Games Portal Homepage Design

We run several massive multiplayer games from our domain itch.com. Currently each game has a design, but there is no design for the main itch.com site. We need a vibrant, active, aggressive look that isn't overly playful.

itch

Tagline:
Premium Multiplayer Games

Desired Color Scheme:
Black/Gray, Blue, Red

Desired Style:
Aggressive, Vibrant, Active

Accepted File Formats:
Layered Formats (.psd or .tiff)

We need a homepage design for itch.com.  Entrants should focus only on the homepage but when we select a winner, we would need the winner to mock up colors for our forums so they are consistent with your homepage design.  We would expect these color specifications to be included as part of the work for winning the contest and wouldn't be making additional payment for this work.

We make browser-based multiplayer games, not video games so things like joysticks or console controllers wouldn't make sense in the design.

Some sites that are similar to us in terms of providing a hub site for several different games they offer are: http://www.bigpoint.com and http://www.swirve.com. Flash game sites like miniclip.com and newgrounds.com are definitely NOT what we are.

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REQUIRED COMPONENTS

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1) a login/password form

2) a "latest news" section

3) a "top games" section that will list our current games: Wild Isle, Oil Empires, Race Kings, Karate RPG, and Cosmic Jack.  For each game, we need room for a graphic (dimensions can be anything that fits the design .. do not be limited by the size/shape/style we currently use), a short 1 sentence description, and possibly an active players counter.  The design should expect a minimum of 5 games in this section but allow upto 10. 

4) a "new to itch?" callout with room for a 2 sentence description:  "itch.com is a premier multiplayer online games portal.  Register free and gain access to all our award-winning multiplayer games."

5) header tabs for "My Itch", "Games", "Members", "Blogs", "Galleries", "Forums", "Calendar"

6) a "member pulse" section that will list recent blog entries, forum posts, and in-game actions all jumbled together.  We envision a different icon for Forum vs. Blog, vs. Game and then a short headline with a date/time and member name with their small avatar (80x80 or smaller) since all of these will be directly related to activity of a member.

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TARGET DEMOGRAPHIC

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The target demographic for our site is male, 18-30 years old.

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DESIRED EMOTION/FEEL

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We're looking for something aggressive but not over the top.  It needs to appeal to adults.

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DESIRED COLORS

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We're leaning towards blue, gray, red as the main color.  Definitely we wouldn't want green, yellow, orange, purple as the main color.

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LOGO

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We're okay with our current logo.  We don't love it or hate it.  I doubt we'd want something completely different from the current logo but you're free to modify to fit your design.

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PAYMENT METHODS

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I can send money via paypal, emoneygram, or via bank wire transfer.