They could still say that we didn't tell the signees what it actually was for. If you do have two pages we need some kind of statement at the top stating they read the actual petition.

I was thinking about that two page thing as well Jake. We have to make this legally sound.

Hmmm...

I see. So the situation is a bit more complicated than I had once thought. If that is the case, I shall wait until I hear from Jake-A-Roonie's attorney about that. Afterall, no use making a petition if it is completely legally unsound, right?

Stoney, I believing you were talking to some artists about a logo. Have they made any progress on that yet?

I'm familiar with CuteLucca's work. It's great to know that you two are friends -- she might be able to help us with the site's art, too.

All of those images are excellent (Magus just looks damn cool, and that little girl is looking up Robo's "skirt", LOL) and it seems like a shame to only be able to include one of them in the background image, like Apoc suggests...so, why not just include all of them? A little bit of Photoshopping would allow the images to fade into each other, so they all could be grouped together on one page. (I suggest having Crono's pic in the middle, with the six others circling around him.)

Of course, there's always the problem that the art might be too different from the "official" CT art; ergo, some people might not recognize the characters, or they might be turned off by how different the art style is. We need to carefully measure the advantages of such an action versus its possible disadvantages in order to decide whether it is what we should do.

I agree with Apoc that colored images are better at grabbing someone's attention than Black-and-White ones are. Ideally, whatever background art we use should be colored.



So, Apoc thinks we should merge the Title Page and the Petition Statement page together, hmm? That might be okay, but we'd better make sure that the petition's text will be visible (and thus, readable) when superimposed over the background image, whatever it might be.



Hmm, the possible legal consequences of separate Petition and Signature pages hadn't occurred to me. I think we need to discuss that with a lawyer to see if our fears are justified, but in the meantime, the petition might indeed be simpler to print out if it has less pages...

All right, very well then. It might be easiest to have everything be on one page. Just don't ask me to help with calculating signature amounts if the number of spaces doesn't have a factor of ten -- I'm terrible at math.



No, Apoc, I haven't heard anything back about the logo -- mainly because Jake said at CTRP that the logo would stay as-is. But again, I must declare that I REALLY dislike that logo on the site -- all it says is "Chrono Trigger Petition". It doesn't specify that this petition is for a remake of the game, and that's why I dislike it so much.

In other news, BrownMan has put together a neat little sig for us -- it's in the Bad News thread at CTRP, but you may have to go back a couple pages in the thread to find it.

You mean this?

I agree, it is a tad more original, and a bit more to the point. Would this be acceptable to use?

As for CuteLucca's work, I do like them. Colored work would stand out better though. I am willing to work with the images provided though. Something showing all characters at once would also better. The problem is, those pictures are so large and detailed, that they likely won't fit (and look good) on the page if all used simulataneously.

As for the merger of the title page and petition statement page, I am aware of the possible problem. The text in the petition statement has to be readable. As such, the background image has to be relatively light in color so as to make the black text easily readable. This of course, further limits our possible choices of artwork... which could be a problem I suppose.

That logo would be cool for sigs Actually I was going to have Nathan add the word "remake" in there on that site too...

As far as the background art, because it does need to be readable over the background image, that's actually why I suggested the black-and-white ones. Fade those images a bit and it'd be fine.

As for the different ones or whatever, I could go either way. Use one on a page and let people pick which one they like, or photoshop them all together... I think the quality would be ok if we photoshopped 'em...especially for a watermark background image. Either way is fine with me.

I really, REALLY am an advocate of having everything on one page... And yeah, the fear about having Square say the two pages weren't both presented to signees...it is justified, I've seen it happen before. (Not with Square, but with other petitions in general.) And should we do that, we'll expand the margins just a little so we can hopefully have 20 lines per page.

In that case, Jake, I have no more objections towards the petition's design. Let's go for it!



It's too bad that nobody else besides BrownMan has come forward with sigs for us to use...we could really use some help with 'em...

Hmmmm... very well. It is decided then. It shall be on one page. There shall be different versions of the petition for each character, using the artwork faded in the background.

I shall try and make one. I have photoshop, though I am not exactly an expert with it. I'll see what I can come up with. I think I'll use the picture Brownman provided as our "logo" for now, as nothing else as of yet has been provided. I should have something to show later today, unless something stops me from doing it.


*edit*

Here is that picture of Magus from earlier. I faded it out a bit, and gave it a slightly bluish hue (that is the color usually associated with Magus.) Anyway, is this light enough? Also... for the hue (if you want it) I would like to know what colors you recommend for each character.

Ok... so far I have a basic design, I don't want to show it until I put the picture in the background. Anyway... I got the banner in (it looks really good, actually), and have edited it just a little to allow for twenty signatures. I am ready to insert the picture in to the background of the document. While I have seen it done before, I've never done it myself... so this might take quite a while of tinkering around with Microsoft Word... *sigh...*


*Edit #2*
CT Petition prototype
That is my prototype of the petition thus far. I wanted to stretch the image out to cover the entire petition, but I couldn't get the transparency effect with the banner to work correctly... thus it looked odd. Thus I just have it centered over the page. What do you think? Any suggestions?

Your link doesn't work for me
As for the hue colors:
Crono- Red
Marle- Yellow
Lucca- Purple
Frog/ Glenn- Green
Ayla- Brown maybe
Robo- maybe siler Not sure about him or Ayla
and Magus works fine with blue.

Up to you guys though.

Strange... it seems geocities is out or something. That being the case, I'd gladly email it to someone who CAN host it for me. Anyone?

Actually, I was thinking something different for the colors. I've listed my suggestions below, and have placed my reasons for associating certain colors with certain characters in parentheses.

Crono = Red (his hair)

Marle = Blue / Light Blue (her clothes and her element)

Lucca = Orange (her clothes and her element)

Frog = Green (his skin color)

Robo = Brown / Tan (his hull's color)

Ayla = Yellow (her hair)

Magus = Purple (his clothes, specifically his cloak)


With this arrangement, we would be able to use all the colors of the rainbow.


I've said it before, and I'll say it again: I really think it would be better to have ALL the characters included on one page. Apoc, you could use Photoshop to cut out most of each character's image and just leave their heads, which you could then group together with Crono in the middle, and everyone else circling around him. Each image can be faded in their respective color like you suggest, so that they are noticeable but not disruptive. Having all the characters, and thus all of the colors, would provide a nice contrast and a more visually-appealing image. Also, everyone has a favorite Chrono Trigger playable character, and you never know -- some people might be much more likely to sign the petition if their favorite character is in its background. So the only way we can make sure we have everyone's favorite playable character (and thus, get the maximum possible amount of signatures) is to include all of the characters, together. It's the logical choice.

Hmmm... so I suppose you were able to see my "prototype" petition then, Stoney? Didn't like it, eh? *sigh...* Well I suppose the first try wouldn't be perfect.

Now that I look it over, your color choice seems to make more sense. My only problem was with Marle and Magus. Purple and Blue aren't all that different... especially when the image is really faded out.

As for the whole... "headcut" idea... I suppose I can give it a try. I have a bad feeling about it though. I don't think it'll look too good in the end; especially with my limited photoshop experience...

Hey, no one ever said we can't do both.

Personally I like Marle (though I'd just as quickly be carrying around a Schala petition), and let's say I take it to my friend and encourage him to start gathering signatures too. Well, he thinks Magus is teh awesomeness, so he'd get to carry around a Magus petition. OR, for those who want it all, we can photoshop them all into one. These documents are not huge, so it's really not that big of a deal to host 8 different forms of the petition in 3 different formats (Word, HTML, PDF).

Personally I wouldn't cut the images down to the heads, just because by having the rest of them, that's part of what makes them recognizable. (If you didn't know that was supposed to be Lucca, for instance, the only way you'd have recognized her at a glance was from that helmet laying at her side.) Their outfits and accessories are part of the trademark look, and CuteLucca's improvement on each outfit is part of what gives the "new and remade" idea. ...Least, I think so.

I just want this thing to actually get moving so that I can gather my share of signatures quickly and focus a little more on another project I might be taking on... This sure is exciting though!

Hmmm... so let me think a moment. You want me to make multiple versions; a few with seperate pictures of a specific character... and one with all of the characters in shrunken images? Not impossible, I guess. I can work better on it once I get the new computer (my current one sucks... and loading photoshop takes forever), which should be tommorow. I'll try my best to have something that looks relatively pleasing to the eye. You might have to wait a few days for me to get everything together though; what with the current computer I have (with all the data on it) being given to someone else.

Wish me luck.

(p.s. ...did anyone ever bother looking at that "prototype" I posted a little while back? I would've liked to hear a few opinions on it since I'm not sure if you guys like that layout or not...)

Okay, that's cool, Jake. Just as long as there's a version with all the characters, I don't mind a bit.

Apoc, I did see your prototype, and I actually thought it looked like "teh awesomeness", to quote Jake. The Magus image was faded just enough to be noticeable without being distracting, so very good job on that. But like I said, we could make Magus's color be purple instead of blue so we can use all the rainbow's colors. If you're worried about his and Marle's colors looking too much alike, use Light Blue for Marle and Violet for Magus. Those colors should be different enough to not get confused.

Also, I'm not certain we can use BrownMan's sig as the logo for the petition...for one thing, it uses the Chrono Trigger logo and a Crono sprite, both of which are copyrighted by Square-Enix. And we all know how picky that company is about their copyrights.

...Well at least I know how much to fade it. I'll re do the color for Magus to a more... purple hue. No worries about that. As for the logo, I'm a little worried about that myself. That logo does look quite nice, but I suppose it might be a problem. We need a good replacement around that same size though, if we plan to replace it; that is. Until I get something to replace it with, it'll just have to remain like that.

Anyway, I should probably wait until tommorow to do that. With the new computer coming its going to be chaos for a little while getting everything reinstalled, but with any luck... I should be able to at least get started on your recommended designs.

Uh-oh...Apoc, you've just jinxed yourself.

For those of you who don't personally own a computer: getting all of your programs to transfer themselves to a new OS and work properly is like trying to create lasting peace in the Middle East, but less likely to occur in your lifetime.

I forgot to mention this before, so I will now: Apoc, I'm glad you fixed your prototype petition so it has 20 spaces for signatures on the page. Wise choice.

You don't need to worry about it. It shall be the same OS. Believe me, I'm very computer fluent... I mean, I AM a COMPUTER/Electrical Engineer, afterall. I think...

It will take a while to burn all of the stuff to get it over though. It'll be... annoying...

I'm going to be out of commission for a little while longer. Katrina kicked my ass, (I live in New Orleans) and I need to find a new school and replace my possessions. Sorry. I'll be back to help as soon as I can. My cell number is (651-343-7803). You can reach me there at any point during the day. I'll be happy to help if you give me a call, but I don't have time to read all the responses since my last post, or to check new responses until a bit later. My name's Pete, just so you know who you're calling.

I know he won't read this, but I'm glad he is ok. I hope he can get back to a relatively normal life soon.

Edit: I know you are here, and I'm glad you got through the hurricane in one piece. The pictures I have seen from down there look really really bad. I have heard New Orleans won't be the same for maybe even years. I'll be praying for everyone down there.

Yeah, the stuff they're showing on TV is mainly for emotional shock value. It's actually worse than that, but they can't portray it with pictures. New Orleans is screwed for a long time. I can fill you in on why later.