Old World Style Set 1 Examples

Alas, the website doesn't allow for big enough previews of the tilesheets, so I am setting up viewing areas on the blog for the sets as they go up. I am setting these up  prior to launch so that I can have them ready for potential customers.

Examples for Old World Style Set 1: World View 72 dpi

Ever closer to reality

Ok, so the first batch of items are ready and set up in the catalog for the website; and now it is down to the nitty gritty details. Having never done this type of webshop prior, my reservations are mostly because of wanting potential customers to like not only what is being sold, but other details about us as well.  And that means a lot of patience.

When I approached this initially, never in my wildest thoughts would I have imagined the amount of detail that goes into creating an e-commerce shop on the web! The catalog seemed daunting itself, but that feeling quickly passed once all the ins and outs were understood. Now, the GTC, The Privacy Statement, customer database, sales database, etc., every last little bit of detail must be created, looked over, looked over again, get a cup of coffee, and then looked over for a third time. All T's are crossed and i's dotted.

I look forward to the days when we can hire an e-shop assistant, but for now it is a valuable learning experience in understanding how the business will be run.

A great don't need must have

A friend sent this link to me via social media: http://www.thinkgeek.com/product/173a/

The perfect gift for someone who needs nothing, but loves something with a bit of geek!

The difference in DPI

Just a quick note this evening as we continue to ready sets for the Gaming Geeks. The site as we've said before, will be carrying digital tile sets - several of which are already available at Roll20.net at their marketplace. The on-screen tiles for Roll 20 are at a 72 dpi, perfect to create maps for online activities.

On the Gaming Geeks site however, because we are striving to carry tiles more for those who want to print out their maps and designs, we are upping the dpi. That means going back to the original layered files, reworking layers slightly to add cleaner lines; and sets will be between 200-300 dpi, depending on the set.

Both at a magnification of 200%. The picture on the left carries the 72 dpi with digital color washes and partial transparencies - great for online graphics, and for computers (like mine) that are a dual core or less. Less processing power is needed to create the maps using these. On the right, we have a rework on the pine forest token, but you can see, the lines are much cleaner and will help create a better print. This doesn't mean someone can't use the 200 dpi reworked set for computer graphics, just as long as their computer can handle the amount of data for their map and handle the transparencies while playing.

Either set works beautifully when printed, as I have tried them both out; I'm just somewhat a bit more OCD when it comes to printed work and want to provide the best possible set I can for that medium. Again, 72 dpi great for online; grater than that great for print.

Just a reminder when working in graphics and resolutions

As I rework digital tile sets for the Gaming Geeks site, I thought I would throw out a simple reminder to those who work in changing graphic resolution, or mainly those who don't work in it that much at all:

• Always remember it is much easier to work from higher to lower resolution if changing the amount of dpi
• When saving, especially in programs like Photoshop, use the "Save As" feature instead of the Save for Web. Unless your program allows you to change the dpi in the web safe mode, it [saving it in the 'svae for web' feature] will take your graphic back down to 72 dpi. Not fun...
• When increasing a graphic's resolution, I've read the whole uncheck resample image bit and the continual small increment resizing method, and I've tried it. Personally, since much of the digital tiles are line art so far, it has proven easier to take it into another program and vectorize the graphic first with a live trace; and either finish in that program or bring it back to the original program, create a new document and resize the graphic manually. 
• Work in higher resolutions...period. You can always save to a lower dpi setting.

November's Thank You Tile

This month, I thought I would create something in the style of the Scene Addition sets.

And, in the spirit of the month, this Thank You tile also contains a drop shadow the GM/DM can use to help create a sense of time.

Enjoy!

Setting up the Gaming Geeks site

It has taken some time, but I am finally getting to setting up the Gaming Geeks website and webshop. I will some sets up there that will be the same sets as those on Roll20, however everything in the Gaming Geeks webshop tilesets will be set up in tilesheets, and NOT individually separated like the sets on the Roll20 site.

There will many more sets also on the Gaming Geeks that do not appear on the Roll20 marketplace because,...well,.. just 'cause... I want to have more sets. Now, although there will be tilesets like on the marketplace elsewhere, we will be creating more maps, bases, artwork and other things that compliment sites like Roll20, rather than compete.  We're also working more on creating the ability for printable maps...tangible stuff....in yer hands...feelin' the paper 'tween yer fingers, that sort of thing. We have artwork, both illustrative and sculptural, in the works and hope to have some of that up for sale soon.

So...bear with me and I will be updating how the progress on the site goes! Fingers crossed!