[Do: Pilgrims of the Flying Temple] Layout Process Timelapse Video



Here's a new timelapse video (and quasi-tutorial) of how I laid out the first part of Do: Pilgrims of the Flying Temple. It includes plenty of notes on my decision-making process and rules of thumb I follow when I start a project. This video is condensed from a four-hour session, so things move fast and the changes can sometimes be hard to detect.

Watch in HD to see every text style setting and dialog window. I hope you find this information useful as you lay out your own games.

If you have any questions, feel free to ask. Otherwise, just enjoy watching the layout process.

» Original illustrations by Liz Radtke
» More about Do: Pilgrims of the Flying Temple
» Music Playlist:

"Troublemakers"
by Matt S Wilson

"Departures"
"Over the Northern Mountains"
"Legends of the North"
"Reunion"
"Traveling Minstrels"
by Mattias Westlund, distributed under a CC-BY license.

Comments

  1. Joe McdaldnoMarch 12, 2011 at 5:19 PM

    I would love some explanation of "aligned to a 12pt baseline grid."

    I thought I knew what that meant, and then recently had some conversations that led me to believe I'm actually lost.

    How does one align text to a 12pt (or whatever) baseline grid? What does that mean?

    ReplyDelete
  2. Daniel SolisMarch 12, 2011 at 5:45 PM

    Happy to help! So, a baseline is the imaginary line followed by the letters in a block text. An easy example is to look at the text you're reading right now. Note how the bottoms of most of the letters are all pretty much lined up with each other, with some exceptions like the p, y, and q. That shared "bottom" is the baseline.

    Now, you can have two separate blocks of text and they won't necessarily have the same baseline. Compare the text in this comment with the text in the sidebars. No coordination at all, right?

    Baseline grids are a tool you can use so that all your text across the whole document shares a baseline.

    When we say "12 pt baseline grid" that actually means there is a baseline at every 12 points. When I set a text style to "Align to Baseline Grid," I'm making it so that all text will have 12 points of leading. When text exceeds 12 points in size, it just gets knocked down to the next 12 point baseline.

    Why do this? If you're very fussy about your type, it will make sure all your text is structured on the same parameters. It shows you're considering the smallest fundamentals of your layout. Lay readers will fall into a nice rhythm while they read the text.

    Also, design nerds will like you. :P

    If you don't care about that stuff, then ignore this whole issue. In my case, I keep all my body text and headlines aligned to a baseline grid, but in some cases I need to break out of the grid out of necessity. Use your best judgment in those cases and good luck with your future design!

    ReplyDelete
  3. AnonymousMarch 16, 2011 at 4:23 PM

    This is great, Daniel! You seem to be using a tool I'm unfamiliar with, where you've got a text box, and then you draw an area overlapping it (first appearing in green) and the text moves to accommodate that.

    What tool is that? Thanks!

    ReplyDelete
  4. Daniel SolisMarch 16, 2011 at 4:28 PM

    I think you're talking about the use of text wraps. You can take any object or grouped object in InDesign and make text flow around it. Simply select your desired object. To access the Text Wrap palette, go to the main menu under Window>Text Wrap. There, you'll see a bunch of options you can play around with. In my case, I like to draw a shape, make remove any stroke or fill, then add a text wrap to it. You can also simply apply a text wrap directly to an image, but it can be a little tricky manually adjusting the wrapping path.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Joe McdaldnoMay 8, 2011 at 9:18 AM

    I would love some explanation of "aligned to a 12pt baseline grid."

    I thought I knew what that meant, and then recently had some conversations that led me to believe I'm actually lost.

    How does one align text to a 12pt (or whatever) baseline grid? What does that mean?

    ReplyDelete
  6. davidbergMay 8, 2011 at 9:18 AM

    This is great, Daniel! You seem to be using a tool I'm unfamiliar with, where you've got a text box, and then you draw an area overlapping it (first appearing in green) and the text moves to accommodate that.

    What tool is that? Thanks!

    ReplyDelete

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