VGCollect Forum
General and Gaming => Hardware and Tech => Topic started by: darko on February 06, 2012, 10:42:46 pm
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Thought I'd start a thread to discuss custom label/case options for various carts/discs. @azai392 started a thread earlier today asking about N64 case options and I've been toying with a little project this evening that ended up solving my issue of loose GBA games.
I snagged some GBA box scans turned into DS labels from: http://thecoverproject.net
I ordered some empty DS cases directly from Nintendo: Nintendo Store (US)
I took the images to OfficeMax and had them printed on "100 lb Elite Glossy Text" paper (practically the same thing Nintendo uses). I also had them use a LaserJet printer.
And finally, I cut out the labels and popped them into the cases.
Everything came out better than I expected.
The lighting sucks since it's midnight and my phone's camera doesn't get along with the glossy cover on the cases. Regardless, here are a few pics of what I ended up with (they don't look hazy in person):
Just because I had a case-less DS game lying around:
There is literally no difference in this versus the label for the game. It's really crazy how well it turned out. If you feel the paper on any of my complete DS games and compare you can't tell a difference.
I'll eventually have the boxes to all of the games I did this for but honestly, I'll probably start displaying all of my GBA games like this. They fit much better on my shelves and I don't have to worry about messing up the original boxes.
The total project cost me ~$40. It would have been less but I had to buy an Exacto knife and a Triangle for the cutting since I'm anal and didn't trust the people who printed the covers to cut them. I ordered 20 game cases from Nintendo for ~$20 and the printing was ~$10.
I'm very happy with the results besides Mario Kart. I'll probably spend some more time getting the top just right so there isn't that little extra white on the top of the spine...like I said, I'm anal :)
Has anyone else tackled this type of project? Would love to see some pics if you have!
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I have ton of caseless gba games and that seems like a really cheap solution. I may do something like this.
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im with you, i just used the cover project to make all my cases for my gba games and i gotta say they look great. hats off to those people its a great resource. I even found virtual boy cases scans there!
you can see my pics under the game room pics thread.
nice work
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http://www.mediashelving.com/Merchant2/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Store_Code=W&Product_Code=USCG
I use these for my loose carts.
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http://www.mediashelving.com/Merchant2/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Store_Code=W&Product_Code=USCG
I use these for my loose carts.
I'll be doing the same soon for SNES, N64 and Genesis games. I'll probably go with 200 to start off and see what kind of space issues I have after that. I'll get everything in a nice case after I have some custom shelving put in.
I'll probably end up putting all of my cart based games in custom cases and storing the boxes so everything looks nice and tidy. Some of the collector's on thecoverproject have amazing looking collections...all in custom cases.
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I snagged some GBA box scans turned into DS labels from: http://thecoverproject.net
Yeah! I looked into that site when you put it on my thread and it is suuuuper awesome and I can't wait to use those Universal case to put my bigger carts in and these DS cases for the rest. I really like the look of the Boxes on my shelves.
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I love loose games, they take up so much less space! If I have a choice I will always buy the most complete verson I can find but my GBA games are just in nice little stacks. As I get more I plan to do up a binder to keep them in.
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I love loose games, they take up so much less space! If I have a choice I will always buy the most complete verson I can find but my GBA games are just in nice little stacks. As I get more I plan to do up a binder to keep them in.
I always get frustrated digging through them to find what I want. Plus, they're difficult to display without a case.
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My gba carts being loose is the reason the dogs ate Metroid NES Classics, Gunstar Super Heroes and Castlevania Aria of Sorrow. And teeth marked Castlevania NES Classics... :(
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I've been doing this with some original GB games I didn't have boxes for, now I'm working on some loose NGPC games. It takes a little modification to the case, but can be done with minimal effort.
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Most games I don't mind being loose, but some I just feel boxes are almost necessary (Who the hell throws out a plastic clamshell Genesis box?!)
Loose game certainly do fit WAY better on a shelf, and look really nice doing it unless the are an odd proportion. Most of loose games are just on shelves, but in the old days when I had a TON of duplicate NES games, I had them on a pile on the floor in the corner of my room that reached the ceiling. I was so lucky that it didn't topple before I was able to sell them all.
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Holy crap...these are amazing! Minimalist
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very very nicely done! i'll take some for all of my gameboy games.
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Inspired by that minimalist artwork, I decided to give it a try. Really just messing around but it's a start!
With front logo:

Without front logo (like this one better):


Thoughts?
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That looks really cool! I really like the beam that goes around the case.
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I love loose games, they take up so much less space! If I have a choice I will always buy the most complete verson I can find but my GBA games are just in nice little stacks. As I get more I plan to do up a binder to keep them in.
how do you manage that exactly? i found because of the 'lip' on the top front they become unstackable so to speak. (tips over for me once you stack more than around 6)
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That's dead sexy. Makes me want to work up some custom covers for my gba games! :D
edit: looking at it again. I'd put spaces between Mega Man and Zero, having them together seems off...
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edit: looking at it again. I'd put spaces between Mega Man and Zero, having them together seems off...
Yeah, I debated that but I couldn't decide if I wanted to put Megaman Zero, Mega Man Zero, or MegaMan Zero so I pushed it all together :)
I also toyed with Mega.Man.Zero.
If anyone actually wants to print it out then I can make it whichever way you want. It takes approximately 2 seconds to change.
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Also... shouldn't Zero be on the cover? :P
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@person420 I think the tallest pile that I have is only 7 tall anyway so I just have 4 stacks of 7 each.
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Also... shouldn't Zero be on the cover? :P
Well now you're just getting too technical!
Honestly, I wanted something clean and a high res image of Zero that doesn't have a bunch of junk on it is a tall order, apparently.
I'd really like to find a solid image to make a minimalist GBA MegaMan & Bass cover.
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@scott

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Now that is sexy. <3 Zero
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One more and I'll quit :)


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I just ordered 30 more empty ds game cases. That should be enough to get all of my GBA games out of the way. I'll post a pick when that project is complete. I'm going to try to modify a few to fit GBC and GB carts in as well.
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I may do something like that eventually. It would be a fun art project.
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I may do something like that eventually. It would be a fun art project.
Well it's really inexpensive. The 30 cases cost me less than $30 shipped. The labels cost me ~ 1.00 to have printed. So I'm out less than buying one new game for the 360 or PS3 and I think the results are well worth that.
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Yeah I ordered around 30 as well for my GB, GBC, GBA, and Game Gear games. I can't wait. =D
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Yeah I ordered around 30 as well for my GB, GBC, GBA, and Game Gear games. I can't wait. =D
I'd do it for my gb and gbc games... But I have like 60 gb games alone. Ha
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Well I have my GBA games done. Now I'm working on GB and GBC. It's a little bit of a mess to deal with but I'll figure something out!



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@darko So the GB and GBC games will actually clip into the GBA holder? and rest on the DS holder? Man that's some impressive effort into making them fit. haha
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It's an interesting situation, that's for sure. The games fit upside down in the case perfectly. Or, you can cut part of the plastic above the GBA holder to make them fit right side up. I'm going with upside down. It gets even better when you add a GB manual since they are a few centimeters too long to fit in the DS manual spot. More cutting..yeah.
I'm probably going to either A) buy a dremel or B) loose my mind cutting away at 30 of these bastards with a box cutter.
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Haha ya ill pass on making them work for my gb games... I have double that and would eventually slice off a finger.
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I just ordered 30 DS boxes so I can put my GBA games in them. woot. Hopefully it turns into a nice little art project.
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They will look great! I have to get one done for Ninja Five-O now :)
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If anyone has any trouble finding DS cases here is a link to get some after market cases.
http://www.supermediastore.com/product/u/supermediastore-standard-size-nintendo-single-black-ds-case-50pk?utm_source=cj&utm_term=AC-001-2985&utm_medium=aff&utm_content=CD%2FDVD+Cases&utm_campaign=googleBase+-+AC (http://www.supermediastore.com/product/u/supermediastore-standard-size-nintendo-single-black-ds-case-50pk?utm_source=cj&utm_term=AC-001-2985&utm_medium=aff&utm_content=CD%2FDVD+Cases&utm_campaign=googleBase+-+AC)
Someone at TCP has already created a thread for these, concerning quility and etc.
http://www.thecoverproject.net/forums/index.php?topic=10349.0 (http://www.thecoverproject.net/forums/index.php?topic=10349.0)
I will say they are cheap, but you get what you pay for.
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I would still order them from Nintendo as long as they are available. They're not price prohibitive and they're the real deal!
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I don't blame you, but from what I have heard they are phasing out the DS cases with the GBA slot. :-\
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Well that sucks!
I have ~ 20 left over since I decided that making cases for GB/GBC games is too much of a pain. Glad I stocked up!
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I ordered 3 sets of 10 and they were $7 per. So that's less then buck a piece. Suuuuuper reasonable.
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Well that sucks!
I have ~ 20 left over since I decided that making cases for GB/GBC games is too much of a pain. Glad I stocked up!
Also I'm in no way ever doing game boy games. With over 60 of them that would be so much work it'd prolly lop off a finger.
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Most of my loose carts are stacked on my game shelves. Discs are much easier to deal with, however. I've bought a few games on disc that were missing the artwork, so I downloaded replacements from cdcovers.cc and printed them out. Most are pretty common games (Marvel vs. Capcom 2 [DC] being my only valuable game with a printed insert), so I just printed them out on regular printer paper and cut it to fit a dvd or jewel case. You can tell pretty easily when you pull it off the shelf, but stacked up with everything else it's hard to notice.
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i have some loose games that i would to have box for but nobody makes reproductions of nes or gen boxes but thankfully saskatchewan has a lot nes and gen boxes for some reason
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My 30 DS boxes arrived today, time to start working on my custom labels, wootwoot.
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I was looking at that NeoGAF thread about the minimalist covers, and I think I may try going the route of that ICO & Shadow of the Colossus cover.
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Darko finally took me with him to show me the process in making the new covers. It was quick and cheap and my games look fantastic now. I wish I had like 300 NES cases. Id do it for every game in my NES library.
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Does anyone know where you can find cases like this for NES games? I'd like to do this for some of my more rare games that I don't have boxes for.
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There are several universal game case options out there. Unfortunately I'm fairly certain that most of the manufacturers have stopped producing them. I would find you some links but I'm on my phone right now. Check over at www.thecoverproject.net (http://www.thecoverproject.net). The site is a treasure trove of info on fan made case options.
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I tried playing around with a minimalistic look and didn't like the results I was coming up with, I prefer a more retail look. Looking at some of the custom covers on thecoverproject got me thinking of making custom retail-esque covers much like this Golden Sun: The Lost Age cover
http://www.thecoverproject.net/view.php?cover_id=12494
I like how this has the feel of GameCube boxes.
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If you need some inspiration I would check this thread out. The guy makes some really awesome minimalist style covers.
http://www.thecoverproject.net/forums/index.php?topic=10318.0 (http://www.thecoverproject.net/forums/index.php?topic=10318.0)
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Those are sexy and still retain a retail like look.
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Screw minimalist. I want ballsy as hell, over the top, blinged out cases. Where the damned things glow in the dark when the lights are off from so much color and crap.
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Here's what I've been working on. Took a little bit to get the spacing right, but I'm liking it so far. I went with a Wii box feel, the back is a modified version of the info panel on the Wii box and I just rearranged things a bit. I think the template is done now after a few more tweaks. I'd say I have about 6 hours into it so far.
(http://dl.dropbox.com/u/21697512/MinishCapBox.jpg)
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Thats a nice looking case! Im jealous of the skills. If I made a case, it would look like an etch-a-sketch drawing.
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Thats a nice looking case! Im jealous of the skills. If I made a case, it would look like an etch-a-sketch drawing.
LOL it cant be that bad
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Its that bad.
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Here's what I've been working on. Took a little bit to get the spacing right, but I'm liking it so far. I went with a Wii box feel, the back is a modified version of the info panel on the Wii box and I just rearranged things a bit. I think the template is done now after a few more tweaks. I'd say I have about 6 hours into it so far.
(http://dl.dropbox.com/u/21697512/MinishCapBox.jpg)
The only thing I would be careful with is having so much white on the border. It gets pretty difficult to make perfect cuts when you don't have something on one side to use as a marker.
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Ya I normally make my work area larger and mark the edges with crop marks.
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Looks like I'll be doing some cutting after all. The GBA manuals are a tad too long to fit either way in the box. But if I put them vertically in there I can cut the little lip off the top of the manual slot and they'll fit nicely.
I've also found that I'm going to want to find loose manuals for the games I don't have them for...
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Thats a nice looking case! Im jealous of the skills. If I made a case, it would look like an etch-a-sketch drawing.
Thanks! I went to college for graphic design for a bit, but life got in the way and I never finished. So now I have all these graphic design skills that I only use for personal artwork and vgcollect, haha.
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Looks like I'll be doing some cutting after all. The GBA manuals are a tad too long to fit either way in the box. But if I put them vertically in there I can cut the little lip off the top of the manual slot and they'll fit nicely.
I've also found that I'm going to want to find loose manuals for the games I don't have them for...
Welcome to my world :/
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I got out my dremel tool and fit my manuals in there just fine with a certain sized cut. Looks nice in there too!
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(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v173/NeoPlatinumZero/P4090158.jpg)
This is what I've been doing with my Neo Geo Pocket Color games. All of those are custom artwork from The Cover Project in Nintendo DS cases except the last two, which are original Japanese clam shells.
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Here's the next one. Link to the Past! I actually had a lot of trouble with this, then decided to try playing with gradients and the series staple gold background. I also added a slight drop shadow to the white section to help make it pop. I updated the Minish Cap image as well.
(http://dl.dropbox.com/u/21697512/LinktothePast.jpg)
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You're hired ... any more covers I make are coming from you!
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DAMN!! scott those look sweet.
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Thanks guys, it may take me awhile to knock out 30 of these things...
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Send me your template and I can help you out.
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Oh its cool, I'm enjoying the project and have no problem with however long its going to take.
Of course, if you want to use my template for your own boxes too, you're more than welcome to it.
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I like yours but I'm pretty much committed to the GBA look-a-like images at this point.
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True enough. BTW, when you printed yours, did you have them print more than one per page? I was thinking of having them print as many as possible on one sheet and then just cutting them myself.
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Just do one per page. It sounds crazy but they really wont work any other way. Use 100lb Elite Glossy Text paper (to essentially match what Nintendo uses) in 11x17. You'll have to do some cutting for sure. I would use and exacto blade.
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Ya, I have an x-acto knife and a 24" metal ruler, so I'm set on cutting tools. I'll make a note of the paper type and remember to tell them to laser print them too.
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Yeah, if you don't use a laser jet you might as well print it in black and white.
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Yeah, if you don't use a laser jet you might as well print it in black and white.
the manual for last ninja i have is just black and white and so far i cant find the original manual anywhere
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NNOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO! The Golden Sun 1 & 2 maps don't fit in the cases... siiigh
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Just ordered another 40 cases from Nintendo to buffer myself for new games. ;D
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How many loose games do you have scott?
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I have just under 30 loose gba games currently. But I decided to get more than enough extras to cover me, in case Nintendo discontinue the ones with the gba slot. 40 extra may be a little over kill, but at least I'll have them when I need them. Ha
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That makes sense, let's face it it's not like complete games will start to get easier to find so you will go through them eventually.
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I tend to buy cartridge games loose anyway, and if I plan on picking up some of the GBA's gems, I'll need the extra cases eventually. Not sure if I'll ever need 40 of them, but who knows.
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I did the same thing. I have about 30 extra cases laying around since I'm not going to put my GB/Color games in them.
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You're not going to put your GBA games in them?
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You're not going to put your GBA games in them?
Ha. Fixed :)
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Ha, but ya I looked into the idea of putting GB/GBC games into them and it really don't feel like messing with it. Too much cutting, for sure. Especially when you take into account the number of Game Boy games I own.
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I did it and they turned out pretty good. Used the dremel tool to cut out the game spot and then covered the cut areas with black electrical tape. Then I cut out a certain length above the book slot so that they could fit flat. But I dont have but 3-4 GBC games. So I didnt mind the little effort.
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Using the dremel tool, how did you protect the clear plastic sleeve on the outside of the case?
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Didnt really have to. I put my hand inside the plastic part to hold it. As long as you cut fairly flat, its not an issue.
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Ah, that makes sense. I was imagining the Dremel getting the plastic hot and melting the plastic sleeve on the outside. Or, sticking some thin wood between the two to separate them.
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Figure I'd post these here, since they are now what I am doing with loose games. ;)
(https://dl.dropbox.com/u/21697512/IMG_20120612_195950.jpg)
(https://dl.dropbox.com/u/21697512/IMG_20120612_200010.jpg)
(https://dl.dropbox.com/u/21697512/IMG_20120612_200133.jpg)
and a good shot of the Caravan Heart box I made for Soera (and my own personal copy of the box):
(https://dl.dropbox.com/u/21697512/IMG_20120612_193432.jpg)
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Dead sexy.
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Wow, these are absolutely gorgeous. Very very impressive work.
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I really like that Dragon Quest one. I may have to look into getting myself a copy so I need one of these too.
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Thanks guys! They've been a lot of fun to make and this batch only had one real hiccup, when the printer managed to print them too small yesterday. I went back today and had them redo it and they even let me use their cutter so I could test fit the test print in a DS case right there.
Out of these, I'd say my favorites are the FFVI and Dragon Quest ones.
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I think every box you have made is superior work. I bet you could market them!
As far as the Caravan Heart game, Im in contact with the guy who made the game. He still has 10 copies left (one of them on reserve for Scott) but if you guys want, I can talk to him and have him sell you guys one too. The game is $30 shipped and (if its the same as mine) ships fast with a pretty nice protective GBA cart case. Then you can get one of the big DS cases Scott made and have a nice set. Im going to try to figure out how to get a manual made so its a nice full set! :)
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I think every box you have made is superior work. I bet you could market them!
Thanks, I've been trying to make them as pro-looking as possible. But yeah, I don't think I want to get in the business of custom art sales. haha
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Now ya tell me!!!! :P
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I think every box you have made is superior work. I bet you could market them!
Thanks, I've been trying to make them as pro-looking as possible. But yeah, I don't think I want to get in the business of custom art sales. haha
Fine. You make em and I'll sell em. ;)
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Ha! That sounds like a good idea. :P
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That sounds like work. Ha