{"id":15292,"date":"2025-12-03T19:09:10","date_gmt":"2025-12-03T23:09:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/rmu.andrewyames.com\/?p=15292"},"modified":"2025-12-03T23:21:10","modified_gmt":"2025-12-04T03:21:10","slug":"reactor-21-visual-elements","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/rmu.andrewyames.com\/?p=15292","title":{"rendered":"Reactor 21 Visual Elements"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The process of developing the graphics was AI guided, mostly because illustration is more of a weakness than a strength to me, and I couldn’t find a photo showing what I was looking for.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Unless stated otherwise, any AI image generation was done in ChatGPT.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I started by generating a reactor image that I could use as the base of the design, with both a normal and ‘post-apocalyptic’ vibe…<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

I decided to go with the post-apocalyptic vibe. This was the prompt that generated the image:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Prompt used:<\/strong>
A striking daytime photo captures a nuclear power plant beneath a brooding sky, with thick black smoke rising from two towering cooling structures. The scene is punctuated by a smooth-surfaced reactor building, a lattice communication tower, and flashing emergency vehicles, all framed by grim, muted grays and occasional vivid reds, enhancing the dramatic atmosphere of the image.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I knew I had to design red, yellow, and green markers for the gameplay, and I ended up with this AI graphic:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Prompt used:<\/strong>
Three small, glossy plastic game tokens arranged in a row on a dark matte background. Each token is embossed with a simple symbol: a red token with a nuclear hazard icon, a yellow token with an exclamation warning icon, and a green token with a leaf eco-symbol. Soft, even studio lighting, clean shadows, photorealistic texture, top-down view.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I decided that the box should look like the dark reactor photo wrapped around the box. I also included a deck of cards with the reactor wrapped around the box.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Prompt:<\/strong>
A realistic product-photography scene on a solid black background. A large rectangular board game box titled \u201cREACTOR 21\u201d lies flat on the table. The box uses a military stencil font for all text. The artwork on the box is a dark, dramatic image of a nuclear power plant with cooling towers emitting thick black smoke and emergency vehicles below. The box is 18 inches long and dominates the left side of the frame.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

To the right of the box is a standard-sized Bicycle-style deck of playing cards, standing upright. The deck has the same nuclear-reactor artwork framed inside the classic Bicycle-style layout, but with the title \u201cREACTOR 21\u201d in a military stencil font instead of the Bicycle logo. White borders and the familiar tuck-box shape are clearly visible.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

In front of the box are multiple small game tokens, each exactly 0.5 inches in diameter, arranged closely together: four red tokens embossed with a radiation symbol, six yellow tokens embossed with an exclamation point, and five green tokens embossed with a leaf symbol. The tokens are thick like premium bingo chips. All tokens are proportionally tiny compared to the 18-inch box. Lighting is soft, even, and neutral to ensure the red, yellow, and green tokens are equally visible without glare.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The overall image has a dramatic but clean studio aesthetic, with sharp details, accurate object proportions, and a cohesive, cinematic tone.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The actual game board was composed mostly in Photoshop, and it will get a separate post as it was a completely different process.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The process of developing the graphics was AI guided, mostly because illustration is more of a weakness than a strength to me, and I couldn’t find a photo showing what I was looking for. Unless stated otherwise, any AI image generation was done in ChatGPT. I started by generating a reactor image that I could … <\/p>\n

Continue reading “Reactor 21 Visual Elements”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":298,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[47,150],"tags":[139],"class_list":["post-15292","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-game-design","category-prototype","tag-marked"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/rmu.andrewyames.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15292","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/rmu.andrewyames.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/rmu.andrewyames.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rmu.andrewyames.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/298"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rmu.andrewyames.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=15292"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/rmu.andrewyames.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15292\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":15299,"href":"https:\/\/rmu.andrewyames.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15292\/revisions\/15299"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/rmu.andrewyames.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=15292"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rmu.andrewyames.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=15292"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rmu.andrewyames.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=15292"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}