The ADOM II Design Competition

As many of you by now probably might have heard, JADE is going to be rebranded and in the future will be called

ADOM II: Legends of Ancardia

This entails a lot of changes and I need some help in the graphical and design areas as my artistic skills are somewhat limited (what do you think why I'm doing ASCII roguelikes ;-) )?

Thus I hereby open the ADOM II Design Competition.

What's the goal?

ADOM II needs a new "corporate design" (if you want to call it that), basically a fresh and modern brand representation. This includes the following parts:

• A new and fresh logo for ADOM II. The conditions here are that the new name must be used. I'm not sure whether to use "ADOM II: Legends of Ancardia" for the logo or "Ancient Domains Of Mystery II" or "ADOM II" (the latter two with "Legends of Ancardia as some kind of subtitle). Suggestions and creative ideas welcome! JADE will not be a prominent feature (at best a "powered by JADE" annotation somewhere but not more). This naturally includes ideas for some kind of color scheme. You also should take into account that ADOM II (formerly known as JADE) will be developed in two editions: the basic free version and a commercial version (ADOM II Deluxe).
• A modern design template for this website (which obviously is based on blogger - so I really am looking for a blogger template) that includes the logo mentioned above and sorts the main components of the current website in some modern, accessible and easy to understand way. Especially the menu area needs to be considered as chances are good that more menu items will be added in the future. Names for menu items naturally can and will be adjusted with the transition from the JADE to the ADOM II brand. The blog will be only one part of the new website, thus it needs a landing page that includes access to ADOM II: Legends of Ancardia, ADOM II Deluxe and the good old trusty ADOM.
• A design idea for the ADOM II manual, again incorporating the basic CI as defined above. The future manual will be done with Indesign and produced as a PDF (and probably later on - when it is more finished - also as a print edition with Lulu, so Lulu hardcover and softcover print sizes should not be violated)
• A design idea for the new main screen of the game itself (as well as the splash screen - but the latter probably will be rather obvious and simple).

I am looking for submissions with suggestions for these requirements. Optimally all these requirements would be satisfied by one suggestion but if that doesn't work out I'm willing to mix and match.

What would I like to receive in a submission?

• Design proposals with graphical representations for the items mentioned above.
• All design proposals submitted until January 24th will be considered. Either post links or send submissions to creator(at)ancientdomainsofmystery.com. If you send an e-mail feel free to post samples somewhere and include links in this place.
• Include some means of contact to you (preferrably e-mail).
• Include a note stating that you grant all rights to me to use parts or the whole of the submission for whatever use I decide upon (see above). This point is important and submissions missing that will be ignored.
• Include a short comment explaining whether you would be able to transform the submission into real code (specifically a blogger template - I'm not much of a CSS / HTML guru these days and could use some help in that area).
• Include a comment that you are willing to provide a completely finished result of your proposal (e.g. logo files in some common format, ready to be used for print and web, etc.).

On the 24th I will list all suggestions on this website and allow votes for a couple of days. The final decision will be made by me in a completely non-democratic way and I reserve the right to not select any single submission or even a mix.

What do you get for your submission? If it is selected

• you will be credited on the website, in the manual and in the game itself for your design help,
• you will receive some in-game representation (e.g. as a fictional NPC or a dungeon level dedicated in some way to you - we'll work that out) and
• you will be compensated in some monetary way should ADOM II Deluxe ever become a commercial success. Understand that this latter point should not be your driving motivation as there are no guarantees included and I reserve the right to judge (a) when and whether ADOM II Deluxe is a commercial success and (b) what kind of monetary reward then would follow. No strings included.

Interested? Very good - then I am interested to receive your submission(s). It's your chance to leave a rather visible mark on the future of ADOM II and JADE :-)