Batman and TWD S3,anyone? Thx!

I'll get to them soon

Walking Dead: A New Frontier uploaded to GOGcovers.com

Just curious. Do you guys in here actually download each of your games onto a DVD and print these covers out to use on a case? What do you do for the smaller games? What do you do for the games too big to fit onto a single DVD? Use multiple DVDs or a Blu-Ray?

Also for people who actually print the covers, what type of paper do you use? What type of printer is better for this stuff?

Thanks.

For me:

Smaller games go on a DVD as well. They are so cheap that it doesn't bother me. For larger games, BluRay. As for printing, I go to Staples and have them printed so I don't have to deal with it. You'll end up getting frustrated at how fast your ink cartridges run out. I get them printed on semi-gloss and it ends up being something like 60 cents a cover. I also utilize their online order form so I simply send the files online and then swing by to pick them up at my convenience. I cut the covers myself (they charge for this at Staples and my wife already owned a cutter so it was a no brainer for me).

Batman - The Telltale Series uploaded to GOGcovers.com

I hope everyone has a great New Year!

I feel like I've spent hundreds of dollars on ink cartridges haha. I do all my printing at home on an old Canon printer. I just recently upgraded to a new one that can use cheaper ink, so we'll see how that goes. I use the glossy photo paper and do my own cutting. I think I've got about 120 games backed up on their own DVDs with covers printed. Still many more to go.

Early on I did print covers and store my games on DVD. At the time I did not realize how large my game collection on GOG would get. As it grew it became more expensive and time consuming to do so. I started using my game "collection" covers, especially the min ink version.

Minimal Ink - http://u.cubeupload.com/Stuff/GOGGamesCollectionMi.jpg
Collection - http://u.cubeupload.com/Stuff/GOGGamesCollection.jpg

Four of five years ago that too became tiresome as GOG started releasing rapid updates . . . it just became too much trouble. I started backing up my games on an external hard drive so I could just replace files instead of burning another disk.

Concerning printing here is a link to a post I made in April of 2011. It is way out dated but should still have some useful info concerning the printing the GOG covers.

http://www.gog.com/forum/general/unofficial_dvd_covers_for_gog_com_games/post733

Since glossy paper is more expensive and often cracks when wrapped around the cover frame (depending on the brand) I recommend matte photo paper still. The clear plastic gives the appearance of gloss to the paper and the paper does not crack and is much cheaper. Also, glossy sometimes seemed to be off on the color reproduction/ink absorption but your experience may differ.

Eventually my purpose was to save the original game cover with each of my games. Making a cover did that and also saved some info on the game. "Back in the day" I spent a lot of time making a buying decision based almost entirely on the game box alone. Often I found myself sitting on the floor of a store, along with several other folks, pouring over 3 or 4 game boxes in an effort to buy the "best" game. Because of that, my first thought on hearing a game name is the box cover appears in my mind. I do print covers / disks for certain games but not all. I do make at least the front covers now to save with my games as an image file along with the GOG extras.

I will add my advice on cover creation if anyone is interested. I use the original format to be
consistent with several hundred existing GOG covers. Also when printing it uses less ink for the majority of covers.

Due to the volume of releases you will need to develop a standard, repeatable process for your work. I break the process into two main steps. After a few hundred covers a repeatable process was a real time saver for me.

I found editing the front cover image in the cover creation file to be too much trouble. I would end up adding image edits on the other cover layers or deleting existing layers by mistake to be a common occurrence.

My first advice would be to create a cover image editing psd at 300 dpi, 900 x 1200 pixels in size (see a attached below). This is the exact size required to make the standard GOG cover that matches existing covers. I name it 0_FrtCover.psd and edit several cover images in the same file, hiding previous layers before editing a new cover image; until it becomes too large. I would then save it as 00_FrtCover.psd, delete all the existing layers except the GOG logo and begin again. I have a stack of these files in my image editing directory always using the last file (largest number of leading zeros) to edit a new cover image.

Finding a good hi res cover image is the most difficult task and may require using several different cover images in order to remove unwanted items from a cover. My goal is to create the exact, original cover image without stickers, ratings etc. I do put the logos for the dev, publisher and GOG since they have allowed me to purchase these games DRM free and I like to give credit where credit is due.

I eventually burn the cover psd's to disk and start fresh saving the last file and renaming it 0_FrtCover.psd. I usually get 4 to 10 cover images per file depending on the editing required. I like keeping my cover files as sometimes a community member will find an error and having the edit files allowed me to correct the error and upload the corrected cover with minimal time required.

The main benefit is that you can drag and drop the finished cover image into the full cover file (see b attached below, 300 dpi, 1890 x 1260), complete with logos, and have it fit perfectly. This is a good stopping place if you are pressed for time or you can concentrate on finishing the cover back if you're on a roll.

At this point all the work will be on the spine and back of the cover. I save each completed cover as [game name].psd. The only difference in a completed cover (other than adjustment for data) is the OS data at the bottom of the back. Some are Windows only, some are Windows and Mac and some are Windows, Mac and Linux. You will have to make one of each eventually. I use completed existing cover files as templates for new covers finding one that has the correct OS data, opening it and saving it as the new [game name].psd.

Since all the text boxes already exist all I need to do is delete the cover image and replace it with the correct cover image and replace and reformat the game data text. You will also have to adjust the back data depending on how much is available on the game card. Some allow for six screen shots some don't leave room for any screen shots.

That's my basic process, just open attachments a and b and save as .psd files (or your native editing program file) to create template files. Once your text boxes are added to the full cover file you can reuse them for new covers without having to recreate the text and effects. Hope this helps anyone wanting to do some covers. =)

Edit:

I would like to send thanks and appreciation out to Red_153D who started this thread. Back then we didn't have a large community or even a lot of games. Red_153D came up with the original design concept which is what I and others based our covers on. I'm not sure what happened to Red_153D as I have not seen him in years. His initiative is the reason we have the covers we have today.

Also thanks to Thiev who supported my efforts at cover making and compiled my covers in a Google doc.
BangHowdy gets a thanks as well since we worked together on many covers allowing me to do just the cover image when I was short of time and near burnout. =)

Yup that sounds about right. Was your old Canon printer an inkjet or laser? What about your new one?

Thanks! same for you!

Requested by JackFoster:

Silence uploaded to GOGcovers.com

Limbo - http://u.cubeupload.com/Stuff/Limbo.jpg

Of Light And Darkness - http://u.cubeupload.com/Stuff/OfLightAndDarkness.jpg

Armed And Dangerous http://u.cubeupload.com/Stuff/ArmedAndDangerous.jpg

Requested by JackFoster:

Candle uploaded to GOGcovers.com

Thanks!