What a mess!

Unfortunately I must agree. The board illustration is nice looking and probably very interesting to explore, but from a usability point of view it is very messy. I love good old Industria and was really excited about this rerelease/refinement of the original, but with this graphic design I’m starting to think that I might as well get Industria instead and see if I can adapt the new rules to the old components.

I have absolutely no experience with Industria - so this may neuter any credibility in my post - but I quite like the art!

Cheers,

Giles.

I like the art too… generally.  But it looks like it could be cleaned up a bit from a usability standpoint. 

The green is a bit overwhelming but I do like the color. Just maybe a bit too much.

Well, I’ll withhold my opinion until I see the finished product, but boy, it sure looks like it’ll be hard to pick out the details you’ll need to play the game.  I love an attractive board, but usability has to come first.

Hugs his Queen pasted-up edition a little tighter…

I actually really like some elements of this design, especially the crossing wires on the right.

Where it goes wrong is with the button icons over the factories. They make the photo behind almost indistinguishable.

Might I recommend hollow spheres, but with a different colour to differentiate between them. e.g. white, green and yellow. Keep them thin as well, so the image really shines through.

To clarify: I do like the illustration. It is beautiful and evocative. Maybe a bit to much of the “poison green”. My main complaint is the usability aspect. My experience with Industria is that you need a very clear and accessible overview of how all is connected and how you and your opponents have positioned themselves in the whole technological infrastructure. Any design choices, however beautiful, that complicates this overview will seriously detract from the game experience.

That’s funny: I have the original Queen version, and my first thought looking at this picture was “Cool!” I think what looks a little busy on a monitor will translate a lot better when it’s the size of a full gameboard (unless your monitors are way bigger than mine), and I think the feel of the art is great. I’m very excited about this release.