DVD Label – Initial Design Ideas & a Look At Previous Discs

Having designed my template for my DVD label I now need to think about what kind of design I will put on it to keep in line with the theme of my game.

Firstly, I want to look at some of the game disks from Doom and Duke Nukem and what they have used in the past. I know that my assignment specifies that I will need to use Vector based graphics in Illustrator so I will have to take that into account when coming up with any ideas.

The first dvd I can find for the original Doom looks as below.

http://pics.mobygames.com/images/covers/large/1291583191-00.jpg

It uses existing assets from the box art and features the main Doom logo at the top with the image of the Doom marine underneath. To the right is the ID Software logo and some legal information.

http://iv1.lisimg.com/image/203970/600full-doom-ii%3A-hell-on-earth-cover.jpg

Very similarly to the first cover this follows the exact same theme of putting the Doom 2 logo at the top and then the box art shot of the Doom Marine across the rest of the DVD. This time the ID Software logo and publisher details are located at the bottom. The legal information is still off to the right of the disc hub.

For Doom 3 there was a bit of a shift in how the disc looked.

http://www.covershut.com/cd_covers/Doom-3-Greek-Cd-Cover-36853.jpg

This went for a more minimalistic style whereby the disc is covered by faint tracings of what appear to be occult looking symbols. This is on a deep red background, the colour of blood. 

The expansion disk is actually quite nice for me as it has a lot of extra legal details and a BBFC classification on it which I will want to add to mine.

http://www.covershut.com/cd_covers/Doom-3-Resurrection-Of-Evil-2005-Pal-Cd-Cover-67369.jpg

The Doom 3 logo still dominates the top but then there are flames ringing the bottom and a similar type of occult pattern rising out of them with a black background. On the right of the DVD is the legal details, logos and the BBFC classification. To the left is the CD-ROM logo and extra information. At the bottom is the name of the expansion. I will need to make sure I use the DVD-ROM version of the logo.

Now onto the Duke Nukem DVD's and a look to see what sort of art was on them.

Starting off lets have a look at the Duke Nukem 3D CD / DVD. Bearing in mind this will be a later release then when it was first released as similarly to Doom it was shareware initially. I would imagine people buying the full game were also likely to have gotten it on 3.5" floppy as well although I have the game on CD. 

http://farm5.staticflickr.com/4146/5073047894_0e4cf3236a.jpg

Having checked this against my version this is the one that is the same as mine although there seems to be quite a few different versions. 

Anyway, we have the Duke Nukem logo at the top, similarly to Doom's. To the right is the atomic symbol, which ties in with the mushroom cloud in the background of the box art. The symbol is yellow like the Duke Nukem title. To the left is the classification and then any legal info plus games designers logos and the CD ROM trademark. The background is a mottled red brown kind of metal although it looks a bit more like mud in the screenshot!

Next game that I want to look at is Duke Nukem Forever as those are the two main ones that were released on the PC, the same platform as the game I would be producing. 

http://www.coverdude.com/covers/duke-nukem-forever-2011-cd-cover-73721.jpg

The Duke Nukem Forever disc is actually one big atomic symbol in yellow again. The Duke Nukem logo is again at the top and then the UK classification of the game situated to the left of the hub.  To the right is the classification for Ireland. Below the disc hub is the games developers and publishers logos and then a lot of legal information. 

There is another style of cover for Duke Nukem Forever which is quite different so I shall also include it. 

http://www.coverdude.com/covers/duke-nukem-forever-ntsc-cd-cover-68440.jpg

This cover is for the Xbox 360 version of Duke Nukem Forever. It features Duke sitting on a throne with two female twins sitting at his feet. The throne fits into the game lore, one of Duke's famous quips is "Hail to the king baby"! Duke on a throne is therefore a fitting setting and the girls......well anybody who has played a Duke game knows how woman are portrayed in the game; pretty much helpless damsels in distress for Duke to save - female empowerment is not a core game feature!!

For the first time we see the Duke Nukem logo removed from the top and replaced by the Microsoft Xbox 360 art. The logo instead is at the bottom. To the left and right of the hub are the games developers and publishers logo's and some respective technology trademarks. The legal info is positioned around the outside of the disc in small lettering.  

Having now looked at the previous games disc's and taking into account that I need to use vector based graphics the obvious choice to me seems to incorporate a similar design to that from the Duke Nukem Forever disc and have a large yellow atomic symbol totally covering the disc label. Then I will add the Doom logo at the top, have a stylised Vs sign in the middle and over the hub and then the Duke Nukem logo at the bottom. I will put the 18 classification off to one side and the logo's of ID Software and Gearbox on the other side. I will put some legal info wrapped around the edge of the disk similarly to the Xbox 360 one as I think that makes good use of the space.  

I'll certainly try this idea first and if it doesn't work out too well I'll try to think of some other ideas. Possibly utilising vector based fire graphics and some pentagrams and such like Doom 3 & ROE.