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Art Request. Game Menu Hud


sparhawk

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It's really difficult to go one way or another because they're all so good. In my mind though, the one thing that screams out at me is to lean towards simplicity. Keep it clean and concise, in other words...the opposite of T3. *L* I'm too hard on that game....man, Eidos is going to hunt me down.

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Yeah, Eidos has already requested that I kick your ass out in the parking lot. But I turned em down...they wouldn't pay me enough.

 

Anyway, clean and concise? Let's go with the old tried and true book format.

 

test3.jpg

 

Mind you the entire screen won't be filled with book. My idea is having it sitting on a desk with you looking down on it, with the Springheel flare touches in full effect.

 

Also, Liquidbronze threw an idea out that I think would fit really well with this particular theme...have the torches in the background flickering lightly, giving it a sort of window-into-another-world magic book feel to it.

Edited by Renzatic
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Yup, if we can do it. The way I have it planned in my head is that you'll click an option, you'll start to see the page turn, then a gust of wind will cause the flare to flicker a little more than usual casting the scene in deep shadows, when the light returns to normal you'll see the new options page sitting in front of you.

 

If we do it right the whole little scene will only take a second or 2, about as long as a fade out/fade in on any other menu.

 

As for implementing it, all we have to do is make sure all the appropriate hud listings are in their proper place, the rest can be done with maps and scripts.

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LOL  Damn, Eidos is cheap.  They won't even cough up the money to kick my ass.

 

That last one looks great by the way.  I like the book idea if it can be achieved.  :)

 

Yeah, all Eidos offered me for your eventual asskicking was a shilling and a free lobster dinner at Captain D's. Pretty damn cheap if you ask me, specially considering that I don't even what what the hell a shilling is....it looked kinda like a penny.

 

The hardest part of doing the new frontend, regardless of which theme we decide to go for, will be rerigging the hud. I hear it's not an easy venture, but once we (or anyone else on Doom3World) figure out how to do it, we'll start speeding along.

Edited by Renzatic
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I like it! (I also considered 'Stop Thief" as a title. ;))

 

This is another very valid style to go with, as long as it is sufficiently different from the first two games. Very retro, and sets a nice steampunk tone. But you see how it wouldn't fit well to have the main menu this style and then the mission loading screen be parchment. We will have to make a decision.

I can't say that I likethis title. The first thing that came to my mind when I read it was: "Stop Thief! We don't want anymore of this." like in a political demonstration.

Gerhard

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I'd think the best title for our mod would be "The Man That Took Stuff". It's literal and to the point, which is sometimes the best way to go for these things.

 

Anyway, sorta off the hud topic here but still somewhat related. I was playing around with yet more book mockups and after awhile I figured I'd try my hand at making something similar to the oldschool mission briefing artwork.

 

Nothing mindblowing, just a few filters ran through Photoshop for the most part, but it's good for showing how art could be done using the book format. The first thing that comes into my mind would be something for the credits page...the art on the left and our names displayed on the right.

 

storybook_shot.jpg

 

...I think the Thief stands out a little too much in comparison to the rest of the pic..but meh.

Edited by Renzatic
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Anyway, sorta off the hud topic here but still somewhat related. I was playing around with yet more book mockups and after awhile I figured I'd try my hand at making something similar to the oldschool mission briefing artwork.

If we go for the book theme, we can also use multiple graphics and randomly exchange them when the user flips the pages.

Gerhard

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I think there is potential in the book idea, because we could change the illustrations for each page. It also allows for more 'illustration' style pictures on the left. Here's a quick example. I'd prefer using in-game art though.

 

Basically, my take on this approach is that the player is looking at a storybook detailing the adventures he is about to have. We should showcase scenes that give the most 'thief' bang for the buck, picking scenes that really shout "This is Thief!"

 

The painting I picked doesn't really do that...it's just a placeholder. But things like showing the thief about to bj a guard...showing him pressed into a shadow, showing some of the marvelous settings that get our hearts beating, etc.

 

Every time the page is turned, we can have a new menu on the left and a new illustration on the right.

 

menu5.jpg

Edited by Springheel
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I don't know... I think the title should certainly have some extra oomph. I can always try a version that looks more like ink text and see what it looks like.

 

Edit: Ok, I find it awfully plain without any effects at all, but what about a subtle shadow?

 

menu6.jpg

Edited by Springheel
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I just had another idea we can play with. How hard would it be to make it look more akin to the old medieval style? Ornate boarders, one large gothic letter starting off the paragraph, lots of color and care put into it's production...that could be a good style to experiment with, though we couldn't make it TOO busy otherwise it'll be hard to navigate.

 

Edit: I'll see about doing a mockup of the menu ingame shortly. I still have all those book textures BT sent me that are waiting to be put to good use...

 

Edit 2: Also...think we could incorporate some of our other ideas in with this theme? Such as the fade in/fade out effect you were talking about last night?

Edited by Renzatic
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I just had another idea we can play with. How hard would it be to make it look more akin to the old medieval style?

 

I feel strongly that we should avoid this. First, Thief is not really medieval, and second, it will send a strong 'medieval fantasy' vibe, which isn't really appropriate, IMO. If we're going with a book theme, we should stick to an Elizabethean/Victorian look.

 

Perhaps the J.D. text used in the oringal games would be a nice touch?

 

We should use that on our maps, but I wouldn't use it on the main menu...Carelton was always the font used in the menus.

 

Edit 2: Also...think we could incorporate some of our other ideas in with this theme? Such as the fade in/fade out effect you were talking about last night?

 

We could still do the flare, but I wouldn't do the fade-out thing we were talking about. Too busy over top of a genuine illustration. With this I'd stick with the flickering flare light, and a 1-2 second page-turning animation when going to submenus.

 

I like Sparhawk's idea of having a bank of random illustrations to use. We could all pick one image or screenshot that captures the 'look and feel' of Thief for us, and then include them. :)

Edited by Springheel
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Edit: Ok, I find it awfully plain without any effects at all, but what about a subtle shadow?

Yeah, so do I...but I thinking we could do more with the background of the book itself rather than the text to spice things up a bit. Like have boarders that block the seperate options in somewhat similar to Thief 1 & 2's menu. Maybe it couldn't hurt to smear the ink a bit if we go that route, since the seperate options will be divided up it couldn't hurt to do a little touching up to see how it works.

 

NH: That font would be good for diaries and letters, but I think we're trying to go for a more ancient and well regarded tome feel for the menu book.

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NH: That font would be good for diaries and letters, but I think we're trying to go for a more ancient and well regarded tome feel for the menu book.

Gotcha, wasn't quite sure what was meant by making it look like it was written. :) Definately looking great though. On the sound front, I'm going to look at Microphones tomorrow, I want to upgrade before I do anything for the Dark Mod.

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We could still do the flare, but I wouldn't do the fade-out thing we were talking about.  Too busy over top of a genuine illustration.  With this I'd stick with the flickering flare light, and a 1-2 second page-turning animation when going to submenus.

 

I like Sparhawk's idea of having a bank of random illustrations to use.  We could all pick one image or screenshot that captures the 'look and feel' of Thief for us, and then include them.  :)

 

lol, we really need to quit reediting our posts and just start making new ones...I keep waiting for new responses and don't look up at the previous replies til later.

 

I'm all for Spar's idea. It's easy to do and adds has a nice style to it. But the actual menu options itself still needs the most work...something beyond the font to flesh it out a bit and give it some more character.

 

Like we could make it look somewhat like an old Victorian scientific journal. Leave the text where it's at but have a nice little diagram drawn next to it that's somewhat connected to the option itself.

 

Like a diagram of an eye with a few very tiny lines of text drawn underneath it (that can't be read, but look cool) next to the resolution settings. Something like that, and maybe a few little notes dashed in the corners of the pages to make it look like someone was using it for research...

 

Oh, and maybe assign page numbers next to the options to make it look more like a table of contents. For the FM's we could do a simple script that assigns random page numbers to them in ascending order..like...

 

The Seventh Crystal Pg. 104

 

The Inverse Manse Pg. 206

 

Or even simpler, just make the numbers static and have the first FM on the list placed next to it.

Edited by Renzatic
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I like Springheel's idea of a picture on the left, the menu on the right. This would allow individual modders to make their own artwork to put on the left-hand side to give a 'teaser pic' regarding their mod, right? Might be a good selling point to other modders.

 

"Stop, Thief!" and "The Man That Took Stuff" don't seem to really do it for me. Thief, as we know it, has a serious, dark and foreboding mood. I'd want to play on that feeling rather than something that seems lighthearted or comedic as I feel when I read these. They're definitely crafty, but not my personal preference. I immediately thought of the 1980s electronic boardgame titled "Stop, Thief!" when I read that one. (I used to LOVE that game!)

 

Here are some ideas:

 

* The Mod Squad

* Thief: The Modding Age

* Thief: The Immaculate Collection

 

Haha, I'm only kidding ;)

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I like Springheel's idea of a picture on the left, the menu on the right. This would allow individual modders to make their own artwork to put on the left-hand side to give a 'teaser pic' regarding their mod, right? Might be a good selling point to other modders.

 

"Stop, Thief!" and "The Man That Took Stuff" don't seem to really do it for me. Thief, as we know it, has a serious, dark and foreboding mood. I'd want to play on that feeling rather than something that seems lighthearted or comedic as I feel when I read these. They're definitely crafty, but not my personal preference. I immediately thought of the 1980s electronic boardgame titled "Stop, Thief!" when I read that one. (I used to LOVE that game!)

 

Here are some ideas:

 

* The Mod Squad

* Thief: The Modding Age

* Thief: The Immaculate Collection

 

Haha, I'm only kidding ;)

LOL Yeah, those names were just kidding around. I was mainly making a jab at Eidos as I thought that "Stop, Thief!" would be two words on their mind if they thought we were copying their property texture for texture. ;)

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have a looky at blambot's DeadEnds and instead of zombies, think of a large old tome, flickering candle light, shadows flicking across the pages and other thiefy things. Combine with the book ideas Springers and Renz have already been discussing. Click 'play' and the candle light blows out, plunging the screen into darkness...

Edited by jay pettitt
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Ok, given our discussion on IRC, it seems like some alternatives are in order. Here's another possibility (diagrams and illo. grabbed from the internet...they would need to be replaced).

 

menu7.jpg

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This last one is not really my fav. Too simple. I liked the T2 interface, but also feel the idea of a book with flickering candle and blowing out would be cool. I'm not really into the DeadEnds approach; it, too, seemed simple. Lacking life. (But I guess that's why they called it DeadEnds :) ) With animated page turns and flickering candle effects, it could be cool. But I'll always also like the steampunk style of T2.

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