Forge Skins & Themes

[1224Deko]

Posted in two replies because there is limit of max attachments per reply

Edit:
24.03.2014
- remove false description in some files

Sleeping Forest....

slepping_forest.zip

(1.73 MiB) Downloaded 565 times

Inferno...

inferno.zip

(1.19 MiB) Downloaded 490 times

[1224Deko]

Posted in two replies because there is limit of max attachments per reply

Metalcraft...

Edit:
24.03.2014
- remove false information in some files...

metalcraft.zip

(2.1 MiB) Downloaded 553 times

And the last thing is nice addon - over 250 avatars.
To instal/use just put that file into your favourite skin folder.

You're welcome..

[Stampedo]

Nice job dude!

[drdev]

I posted these screenshots in Feature Requests, but I thought I should post in this thread too. I'm working on the new Forge mobile app, which will use the same skin files as the desktop application. Here's a look at what the Match screen looks like for 6 different themes:

I want to encourage people designing themes to also test them against the mobile app to make sure they look good. Particularly pay attention to the button images, as I'm doing some fancy cropping and scaling to display them in corner buttons for OK and Cancel.

Note that contrary to my previous concern, I ended up being able to re-use the same match background images, so fortunately those don't need to be redone at all.

Thanks for everyone's work on these skins. Having access to all these great images has made starting up the mobile app a lot more fun than it would have been using just bland placeholder images.

-Dan

P.S. For some reason, the match and background textures for the Arabian Nights skin fail to load for the mobile game. All other match and background textures work fine. Is there something different about the format of those files?

[1224Deko]

P.S. For some reason, the match and background textures for the Arabian Nights skin fail to load for the mobile game. All other match and background textures work fine. Is there something different about the format of those files?

I have no idea what is wrong. they are default (8 bit, RGB palette) .jpg output from psd... maybe other have CMYK or another palette or Arabian textures have to high resolution(bg texture is HD res(1920x1080) and battle is much more above HD)....
I don't think that dpi or bit of depth(24) is causing the problem...

Unfortunately, I have no way of checking other .jpg output variations for mobile....

I hope this error will be fixed, then i could creating skins also for mobile versions..

[drdev]

P.S. For some reason, the match and background textures for the Arabian Nights skin fail to load for the mobile game. All other match and background textures work fine. Is there something different about the format of those files?

I have no idea what is wrong. they are default (8 bit, RGB palette) .jpg output from psd... maybe other have CMYK or another palette or Arabian textures have to high resolution(bg texture is HD res(1920x1080) and battle is much more above HD)....
I don't think that dpi or bit of depth(24) is causing the problem...

Unfortunately, I have no way of checking other .jpg output variations for mobile....

I hope this error will be fixed, then i could creating skins also for mobile versions..

Worst case I could set it up so there's an optional mobile version of those texture files that could be included in the skin folder which I'll check first. Ideally I wanted it so skins could be designed to work on both desktop and mobile versions without having to maintain a separate set of files, and that's worked for all the other skins. It's also worth noting that only the background textures fail to load. All the other skin colors and images load fine.

If you have access to the source, feel free to investigate the error when loading the Arabian Nights skin.

[1224Deko]

If you have access to the source, feel free to investigate the error when loading the Arabian Nights skin.

Unfortunately I have no way to checking this problem from Forge source debug, but i noticed that i had marked ICC profile (also progressive) while exporting bg_texture to jpg format.
I attached different jpg versions, only RGB because when i changet to CMYK it was to big output file(2mb and above). If anyone have a little free time could try exchange bg_textures, maybe one of them will work and solves this problem.
I recommend try "1024x549 RGB 8bit standart without ICC" in first order. Also deleting bg_match from Arabian skin folder might be necessary because this file isn't correct.

Edited: I checked all .jpg files from my skins, only Arabian Nights have ICC profile in both jpg, Comic and Mythic rare have only bg_texture with ICC, last three(Inferno, Metalcraft, Slepping Forest)have both without ICC - if they works fine(or if in Comic/Mythic bg_texture won't load, but bg_match works fine) ICC will be problem.

[1224Deko]

Sometime ago, I found nice backgrounds with mtg set(s) symbols. Previously I wanted use them to build next Forge skins, but I decided to make own textures and put symbols into them. Also each bg_match has image from mtg little modifed. So, here they are - five new skins with worlds/planes motifs. Each one presents different mana color. Icons are combinations of other skins.
Zendikar - Zendikar set, block and red mana
Ravnica - Return to Ravnica set, block and green mana.
Phyrexia - New Phyrexia set, Scars of Mirrodin bolck and white mana.
Kamigawa - Kamigawa block, Saviors of Kamigawa set and blue mana.
Innistrad - Innistrad set, block and black mana.

I've uploaded this skin pack in two versions. First pack have integrated set(s) symbols in center background - it look best in HD resolution. Second is without those symbol - more flexible - to can be used in future with mobile Forge versions.

Since the problem with Arabian Nights skin isn't solved, those skins might not work right with mobile version.

I also updated Arabian skin - removed ISS profile(sRGB - it might be conflict with different hardware)... If problem will be still reported I will change output file ex. to .png then will converting to .jpg with another software.

Another thing is while creating this skin pack I used one texture with nice floral motif(It is invisible). So i added them into Arabian Nights V2.
You can see difference in both versions in earlier post...
viewtopic.php?f=26&t=8449&p=146465#p146465

Comic MTG and Mythic Rare skins are also updated - removed sRGB from bg_texture.
Mythic Rare skin - viewtopic.php?f=26&t=8449&start=30#p145520
Comic MTG skin - viewtopic.php?f=26&t=8449&start=30#p145845

Last thing - i noticed that while creating last three skins (Metalcraft etc. viewtopic.php?f=26&t=8449&start=60#p147918), in description of those files was wrong information of author and original title file because all .jpg was creating in that same project (probably that was author of photo used in Slepping Forest background - original file was just simple photo founded somewhere on web and of course recreated by me... That's why those skins are also reuploaded.

[Agetian]

A really awesome new set of skins, Deko! I really like your work! Keep it up!
I have one question though (based on an issue I have with most of your skins, sadly): on my 1980x1020 monitor the font seems very small in the predominant majority of your skins (with only a few notable exceptions such as the e.g. forest-themed skin you posted before). Compared to Journeyman (a standard skin I'm using most of the time) or the Default skin the font in your skins looks at least about 15-20% smaller which is readable but I have to squint and get closer to the monitor to understand some things. That being said, both Journeyman and Default skins do not have this problem and their fonts are perfectly sized. Is there a way to make the font a bit bigger? Thanks in advance for your response!

- Agetian

[1224Deko]

A really awesome new set of skins, Deko! I really like your work! Keep it up!
I have one question though (based on an issue I have with most of your skins, sadly): on my 1980x1020 monitor the font seems very small in the predominant majority of your skins (with only a few notable exceptions such as the e.g. forest-themed skin you posted before). Compared to Journeyman (a standard skin I'm using most of the time) or the Default skin the font in your skins looks at least about 15-20% smaller which is readable but I have to squint and get closer to the monitor to understand some things. That being said, both Journeyman and Default skins do not have this problem and their fonts are perfectly sized. Is there a way to make the font a bit bigger? Thanks in advance for your response!

- Agetian

I understand your remark, I choose the font of the free sites and most of them are displayed in a different size. I found a lot of really great fonts, but for me were either too small or slightly too large(as standard from basic skins) or do not contain certain characters.

I do not know what determines the font size (certainly in this case it depends on the ttf file itself). I only had a little deal with fonts but I will try to adjust their size to fonts of the basic skins, which will certainly be very useful in future skins. I hope with positive results ...

Thanks for the valuable insight ....

[Agetian]

Oh, since this is not controlled by the skin itself then perhaps it's going to be a good idea to eventually add a parameter to Forge which will specify the default font size or something like that, which will, of course, require coding - I'll look into it when I have some time. Thanks for clarifying the situation with fonts!

- Agetian

[drdev]

If you have access to the source, feel free to investigate the error when loading the Arabian Nights skin.

Unfortunately I have no way to checking this problem from Forge source debug, but i noticed that i had marked ICC profile (also progressive) while exporting bg_texture to jpg format.
I attached different jpg versions, only RGB because when i changet to CMYK it was to big output file(2mb and above). If anyone have a little free time could try exchange bg_textures, maybe one of them will work and solves this problem.
I recommend try "1024x549 RGB 8bit standart without ICC" in first order. Also deleting bg_match from Arabian skin folder might be necessary because this file isn't correct.

Edited: I checked all .jpg files from my skins, only Arabian Nights have ICC profile in both jpg, Comic and Mythic rare have only bg_texture with ICC, last three(Inferno, Metalcraft, Slepping Forest)have both without ICC - if they works fine(or if in Comic/Mythic bg_texture won't load, but bg_match works fine) ICC will be problem.

"1024x549 RGB 8bit standart without ICC" worked for the texture file. Can you make a similar tweak for the match background? Same with the textures for Comic and Mythic rare so they're usable for mobile as well?

I also just fixed it so background textures repeat instead of being scaled, so the Arabian Nights skin in particular looks much better. Here's a peek:

[1224Deko]

"1024x549 RGB 8bit standart without ICC" worked for the texture file. Can you make a similar tweak for the match background? Same with the textures for Comic and Mythic rare so they're usable for mobile as well?

I also just fixed it so background textures repeat instead of being scaled, so the Arabian Nights skin in particular looks much better. Here's a peek:

ArabianNights.png

Great news. All skins are free from ICC profile now, so they should be working.

First of all - today or tomorrow I will try fix Font sizes from other skins.. then i could adjust all skins to 320x480 res for the mobile version...

[drdev]

Don't adjust anything for the mobile version in terms of resolutions. Most devices will have higher resolutions than 320x480, and I don't want us to have to maintain separate sets of skin files. Just leave them as they are now.

Also, did you update the linked zip files above when you removed the ICC profile, or do I need a new set of links? I might work on testing and packaging your other skins as well.

Thanks.
-Dan

[1224Deko]

Oh, since this is not controlled by the skin itself then perhaps it's going to be a good idea to eventually add a parameter to Forge which will specify the default font size or something like that, which will, of course, require coding - I'll look into it when I have some time. Thanks for clarifying the situation with fonts!

- Agetian

That would be the best way out of the situation. Since this option isn't enable, I made addon - increased font size pack for up to six my sikns (Inferno, Innistrad, Kamigawa, Metalcraft, Ravnica, Zendikar).
To instalation just download link below and put any skin folder with font1.ttf into Forge skins folder(I recommend make backup original font by renaming to ex. font1_bak.ttf).

fonts_size_icreased.zip

(327.57 KiB) Downloaded 378 times

As I noticed the font from Ravnica skin is not displayed correct, some of letters are not bolder. I've used fontforge aplication to icrease font size(making by few simple steps).

Anyway, please report if something still will be wrong.

Don't adjust anything for the mobile version in terms of resolutions. Most devices will have higher resolutions than 320x480, and I don't want us to have to maintain separate sets of skin files. Just leave them as they are now.

Also, did you update the linked zip files above when you removed the ICC profile, or do I need a new set of links? I might work on testing and packaging your other skins as well.

Thanks.
-Dan

Yes, few minutes before releasing last skin pack reply(24 March) I updated each previous skin(You just need to redownload those links).
I will do nothing with published skins yet and I will simply focus to making next skin(or skin pack). During making it I will try to find a compromise between the two versions to be best looking.
I'll wait for your requests and observations. Then if something will be necessary will be rebuilded.

Also Thanks for your engagement.