May 23rd 2010, 20:00:50
Hi,
The EE staff is creating an open design competition to help us in our efforts to develop a new ingame template which enhances the playing experience. We have a good idea of what we want to see, but our designer's a little busy with other projects and other stuff, so we thought we'd open this task up to the community and see if anyone wants to help us tackle building some of the graphics going forward. I'm leaving this pretty open... I know generally what we want to see, but none of us have the graphical capabilities to make something nice enough to go online... we're developers are heart :( So hopefully there is more design talent floating around the EE community! :p
So here are the specifications:
I've included some blank images here for people to work on as canvases, or just to get an idea of the space it takes up. This will be the area at the top of the page in-game, above the game playing content, and will act somewhat like the portal on the forums, but focused more on in-game things.
ingame_header.jpg
http://www.boxcarhosting.com/.../viewFile.php?fileID=1572
744px by 94px
We need this section to include several links to other parts of the EE site, including: Getting Started, Wiki, Forums, Live Chat, Portal, and Logout
We could also use some imagery as well, logo or otherwise... something which helps with the branding as a country sim... maybe with emphasis on both war and economic power.
This section is meant to be to help users navigate around the top level areas of the site, so if they get stuck they can go somewhere to get help, find the community forums, etc. The links can be text, images or a combination of both.
ingame_header_menu.jpg
http://www.boxcarhosting.com/.../viewFile.php?fileID=1573
744px by 140px
744px by 46px for the menu portion alone (in red)
We are debating changing the left menu to a top-menu for mobile users, users with small screens and Facebook users, so I've included another image with a 46px tall menu section. This section should encompass all the links on the left, and it could use JavaScript (mainly for Facebook) or something to move links around and create hierarchy or create some animation or whatever. The links here should be text links, but images could be used with them.
So I think that's about it... feel free to ask any follow up questions in this thread, or talk to me privately. All designs will need to be able to be carved up into web-ready graphics... so working in something like PhotoShop would be preferable.... but it can still be done on standard images, most likely. It's just not as clean to implement.
Also, collaborative efforts are also accepted if you like working with other people or want to submit a look from the members of your alliance. :)
You're probably wondering "What happens if you win the design competition?"
Well....
-> We may use your graphics in the game!
-> You could become part of the EE design staff
-> You get graphic designer status on the forums and will be credited in the EE credits (once they exist)*
-> You get to gloat to all your friends!
(Note: * - Graphics must be used in-game to receive official designer status from the EE staff)
So I expect we'll get 2 kinds of responses here...
1) Some people will put together random stuff that's funny, so even if we don't get any design out of this, we'll at least get some pictures of trees being attacked by missiles, and that alone is worth it.
2) Serious responses which will have some good images in them :)
You can post your ideas to this thread, on the forums, or if you want to keep them private, mail them to
and we'll review them.
The contest will be open until the end of June, so please try to get your designs done by then!
Thanks, and good luck!
-Dave
The EE staff is creating an open design competition to help us in our efforts to develop a new ingame template which enhances the playing experience. We have a good idea of what we want to see, but our designer's a little busy with other projects and other stuff, so we thought we'd open this task up to the community and see if anyone wants to help us tackle building some of the graphics going forward. I'm leaving this pretty open... I know generally what we want to see, but none of us have the graphical capabilities to make something nice enough to go online... we're developers are heart :( So hopefully there is more design talent floating around the EE community! :p
So here are the specifications:
I've included some blank images here for people to work on as canvases, or just to get an idea of the space it takes up. This will be the area at the top of the page in-game, above the game playing content, and will act somewhat like the portal on the forums, but focused more on in-game things.
ingame_header.jpg
http://www.boxcarhosting.com/.../viewFile.php?fileID=1572
744px by 94px
We need this section to include several links to other parts of the EE site, including: Getting Started, Wiki, Forums, Live Chat, Portal, and Logout
We could also use some imagery as well, logo or otherwise... something which helps with the branding as a country sim... maybe with emphasis on both war and economic power.
This section is meant to be to help users navigate around the top level areas of the site, so if they get stuck they can go somewhere to get help, find the community forums, etc. The links can be text, images or a combination of both.
ingame_header_menu.jpg
http://www.boxcarhosting.com/.../viewFile.php?fileID=1573
744px by 140px
744px by 46px for the menu portion alone (in red)
We are debating changing the left menu to a top-menu for mobile users, users with small screens and Facebook users, so I've included another image with a 46px tall menu section. This section should encompass all the links on the left, and it could use JavaScript (mainly for Facebook) or something to move links around and create hierarchy or create some animation or whatever. The links here should be text links, but images could be used with them.
So I think that's about it... feel free to ask any follow up questions in this thread, or talk to me privately. All designs will need to be able to be carved up into web-ready graphics... so working in something like PhotoShop would be preferable.... but it can still be done on standard images, most likely. It's just not as clean to implement.
Also, collaborative efforts are also accepted if you like working with other people or want to submit a look from the members of your alliance. :)
You're probably wondering "What happens if you win the design competition?"
Well....
-> We may use your graphics in the game!
-> You could become part of the EE design staff
-> You get graphic designer status on the forums and will be credited in the EE credits (once they exist)*
-> You get to gloat to all your friends!
(Note: * - Graphics must be used in-game to receive official designer status from the EE staff)
So I expect we'll get 2 kinds of responses here...
1) Some people will put together random stuff that's funny, so even if we don't get any design out of this, we'll at least get some pictures of trees being attacked by missiles, and that alone is worth it.
2) Serious responses which will have some good images in them :)
You can post your ideas to this thread, on the forums, or if you want to keep them private, mail them to
and we'll review them.The contest will be open until the end of June, so please try to get your designs done by then!
Thanks, and good luck!
-Dave
Edited By: Pangaea on May 23rd 2010, 20:08:17
-=Dave=-
Earth Empires Staff
pangaea [at] earthempires [dot] com
Boxcar - Earth Empires' Clan & Alliance Hosting
http://www.boxcarhosting.com
Earth Empires Staff
pangaea [at] earthempires [dot] com
Boxcar - Earth Empires' Clan & Alliance Hosting
http://www.boxcarhosting.com
EE Patron
