How To Photoshop Your Board Game Box The Easy Way

Okay, finally I've been able to put together a short presentation about how to design a great game box in three dimensions the easy way on Photoshop.

Net Geometry for The Game Crafter.com

I'm designing my game on The Game Crafter.com so this is how they manufacture their boxes. They start with a black box and glue an image from your net geometry (like the one above) onto the black box, edge-to-edge and fold over the excess flaps, top and bottom. That means you get no side images for the left or right side of the box. (I know it sounds crude but it works just fine if they center the art properly.)

Using Photoshop, first cut out the center portion of the box and the top flap. Place side by side. Go to TRANSFORM and select CCW to flip it so your flap looks like the one below on the left.

Select the flap with the bounding box marquee tool, click on the move tool and move in any direction once to activate marching ants, then go to TRANSFORM select PERSPECTIVE and apply the effect as shown below for each image.

Notice I have each image on separate layers but you can keep them on the same layer if you want. Next, adjust (FREE TRANSFORM) the main image so it is not as wide, (almost by half) and proceed to join (move) the two images together (touching) or merge the two layers into one image.

Make sure both edges are touching. You can soften this edge next.

Now for a little Photoshop magic. Most people will keep this image or maybe add gray lines to all the edges but the box will look very unrealistic. To get good edges, I like to use the Dodge Tool set at about 65% with a small, soft brush and run it along each of the edges except the bottom one.

Soften and highlight all edges with the Dodge Tool.

See (above) how that adds a gentle highlight to all the edges of the box by softening and rounding them like a real box. You can run each edge up to three times or until you get an edge you're happy with. Trial and error here.

Almost finished box with reflection

I've also added a reflection of the box.

Follow these easy instructions to get that effect.

First, duplicate your box, flip it vertically and place as shown below.

Working with the reflection image, use the bounding box and activate marching ants only around the flap and then select SKEW. Grab the middle handle and skew it up until the angle matches the top flap. This won't affect the image as long as you don't move it.

Duplicate, Flip Vertically and position as shown above.

Now select the front of the reflection with the bounding box and skew it until you match the angle above it. (See below)

Skew the front of the box until angles match

Here's a close-up of the final version with the reflection in place. You can use any background color you like and experiment with the opacity for your reflection to get the best effect.

Don't forget to darken the left side of the box to give it a more three dimensional feel. Use the Burn Tool set at about 50% and experiment with it until you get the desired effect.

Here's the final version of the box with extra highlights on the corners for a worn look.

You can also adjust the brightness and contrast at this point to really make your box come alive.

I've tried many different things and this seems to work best to easily give product boxes the most realistic effect without buying expensive programs to convert to a three dimensional box.

Once you get the hang of it, it gets a lot easier and the effect is outstanding. Give it a try and email me your finished boxes and I'll post them here next time.

Any questions, please comment and I'll post an explanation in my next post.

Have fun!

Board Game Heaven - The New Millennium Challenge

West Coast / East Coast Game Box

We all knew it was coming. So after months of designing an East Coast game board, I've decided to add a West Coast board to Millennium, which in my opinion was not only necessary, but inevitable.

After all, who wants to play only half a game? As cool as the East Coast board is, adding a game board that starts in San Francisco, CA, makes it much more complete and satisfying to play. Especially if the board is set in another era (1800's and 1900's).

The East Coast board is about 95% done and the new board is about 50% done, so I have quite a bit of work before finishing up this game.

I can release the East coast version this month (November) as I had planned all along but I rather not rush into anything. I want too take my time and finish this entire game as I know it will work best so that means two 18" x 18" boards side-by-side, which makes the game board a full 18" x 36" inches of awesome game play.

"It's quite a contrast of events..."

I'm still debating on splitting these games in half and selling separate boards. As it stands now, I plan on offering the East Coast board by itself and offering the West Coast/East Coast board game separately. This way gamers have two options at different price points.

While the main theme to the East Coast board is survival, the theme of the West Coast board is historical exploration, namely, the Wild West and Wyatt Earp, and moving on into the 20th Century and the Disco era of the 70's and beyond. I think it will be lots of fun, which eventually leads up to a time-warp transporting you into the year 2158 and into the East Coast. It's quite a contrast of events that I think works really nice and builds up to a full, well-rounded game.

Who knows? Only time will tell how it all plays out, but it feels like I'm on the right track. I'm also refining the four characters with multiple roles and ideally I would like to include a set of custom dice that allows special moves for each player. Both are good mechanisms that add depth to the game. Although, including custom dice all depends on how much it will add to the final price. Margins with The Game Crafter are already low enough so we'll see.

West Coast Wild West Card

Lots to think about and even more to do but I know it'll be worth it because it's going to make a much better game overall.

"I'm going full throttle

with Millennium..."

I do have four other games in various stages of completion, but I'm only one guy with limited time so right now I'm going full throttle with Millennium while I have good momentum on my side so I can finish it and move onto to other things on the design and production side as Millennium hits the market and I tweak that end of it.

It's nothing short of a full time endeavor, but that's what I do. For years I've had all these ideas and finally I'm putting them out there and giving board games a shot for whatever it's worth. Everything I've learned about design and marketing over the years has led me to this and it feels like the right time to try something different.

As it turns out, or maybe it just feels that way, everyone is getting in on the board game bandwagon these days. So competition is fierce but the market knows what it wants and champions what it likes the most so that's really the challenge; to figure out what's popular and put a new spin on it because let's face it, most of it has all been done before.

West Coast Card

"One person's favorite game

might be another's nightmare."

So while Post Apocalyptic games are not new, my spin and flavor is, so all I can hope for is that gamers identify and embrace it with fair reviews. That's always the hard part because like anything else, games are subjective. One person's favorite game might be another's nightmare.

That being said, if you design games you would like to see but can't really find out there, maybe that adds something to the gaming world. You never know until you put it out there and that takes a good investment mostly in time.

And as we all know, time is precious and in short supply, especially the older you get so you have to make the most of every day.

I think that by the spring of 2018 I'll be ready to release both editions of Millennium after several (hopefully favorable) reviews. 

Successfully marketing a game is really an uphill battle unless it has a viral element that key influencers can relate and latch on to. Big companies rely on bestselling books to base their games on and that always helps because they have a built-in audience to work with. And that makes marketing almost effortless.

East Coast Illness Card

If you don't have the luxury of basing your games on bestselling books or video games, stick with universal concepts that are already familiar to gamers and try presenting your games in the most unique way possible. Everything counts in gaming, even great and consistent artwork is a plus because there are plenty of collectors who appreciate that kind of stuff.

Okay, that's for another post. Meanwhile I've got to get back to work on my games. It's a bit overwhelming with so much to do but I take it one day at a time and keep on going until there's nothing left to do.

And then of course, there's always something else to do until it all bottoms out and then you move on.

For my next post I'm going to finally post my easy Photoshop tips for making product boxes like the one above. It's not perfect yet, but it's getting there.

Till next time, keep on gaming!

Your move.