SR4 Cover, @ www.shadowrun.de Options

[blakkie]

It is obvious. HMGs gyro-mounted to cyberfeet! Frees up your hands to flip off your opponent right before you blow them away. It can be a bitch to walk though while the gyros are running. :(

[Guest_Crimsondude 2.0_*]

Nah, it's only three bullets. Either the guards have really lousy aim, or maybe the burst-fire rules really suck that a burst aimed at the ninja elf chick goes around her.

[blakkie]

You try to shoot straight with your feet when you are doing the Tinkle Dance.

[tisoz]

I think the elf ninja chick is really hiding her face (not just because it's a ninja thing) to hide the embarassment of forgetting to wear armor on the run. I guess the others don't plan on being seen.

Poor plan.

[Guest_Crimsondude 2.0_*]

Yeah, it really does look like amateur night.

After all, why is the sam just standing there not only not paying attention (shiny spur! shiny, shiny spur!) but is facing in a direction where he can't see his teammates or provide covering fire or counterassault fire from the ZIC team coming up the alley to pin them into a kill zone. He should be the first person in to kill everyone he sees so ninja elf girl doesn't get blown away (or not, as it seems).

[Taki]

May be you are a bit hard with that picture ...
The sam looks great (despite of his funny gun),
The ninja elf and the mage(?) troll look good,
-don't want to see the dwarf - uahrk ugly dwarf-
The street is good enough (but were are the shadows ?)

So the picture is pretty good ...
*Ah the postures are silly, and no movement exist on this drawing*
:sleepy:
I am with you on this one Critias ... plain black and logo would be better ... I am happy with that picture IN the book, not ON it.

I hope they will do better for d20 SR5

[Guest_Crimsondude 2.0_*]

[Eldritch]

[Omega Skip]

Judging a book by its cover, are we? ;)

Whoa, just whoa. From a marketing point of view, this cover represents a singularly bad decision on the part of whoever was responsible.

As has been stated before, this cover does nothing at all to the newcomer who doesn't really know what Shadowrun is about. The archetypes represented on the cover should give even the casual observer an idea of what this game has to offer, and I seriously doubt the appeal of a product where you (judging by the cover) can play characters such as some sort of brain-damaged midget or a disgruntled old guy in a duffle coat.

The main gameplay/setting elements in Shadowrun are teamwork, high-tech & magic, and mission-based adventures (at least for me this is the lowest common denominator; YMMV). The cover tries to show us a situation where a group of characters is seen working together as a team, using both high-tech and magic to accomplish a mission. However, none of these elements is characterized very well.

• We have to assume the characters are a team because, well, there's four of them and they're not shooting each other, so they kinda sorta probably work together or something. But we don't really know.
• The use of high-tech and magic on this cover also fails to convince. Magic is only represented by some sort of lightning coming from the Troll's finger tips; nothing else in the entire scene tells us there might be something supernatural in this world.
• High-tech is a bit more visible on the cover: there's midget-man with what seems to be a holographic projection, there are some red beams coming out of the doorway, and there are flying things in the background. But none of this is very interesting. The techno midget is the most ridiculous character here, which completely ruins what could have been a very cool element. Also, neither the beams nor the flying cars seem to be a threat to anyone, so why should we care?
• Finally, the mission, the real meat of Shadowrun. What exactly are these guys trying to accomplish? Your guess is as good as mine. I figure the midget (don't try to tell me this is supposed to be a dwarf, 'cause it sure as hell aint!) is organizing his new iPod's playlist, old guy is trying to catch his daughter's escaped pet rat, while the Troll and the Elf chick are kinda sorta storming what seems to be the entrance to club ZIC (remember, Shadowrun newbie looking at the cover).

Conclusion? This cover will certainly do nothing for new players, and for us who are already familiar with the game, it will only serve as a reminder what this game is not. (Or rather, what previous editions of the game weren't)

But if this cover is really that bad, how come it was picked as the cover for SR4? That's what's really interesting to me. The person who should be making such a decision (known as "Brand Manager" or a similar term) must know what kind of target audience they are trying to reach, and he/she must also know what exactly the product is about. Furthermore, it is this person's responsibility to know what the competition is doing and to find ways in which the product can be advertised so that it stands out from the rest. This manager needs to be in constant contact with the contracted artist in order to communicate neccessary changes to the design, because the art must first be tested on focus groups to ensure that it has the desired appeal.
This (final?) cover doesn't vibe well with some people here, and now we can discuss what this means. It would be easiest to assume that the manager in charge of the cover art simply wasn't doing a good job. Maybe the artist was given too much freedom, kind of like "Yeah, whatever, it's just the cover..." Or it could be that they are targetting a different audience with SR4, but I have absolutely no idea which audience could be attracted by this cover art. Possibly the focus groups weren't picked well, or the feedback wasn't used. Who knows...

Bottom line: This cover is a mess, and I am afraid that it could be an indication of the general art direction for this new edition. If so little effort is spent on such an important detail... anyways, I've seen and read enough: I will not buy the 4th edition unless it gets some really stellar reviews. What a pity.

[Guest_Crimsondude 2.0_*]

[Grinder]

[Omega Skip]

No, not just because of the cover... ;) However, this falls in line with a few other things I've read about the general direction of the 4th edition in the past weeks (both official and on these very boards), and this is my own personal conclusion. To me, the cover says that

• Even the people making/marketing the game have no clear idea of what the game's identity should be

OR

• This "new Shadowrun" isn't for me.

[Taki]

It s a shame : the style of the picture is good ...
Some little work on the sketch to have better character gesture and positions would have been enough to have something much more appealing to me.

The work missing on the picture is one of the most important thing in shadowrun : teamwork.

[Buzzed]

There are 4 reasons why this cover art is not worthy: (from an artwork perspective)

1. The characters are not centered in the picture, leaving a large void in the whole left side. This is very awkward. I took this picture and cropped it. Look at how much better it looks: http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v621/Buz...ed/sr4cover.jpg
But this would have probably been cropped in a simular way when they got to the point of placing the title and logo on the cover and finishing touches.

2. The characters lack any emotion. Making the situation depicted as exciting as watching a black and white sex education video.

3. The artist overlaps too much. Here is a list of things we cant see: The Trolls back, the end of the troll's shotgun, the female's weapon (where did that hose come from anyway?), the female's face (cutting corners?), both of the female's feet.

4. Lack of city detail. There was very little imagination involved with the buildings. The lack of pipes, windows, lights, and vents is evidence of the artist's rush job. They clearly were shown as "filler space." the huge dumpster shows the artists shortcut in avoiding the detail work with the background.


Things I think would help this picture:

* MORE RED! The lack of red conflicts with the overall feeling of the mood. It's a firefight, thus the feeling should be panic and suspence. The large amount of blue takes away from this feeling. My suggestions would be to change the hallway lighting from white, to red. And perhaps add a crash fire to some of the background (notice the smoking remains of a droid in the upper-right indicating that something happoned)

Enemies! For this scene to truly be dramatic, we need to see what our foe looks like. The enemy doesn't need ot be visible in the hallway, but perhaps we could have some action in teh ally background? Yes, this would mean removing the dumpster. Or perhaps some sniper action from a rooftop (finally giving that sam something to do, he can fire back.)

And last but not least, more magic perafanalia. It's too techno. Magic got teh shaft.

[Critias]

Hey. Everyone, take a good close look at that bald guy in the trenchcoat. The one we've all been calling "the street sam with the retarded spur." Then take a look at the PhysAd Archetype (BBB p. 65). Check out the basic features, the what-looks-like-a-tattoo on the shaved skull (particularly the stuff over the right eye, same could-be-a-circle thing), etc.

What'cha think? Could be he picked up a little cyber (and a shirt) between editions? Or does he just look exactly like that guy, 'cause this artist's the same guy, and thinks bald dudes with tattoos, similar features, etc, look cool?

[Nikoli]

I suggested that already.

[Eldritch]

Wow. A lot f well written, thought our constructive Criticism.

Cool.

And it's all negative. Is there any chance of a change?
:? :? :?


Please?

[Shinobi Killfist]

[nezumi]

[Guest_Crimsondude 2.0_*]

[blakkie]

[Eldritch]

[nezumi]

[Eldritch]

I duuno - there may not be enough time. Though, they may be of a mind "We've decided, and we're sticking with it" - Ya know? Have your artist put something together, quick sketch or something. Mebbe their mind can be changed...

It'd be cool though. (They shoulda had a cover design/art contest to help promote SR4.....)
:(

[Spark]

This cover has mulitple problems with it.

1. To pastel
2. lack of shadows
3. This is the mos absolutely f-cking clean alley i have ever seen!
I mean seriously where are the pools of slimy muddy water and the garbage next to and on the walls?! If somebody added a cardboard sheet with say dirt, water or blood stains on it and propped it on the side of the bin where the little pieces of cardboard are and put a pair of eyes in the shadow that it would create it would get a much more creepy silent death type feel to it.
4. This should be at night to add an edge to it. (black against some neon type signs would really catch the eye.)
5. The color palatte needs to be darker, think browns and charcoal etc.
6. as has been said the characters do not fit.

In all i would suggest that the cover artist take a look at the cover and in game screen shots from the Hitman PC game series. Those shots would be great! Sure computer generated on that level would be difficult but damn! Place the alley on center, make it night time with a couple of vehicle lights in the distance, a dim yellowish-orange streetlight that has been partially shot out over the door or a little farther down the alley on the right side. Some cracks in the main entranceway. The troll is a little farther back and in a shadow so only half or part of the face is truly revealed (you know that look you get under streetlights like that that really through thngs into contrast and catch on features and cause shadows and wierd highlights?) the shadow would also emphasize his mana or lightining bolt which could be kind of echoed by the colr scheme around his head in actnic white bule and slightly purpleish light. The same could loose the spur but be wearing a type of bracer with some type of a crescent saw type thing, (making for a nasty multi-directionl swipe) and he could be dressed in brown and black leather trench in the style that he has now but made to appear wieghted as if it was lined with armor. The ninja elf could be towards the bottom right of the pics dragging a halfseen body off or checking him for weapons. The hacker could be taller with a beard and a mean prison yard look and be dealing with a maglock that was shorting out (i.e. sparking) the door could be partially open and fire causing the hacker to duck and the sam to just be caught in the act of throwing ro tossing a grenade.

Anyways long idea and probably boring but if it was renderred like the cover and game of the Hitman series wit would look whiz.

any comments on this idea?