Well, I took the years from the LucasArts site... right HERE (http://www.lucasarts.com/press/product.htm)...

But 30MB???? You're clearly doing something wrong here. First of all, you don't have to scan them at a resolution higher than 300dpi, because that's the resolution all standard print articles are printed at. I scaled your "Zak"-cover down to that size (which is still close to 2700 x 3400 pixels), and saved it as a JPEG at a quality of 100%, and still just got to 6.5MB ... while going down to 80% quality, resulted in a file size of just 1.5MB, with no notable loss in quality.

I assume it has something to do with the fact that he mentioned the possibility of using them to make posters.

ALSO:
My color ideas.

Maniac Mansion (1987) - no idea. Purple?
Zak McKracken & The Alien Mindbenders (1988) - again, no idea. I never played this.
Indiana Jones & The Last Crusade (1989) - orange-ish
Loom (1990) - no idea (i never played loom)
The Secret of Monkey Island (1990) - reddish (as the preview is) or dark green
Monkey Island 2: LeChucks' Revenge (1992) - blueish/purplish
Indiana Jones & The Fate of Atlantis (1992) - orange-ish (as preview is)
Maniac Mansion 2: Day Of The Tentacle (1993) - green (as the preview is)
Sam & Max Hit The Road (1993) - blue (as the preview is)
Full Throttle (1994) - black
The Dig (1995) - light blue (like the logo is, kind of.)
The Curse of Monkey Island (1996) - yellow (wow, running out of colors)
Grim Fandango (1998) - purple
Escape From Monkey Island (2001) - yellow

Oh, i remember the poster idea, sorry... just ignore me being a wise-ass.

Now, my color ideas:

http://www.scummbar.com/mi2/temp/la_colors.jpg)

(I avoided reading your list first, Spiffy... but most of them are the same as yours... interesting... and a little scary... ;) )

All good, all good, but I think Loom should be more like what you've put up for The Dig.

All right... dark-blue for Loom too then... bright-blue wouldn't have worked anyway, because the "golden" lettering would hardly be visible on such a bright background...

Okay, ftp is online, but not 24/7. Also, it expires in 30 days so hurry hurry people!

PM me if you want access.

Oh, by the way, what I would just LOVE to have on the front cover are the original box-artworks, but without the logos... there are some manuals where a much "cleaner" artwork is used as covers... does anybody know about other such artworks of the games?


Some, like Drew Struzan's Indiana Jones FOA cover can be found clean online I'm sure- I'll take a look around for you. And between old magazine ads, box art, and manual covers, and plain old photoshop trickery I could probably whip together "clean" versions of a number of those titles. :)

In fact, I reckon Drew's Last Crusade poster would fit better than the original photo used on the boxart;

The original (photo) art could be recreated with a better version of this publicity shot;

http://movieartofsweden.com/images/5515_picture.jpeg)

But maybe it would be better yet to utilise some Drew Struzan artwork like these;

http://home.planetinternet.be/~bliek/indianacrus.jpg)

http://www.hundland.com/posters/i/IndianaJonesAndTheLastCrusade-Pepsi.jpg)

Originally posted by Laserschwert
Oh, by the way, what I would just LOVE to have on the front cover are the original box-artworks, but without the logos... there are some manuals where a much "cleaner" artwork is used as covers... does anybody know about other such artworks of the games? Yeah, the Sam & Max one looks a lot better because the logo isn't repeated.

For Mi2 you could use http://www.scummbar.com/resources/downloads/wallpapers/lechucksrevenge-640x480.jpg) (available in higher resolutions at TSB), or just airbrush the logos out. Or keep them in, if you think it would be better, and I coud airbrush them out for me! Whatever.

They do look really really fantastic though. :D

I like whats going on here, those designs are really cool! Though it might make them look too boring, I think the "textured" look of the backgrounds is a little cheezy, unless you're planning on somehow doing embossed paper so the texture come through in 3D like a book cover or fancy schmancy DVD cover... Might want to try a plainer color background? Then again, maybe not. Its cool that you guys are doing this :)

Mmh... no texture? Here ya go:

http://www.scummbar.com/mi2/temp/mi_cov.jpg)
http://www.scummbar.com/mi2/temp/dott_cov.jpg)
http://www.scummbar.com/mi2/temp/indy_cov.jpg)
http://www.scummbar.com/mi2/temp/sammax_cov.jpg)

Though it looks a little dull, maybe if we go with Tones' idea of printing it on textured card, the texture would come from there. The best would of course be, if the golden stripes and letters could be real shiny golden... I am not sure though how that would work when printing at home. I mean, there is golden paper to print on, but I am not sure as of how the other colors will cover on that surface...

Oh, and for re-uniting old and new ideas:

http://www.scummbar.com/mi2/temp/mi_cov_ph.jpg)

I still like this book texture... though - as said - it probably only would work with a few games (like Monkey and Indy)... what about an "Monkey Island Collection"-cover for a 5- or 6-disc Alpha-case...?

Laserschwert: The covers at the top of this post (with textures) are absolutely perfect. Where can I download them (DON'T change them anymore!!!)

Thanks.

~ John

All right, all right... I'll do the textured ones first.

It will still take a while, because I'll have to redo them completely, since those are only the low-res mockups I did.

Laser:

I just now joined this site to tell you how amazingly excellent your DVD cover designs are. Now all I have to do is find empty DVD cases, and I'm set. :thumbsup:

Also: Cannot wait until these are done! :stan:

Edit: Have you thought about making a single DVD cover for the Monkey Island Madness compilation? That would be cool. :angel:

I'd like Paco Vink (http://www.worldofmi.com/features/fan/art/index.php?artist=1) to try this thing out.. It sure would be interesting what he could come up with.

Nice covers btw.. I like the year thingy thingy.. :P

Ooo. They're purdy

If there was to be a site devoted to DVD covers, of course, then I think it would be better if there were several designs available so you could choose which one you wanted based on personal preference. I mean, maybe someone just wants a cover for one game, whereas others (like me) would prefer a whole collection. This way though, anyone who makes a design - Laserschwert, obviously, and Spiffy etc can submit them and people can choose which one they want. Not just one definative "this is the design" kinda thing.

Personally, I want DanSky to do one ;)

That sounds good... so, let's tell Jake.

Jake!? We're gonna put up a site for DVD-covers... kay??

But the idea of bringing in "real" artist (like Paco, Ado or Dan Lee) would expand our possibilities big time. I mean, right now we're pretty restricted to the original box-artworks... but with those guys onboard, we could go for completely new stuff...

Or what about a fan-art competition regarding alternative front covers for all the games... I don't mean the way we're doing it here, just "re-arranging" existing material, but basically painting new covers, trying to mimic the style that Purcell or Struzan used for the original boxes. Maybe Mojo or the ScummBar can host such a competition...

Yay. Host a competition. If they did, I'd enter.

I'd totally be up for maintaining or just helping with a website of some kind for a bunch of DVD covers specifically for adventure games. GIMME A CALL. AND BY CALL I MEAN REPLY TO THIS VERY THREAD.

...but if i DID make the website it would look a little.... something... like..... THIS (http://www.morelike.com/alex/dvd/index.htm)

(please note that that's just a rough draft i whipped up in 30 seconds. The final thing would actually have colors and images and non-generic fonts. That's just an idea.)

This is good, this is all very good. We'll have to wait the backlash from LucasArts after the mojo e-mail address thing before we make the site though, which I would also volunteer to help out on ;)

LucasTones, can you PM me with FTP info again? I keep trying at all times of the day, and I can't connect to the FTP. Also, I can't PM you for some reason - it always times out.

Thanks.

The info is right, I thought the fto was on but it wasn't. Apologies. Try over the weekend, should be fine.

LucasTones, I tried to send you a forum PM but it said your inbox was full so I'm posting it here instead:

I am very interested in the hi-res cover scans you offer. I'm not sure I'll be able to come up with a brilliant design for DVD covers but I'll give it a shot, mostly I'm interested in printing out super sized posters for myself and friends.

I don't frequent the lucasforums as much as I frequent the AGS and AG forums so if you do give me FTP access it would be great if you could mail me at esseb<at>esseb<dot>com* instead of sending me a forum PM since I'll probably not notice it. I will be away on Saturday and Sunday so I might not be able to download the files until Monday.

--Esseb.

* cleverly concealed e-mail adress to fool e-mail harvesters.

I'd be happy to set up a "covers.mixnmojo.com" webspace for a site dedicated to this sort of thing, assuming someone with a better grasp of web programming (and more free time) than myself could set it up.

Were the site to exist it would very nice if the covers could be sorted by collection (ie "Laserschwert's Adventure Cover Collection") or by game (ie "every DVD cover slipcase design for Monkey Island 2"), and of course allow for people to add their own if whoever ran the site thought they were cool enough to add.

Just an idea.

Not that I'm, uh, working on the site, or anything, cuz that would be a surprise, and stuff, winkwink, but is anybody any good at php/mysql/databasing/webprogrammingmumbojumbo that would be willing to help out? I kind of just know html.
-spiffy

Jakes idea is most excellent, and Spiffy, make that site faster ;D

As I said, I'd be prepared to work on the site, and I assume Spiffy is going to be working on it too, as well as anyone else you appoint.

Looks like its all coming together nicely :)

I'm willing to help allong.

I have excellent experience with PHP, MySQL and HTML. (Its my living ¬¬)

*offers Calimonk a contract*

well the site's up (and by site i mean coming soon page)

http://covers.mixnmojo.com)

who wants to send in some covers?!

Sooo... what's up? Any progress being made on this project?

Hate to sound mean, but......... boy! that site is UGLY! (sorry)

I look forward to being able to download covers!

well my design was usurped by lucastones' design. What's on there now will not look like the final design. We still don't really know when we'll be happy with a design. Hell, maybe we can just get Gabez to do it for us.

My design was made by that imposter ;)

Yeah, Zebag owe's me a few favours. He can do it.

Hee, the cry of many a frustrated community site owner 'sod it, i'll get Gabez to do it'.

Originally posted by Gabez
Yeah, the Sam & Max one looks a lot better because the logo isn't repeated.

For Mi2 you could use http://www.scummbar.com/resources/downloads/wallpapers/lechucksrevenge-640x480.jpg) (available in higher resolutions at TSB), or just airbrush the logos out. Or keep them in, if you think it would be better, and I coud airbrush them out for me! Whatever.

They do look really really fantastic though. :D That picture has been airbrushed. The logo is not an original part of the image though - it is superimposed.

I can send this:

http://img27.photobucket.com/albums/v80/Meksilon/mi2_tmp.jpg)

I have it at 5116x6959 720dpi 83.9MB PNG, I'll downsize it to a more reasonable dpi and then email it to you Spiffy, if you send your email address. I will have a hintbook in my possession soon, I can scan that later which will have nothing but the MI2 logo superimposed over the original image.

=mek=

Oh yeah... do that, DO THAT!! I always wanted a "clean" cover of MI2... and of course MI1... anyone got that one too?

MI1 CD-slipcase scanned at 400dpi is 1925x2053 10.6M PNG - but that's too detailed for the quality, as in it will have to be reduced to around 1/4 the size - 963x1024 looks quite good, and is 2.64M as a PNG making it acceptable to send in that format, rather than JPEG.

Also Laser, the Kixx release of MI2 superimposed the logo differently to the original release, meaning if you superimpose the images on top of each other you can losslessly remove much of the logo, and then "airbrush" the rest that's left over.

=mek=

By "clean", I just mean the cover without the system-spec "sticker" (actually it's printed on... at least on "Fate of Atlantis") in the lower left corner, and without any award-icons.

The slipcase as whole wouldn't work... because I was going to print posters from it... and in that case the scan has to be at least the size of the game box. But it could be used to retouch the sticker-part of the image. So, YES, PLEASE! *g*

Why don't you have one of the MI1 posters professionally scanned?

I tell you what, if a few people want to pitch in maybe $20 each I'll have it done.

20$ each?? What are you going to do with it??

OK OK, you see, printing the box-scans is obviously a lot cheaper, plus, there's no MI2 poster...

There is. However, it's hanging in Steve Purcell's house. :~

Not sure if there ever were any reprints. :¬:

I was under the impression that from Maniac Mansion to Fate of Atlantis LucasArts offered a poster through some sort of mail order. Was MI2 skipped?

Originally posted by RemiO
There is. However, it's hanging in Steve Purcell's house. :~


Mmh... :¬:

*starts humming the Mission Impossible theme* :guitar1

Well, I did it.

Using LucasTones excellent high-resolution scan of the Secret of Monkey Island boxart, I did a little tweaking (increased the contrast) and sent the image off to become a 20x30 print (great for framing).

I received it today, and I must say, it looks amazing! Absolutely stunning!

Only problem is that the proportions weren't quite right for a 20x30, so the sides were trimmed a bit. No big deal, as the only significant thing that was lost was a bit of ther border on the left and right side and that annoying IBM PC sticker.

I'm going to get a 20x30 of the Dig boxart next for a gift for my friend.

Thanks LucasTones.

Thanks, I'm glad it came out ok. Is there any chance you could take a picture of the poster? I'd like to see how it looks :)

Also I should mention, the ftp is no longer online. I'll probably get it back up in a few weeks though :)

Sure LucasTones, I'll try and take a picture and put it up over the weekend.

Well, I've scanned both a boxart of Monkey Island 2 LEC release, and the Kixx release. The Kixx boxart is actually a higher-quality print. As I stated before the size is 90odd meg per box art at 720dpi. I can either downsize it, or chop it into 90 -odd parts and upload them all one by one to a free graphic server.

It's proving too difficuilt to try and superimpose the MI2 LEC release box over the Kixx... but I will try again later, and post the results if they're impressive. I also have a hint-book I can scan, it is of significantly lower quality though.

Here are some examples of the difference in quality (these examples are at 720dpi).

http://www.zippyimages.com/files/20693/mi2box_tst1_kixx.jpg)
http://www.zippyimages.com/files/20694/mi2box_tst1_norm.jpg)

http://www.zippyimages.com/files/20695/mi2box_tst2_kixx.jpg)
http://www.zippyimages.com/files/20696/mi2box_tst2_norm.jpg)

If you want something scanned at high quality, let me know. I have every box that is listed in my museum (see sig).

Alright, I will superimpose. It'll take a while and the resulting image will not hold up to scrutiny, but will hopefully look stunning. I will also work at completely removing the Monkey Island 2 graphic and all "By Ron Gilbert" text. And the "LucasArts" graphic for that matter. Here is where I'm up to superimposing the regular box image to "make-up" the incomplete parts of the Kixx box (at 720 DPI, this image is just 15% the size of the one I'm working on):

http://www.zippyimages.com/files/25705/demo.jpg)

The problem is the colour levels and the prints just do not match at all. So I do not know how much more I will be able to superimose, and how much I will have to "draw-in". Of course it would be much easier to start with the regular box and just "fix that", but like I said the KIXX is just of such higher quality.