Games

[ronan]

I cannot enlarge the first Ryu Ga Gotoku header...

[ronan]

Maybe it is even too clean, now...

And again, let me know if something is not fine with the Akumajou Dracula header.

[icycalm]

I cannot enlarge the first Ryu Ga Gotoku header...

Yeah, you are right. I was going to blow that up a little bit to reach 960, but it's not so good anyway so forget about it. The others are great, thank you.

[icycalm]

Which Akumajou Dracula one? I must have made about half a dozen, but the only ones I like are the ones that are on the frontpage right now (and which I made like fifteen minutes ago).

[ronan]

You had asked me on the previous page to clean this header. I just wondered if you had forgotten about it.

[icycalm]

Nope, I used it and it sucked. Sorry about that. I should be more certain about something before I give it to you for editing.

The Dead Rising one works great, by the way. I too thought it looked a little too clean when I first saw it, but I stuck it up there and it's perfect.

[ronan]

No worry, I can imagine that sometimes you need to see the modified header on the frontpage to realize that something is wrong.

Good job on the headers by the way. There are quite a lot now.

[ronan]

I have realized that most of the PNG headers are rather big files. They take quite some time to download, even with a good connection. I have therefore used PngCrush to decrease their size, by 30% on average (without quality loss).

http://www.mediafire.com/?f62v6gpn96e6l85

I also saved the PNG headers as JPGs, with a very high quality. The file size is in this case decreased by about 65%.

http://www.mediafire.com/?bnfl3ul0dqy77r7

[ronan]

An attempt for an Arcana Heart header:

[icycalm]

Which of the games is the artwork from?

I don't think it will work on the frontpage (characters lying horizontally never look good), but I might be able to use it on the appropriate game's forum thread.

As for the lighter versions of the headers, I'll upload them as soon as I get a chance. It was a good thing you decided to do this, because the loading times basically kill the impact of the rotating headers.

[ronan]

It is from Arcana Heart 2.

As for the loading time, ideally, an image should be loaded while another one is displayed, and the change should happen after the loading is finished. But I guess this is not an option at the moment.

[icycalm]

Yeah, that's a good idea. Too bad the developers of the rotator module didn't think of it. But there's nothing I can do about it. It's a complicated piece of custom code that I wouldn't even dream of trying to edit at the moment. But I am going to go over to the Rockettheme forums and post your suggestion in the appropriate thread, and perhaps they'll take it into account in the module's next revision. In the meantime we'll just try to keep the headers as light as possible without sacrificing quality. It's a good idea to do this anyway, even if your idea is implemented at some point.

[icycalm]

Could you make light jpg versions (the 65% size reduction kind) of all the headers in the four new reviews, and also the ones in the corresponding forum threads? And perhaps you could also tell me how to do it, so I won't have to bother you about it all the time.

This has really helped speed up the site. Glad you figured it out.

[ronan]

Here are the files. These are from the only PNGs I found.

As for saving the images as JPGs, I just opened them in GIMP and when I saved them as JPG, I chose a quality of "100" (max value on the scale).

If you want to use an online application, http://pixlr.com/editor/ allows something similar. However, you may prefer to choose a quality of "98" or lower, otherwise the file will be too big. (Yes, it would be too simple if the quality scale was equivalent in every application...)

[icycalm]

An unfinished header that you might be able to help me with:

This one needs to be extended to 960 pixels (with the added pixels going to the right of the image), and the blank/new pixels must be made to blend with the rest of the background.

I now save all new headers with Pixlr in jpg format, with the target size being around 130kb, 150 maximum. Sometimes this can be done with 98% quality, but usually I have to go down to around 95%, which looks fine as far as I can see.

[ronan]

I will try to do it this evening.

If possible, could you please send me this image with as a higher-quality jpg, or as a png? The quality will probably decrease again when I will save the changes. It is usually better to work from a high-quality file.

If you do not have anything of higher quality, you could also send me a link to the original image.

[icycalm]

It took me a while to get the angle just where I wanted it. Perhaps you can do better though, but keep in mind I only want the main character and as much of the helicopter in the shot as possible (and the dude rappelling down from the helicopter). I don't want any of the dudes to the left of the main character. The idea is that the main character is running alone from his pursuers; if you add in more dudes in the picture it loses some of its force.

[icycalm]

Oh and by the way, the header I make has the same quality as the original -- I didn't lower the quality at all.

[icycalm]

And here are some of the current ones that need a little touch-up, if you can do it:

The black vertical lines/dirt on the far left side:
http://culture.vg/images/headers/biohazard_b.jpg

The little quarter-circular shadow next to his right leg:
http://culture.vg/images/headers/deadspace.jpg

The couple of white pixels at the very top of his left arm (right next to the TV):
http://culture.vg/images/headers/deadrising_b.jpg

The little "pencil-marks" on his left shoulder, right on the bottom edge of the headers: a large semi-circular one, a small circular one with a dot to its left (including the dot), and the little curved line between them:
http://culture.vg/images/headers/borderlands.jpg

The little circular smudges just above the treeline on the far right side of the header (just to the right of Ken's hair):
http://culture.vg/images/headers/streetfighter_b.jpg

The two identical sets of four little white splashes on the very bottom of the right side of the header:
http://culture.vg/images/headers/crysis_b.jpg

[ronan]

Some delay, sorry. I have been away this weekend, and now I have difficulties to charge my laptop battery. I will however finish all this as soon as possible.

[icycalm]

No worries, take your time.

[icycalm]

A clarification for the Biohazard header. The "black vertical lines/dirt on the far left side" I am referring to are the ones that are visible over the sky background -- not the ones that have the building for a background. You might have to also clean up a few ones right at the border between sky/building, but for the most part I only care about the ones in the sky.

Also, in the Dead Rising header, there is an object that looks like a half-moon to the left of protagonist. It'd be nice if you could also remove that.

Finally, as far as I know none of these headers have been compressed. I at least didn't compress them -- I can't remember if you did, but I don't think so...

[icycalm]

http://culture.vg/images/headers/godofwar.jpg

The little triangle thingy at the very top of the header above his right arm.

[ronan]

Three headers for Brink, the first being the most similar to what you proposed:

[ronan]