We have the next all new Psdtuts+ Design Contest to kick off this month. Game design is a huge source of inspiration for Photoshop artists. If you’ve been waiting to design a video game cover, or have experience creating them, then this contest gives you a chance to showcase your skills. In this contest, you’ll be putting together a video game cover in Photoshop.
Up for grabs is a Wacom Intuos4 Medium Tablet, iPhone 3G S, Nintendo DS Lite (thanks to CSSRockstars), loads of marketplaces credits, and 1-year memberships to Psd Plus. This is going to be a lot of fun! Learn all about the contest and how to enter at the jump!
About the Contest
Imagine a new military First Person Shooter video game set in the very near (or not so near) future where an evil army has taken hold of the governments and people of the world. Out of this struggle a new breed of military warrior has emerged to take back what is ours. Grab hold of a rifle (or laser cannon), your fatigues (or high-tech armor) and some camouflage (or stealth cloaking). It’s time to gear-up, power-up and vanquish evil!
For the purposes of this contest the video game is called ‘Delta Dawn.’ There’s no limit to what your imagination can tackle in this contest, as long as your work retains a military theme. It can be set in the near present or the future. What is this army you’re up against? What does your character look like? What weapons will you wield? What is the full back story? You decide, bring to life this video game cover! You call the shots! Wow us with your talent and creativity!
What We’re Looking For
Your video game cover should look as if it would be at home on the shelf of any game store. It should include package branding for the fictional GameStation platform (see this tutorial for an example) or for your favorite real platform (Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, PC, Nintendo DS, PSP, etc). You may change the logo for the GameStation platform if you use it. Please also pay as much attention to the ‘Delta Dawn’ title as you do to do to the cover background. We don’t want to see great packaging designs let down by bad typography!
Inspiration:
- Gears of War
- Far Cry
- Far Cry 2
- Crysis
- Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare
- Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon
- Battlefield 1942
- F.E.A.R. 2: Project Origin
- F.E.A.R. Perseus Mandate
- Halo 3
Read on to find out more about Resources, How to Enter, Prizes, Terms & Conditions, and learn about our Sponsors. Entries are open between now and the 4th of August. So, get your entries in before August 4th, 2009 Pacific Eastern Standard Time. We’ll be announcing the winners shortly thereafter. Get creative with this contest and have fun!
Tutorials and Resources
We have a few resources here on Psdtuts+ that may help you with this contest. Also, check out the results from our last contest for inspiration. You may find other tutorials that you can use as well, or search the web for additional resources.
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Design Cool Game Graphics Using Displacement Maps – Psd Plus Tutorial
We have another great Psd Plus tutorial exclusively available to Plus members today. If you want to take your game design skills to the next level, then we have an awesome tutorial for you. Discover how to use Photoshop tools to blend graphics, textures, and a Cinema 4D creature into an awesome game cover design. Learn more about this informative and advanced tut at the jump!
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Top 40 Video Game Covers of All Time
While video game cover art is often as carefully designed as any movie poster, this area of graphic design is rarely given much thought. In this post we’d like to change this by high-lighting 40 brilliant examples of game art and explaining why they are so darn good.
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Create an Explosive Cover with Precise Photo Manipulation Techniques
In this tutorial, we’re going to make a creative illustration in a style meant for a video game cover or sci-fi book cover. We’ll create this with mostly photo manipulation techniques. With some cool Photoshop options you can turn all the photos you chose, into one stunning looking explosive cover.
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40 Dark and Futuristic Photoshop Effects
A question: what do exploding planets, energy spheres, ethereal lights, ruined cities, telepathic warriors, gloomy nebulas and light-rays all have in common? Answer: they look freaky awesome when you build them in Photoshop. Here’s how to do all of the above and more, for a total of 40 excellent cyberpunk and Sci-fi style effects.
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The Making of Mystic
In this tutorial Nik Ainley walks us through the process of making a spectacular image. This tutorial focuses on the big picture steps taken to create this image. You’ll learn some incredible techniques in this tutorial, and get a view into how Nik creates beautiful photo-manipulation based images. Let’s check it out.
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New PLUS Tutorial – Demolition Made Easy in Photoshop
We have a new Psd Plus tutorial from Tomasz Opasinski. You can see his work at his portfolio site. A few months ago when he was working on the “I Am Legend” posters, he came up with some simple techniques that are very helpful when demolishing all sorts of structures. He’s created a PLUS tutorial that details this process.
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Create Surreal Scenery With Pro Photo-Manipulation Techniques
This is a new addition to the Psd Plus section. Learn all about how to create surreal illustrations using advanced photo manipulation techniques. Jeff Huang takes us through his process of creating a digital masterpiece in Photoshop. Learn more at the jump!
How to Enter
To enter the competition, contestants must submit any number of video game cover designs into the Psdtuts Flickr Group. Be sure to utilize the following directions:
- Submit your design via the Psdtuts Flickr Group, tagged with “psdeltadawn.”
- Submit a JPG image that is 600 pixels wide or larger.
- Include in the description of your Flickr entry any stock or source images you have used including URLs to those images.
Prizes
- First Place Prizes:
- Wacom Intuos4 Medium Tablet or USD $370 (cash only if outside shipping area)
- 1 year Plus membership (valued at USD $117)
- $100 to spend on GraphicRiver, AudioJungle, Flashden, VideoHive or ThemeForest
- Second Place Prizes:
- iPhone 3G S 16GB or USD $200 (cash only if outside shipping area)
- 1 year Plus membership (valued at $117)
- $75 to spend on GraphicRiver, AudioJungle, Flashden, VideoHive or ThemeForest
- Third Place Prizes:
- Nintendo DS Lite or USD $130 (cash only if outside shipping area)
- 1 year Plus membership (valued at $117)
- $50 to spend on GraphicRiver, AudioJungle, Flashden, VideoHive or ThemeForest
Terms & Conditions
- Entries must be submitted to the Psdtuts Flickr Group pool before midnight August 3rd, Pacific Eastern Standard Time.
- Entries into the competition must be entirely your work. If you use stock images in the composition, you must have an appropriate license to use the image and place a link to the image used in the description of your item within the Psdtuts+ Flickr group.
- Plus memberships will be issued from the date of notification of the winners. They are not redeemable for cash.
- GraphicRiver/AudioJungle/FlashDen/ThemeForest credit will be issued to a username provided by the winners. This prize is not redeemable for cash and can only be spent on those sites.
- Judging of the winners will be done by the editor and writing staff of Psdtuts+ in conjunction with the Tuts+ Manager. Our decision is final.
- Staff or regular writers of Psdtuts+ are not eligible to enter. Occasional contributors (i.e. people who have had less than 2 tutorials or articles published on the site are eligible to enter).
Sponsors
Special thanks go to CSSRockstars for providing the main prizes!
CSSRockstars provides PSD to HTML service in just 3 days, for only $149. They take your existing design and transform it into valid, high quality, hand-coded markup. They also offer templating/skinning of the hottest CMS, Shopping Carts, and Blogging platforms such as WordPress. With semantic markup, microformat inclusion, documented CSS / HTML, and a money back guarantee, CSSRockstars offers one of the most feature complete packages available.
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By Sean Hodge
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My second entry: http://www.flickr.com/photos/gaksdesigns/3769085847/in/pool-psdtuts
Hey!
A new entry: http://www.flickr.com/photos/fluxongfx/3769141107/
Feedback & comments are welcome!
one question, im from Spain I can participe?
thanks
yeah!!!!
im from South Wales UK
JOIN THE PARTY
Alot of people are using a triangle in their logo – have i missed something or is this just coincidence?
Nvm.. just ran em trough again – i’m just sleepy i guess
Great work all!
A triangle is the Delta symbol. That’s probably why a lot of people have used it.
Aahh.. thanks for enlighting me
Ran out of time to enter
This comp could be called “DUMB TYPOGRAPHY” but these people need to do a tutorial:
Fab details and type:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/rasterboy/3769732130/in/pool-psdtuts
Great text effect and compos:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/simoncpage/3749061373/
Poor type but great images:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/35564294@N04/3754619687/
Awesome text flare:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/40772576@N03/3753403665/
My entry:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/23884264@N04/3772561609/
Also wrote a little synopsis/story what’s the game about. In my game you’ll actually get super powers and need to kill mutants to survive!
Had a great time creating this cover. Thanks psdtuts for another great contest, may the best win!
just added my 3rd design hope u guys like
http://www.flickr.com/photos/richieevans/3772383765/
really like the trilogy richie. lovely control on the typography – good work chief
cheers
just aving fun with this competition 
Here’s my second entry
Would love some comments please!!
http://www.flickr.com/photos/adammarsh/3773729082/
my first experiment
http://www.flickr.com/photos/40756263@N04/3766723913/in/pool-psdtuts
but i dont know why it is not included in flicker pool of deltadawn
please help me
You need at least 5 photos uploaded in your Flickr account
I do have have uploaded on flicr and nothing,… it past more than a week
Here is my entry:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/41003592@N06/3774155019/
I know that you have to credit the stock images, but I see that some are using logos from popular game developers like Activision, EA, etc. Is it ok to use their logos on our entries?
This sounds really awesome!
This sounds really awesome !
My entry is almost complete, but I have a question:
I’ve created my entry almost entirely out of original textures and images, taken with my camera. Will I be required to prove that I created these images myself, by supplying the images with metadata?
Thanks.
Sounds cool.. I guess you just dont have to list anything then
My third and final entry : http://www.flickr.com/photos/gaksdesigns/3778611289/
my designs….
http://www.flickr.com/photos/40756263@N04/3778532547/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/40756263@N04/3775481349/in/photostream/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/40756263@N04/3766723913/in/photostream/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/40756263@N04/3766680011/in/photostream/
please comment it since they are my firs experiments so i need your help to improve
I like the first and the last one… too much rain on the first one in my opinion though. great work
My entry:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/markmd/3781282483/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/leeislee/3782870402/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/41050668@N05/3784557062/in/pool-psdtuts
So, that’s all? the contest end? now waitng the winner
Good luck for every one.
Remember , even making a piece of art you are adicted to be a winner
http://www.flickr.com/photos/26153128@N05/3784634069/
Here is my submission !!
Congratulations to every one who took time to participate, and good luck to all !
I have entered
My work http://www.flickr.com/photos/41105127@N03/3786059340/in/pool-psdtuts
Good look for everyone
*sorry luck =)
Good Luck Everyone
here is my entry
http://www.flickr.com/photos/40844392@N08/3786144804/
my submission,hope someone likes it
http://www.flickr.com/photos/41039843@N02/3786340360/
Here’s my entry. Wish I saw the contest earlier, I probably would have done something completely different.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/nextmemory/3785802115/
well time is almost up
good luck to everyone – iv had a great time designing for this competition – and seen some great work
im looking forward to the next competition 
BRING IT ON!!!!
My submission for the contest:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/47543026@N00/3784339236/
Mine here too!
http://www.flickr.com/photos/40746194@N04/3786368245/in/pool-psdtuts
mine isn’tcoming up in the searches?
Can someone please explain what happened to my pictures that i uploaded a while ago???? They were there before and they’re tagged exactly as they should, they’re not flagged either which i checked. I’m extremely disappointed by this because i had put a lot of effort and time into these pictures! These are the links for the pictures and can someone please tell me what’s going on:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/40844392@N08/3785606467/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/40844392@N08/3766263799/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/40844392@N08/3762940046/
my entry:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/27621130@N06/3781602384/
here’s mine: http://www.flickr.com/photos/40726697@N06/3756237673/
the winner is : http://www.flickr.com/photos/moonstyle/3761844604/
It`s weird cause in the competition was saying that develop a game cover near future or at least now age, in ur pict. is planes from world war 2
)))
Was wondering about the same thing. Some of the Prologs are very creative to but dont quite reflect the brief.
Looks nice all! Good luck
what about M16?
Yeah that’s what i mean M16 is fine
but the WW2 planes a little bit wrong, but don’t worry man 
everything will be Cool
quite cocky for a guy that use artwork as stock image, and anachronic elements in a composition…
when are winners announced?
Great contest, great entries… can’t wait to see who wins! I don’t envy the judges!
Damn, Submitted mine last night, before deadline but forgot to post it here. Here it is:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/quintinschnehage/3787829454/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/quintinschnehage/3787953970/
Damn. Submitted mine last night, before tge deadline, but forgot to post it here. Here it is:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/quintinschnehage/3787829454/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/quintinschnehage/3787953970/
PLease see my entries:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/40810155@N07/3786773256/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/40810155@N07/3786773256/
I’m 13 by the way
Hey guys just cant understand why i cant see my pict but i see only the rest pict of this competition? i upload a picture and tagged them as it spouse to be (psdeltadawn)
http://www.flickr.com/photos/40844392@N08/3785606467/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/40844392@N08/3766263799/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/40844392@N08/3762940046/
take a look:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/wobi52/3785301863/in/pool-psdtuts
Hi. This is my entry: http://www.flickr.com/photos/40746194@N04/3786368245/in/pool-psdtuts
but it is not coming up in the searches? Will it still be judged?
Would be awesome if I got a reply! =D
…and good luck everyone!!
Hey James I have the same problem man
)) i tagged my Pict (psdeltadawn) and after i go to see if it work , i type in the search bar PSDELTADAWN , i look over all images but cant c my own 
)) i don’t know whats happened 
I hope they come up =]
GOOD LUCK ALL
I think you guys might need to add them to the PSDTuts photo pool… I think you’re a tad late, though.
no Quintin. It’s in the PSDTUTS pool.
Have you checked the entry?
good luck slavik!
Guys read what others write. “You need at least 5 photos uploaded in your Flickr account” by Henry Hoffman
kiziel the entries come up in the PSDTUTS (pool) group
Ok… contest is over… The bad thing is that I actually came up with a good idea too late!!! But i`m happy with my entries:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/40799201@N08/3775799995/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/40799201@N08/3776609616/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/40799201@N08/3750212676/
Hey guys,
when reading throug the comments, I got a little courious if my entry is being listed. Since I didn’t get any feedback yet (im not fishing right here for any tho
) i was wondering if its public. i did get some views on it, but since i told some friends about it, i can’t tell if its just them following my links.
the first one of my two is this one, so maybe you could please tell me if you have already seen it around.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/nugun/3784907408/in/photostream/
really appreciate your effort
and thx for the inspiring artworks you guys posted during this contest
good luck to all
checked it myself again. it appears in the psdtuts+ pool but not after searching for psdeltadawn.
hope that doesnt disqualify me…
i entered in time, btw
me too.. if it does disqualify us I think it’s unfair!!!!
But I’m confident in PSDTUTS staff! =D
Do u know how to change ur profile picture here?
You need to get gravatar.com account. It’s easy peasy!
Thx bro
)
can some1 pls lemme know where and when the winners are announced?
Looking at previous contests, there will probably be a separate post on the main page with the list of winners/finalists…
The last contest results took about a week.
Hehe
cant wait 
My parents wouldn’t let me enter cuz it’s a MILITARY theme but here is my work.
http://s735.photobucket.com/albums/ww356/David_Wood/?action=view¤t=DeltaDawn3.jpg
Why wouldn’t your parents let you enter? Only because of the Military theme? What’s the problem with that?
shame… your entry looks quite good
Thanks guys! I like it too. Mainly I couldn’t enter cuz they viewed it as promoting violence. I viewed it in the spirit of fun and art. But I kinda understand their thinking. Still, I’m really bummed out since I think it stood a good chance of snagging 2nd or 3rd and I could really use the prizes (and the recognition would be awesome too)
. A friend who’s a pro PS user for a living said the only thing that needed to be fixed is the kerning between the L and T on the front. 
did we had to post the link also here? or its not an obligation? i just uploaded it to the group of psd.
I just uploaded to the psdtuts flickr pool as well. I don’t think it was a requirement to post the link to your entry here…. people just wanted to
The waiting is the worst part!
Apart from hopes of mine placing, but also to see what does win and to get to see the comments on them.
totally agree!
Seconded.
I’m definitely in favour of putting the PSD files up somewhere… I’ve seen some stunning designs and would love to know how they were pulled off!
yeah… and I would love to know if they have actually seen my entry
so when do we know who won?
When they make a contestwinners topic in the contest section, just like they did with new dawn.
Check out that topic, it also explains how winners are devided and that runner-ups are mentioned also.
After this weekend you’ll probably know who won.
i thing the interesting thing would be that the winner have the possibility to make a tutorial of his entry , don’t you think ?
yes i was thinking the same ! the a great idea!