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saffron1

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After a lightning fast bit of imaging resizing and replacing I've got the basic template down to 3.91MB from 25.1MB.

 

I'm not sure the colours are right now as I've been playing with the brightness/contrast a bit too. No more play now but I'll have another go at the weekend.

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Here is a sample box, with homemade inner as well, compared to an original and the Alpine games one. As aminor00 has stated and already fixed, the spine 'X' pattern is a bit on the blue side. I will use the greyer coloured one for the next boxes.

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post-26626-0-78859800-1436511941_thumb.jpg

post-26626-0-08926500-1436512003_thumb.jpg

post-26626-0-98067800-1436512059_thumb.jpg

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So you are gluing in the cart holder in the box.

 

There also seems to be place for a booklet.

 

I already got my new "blank carts" for my next homebrew game. To keep cost down I would like to print out the box, the insert and the users manual good quality but without folding or assembling them. And send it in an A4 envelope together with the cart. This would nicely be delivered as an ordinary letter and not as a maxiletter.

 

The magic measures are:

 

Example Finland -> USA

Ordinary letters

50g, thickness below 2cm = 1,80€

100g, thickness below 2cm = 2,60€

Maxiletters

50g, thickness above 2cm = 10€

250g, thickness above 2cm = still 10€

 

How do you feel about having to fold the box by yourself?

 

On a related topic. I would love to get some help with designing the box, cart label and manual for a small game that I am working on. It may be ready in a month or so.

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Hi Karri,

 

I would gladly help you put together the box and cart label. However, I am not an artist so if you need some artwork drawn for you that is special to your project then I am not the best person to ask. But, if you already have artwork then I can easily help to get that onto the box and cart label.

 

We have a template for the standard Lynx carts but these might not be quite the right size to fit the carts you are designing. If you can give me dimensions then I can create a new label template for your style cart. I mostly use Inkscape and GIMP as they're free and very capable products.

 

One of my tasks when I have free time is to come up with a template for a manual. I'm sorry to say that I don't have one yet but I'd be happy to help you with that too. I guess I could accomplish both things at the same time, create the template and create your manual. What I/we would need from you would be things like sample graphics, description of the game, description of the button functions in various modes etc just like a commercial manual.

 

As for your question: How do you feel about folding the box by yourself? I have no issues with that! :-)

 

When you say that you want to print the box and cart label you must remember that the ink and paper/label pages will cost money too. Ink is by far the most expensive part. You might want to consider providing PDF templates for box, insert, label & manual for people to print themselves.

 

Regards

 

Andy

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Karri,

Yes the insert is glued to the sides and back of the box and I left room for a manual. It's not perfect but it was my first attempt.

I used 300gsm A4 matte paper, not as shiny as the original boxes.

As for folding our own boxes to keep postage costs down, sounds like a great plan.

I am with Andy, if you have your own art work then I can also give it a go. All the art work I have used has been from open source on the Internet.

If I can help in anyway please let me know.

Cheers

Russell

Edited by saffron1
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Hi Karri,

 

I would gladly help you put together the box and cart label. However, I am not an artist so if you need some artwork drawn for you that is special to your project then I am not the best person to ask. But, if you already have artwork then I can easily help to get that onto the box and cart label.

 

We have a template for the standard Lynx carts but these might not be quite the right size to fit the carts you are designing. If you can give me dimensions then I can create a new label template for your style cart. I mostly use Inkscape and GIMP as they're free and very capable products.

 

One of my tasks when I have free time is to come up with a template for a manual. I'm sorry to say that I don't have one yet but I'd be happy to help you with that too. I guess I could accomplish both things at the same time, create the template and create your manual. What I/we would need from you would be things like sample graphics, description of the game, description of the button functions in various modes etc just like a commercial manual.

 

As for your question: How do you feel about folding the box by yourself? I have no issues with that! :-)

 

When you say that you want to print the box and cart label you must remember that the ink and paper/label pages will cost money too. Ink is by far the most expensive part. You might want to consider providing PDF templates for box, insert, label & manual for people to print themselves.

 

Regards

 

Andy

 

Thanks for the comments.

 

I do not see printing cost as a problem. For about 4 € I should be able to get a top quality A4 printed for the box and a small 8 or 16 page manual on normal office paper. The manual is probably one or two A4 sheets folded twice.

 

The initial graphics is the problem. I am not an artist myself...

 

The code I am working on is to enhance "Shaken, not stirred" from an almost unplayable prototype to a real game with tutorial missions, real storyline, much better graphics and sounds. The game logic itself is good. It was just that the implementation was all wrong due to the short time to create and implement it.

 

The cryptic map and scanner pages are replaced by driving around in your Aston Martin. Also the actual fighting is more intuitive. It has single target shooting, aoe damage with grenades and healing by getting close to a girl. The healing was too difficult earlier. Now it is automatic whenever you get close.

 

So the graphics can be ripped from the game itself. Or even better if some artist could draw a secret agent, beautiful girls, fast cars and a ticking bomb. A glass of martini would also be nice.

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The halftone effect on the tuxedo was deliberately added by me in GIMP. Its the Newsprint filter.

 

I added it exactly because it was reminiscent of images from the 60's. I was trying to duplicate the effect of the Casino Royale book cover here but with my own bit of "artistic" interpretation added to make it a bit different: http://manoflabook.com/wp/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/Book-Review-Casino-Royale-by-Ian-Fleming.jpg

 

This is just an experiment in what the cover could look like.

 

Comments are very welcome.

Edited by aminor00
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The weird patterns on the Lynx logo and the X logo on the box sides are just because the image is low quality. When printed or viewed at a high zoom in Inkscape or GIMP they don't show.

 

They are there because I've scanned a Lynx game box. If you look closely at your own boxes you'll see the same halftone-like pattern there.

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16f8b2d5b89aca220c388330375290b3.jpg

 

Hi Saffron1,

 

This is a photo of the sides of several original boxes plus my homemade effort. As you can see, there is a variance in the colour of the original boxes which is probably partly due to age and exposure to light.

 

However, when printed on my HP Photosmart printer, with my particular paper type and driver settings I'm not getting the same heavily blue version of the X logo.

 

It might be worth your while playing with printer settings and checking your ink levels to see if there is anything you can do with those.

 

I will also have a go at the Lynx logos and make them less blue to match the grey version of the X logo I posted a few days ago.

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Saffron1,

 

As requested, here is the updated Road Riot box. I found a better quality version of the cars graphic on an Arcade Flyer (via Google Image Search) and have put that on the box front instead of the SNES version. It is slightly stretched vertically but not so much as to make it stick out like a sore thumb.

 

With the new graphic the SVG is down to 4.85MB. I'll email it to you as I'm not permitted to upload SVG files here.

 

Andy

Road Riot 4WD Box.pdf

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Perfect, thank you for the pdf. Is it the same as the one in the Shaken topic here? I will compare them later.

 

Please could you measure the area of your cart plastic case where a label sticker could be attached and let me know the dimensions. I will adjust the cart label to match your cart.

 

I'll switch back to the gun picture... would you prefer a Walter PPK silhouette or is that too close to the James Bond IP?

 

Sent from my HTC One_M8 using Tapatalk

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Thanks,

 

the pdf is the same. Things will still change.

 

Currently I am working on adding your car instead of a crosshair to both World Map and BioScan.

 

This is still work-in-progress...

 

post-2099-0-24681200-1436796444_thumb.png post-2099-0-04139800-1436796457_thumb.png

 

The gun can be any model. This is just intended to be in the spirit of James Bond - not a copy of this great secret service agent.

 

Perfect, thank you for the pdf. Is it the same as the one in the Shaken topic here? I will compare them later.

Please could you measure the area of your cart plastic case where a label sticker could be attached and let me know the dimensions. I will adjust the cart label to match your cart.

I'll switch back to the gun picture... would you prefer a Walter PPK silhouette or is that too close to the James Bond IP?

Sent from my HTC One_M8 using Tapatalk

Edited by karri
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Oh, please can someone read the French translation on the box and send me corrections if required ( I am sure it will need to be corrected)

 

Cheers

Ouch, even as a french native people, I understand better the english text than the french one ;)

Did someone sent you a corrected translation ?

 

Here is my try, not perfect, especially on some points...

If another french people read this, feel free to improve it :

 

Vous êtes un commando galactique hautement qualifié et infiltré en territoire ennemi. Les dirigeants avides de pouvoir de l'Empire Bungeling ont dérobé une fortune en or à un peuple pacifique, et vous venez de découvrir le repère souterrain ou ils cachent leur butin.

Votre objectif ? Récupérer chaque lingot volé. Vous allez devoir courir, sauter et escalader, mais également résoudre des énigmes. Votre pistolet laser vous permettra de percer des passages à travers les obstacles et de creuser le sol. Vous aurez besoin de solliciter vos réflexes et votre cerveau.

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The problem with French is that whatever you want to say requires at least 5 times more space than any other known language on earth.

 

I once had to help with a French translation to a drawing program and just dropped it because of lack of space.

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OMG Finnish is hard! All I wanted to do in Lohja was order two beers. The barman laughed at me and switched to English. Apparently I'd been asking for a "pint of horses head". At least that was as close a translation as he could manage from my mangled conversation.

 

Sent from my HTC One_M8 using Tapatalk

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Fadest,

Thanks for the translation.

I used bing translator, I won't be using it again!

Cheers

Russell

 

 

Ouch, even as a french native people, I understand better the english text than the french one ;)

Did someone sent you a corrected translation ?

 

Here is my try, not perfect, especially on some points...

If another french people read this, feel free to improve it :

 

 

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