I submitted the game for art testing at Game Crafter.
Ten people reviewed the art and the overall layout for the shop at https://www.thegamecrafter.com/games/icebreakers-for-vikings
Final Score 95.5 / 100
Pretty 97.0% Functional 94.0%
Tested Images:
1. Shop Backdrop
Score Appealing Functional Votes
9 / 10 100.0% 80.0% 10
"Looks lovely, nice thinking putting the designs on the left so the image doesn't cover it, I did that with my game."
"Nice style between wood and artwork. Perhaps round off the cards for the shop backdrop so the corners aren't so sharp looking. They look like a pasted layer from photoshop.”
"perhaps an extra sign of depth between the 'cards' and the fill background. Without shadows it almost visually reads a touch muddy"
"I feel there is too much text for a shop backdrop"
2. Shop Ad
Score Appealing Functional Votes
8.5 /10 80.0% 90.0% 10
"Legible and to the point."
"playtime? number of players?"
3. Poker Cards
Score Appealing Functional Votes
10 /10 100.0% 100.0% 10
"Maybe a better font for the bottom section text.“
"Nice aesthetic, though I suggest test printing with a few font sizes to make sure they are very easily legible in person, especially if people are going to be drunk“
"great art“
"holy crap thats cool art"
I am very pleased with the test review, the visual part is very important to me.
It was clear to me from the beginning, that one of the most important aspects of unleashing Icebreakers for Vikings into the world, was the art.
I mean the concept is of course THE most important...But the concept and game in general, has been proven to be awesome, for ten years already...
All I needed to do was get the art and story to translate on the final product.
I had a very specific vision on what I wanted the game to look like, so the next step was to find the right artist...
My vision was to have a blackish/grayish old wood background on the cards, and the illustrations to pop out in whites/grays, kind of like a tattoo flash.
So I went to Deviant art and looked through hundreds of artists and their work, and found maybe 20 artist's styles that I liked for the game. I reached out to all of them to see their availability, interest and price point.
Out of all of them, I decided to work with Florencio Duyar III.
Florencio Duyar III is so talented!!! His work is amazing, and working with him is very pleasant! I can sincerely recommend him, and definitely will work with him again!
You can check out his work on: https://www.deviantart.com/chimeraic/about#about
Florencio and I found common ground almost immediately, I sent him tons of emails and reference pictures and pin pointed what I want each illustration to have, the story behind it, trying not to give too much input so I wouldn't kill his artistry or inspiration.
After he made Fenrir, I was sold on him! He got my vision exactly and in my opinion, Fenrir is so amazing, I will be getting him tattooed!
Our pace with the illustrations was 2-3 illustrations per week, which was a good pace, in my opinion.
Next step for me was to find a graphic and layout perfectionist/IT-support...
I was recommended Mark "Poolo" Poser, you can see his work: https://www.behance.net/gallery/48469705/Ding-Dong-To-year-2017?fbclid=IwAR1KPnigpQfNiSrHQHHLqrqyXJGogidEWyDNfx0RDTnbZe1_ZZXoLEOY1XY
Mr. Poser has been a huge support, and he got my entire vision, immediately!
It has been a pleasure working with him and I will continue to work with him in the future.
If someone understands my type of crazy thoughts, visions and lack of patience, it is him.
In my opinion, it is rare to find people who translate your artistic vision seamlessly.
Either I am a really good explainer or else I have had the best luck with finding my artist and my graphical perfectionist.
Without them this could have turned out to be a stick figure game...
Big shout out to both Florencio Duyar III and Mark "Poolo" Poser for being a part of this project!!!
Without you two, the outlook of the game would have lacked a lot.
Now the game is out and available worldwide through the Game Crafter shop:
Stay tuned for other distribution channels, contests and other exciting news!
-Kartini