Chris Glenn comments on ToEE's Box Art

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(Originally posted by Gopher)

Here are recent D&D: The Temple of Elemental Evil forum highlights. Please take into account that these are only single parts of various threads and should not be taken out of context. Bear in mind also that the posts presented here are copied as-is, and that any bad spelling and grammar does not get corrected on our end.

Chris Glenn, Troika's Concept Artist, commenting on the ToEE box art, chosen by Atari:

Chris Glenn, Concept Artist

I don't like the Box Art, why can't you change it?

Alright guys, here's the official word. The box art that I delivered to Atari and the box art on the box are two different things altogether. Someone up at Atari thinks they know what they are doing and did some auful things to the delivered art, and that includes the incredibly awful piss-yellow fog. Everyone here hates the piss fog.

Mike and I went back and forth with Atari after they made their first changes and we were able to rectify most of them ourselves on our end. Unfortunately, they still went ahead and made their own changes anyway.

All in all, we've been dissapointed with the results from Atari. We still haven't seen the final game logo. All the ones we've seen so far are pretty bad. When the game ships I'll post my original version on my website.

Quote: Um, are you specifically talking about the box art, or in general?

Box art, ads, logos. We are fortunate that we get to give Atari any feedback at all. We give them our opinions on stuff, and some times they listen and sometimes they don't. That's all part of it, it's their money, their game, their marketing.

Let me say also that alot of what Atari has done has been very cool and very good. I don't want to blanket all of Atari with negativity. Alot of those guys are kicking ass.

Quote: Is this the way things are usually done, that the graphics used in advertisements and packaging aren't done by the people who do graphics for the game

Yes, this is the way things are normally done. Most often, a developer doesn't have the time or extra resources to have someone work on promo paintings and marketing stuff. This is all handled by the publisher and their marketing department.

An no, please do not petition Atari to change box art stuff. It's too inconsequential to make a big deal out of. But thanks for the props

Quote: If the developer does not have time to do such things, why does Troika have time to do such things and even then those things are not accepted as those things were, but those things will even then be changed by the publisher?

well, our box art situation was outside of the norm. They originally had Brom do the box art, but Atari didn't like what he turned in, but they had liked some of my previous "promo paintings". So, they decided to give me a shot at doing a cover image, and if they liked it better than Brom's, then they would go with it. I had a bit of free time in my schedule at that point, so I gave it a shot.

It was a hook-up for both parties. They got a better image, and I got a chance at doing a high profile illustration. I feel very fortunate to have had that opportunity.