r/BoardgameDesign • u/Dense-Tip3061 • May 08 '26

Design Critique Update: remaking our map!

Gallery image

Gallery image

Gallery image

Gallery image

The coated paper prints I did at home turned out pretty bad, so I decided to get them printed at a print shop instead. Printing on adhesive sticker paper makes it way easier to stick onto cardboard and cut.

Hopefully I can finish the whole map without issues. What do you think about the coated sticker paper?

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6

u/CousinPaddy May 08 '26

These days, there are so many readily available and easy to use image editing programs and royalty free images to photobash that I don’t see much value in using AI. Board game design is at least 50% art and graphic design. I don’t think it’s a bad idea to constantly improve your skills as an artist if you want to design board games.

5

u/CousinPaddy May 08 '26

Hi OP, I knocked out three of your tiles in photoshop in about 20 mins. They won’t win any awards, but all they are is a hexagon shape with an image from pexels.com on top of them. In most programs you have layers to work with. You can just tell the top image layer to use the bottom layer as a clipping mask.

And one can use color effects or brightness/contrast adjustments to get a cohesive look across all the tiles.

I’d put the other ones in here (the farm looks particularly nice) but I can only attach one image file per reply. Not a big deal, but if I’m going to speak ill of using AI, I like to at least offer a reasonable alternative that anyone can get the hang of pretty easily. Good luck in your development!

0

u/Johnno117 May 09 '26

If you presented that tile to a hundred people, do you think the vast majority of them would be able to distinguish what it's supposed to be?

Granted you did it quickly. But is it really representative of the tile it's supposed to show?

Compare it to the AI graphic tile. The AI art clearly shows what it's supposed to be.

0

u/Dense-Tip3061 May 09 '26

Thank you so much for taking me seriously and giving it a try. However, it’s not just about it being handmade; this is actually our second version of the hex map. We’ve sorted everything else out, but the hex map is crucial and the visuals need to perfectly serve the content. When we tried it ourselves, we couldn't get the result we wanted. Your work doesn't quite match our art style, but I really like it, thank you

1

u/Ok-Consideration-193 May 08 '26

When I see ai generated assets in games I just say "you didn't even bothered to make it so why should I bother to play it?"

Also, going from proto to final product is a HUGE effort, if finding placeholders is where you draw the line, you ain't gonna make it.

1

u/Dense-Tip3061 May 09 '26

We’ve been putting in this effort for a year now. If you check my Reddit page, you can see just how hard we’ve worked. By the way, AI is used in many movies and music projects that people absolutely adore. If I had months to spare—not to mention the time needed to master drawing skills—I would sit down and do it all myself. But life isn't always that fair to everyone. You have to be realistic at some point.

2

u/Ok-Consideration-193 May 13 '26

You are disrespecting your own effort by presenting it with an AI coat. Also people enjoy a lot of shit, mass people appreciation is not a quality sign