GI JOE RPG Launch
Page 1 of 3 123 Last
  1. #1
    Valyar's Avatar
    Join Date
    Mar 2018
    Location
    Europe
    Posts
    2,116

    Vaesen enhancement suggestions

    Now that we have our own forum and launch, I think it is good idea to have thread for enhancements suggestions. Some functionality that we work on for Alien and Forbidden Lands will be added to Vaesen automatically when it is available and makes sense.

    Preferred format:

    Feature Name: One sentence that gives the highlight of the feature. This is what will be put as story heading in our board.
    Description: Detailed (as long as you want) description of the feature you would like to have. You can explain the mechanic or what you ask for and how you imagine it implemented, even refer me to some implementation where this exists so I can get some visual. Whatever you think is good to explain the suggestion.
    The past is a rudder to guide us, not an anchor to hold us back.

  2. #2
    Feature Name: Change aesthetics to more closely match the rulebook.

    Description: With such a gorgeous rulebook, the ruleset misses wildly with its bland interface. I'm guessing the artwork isn't available to license for games, but the color scheme, maybe some of the trade dress and textures should hopefully be available (those aren't copyright items, and I doubt they're trademarked). Instead of the brown/tan combination, a green/yellow interface with some higher contrast on the buttons (the Assets and Library buttons are unreadable because the colors are so close).

    Thanks so much for another Free League ruleset! I can't wait for Coriolis!!!

  3. #3
    damned's Avatar
    Join Date
    Mar 2011
    Location
    Australia
    Posts
    27,031
    Blog Entries
    1
    I love the theme.
    I havent got/read the original source though so nothing to compare.
    I do hope that you will replace the rest of the 5E/CoreRPG frames though.
    The mix of those with the beautiful Vaesen frames is less cool.

  4. #4
    Looks good! I did notice Combat Tracker, Options, Modifiers, and Effects all have the leather D&D background, Calendars has a blue and white background that seems out of place. I like the green and yellow for the Character select window though. The Assets and Library buttons are a little hard to read also.

    Outside of those minor nitpicks, I haven't come across anything that doesn't work.

    Thank you!

  5. #5
    >I havent got/read the original source though so nothing to compare.

    Like most Free League games, the book is a feast for the eyes. The character pages/window gives you a nice idea. The rulebook leans heavily on coffee table art book. Wonderful, wonderful stuff.

  6. #6
    Valyar's Avatar
    Join Date
    Mar 2018
    Location
    Europe
    Posts
    2,116
    Very good to have conversation started, we are on target then!

    I would share the approach and thought process for Vaesen and other products in the pipeline. Might explain some of the decisions and what to expect. Also we have the source files of everything, those are fully licensed products.

    One of the challenges I have with Vaesen and Forbidden Lands is that the books actually don't have much graphical elements or variety inside. In both games, we basically have white background and several frames for sidebars, line split decorations and other minor elements (the Ouroborosand for example) that repeat throughout the two books. FL is better in this regards as the frames have variety - shields, skulls, swords. I.e. the books have awesome aesthetics which is perfect for book, but very hard to use and follow on virtual tabletop where we have so many different icons, design elements. The Character/HQ sheets being the thing that is the most decorated. So in contrast to what you said - the books are rich from variety perspective I find it otherwise.

    So, when I started working I asked the questions: "How this should look like from the perspective of setting's time period, colors and overall feel, but also stay true to the spirit of the simple, but aesthetically pleasant hardcover?". This is not easy to answer and since art is subjective, for some it is perfect fit, for others is off the target. But in general the approach was:

    1. Overall feeling - I imagined our investigators having leather bags and leather bound notebooks. I have old leather notebooks in brownish and after some thought and several prototypes of sheet + theme went with that for the buttons and matching it with the parchment style background used in the book (which I really like). This influenced the re-use of assets from Core/D&D as they perfectly fit what I had in real life - leather bound paper with metal rivets on the pages... (frame options/effect/image frames.). The Asset/Library is indeed not readable, so this was a gamble to leave like that as the notebooks that don't have golden or other fill in the "etched" letters of the leather, reading requires angle or more light. It seems the effect is not accepted so I will think and change the art in probably lighten and aging the leather button more.

    2. Materials - As part of the leather element, we should have natural materials - stone-like for the shortcut bar which is probably the foundation of the HQ and wood which is good frame to put a painting in or... combat tracker. Wallpaper-type back covers of Vaesen and Wicket Secrets with the gold/white lines I wanted to re-use with small adjustments on Character and Calendar frames, the blue is not easy to mix with the overall color scheme, initially it was on Party Sheet but it was it was looking weird with all the button frames.

    3. Fonts - Vaesen is using several fonts in the book, I used few in the ruleset due to limitations of FG on how many fonts we can use in the formatted text (which is really shame, as the big part of Vaesen/Forbidden Lands are the fonts). Also lets not forget something - if a font looks good on paper, it does not mean that it will look good on screen and during tests some fonts were NOT rendering good in FGC and FGU. Also serif fonts are heavy on the eyes when you use screen and with the rendering I kept those for interface elements and used the well-designed default for the text.

    4. Colors
    - The book is not greenish but brownish. Color codes for fonts other elements are either taken directly from the book or modified to stay in harmony with the overall brownish style following the guidance for harmony in the color theory. To be fair, I had more greenish variant but it didn't look good - it felt "moldy" and didn't give me the vibes of old natural environment.

    Same was for Alien - Retro-futurism is what the overall feeling should be and it is described in the book and movies. There is no colorful and flashy sci-fi scenes, all is toned down, wore down, small variety of colors and even dullness. Brushed and old metal everywhere, CRT screens and not ultra-mega-giga-hd monitors, buttons are really buttons. Can't be shiny and I don't like the unexplainable approach with this electric-green font on black which is horrible on the eyes for short or long-term usage.

    For Forbidden Lands the approach is to simulate the old OSR feeling of the products - black and white mostly with colors for the details and accents. Challenge is that almost all images in the original products are transparent and rely on the white paper to look good, which resulted in interesting challenge for conversion to FG. If someone is interested I can share screenshot of the alpha.

    Coriolis - I feel there are enough graphical elements there and so far the test frames look good, but I am looking into more Middle-East vibes rather than the sci-fi one that is conveyed by the blue/green backgrounds and fonts. This will follow after Forbidden Lands, so my inspiration might turn different, time will tell.

    Hm, this happened like design diary. I should stop here.
    The past is a rudder to guide us, not an anchor to hold us back.

  7. #7
    It says in the description that there is a user manual in pdf format but I haven't found this yet. Can someone point me to where I can find it

  8. #8
    Valyar's Avatar
    Join Date
    Mar 2018
    Location
    Europe
    Posts
    2,116
    Quote Originally Posted by Jarec View Post
    It says in the description that there is a user manual in pdf format but I haven't found this yet. Can someone point me to where I can find it
    Here you go: https://www.fantasygrounds.com/forum...en-User-Manual
    The past is a rudder to guide us, not an anchor to hold us back.

  9. #9
    Found it, many thanks

  10. #10
    Valyar's Avatar
    Join Date
    Mar 2018
    Location
    Europe
    Posts
    2,116
    Hi folks,

    As part of the Alien 2.0 release that we start working on, we plan to bring the following to Vaesen:
    • Combat Tracker Update - The combat tracker will be updated to support groups, non-duplicate initiative, user-accessible menu to reroll and regroup.
    • Insights & Defects frame - we will allow effects to be dragged & dropped to the frame and link them with the automation of skill/ability/combat rolls. This will allow to have persistent conditions per character without the need to have it represented every time on the Combat Tracker. This will be convenient for campaigns where multiple groups re-use the database or the GM (like myself) clears the CT every time.
    • More Drag & Drop fields on sheets - in Vaesen the archetype field is something I can identify as potential candidate for that


    Those will follow after 2.0 is on LIVE channel. In the meantime - feel free to suggest something that is not yet on the list.
    The past is a rudder to guide us, not an anchor to hold us back.

Thread Information

Users Browsing this Thread

There are currently 1 users browsing this thread. (0 members and 1 guests)

Bookmarks

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •  
Cosmere RPG Beta Launch

Log in

Log in