Guild Banner Discussion

I've been chatting with our creative director Mr. Redwatch and we think it's about time that we started on a new banner as every guild and their dog has decided to steal our lovely Coruscant background!

What I need are suggestions (not arguments) about what the banner should look like. What I'm looking for is something along these lines:

1. It must be mysterious, shady and a little bit sinister.
2. It must have the full title "Agents of the E.P.O.C.H"
3. If it does have a picture included (which would be nice) then I want something that reflects the uniqueness of the guild and what we're about.
4. Make sure that Red can actually make it! Don't go too out there with ideas because even though I haven't seen yet I'm guessing he has 'some' limitations, or do you?

p.s. The banner thats up now is just a temporary one that I put together so don't worry, I'm sure we'll have something a little more attractive by the time Red gets around to it.

It may only be a temporary banner boss, but I kinda like the font - it makes E.P.O.C.H stand out

Hopefully I don't get shot for this comment, but I wonder if maybe we should move away from that particular image of Coruscant?

I mean, I like it - its an image I've always associated with this place, but its also been used. A LOT. Other Guilds use it, it appears in wiki pages and fanfiction. Due in part, I imagine for being an excellent image of Coruscant, but its a little over-used.

I don't want to sound negative so when I am online at work tomorrow night I will see if I can find a few images for consideration.

I like it, it looks rather sinister as well as mysterious!

Lunarwolf wrote:

It may only be a temporary banner boss, but I kinda like the font - it makes E.P.O.C.H stand out

Hopefully I don't get shot for this comment, but I wonder if maybe we should move away from that particular image of Coruscant?

I mean, I like it - its an image I've always associated with this place, but its also been used. A LOT. Other Guilds use it, it appears in wiki pages and fanfiction. Due in part, I imagine for being an excellent image of Coruscant, but its a little over-used.

I don't want to sound negative so when I am online at work tomorrow night I will see if I can find a few images for consideration.

lol I thought the entire point of this thread was to get rid of that particular picture?

PrioryJK wrote:

Lunarwolf wrote:

It may only be a temporary banner boss, but I kinda like the font - it makes E.P.O.C.H stand out

Hopefully I don't get shot for this comment, but I wonder if maybe we should move away from that particular image of Coruscant?

I mean, I like it - its an image I've always associated with this place, but its also been used. A LOT. Other Guilds use it, it appears in wiki pages and fanfiction. Due in part, I imagine for being an excellent image of Coruscant, but its a little over-used.

I don't want to sound negative so when I am online at work tomorrow night I will see if I can find a few images for consideration.

lol I thought the entire point of this thread was to get rid of that particular picture?

Hehehe aye it is!

We're looking for something fresh and original now.

How about a picture showing the interior of an extremely beautiful, lavish and rich apartment, coloured in shades of gold. To the far left of the room are three blaster holders, holding very expensive and deadly-looking guns. In the middle of the picture, on the wall, is an extremely large red banner with our guild name on it. To the right is a door going to a balcony. In the middle of the door is the falleen looking out into the day-time coruscant, dressed in a rich purple robe. We could also add a small table between the blaster rack and the banner which is of ornate wood and has a holo reciever which shows the image of a charigan noble. Note that you don't see the falleen's face! Mysterious...

Nice one Harl!

Only one small snag.... being a wee bit specific, where they heck we gonna get that from?!
(Red might be able to manage it with his skills, but we wouldn't see him for a few months...)

Im stuck for ideas :/

Maybe a still from Hutta can't get more shady then that, but other then a cantina scene I'm stuck too

I'm having a think and will try to knock up a rough image of an idea if I can. Is it just a picture/image your after or do you want an idea of text and stuff or do you just want ideas written down or do you want me to shut up and stop asking stupid questions?

I had idea of something like this (but less crap) and image showing both worlds and our name/guild logo between them?
You could get a better image of both worlds or instead of world views have in world views, ie Corascant cityscape at night with a korriban mountainscape at night and a similar space scene seperating them with the Guild name between them.
that was just my first thought, might emphasise the dual Guild nature?

Nice idea Priory but what if we swap korriban for Hutta?

I had the idea of having a backdrop of steamy dark ally in Coruscant or Nar Shadda (something city like), and then placed down the middle of the alley would be silhouettes of each guild character in a "V" type formation coming out of the picture with a searchlight shining behind them. As the title will probably be embossed (and see through) I don't think it woudl interfere with the picture either, but obviously I don't know how this can be done so I'll hand it over to Red.

Just a thought anyway as ideally I would like a very dark image to portray the guild, as I really want to capture that 'sinister' look.

My general idea would be showing ordinary people, something like a generalized city life ( trader, common folk, and so... ) and above them would be a pupeteer's hand, hidden in a shadow, and basically controling these people as a sign of our influence and contacts amongst citizens of galaxy. But it's just a rough idea and visual realisation is best left for Red

Sureshot wrote:

I had the idea of having a backdrop of steamy dark ally in Coruscant or Nar Shadda (something city like), and then placed down the middle of the alley would be silhouettes of each guild character in a "V" type formation coming out of the picture with a searchlight shining behind them. As the title will probably be embossed (and see through) I don't think it woudl interfere with the picture either, but obviously I don't know how this can be done so I'll hand it over to Red.

Just a thought anyway as ideally I would like a very dark image to portray the guild, as I really want to capture that 'sinister' look.

The problem with this is that people might leave, so must somehow be removed from the picture. Likewise, the new members will be left out. Or, that is what you're going for - the founding members. You could also just have the fallen leading all eight clases in the V formation. The Republic classes on the left, the Sith on the right, etc.

I like all these ideas, guys. Keep on rolling them in! I've been keeping a beady eye on this thread and though I have no specific thoughts I just wanted to let you know what path my ideas are meandering down.

I like what Lunarwolf said somewhere. Something about how we seem to be taking ownership of Star Wars and how we're making TOR an addition to us rather than the other way around (I think there was a 'sod Bioware' somewhere in there too).
With that in mind I recon we can't go wrong if we keep the banner simple with a very recognisable Star-Warsiness about it. Iconic imagery. Space. Blasters. Ships. The Fett-man's helmet. Thermal detonators. All that cool stuff we loved about it. Bypass Bioware and go straight for the source! Our banner is what will help establish our identity in people's mind and should be unique (with the TOR logo ofc). But don't worry – as the brass know, there'll be other elements to the site which will establish our link with Bioware and TOR strongly enough.

And that's where my ideas are going.

Harlequin2 wrote:

The problem with this is that people might leave, so must somehow be removed from the picture. Likewise, the new members will be left out. Or, that is what you're going for - the founding members. You could also just have the fallen leading all eight clases in the V formation. The Republic classes on the left, the Sith on the right, etc.

Aye good point, never thought of that. Maybe the silouettes could just be shadowy figures protruding from the searchlight without any real details, I mean that way it would be a hell of lot easier to do I can imagine.

Redwatch wrote:

I like all these ideas, guys. Keep on rolling them in! I've been keeping a beady eye on this thread and though I have no specific thoughts I just wanted to let you know what path my ideas are meandering down.

I like what Lunarwolf said somewhere. Something about how we seem to be taking ownership of Star Wars and how we're making TOR an addition to us rather than the other way around (I think there was a 'sod Bioware' somewhere in there too).
With that in mind I recon we can't go wrong if we keep the banner simple with a very recognisable Star-Warsiness about it. Iconic imagery. Space. Blasters. Ships. The Fett-man's helmet. Thermal detonators. All that cool stuff we loved about it. Bypass Bioware and go straight for the source! Our banner is what will help establish our identity in people's mind and should be unique (with the TOR logo ofc). But don't worry – as the brass know, there'll be other elements to the site which will establish our link with Bioware and TOR strongly enough.

And that's where my ideas are going.

Soz for the double post but I was actually wondering if typically Star Wars is the way to go? I mean we aren't your usual run-of-the-mill guild, or at least I don't picture it that way. Iconic is good but at the same time things like tie-fighters, Boba's helmet, and other 'movie' realted things will have to be kept well away from the banner as they're in completely the wrong timeline. Problem is that we may (yet again) have to try and work with what BioWare have given us in regards to the Old Republic era. Even KotOR is a tiny bit old fashioned in terms of style now so it'll be tricky I'm sure. Also I agree that it really must be unique and yet iconic with what we know about TOR. If we can find a balance of that and keeping it shady & mysterious then I think we'll be onto a winner.

Come on, boss. You know the care I go to in keeping my rp, character bios, wikis and everything else within the correct timeline. I’m hardly suggesting we stick Vader and Luke on our banner! lol

My whole push to move away from Bioware generated grabs is simply to preserve that feeling of uniqueness. Every guild and their dog already are, or will be, sucking the TOR site dry of imagery and as all the guild produced promo vids out there prove, everyone using the same material makes it all much of a muchness. Take the HoD site we’ve all looked at recently for an example. It’s brilliant and lovely and looks great! But (ignoring the flashy motion graphics) all the backgrounds and images are Bioware art we’ve seen dozens of times in lots of places. And their site lacks personality because of this.

I concede that Boba’s helmet is not timelinely accurate so substitute that for ‘generic Bounty Hunter helmet designed by Bioware but obviously based on and completely derivative of [Boba’s helmet]’. Similarly I didn’t necessarily mean tie fighters or X-wings when I said ships, I was thinking something like the Ebon Hawk (with it’s obvious Millennium Falcon influence) or something equally derivative of ship designs most Star Wars fans are familiar with, but from within the Old Republic timeline.

And I’m all over shady and mysterious. Shady and mysterious are like, my motto in life. You know. What with the thing. And that stuff. Yooouuu knoooow.

(I’m sorry, I don’t know what I’m talking about any more.)

I'm sure that (as usual) we're thinking along the same lines but talking at it from different ends. I have faith that between the lot of us we'll end up with something amazing in the end!

Aye it sound a little like I was trying to put words in your mouth with the "tie fighter" comment etc. so I do apologise but I saw the "Fett-helmet" thing and panicked!
Similarly though, I don't want to suck the TOR site dry of images either as I agree with you and it's something I want to avoid completely. However if we have to remember that swtor.com is really our only reference point when it comes to imagery of that particcular era. I mean you can argue that KotOR is as well but it's still a bit dated in terms of what setting we're in now, so we may have to see what the new vessels etc. look like before we commit to adding anything like that. Luckily we've already got images of the blasters and armour so we don't really have to worry much there.

I actually found an image on my interwebz travels that 'kinda' explains the idea I have in mind though. It's from the rather dissapointing X-Files movie sequel "I Want to Believe". Although it's not exactly what I have running around in my head at the minute it certainly has the similar effect:



Dark, shady and mysterious for sure, and I can honestly imagine that would look awesome suurounded by your typical Star Wars cityscape. Maybe even add a few ships flying around high up in the background?

Meh they're just ideas and my vision of the guild as I see it I know, but I suppose we all have different images of what the guild means to us anyway.

Or maybe wait with resource gathering for banner, until game comes out. We could do our unique screenshots, and somehow meld it into a nice banner of some kind. This way we would be able to come out with screens that will suit our needs best

Great idear Dugo, that way we will have something very personal and fitting to ourselves!

Dugo wrote:

Or maybe wait with resource gathering for banner, until game comes out. We could do our unique screenshots, and somehow meld it into a nice banner of some kind. This way we would be able to come out with screens that will suit our needs best

I think the point is we want something origonal and not somethings thats come directlt from Bioware, something thats distinct to the guild.
Had another idea along SS lines so brace yourselves for a incredibly crude sketch sometime soon

Also I think we really need a banner prior to launch to aid in the recruitment / establishing of the Guild.

PrioryJK wrote:

I think the point is we want something origonal and not somethings thats come directlt from Bioware, something thats distinct to the guild.
Had another idea along SS lines so brace yourselves for a incredibly crude sketch sometime soon

Ooooo this sounds exciting! *rubs hands together gleefully*

Lunarwolf wrote:

Also I think we really need a banner prior to launch to aid in the recruitment / establishing of the Guild.

Yeah I agree, as much as I'm growing quite fond of the little logo we have up there I'm more than positive that Red could make me look a child with no arms trying to scribble down a picture using his mouth when it comes to these things! As I say though....all in good time. At least we have one there now which counts for something I guess.