Suggestions on game art

Sandi and I are (very slowly) working on doing a small run of one of my old designs. It is mostly kind of Euro, and very puzzle like.

The game is Witches Brew, about a very Terry Pratchett-like idea of witches creating fairy tales. The original prototype is all clipart, and we are trying to figure out a style that we can do ourselves (run of 100 copies) that is both particularly simple, and...suitably gothy.

We're also trying to figure out how to include actual animal bones. That gets into some weird gray areas, as the LEAST offensive source I can find is a place that gets them from animal shelters. (As opposed to furriers.)

The only pic I've ever taken of the prototypes hide here:
www.thegamesjournal.com/articles/GroovyPrototypes.shtml


Any good ideas?

Nothing says gothy like Nightmare Before Christmas. Maybe a black and white-ish claymation look to everything?

Go photoshop on painting like heads of state.

Animal bones sound very unhygenic, and if you want a few copies of this to go overseas you may have quarentine problems.

Bones themselves are fine, as long as they are properly bleached. At that point, they are simply a mineral completely non-organic substance--mostly calcium-based compounds.

If Photoshop enters the picture, it will only be used for color correction and basic image cleanup.

I do have an idea, however. It may even involve macaroni and construction paper.

moofrank wrote:

We're also trying to figure out how to include actual animal bones. That gets into some weird gray areas, as the LEAST offensive source I can find is a place that gets them from animal shelters. (As opposed to furriers.)

My father owns two small areas of forest and when working there I usually come across several types of animal bones ranging from skulls of foxes or squirrels to spines of deer. But I'm not sure whether the bones you find in a forest will suffice for a 100 copies.

The way the game works is...a lot of resource trading. More in the style of Sid Sackson's Bazaar.

You have four basic spell components which you can use to buy tiles. The square tiles are all fairy tale story elements. The actual game info on each tile is a color (the border) and a pair of letters on the top left and right.

The actual object is to acquire a set that makes a "working story". This is defined as containing at least 4 of the 5 colors, and assembled in a line so that the letters match up like dominoes. (This is actually quite difficult. The game is a bit of a brain burner.)

The cards (books) that you have face up in front of you control what exchanges you can make--if you are familiar with Bazaar, these are similar.