games

Logo Design: Games

PauloGabriel — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 17:13:44 +0000

We keep going through our weekly journey checking out great logos! We're thinking ahead and we want to find new topics, good ones, to share with you guys. Last week we had a great post about logos with butterflies, and today it's all about game logos!

Every week we search through our beloved Logopond, but starting this week, we are also gonna search for logos on Dribbble, a great community for designers everywhere. Also, if you you'd like to suggest ideas for the next subjects, please, tell me by sending me sending me a tweet: @paulogabriel. Cheers! ;)

About the author

Hello, everyone! I'm Paulo Gabriel, designer from Porto Alegre, Brazil, born in 1984. I have worked as a webdesigner since 2006, but websites and blogs have been a hobby for me since 1999. Here in Abduzeedo, I try to bring only the hot stuff for you... and hope that all of you enjoy my posts! For more cool stuff, you may also follow me on Twitter.

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Create Sonic The Hedgehog Opening on Illustrator

marcos333 — Mon, 26 Dec 2011 06:05:41 +0000

The other day while I was cleaning up some stuff in my bedroom I've found my Sega Genesis - Mega Drive in Brazil, one of the first 16 bit consoles released in the 90s. I remember most of my friends were more into Mario Bros because they had a SuperNES. I played Mario Bros years later, but at that time my eyes were focused only on playing frenetically Sonic The Hedgehog almost everyday.

So, continuing our "nostalgic tutorials" series this one will be about this classic game opening, sure this will probably give you some really good memories so let's do it. Just a warning before we can proceed: this is an more advanced and step forward tutorial, so a previous knowledge of the software and the character will be really helpful. Also, this can all be solved with a mouse, althought using a tablet will make it way more fast.

Tunnel

I kind of don't know If that's a tunnel or a giant ring on the opening titles, anyway the first thing you should do after creating a new document on illustrator is to create a perfect circle using the ellipse tool (L) + shift. You're actually going to create four of them, use a white fill to understand which is under and which is bellow.

So I added a blue metallic linear gradient on two of them, a more intricate golden gradient on one of the circles and a black fill on the circle on the front in order to symbolize the hole.

I also wanted a hard shading on the golden circle, so I just created a white circle, selected the soft light blending mode, pulled it a bit to the right downward diagonal and made a clipping mask (ctrl + 7 / command + 7) with a duplicated golden circle.

Let's add some stars, first click on the start tool to create specifi star with the parameters bellow.

Make another one inside of it. Then add some blue gradients, use a stronger on the one inside and a softer on the outside.

I also added a drop shadow on each of them to look more funky.

Then duplicated it and alligned like the picture bellow.

Here's the first we're going to use for the SEGA logo, you can get it here

So, after I wrote SEGA I turned the font into outlines (ctrl + shift + O / command + shift + O) and added the same blue gradient used on the circles.

Ok, now go to Object > Path > Offset Path and set the parameters like this. Use a white fill on the new path.

Wings

Never quite get why there's wing on theis opening, anyway I just draw then using the pen tool (P). Then add a grey radial gradient on it. I also used the same offset path here, so you can pretty much repeat the procedure.

Don't forget to duplicate and flip it to the other side (just right click and go to Transform > Reflect).

Ribbon

Using the pen tool (P) I made this shape with a little hook shape on the end, this will be like a folding of the ribbon. On the sequence I just made the extremity using the previous tool.

I added some red linear gradient, just watch for the gradient directions, they will help to enhance and give depth to the image.

To make a the white shapes, I basically duplicated the red ones and adjusted it using the selction tool (V) and the direct selection tool (A)

I also added a shadow by creating this shape right on the ribbon folding then selecting the blending mode called multiply.

Ok, then just duplicate it and flip it to the other side. I also added the stars used on the circle, but on a larger size.

For the main title first I wrote "The Hedgehog" using Hevletica (you can use Arial with you prefer), turned it to outlines and used offset path on it.

You can get the next font that we're going to use on the Sonic type here.

I outlined the type and added a mettalic intrincate gradient.

Ok, then access Effect > 3D > Extrude & Bevel, set the parameters like the ones bellow.

Now that we just finished this part, let's add a black background by creating a big black rectangle using the rectangle tool (M).

I decided to add some shiny stars so I clicked on the star tool and configurate it to make some thin 4 points stars. I also added some golden gradient on them.

Sonic

Ok, here's the most anticipated and also the toughiest part of the tutorial: drawing Sonic. Before trying to draw this character on the final pose, I made some several studies of it and it's body structure and movements, Sonic is one of these classic big-head cartoon characters, the hardest part to understand it's how you will place the eyes. So, I would suggest you guys to try some sketching looking to some original images, it's good to understand the logic behind some characters, that's enhance you graphic repertory.

So, after a lot tests adn studies, I tried to make the classic Sonic pose and laced it on the Ai file on the bottom to help you guys. As you can see I divided the character in a lot o ellipses, this is way of showing the body struture, where are the main parts and the joints.

After putting it on illustrator, I started tracing over the most simple shapes, mostly ellipses,like the ones in the eye, head and body.

With some help of the pen tool (P) I traced the rest of the body, I know this may not make much sense right now, but this is the best way to vectorize a character with less effort.

Ok guys so right now here's a great test for you, as I know our readers are really good this should be piece of cake: using the pathfinder tool called Unite, you should wisely unite some of the traced part in order to get this vector Sonic. Don't worry, this is just a test, If you don't feel confortable on trying, there's a ready vector version on the downloadable file.

After we got it all vectorized, let's add some flat colors, I like to do that before adding gradients and shadows as it's better to preview how we should add light and shadow on the image.

I started with the eye, adding some grey radial gradient, then added some grey gradient on the nose and on the eyes.

I decided to substiture the beige for a hotter color as a orange gradient, just watch for the gradient directions and formats (linear and radial).

The glove it's a bit intricate, so here's a tep by step on the gradient directions, watch it carefully.

Finally I added some blue radial gradient on the top of him and posicionate him on the scenario, right behing the ribbon.

Final Result

Although the tutorial was really step forward, I hope you guys got a better understanding on character design, as this will always be a really tough part when doing a illustration. Studying movements, faces, gestures it's wuite important for any illustrator. Hope you guys enjoyed this lesson.

Download the Illustrator File

Click here to download the Illustrator file used for this tutorial.

About the author

My name is Marcos Torres, I'm Graphic Artist from Porto Alegre, Brasil. You can get to know more about me by acessing my Personal Website or by following me on Twitter: @marcos333. You can also see some of my last projects at my Flickr.

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45 Awesome Game Concept Arts

PauloGabriel — Mon, 27 Jul 2009 11:32:32 +0000

Last week we had a great post featuring some stunning illustrations and game concept arts that were a big hit. This kind of illustration, the one that artists make to the gaming industry, is usually super-cool and detailed, and that's why I've selected these game concept arts.

Found on ConceptArt.org and DeviantART, these are some truly awesome pieces, from games such as Assassin's Creed to Rise of Nations: Rise of Legends. I really hope you enjoy these as much as I do, and for more, visit each site linked above. Cheers! ;)

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Videogame Remakes by Orioto

PauloGabriel — Tue, 24 Feb 2009 13:14:14 +0000

During a little visit to Fubiz yesterday, I ran into something that really got my attention: Videogame remake wallpapers! These are really incredible and just blew my mind!

Since many people didn't find the link to the author's page and didn't get to download these wallpapers, I'm also posting abou it and making direct links to each wallpapers. Orioto, the author, is SO cool that he even released XL versions for printing... for FREE! Now that's what I call sharing. I'm totally hanging Mario in my wall. This dude is awesome. Anyways, here are the wallpapers! Hope you enjoy these. Cheers! ;)

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Snes Game Cover Arts

PauloGabriel — Thu, 16 Oct 2008 17:48:27 +0000

A little more than 2 months ago we had a great article about Mega Drive (Sega Genesis) game cover arts. Many people enjoyed it very much, and many asked for a next post: Snes cover arts. And here they are.

Unfortunatelly, Snes cover arts are a little bit harder to find than the Mega's ones, but I've managed to find some cool ones. I really hope you guys enjoy these as much as I do. Cheers! ;)

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Old School Game Cover Arts

PauloGabriel — Fri, 29 Aug 2008 18:39:53 +0000

Back in the day, the Master System, the Sega Genesis (a.k.a. Mega Drive), and the Super Nintendo would just make us over our heads... 16 and 32 bits were HOT stuff back then. Those bits would make us spend whole afternoons playing Mickey's Castle of Illusion, Desert Strike and many other games... and a great way to remember those days, is taking a look at game cover arts.

While writing the Michael Jackson's Inpiration post, I ran into the old Moonwalker game cover art, and memories began to flow like crazy... then we connected the dots and just thought: why not posting about it? I'm totally in!! It was a wonderful experience searching for these covers and selecting cool ones. Today we get to see really amazing cover arts. Compared to the Genesis, Super Nintendo has 500% better graphics, but since Sega's console is even more old school, we're gonna stick just to it. For those of you who are older than 22, this post will probably lit that childhood sparkle once more. I hope you all enjoy this as much as I do. Cheers!

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First International Trailer for Max Payne

PauloGabriel — Thu, 10 Jul 2008 14:33:58 +0000

It's been some time since I got this hyped in a morning. During my regular visits to First Showing (a must visit for all movie freaks), I ran into something I wasn't expecting: the 1st friggin' international trailer for the Max Payne movie.

And I know the preview picture isn't from the movie, but from the game, but it's totally cool. I don't know if you guys realize who big this is. For those who were out to Venus for the past 8 years, Max Payne is a video game character, from a game called, uhn, Max Payne. It was out in 2001, and was absolutily STUNNING... It had the bullet time from Matrix, and still 2 years later, when the Enter the Matrix game was released, it wasn't as good as the original Max Payne. Max Payne is everything we expected ETM to be, and wasn't. And now, I also got to know that they are about to release friggin' Max Payne 3 for PC. Geeeez!!! Alright, I'm REALLY hyped. LOL. About the movie, Mark Wahlberg is playing our hero, and the trailer looks awesome. Well, check out the trailer already...

Another thing I didn't know is that there were some other Max Payne movies release in Poland! I so wanna see those... unfortunately, there aren't any torrent files online... or at least I didn't find any. You can see below these other movies posters. Again, these are not the new movie posters.

If you're not familiar with the Max Payne feel, I must say it reminds a lot Sin City comics... something noir, and still got all that bullet time kicking ass sweetness, pretty much as a Matrix movie. I must insist, if you've never played any of Max Payne's games before, YOU MUST PLAY THEM. It's totally awesome. :]

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Awesome LEGOd Video Games

PauloGabriel — Wed, 25 Jun 2008 16:11:12 +0000

Yesterday we found about this 16 years old kid who made nice pics of old games in the real world, and it was quite funny. Today, following a potential series of game related posts, some cool pictures of "Legod Video Games".

Ronn (or skinny coder), a dude from LA came up with the idea of building old games scenes with Lego, and the result is really something. Check these out! And we've also found a Flickr pool full of these... Hope you all like it. Cheers! :)

Metal Gear (NES)

Duck Hunt (NES)

Excitebike (NES)

Bionic Commando (NES)

Contra (NES)

Mortal Kombat (Arcade)

Castlevania (NES)

Shadow of the Colossus (PS2)

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Old Games in the Real World

PauloGabriel — Tue, 24 Jun 2008 16:11:43 +0000

Probably one of the greatest things about design is when someone comes up with a good idea do revive old, cool games. What about a Mario Kart race going on in highway somewhere, or maybe Donkey Kong throwing stuff at Mario and Luigi from a real skyscraper?

It was a really awesome idea, the person who came up with these is a real genius. Does anyone knows who did it? If you do, drop a comment! Enjoy and cheers!

Update: Thanks to our reader Oli Kenobi, we got to know the mastermind behind these pieces: Lee Vidal, aka RETROnoob. And we couldn't go that far to find such a creative artist... he's got a DeviantArt account, of course. I've updated all pictures to bigger versions. Enjoy!

Update 2: Check out our new post - Awesome LEGOd Video Games!

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Bucking Fuggy

abduzeedo — Mon, 06 Aug 2007 17:25:04 +0000

When it comes to the web, everybody is pretty much used to flash. However there’s a new technology which allows us to play 3D games in our browsers with somewhat close to Playstation 2 graphic quality.

Some weeks ago I met some guys that were developing a game using a 3D plugin called Virtools. They were willing to create a website to publish and promote the game. So I joined them helping to create the web site and a blog.

I have to say, the game looks fantastic, much better than anything that I’ve seen in terms of web games. It’s called Bucking Fuggy (yeah the spelling is correct) and it’s a time trial racing game. The gameplay is a bit hard but with some practice you will feel very comfortable driving the little buggy. The textures and lights are amazing, the sound is really good, and the best thing is that it loads really fast.

Check out some screenshots and if you want to play it just go to buckingfuggy.com.

About the author

Abduzeedo is a blog about design. There are all sorts of articles for those who want to look for inspiration. Also you will find very useful tutorials for the most used applications out there, with a special selection of Photoshop Tutorials and Illustrator Tutorials. You can get in follow us via Twitter at @abduzeedo