The Mana World Forums

How about some gears?

Too processed. That'd be like using wooden planks for plant. At least a cube / ingot shape would be that much closer to a raw form.

It is fairly easy to recognize though, I'll give it that.

Gears could easily be mistaken for a mechanics crafting skill.

Most metal spells will be attack spells which summon spikes, blades or shrapnels which fly toward the enemy. So how about visualizing all this with a shuriken?

Dave wrote:Speaking of earth, just to move the conversation around for the time being.. how are we standing on votes for that symbol?

The way I see it, we're at a tossup between the shape of a mountain and a chasm. Even though the symbol that I made for earth a long time ago was a mountain, I'm just as partial to the use of a chasm.

We could use both. A raised chasm (like the entrance to a slot canyon) would work.

Or maybe a bunch of spikey things:

Caltrops, watch where you step!

For metal, I'm still voting for the cube to be lightened and refined.

Othello, when it's convenient for you, try making the metal symbol yellow. (I can't remember if it was you who wanted to try that)
Metal would look great gold on silver, or silver on gold.

jaxad, for earth, I don't know if you saw this example, two pages back.. (just to make sure we're on the same page about how a chasm symbol might look)

..you're saying you'd just mix something of that nature with a mountain shape to make a single symbol?

Dave wrote:jaxad, for earth, I don't know if you saw this example, two pages back.. (just to make sure we're on the same page about how a chasm symbol might look)

..you're saying you'd just mix something of that nature with a mountain shape to make a single symbol?

If they're both very popular, combining them is an idea.
Another possibility for earth is more of a slot canyon (or the entrance to one, nothing as complicated as those in the article, but the general idea).

Ah sorry, I forgot to look up what exactly a "slot canyon" was, after reading your post. It's another possibility, though I'd imagine a bit more difficult to recognize.

For metal I vote for the metal cube, just made a bit brighter. =)
Personally that cube is what most makes me think metal. More than a ore (makes me think of a rock, not metal) and more than sheet metal (I think gray paper when I see that).

For the other icon I vote for a chasm.

Here are some iron-cube samples. I lightend it up a bit. Tried to make it more clear .

As for earth. I think it will be hard to create a chasm or slot canyon because its not something separate. All the objects so far where separate objects. The presence of something. A chasm or canyon defines itself by not being there. I will have to draw earth or ground around it which will have to end somehow... I might be able to make them fade away, but I'm not very excited about that. I think I would still rather go for a lumb of clay.

I suppose you're right about that, but I think it's more in the sense that it doesn't suit the object-theme. If the rest of the symbols were comparatively larger scale, I could really argue the chasm / mountain thing. (like if we'd used a sun instead of a flame and a wave instead of a droplet)

I still think it'd look cool, but you may be right, that a rock might actually be more appropriate.

back to the metal cube; I think it'd look better with a smoother texture. It looks like a box that's been bolted or riveted together. I think it should look more like a solid form of metal than a box. ..and is it just me, or could it stand to be a bit smaller? It's probably just me.

Dave wrote:I suppose you're right about that, but I think it's more in the sense that it doesn't suit the object-theme. If the rest of the symbols were comparatively larger scale, I could really argue the chasm / mountain thing. (like if we'd used a sun instead of a flame and a wave instead of a droplet)

I still think it'd look cool, but you may be right, that a rock might actually be more appropriate.

back to the metal cube; I think it'd look better with a smoother texture. It looks like a box that's been bolted or riveted together. I think it should look more like a solid form of metal than a box. ..and is it just me, or could it stand to be a bit smaller? It's probably just me.

I thought the idea was to make the icons as recognizable as possible. A plain gray cube does not make me think "hey this is clearly metal magic spells". I like the one with the gold background

That may be so, but so far, the only other examples of possible metal symbols have been more recognizable as other skills. Gears and an anvil for example, might make someone think "metal, in general", but probably first resemble a metalsmith skill. I'm all ears for something that symbolizes metal, without first symbolizing a metalsmith skill. Until that magically elusive symbol reveals itself, I still vote to stick with the cube / ingot.

Another thing to keep in mind about metal, staying in theme with the rest of the symbols, is that the current theme is basic forms of each type of energy. Everything but metal is fairly obvious.. and when you really start to examine the issue, it's pretty clear that ingots are about as basic as you can get with metal. Anything beyond that is something that has been shaped by human hands. (such as a gear or anvil) None of the other symbols depict man-made objects.

Maybe the two-tone metal symbol would look better as gold on silver. Something about silver on gold doesn't look as good as I had imagined. Not a big deal, just a thought, in case you feel like goofing around with that some more.

Thanks for your comment dave. I think I'll try an ingot when I've completed the others. I will need to modify the lot anyway so they all fit the same theme.

A typically shaped ingot of gold is a bar, which could be described as a cube.. so I think you're already pretty close to the shape of an ingot.. the surfaces just need the bolts removed and smoothed out a bit.