Choosing Fonts

Above all else, my primary goal when selecting typefaces was to avoid the stereotypical “Greek restaurant” font. I wanted the primary font (i.e., Title and h1) to feel stately and thematically complementary while avoiding cliche. I think Stephen Fry’s Mythos hits that mark, so I looked for a breakdown of the book’s typefaces. Fonts In Use is a remarkably comprehensive resource for just that purpose. Gareth Hague’s Harbour was the title font in question.

Even more impressive, Fonts In Use provided a helpful list of fonts similar to Harbour. From there, I found Maxime Francout’s Form. I’ve always relied on Google and Adobe fonts for my personal work, so purchasing a font gave me pause. Shouldn’t I wait to spend money on this project until I was further along in development? What if I gave up on Firetaker tomorrow? I’d be out the cash for little more than a whim. However, I couldn’t shake the idea that Form was essential to my game’s visual identity. I knew it would help me stay motivated if I planted a flag in the sand—this font is what this game will feel like—so I purchased it and contacted the creator to secure usage permission for a commercial product.

I don’t recall how I found the body font, PF Grand Gothik. I know I wanted to use a highly readable sans serif that paired well with Form. I also wanted to avoid Futura and Roboto since they’re so overused. Since PF Grand Gothik is an Adobe Font, I probably practiced the age-old design technique of scrolling through pages of fonts until I found one I liked well enough for the time being. Then, after using it for long enough, it sort of just stuck, you know?