Updating Magic Set Editor (Completed!)

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USMCgeek
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nico21000 wrote:I personally love the soft grainy style. It's purely subjective, but it mixes rather well with the illustration grain. Even if I'll offer updated and improved scanned illustrations later I won't be able to get something better than the original material, which is grainy, especially for almost all cards that weren't 'upgraded and re-released' in the 10 official ICE challenge decks.
The soft grainy look is a byproduct of the dated printing. There is some texture on cards, but they aren't soft on the lines purposefully. That is just old processes.

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nico21000
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USMCgeek wrote: Fri Dec 07, 2018 2:10 am [snap] The soft grainy look is a byproduct of the dated printing. There is some texture on cards, but they aren't soft on the lines purposefully. That is just old processes.
I don't want to flood this thread with an elaborated answer and counter-examples but it is at least partially wrong. Your work is amazing and I love it anyway.
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USMCgeek
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Well I don't want to make these picture perfect, but I would love any evidence. What I see personally is the grain caused by the printing press dots. That is inevitable, but was much more noticeable in early print work. Much of the card design appears impacted by this, causing a softer look. A similar effect is noticed on many ccg cards from the 90s.

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First Round Minion Site Card draft:
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USMCgeek
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***Feature update - Horizontal Region cards are fully supported and functioning in MECCG Set Editor now!

***Kjeld - I managed to add in a mask for the card art so it no longer overlaps the frame on the upper left corner. Looks much better now!

***Still working on Windows Compile sadly...

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Not too shabby for regular quality on plain paper from my cheapo inkjet printer....
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nico21000
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Wow, I'm quite surprised : it is indeed VERY good ! Sad that the regions and sites icons lost their 'crispness' when printed, however. Are they the ones that you got from my site template ? If so, I made new more 'vintage' ones that should render better once printed, as they are slightly blurred, thicker and way close to the original ones. Download it here :

http://host.conseiljedi.com/~nico/MECCG ... Havens.zip

I'll send you the extraction password later by MP.
Last edited by nico21000 on Sun Dec 16, 2018 4:11 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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USMCgeek
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Thanks Nico! I'll check those out! My outline was too thin for the black.

I'll PM you the font files I'm using after work.

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USMCgeek
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Nico - so really the only font you need that I use is "MECCGBold" which I made from Lithos to include the "+" sign. I'm working (slowly) on a new title font for the cards so that they are accurate. I've attached the font here for you.
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nico21000
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Wow, thanks. I'll have a look at it this week-end. Designing and compiling a font is a 'great achievement' imo, congratulations (even if most of the source was available elsewhere on the net). I actually almost finalized a template for hero characters that is using Lithos, Lithos Pro, Aparajita, Times New Roman, Goudy Old Style, Arabic Typesetting and Arial. I think it's as close as possible to the original 1995 material, but I leave it for your consideration...

http://host.conseiljedi.com/~nico/MECCG ... aracter.7z

The password for extraction is still the same. If you're under Linux you'll probably need a .7z file format extractor.
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Thorsten the Traveller
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apologies for the late reply, but I was extremely busy of late.

As I got the original files of the game (courtesy of Coleman Charlton), I can give you also the original fonts, though the cards were made on an apple machine and I use Indesign on windows. This matters a bit, as it seems Apple has its own fonts (the bastards!) and they are automatically substituted when opening the files on windows. So if you want to be precise, you'll have to get the Apple fonts (especially the Palatino).

MP = TNR regular 11 (12 for character)
Title = Palatino bold 10 (8 for hero sites)
Type = TNR regular 7
Mind/DI = ICE used their specific font, but it amounts to Lithos bold 8/6
Prowess/Body = TNR regular 9. nb. On hero resources it is actually smaller than on minion resources.
Artist = TNR regular 5
Copywright = Helvetica regular 4 (you could substitute this with Arial)
Draw = Lithos bold 5 (Lithos black on minion resource; can also use Lithos pro, it all amounts to the same)

Card text = TNR regular at largest font 7; this varies per amount of text of course
flavour = TNR regular 6 (largest)

the real trouble is to find the correct line spacing for the card/flavour text. If you use auto-spacing, at least in Indesign, the spacing is too wide. It is counter-intuitive, but more space can actually make a card more difficult to read, as the background will occupy your eyes more (this especially for darker templates and the sites). There is an optimal spacing for various fontsizes.

Another thing to take into account, ICE was really sloppy in the design of the cards (under time-pressure I assume), and there is no true consistency. So as re-creators one can afford to deviate a bit from the originals here and there, because there are simply no 100% correct examples.

For example, for MENE I have increased fontsizes a bit here and there, because readability of the card is more important than sticking to original card design. They are, after all, playing cards.
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USMCgeek
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Thanks Eric!

Palatino definitely looks better there! I'm aiming for consistency, as this is a style template for Set Editor - and you know how that works.

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USMCgeek
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Had a test print back from the printers...here are some dreamcard shots. Need to thicken a few lines, but they definitely print gorgeously!Image

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Kjeld
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Any updates? I'm really looking forward to having the final plug-in -- keep up the great work!
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USMCgeek
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I'm still working on getting the Windows version compiled. Slow down due to work - it's PCI Compliance fun time for Q1, so I've had my hands full sadly.

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