefer multiple submissions. If I were to submit one screen for each zone, for example, would one attachment per email be preffered, or as many attachments per email as I can manage? I understand this may not be up to Mr. Savage, but I'd like to know before the competition's over, obviously. |
If someone just makes 1 of each zone and send them in a single email, I don't want to be the one who's opening it.
Great idea for a contest!
A few issues though:
- As some other people had mentioned, there seem to be problems with your PSD files. In my case H_LoadingScreen_2 is in a version incompatible with CS4 and CS5 on my computer (Mac) and won't open at all. H_LoadingScreen_3 starts to open, brings up a message about an incompatible Blending mode and eventually fails to open.
- Like most I also don't have "Aharoni Bold" (your title font) on my computer. Will you make the font available? Are we supposed to use our own fonts? Could we? Keep in mind that some free fonts out there are only for non-commercial use...
- If I read the contest correctly, you are asking us to send you our entries as an attachment to an e-mail. Seeing that most of the files weigh in at about 10MB, attaching one file, not to mention multiple files, will certainly hit some e-mail attachment size limitations. Plus attaching files to an e-mail additionally increases their size...
Thanks.
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As we're sending back photoshop projects rather than bitmaps, we don't really need to have the appropriate font to make our submissions. Screens will likely be tweaked by the art team before they're put forward for the game, and fixing fonts and spelling errors would be a part of that process.
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Originally Posted by Xenos
Like most I also don't have "Aharoni Bold" (your title font) on my computer. Will you make the font available? Are we supposed to use our own fonts? Could we? Keep in mind that some free fonts out there are only for non-commercial use...
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Indeed. That's why Noble Savage said "don't submit collapsed psd, only layered". That way the can edit them to replace the fonts, change the screenshots or resize them.
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Originally Posted by StormSurvivor
As we're sending back photoshop projects rather than bitmaps, we don't really need to have the appropriate font to make our submissions. Screens will likely be tweaked by the art team before they're put forward for the game, and fixing fonts and spelling errors would be a part of that process.
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That does make sense. |
Originally Posted by StormSurvivor
As we're sending back photoshop projects rather than bitmaps, we don't really need to have the appropriate font to make our submissions. Screens will likely be tweaked by the art team before they're put forward for the game, and fixing fonts and spelling errors would be a part of that process.
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But if you look at the current in-game loading screens you'll notice that each zone has a different font that is very much part of the overall design. And that's really what the second part of my question is about... Will all screens have the same font, or can we choose fonts that will contribute to the overall design?
I am pretty sure that a well chosen font will make your design stick out from the rest, so it does matter. And at this point that's the only choice we have unless we own "Aharoni Bold". Alternatively if we are to use a standardized font (or set of fonts), we all would need access to it...
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Originally Posted by Orion_Star_EU
Looks like a pretty standard one. Dunno what IOM means :P
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IOM would be "Instanced Outdoor Mission".
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This'll be rough since I still don't own Photoshop or a tablet. Luckily I have a whole month to do it 
Well, all the hero frames don't work for me and I'm using Elements 7.
Villain ones work, guess I'll have to do that one.
Mind you, it's not like I can figure out what the hell I'm doing with Photoshop.....excatly how do I put my screenshot in the layer??
We built this city on Rock and Roll!
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[snip].., or Canada (excluding Quebec)...[snip]
Again.... another cool contest, another chance to have my stuff in the game, and I'm looked over because of where I live...
I've been taking screenshots all over the place ever since NS mentioned this contest back in closed beta... I don't even care about the prizes, I just want to see my stuff in game!
I decided I'm going to submit my stuff anyway... disqualification be damned! at least my stuff will be seen!
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No. It's a photography contest, the font doesn't matter. |
Originally Posted by Xenos
I am pretty sure that a well chosen font will make your design stick out from the rest, so it does matter. And at this point that's the only choice we have unless we own "Aharoni Bold". Alternatively if we are to use a standardized font (or set of fonts), we all would need access to it...
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They're looking at your screenshot. What will make your entry stick out is your photography skills, not your photoshop skills.
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Anybody else having problems with the Hero frames?|
Originally Posted by Coin
Well, all the hero frames don't work for me and I'm using Elements 7.
Mind you, it's not like I can figure out what the hell I'm doing with Photoshop.....excatly how do I put my screenshot in the layer?? |
As for where to put your screenshot, the layers are explicitly named to help you see where everything goes, let me know if there is an issue with that.
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Originally Posted by Orion_Star_EU
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Originally Posted by Soul Storm
3) Is there anything that would stop me entering this contest if I have previously won a contest?
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Originally Posted by Ozmosis
Again.... another cool contest, another chance to have my stuff in the game, and I'm looked over because of where I live...
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Support Centre for our English European players
Support Centre for our North American players
Plateforme d'assistance pour les francophones
Support-Center f�r deutschsprachige Spieler
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Originally Posted by Avatea
Anybody else having problems with the Hero frames?
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H_LoadingScreen_1.psd: Photoshop CS3 throws up an error about the file containing unknown data, then when you tell it to 'Keep layers', it throws up another error about the document having been damaged by a disk error. Push past that and The file loads up, but there's green corruption in the 'Frame' layer group, specifically in 'Layer 183'.
H_LoadingScreen_2.psd: No error about unknown data, but the same error about the file being damage by a disk error. This time, what appears to be a little corruption in the 'Layer 132' layer within the 'Frame' layer group.
H_LoadingScreen_3.psd: Same as loading screen 2, blue corruption in the lower section of the 'Layer171 Copy 4' layer within the 'Frame' layer group.
Hazard_LoadingScreen.psd: Again, 'damaged by disk error' message, green corruption within the 'Layer171 Copy 4' layer within the 'Frame' layer group.
All three villain files work fine. ZOMG! Devs hate heroes! (sorry, couldn't resist
)This is all with the versions I grabbed the other day, I'll quickly regrab them and try again, in case it was a download error.
<insert 5 minutes here>
Same glitches with hero zone 1 and 2, new glitch with 3 - 'A problem was encountered reading layer "border" because of a program error. Continue?'
it eventually loaded up with an all new version of file corruption.
Warning:
The above post may contain Cynicism, sarcasm and/or pessimism. If you object to the quantities contained, then tough.
Ive noticed that the files provided, particularly the blue side template have an odd green discolorization through the center, is this intentional or is there a simple fix?
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