Switch, laser, amplifier for an educational game

[Martle]

Hi all.

I picked up a little work overhauling the graphics for an educational flash game recently. The game consists of building a simple network (from switches, filters, amplifiers, multiplexers etc) so that a message sent from a laser source reaches its destination. Basically you plonk down roughly square tiles, connect them with wires and then check to see if it works.

Could someone let me know which art style they prefer, the 2D or 3D approach? Any other feedback is also welcome. Cheers.

[goliard]

The 3D stuff looks much more finished -- but you could probably work on the 2D stuff some more to get it looking more attractive? (Some people prefer diagrams to realia...) I guess it depends on context; what the rest of the interface looks like, how the wires connect to these components, what text you are using etc. etc.

[Martle]

Thanks for the feedback. I'll push on with the 3D style and see how it comes together- a pretty design is no good if it can't be applied consistently. Cheers mate.

[Adobemedia]

3d. Just make sure the images are facing you. The angle they are at now wouldn't work. Looks kinda cool actually. The 2D could look good, but you need to work on the colors. I suggest you just make it two colors, and take out the black outlines, unless you just make the entire thing a outline. Nice work on the 3D icons though.

EDIT: It also depends on how you do the 2D ones. You could make it have a drop shadow, and a white background, and then just outline in red the details, and it would look fine. Still, I like the 3D better of your two concepts, because the 2D just doesn't look like a finished product. BTW, why does the 2D switch have two triangles, but the 3D one just has one big one?

[Martle]

Well it sounds like the 3D design is the winner, thanks for the feedback.

Regarding your other points, if I have them straight on you can't see they have any depth, all you see is a shadow which seemed visually confusing to me. By keeping the angle low it looks ok to me (and the client).

No real reason for the different number of triangles in the switch. Since they must scale down quite small I found the two triangles were a little too 'busy' on a small scale.

Thanks for the feed back.