New Banner

[jetxl]

The AGS forum banner is getting a bit old. So I though we all could make some new ones.



This one is based on the old design, but more radical banners are welcome too.

[m0ds]

Perhaps a slightly longer one? Even in 800x600 theres a huge area of just blue & I think it'd look much nicer with more game-shots in it.

Also, to avoid "We don't need a new banner!" arguments, just don't post If you're going to make a banner - make one, and who knows - perhaps it will be implemented. This isn't an official change that CJ or any other has asked for, Jet has taken his own initiative to do this. Saying that means this may not end up with what you want, Jet - but you'll still get an array of great banners

[Andail]

I agree that the screenshot area should be longer. Maybe there could be a script that makes sure at least a small portion in the middle of the banner would remain blue, even in very small resolution?

Also, I think it would be good with a greater variety of graphics styles. Your new banner seems to include only low-res/cartoonistic shots. Maybe a few shots from games with more realistic graphics, just for the variation?

[jetxl]

Actually, I wanted to include all the award winners of last year, but I couldn't remember them all, so -Tadaa!-

[Pumaman]

Thanks for bringing this up, Jet.

What I'm thinking of is the long-talked-about randomly rotating banner system, so we could have multiple images and it would pick a random one each time you visited the forums.

So if people want to create alternate banners that can be added into a random cycle, that'd be cool.

As for the size of it, I think the current one is about right for 800x600 -- if it was much larger it would start to overlap the blue cup logo, which would probably look rubbish.

[ManicMatt]

That would be a good idea Chris, and then less people would argue or get upset if their game isn't there..

If that even happened in the first place!

I haven't even played a single game off the current banner.

[Ashen]

if it was much larger it would start to overlap the blue cup logo, which would probably look rubbish.

There might be a sound reason against doing it this way, but what if the montage image was a cell background, and the AGS logo image also had the blue fade on it. Crapply described, sorry, I mean something like this. (Change the width of the browser window to see what I mean.)

Would you still be able to use the rotating banner thing if it was done this way?

EDIT: I thought the idea sounded familiar ...

[strazer]

Internet Explorer doesn't do alpha-channelled PNGs by default so it will look ugly unless you use a workaround.
Actually, I proposed the same thing to CJ more than a year ago:

The gap between the games montage and the ags logo in the website banners really bugs me.
I figured you must have missed my suggestion in the "Choose the AGS website of the future" thread, so I've decided to pitch my idea again:

I'm sure the banner looks good in 800x600 resolution, but in 1024x768 (which I'm sure a significant number of users surf with) and higher, there is an ugly blue gap between the montage and the logo image.

So I had the idea of making the games collage "loopable", so it can be tiled as the cell background.
Check out this demo I've made to see what I mean:
http://www.strazer.net/ags/website01.htm

Note that I used an old crappy-quality games image that just looks better tiled than the current one. Didn't want you to dismiss the idea just because it looked  wrong...
If you decide to go with this solution, I would suggest to contact the creator of the current banner to make a tileable version.

This approach has the following advantages IMO:

- The banner looks great & colourful in all resolutions
- The montages can be reused, even if the website design changes again (I know, not for a few years, but you get my point)

The only drawback I can see is that the size of logo image is now 23kb instead of 6kb. But keep in mind this image won't change and is cached by the user's browser so will only be transferred once.

I'm sure you can figure it out by yourself from the page source code, but let me tell you what I did:

- Changed logo to PNG format and added transparency to the left side (and moved it a bit to the left so there's a bit more space on the right)
- Tiled the games image in the table cell
- Put the names of the displayed games in the title-attribute of the cell
- Added title-attribute to the logo image ("www.adventuregamestudio.co.uk") so you instantly know where that link takes you
- Changed cell background color from black to #6699CC (light blue)
- Changed table cellspacing from 1 to 0. Looks a lot better IMHO

I don't think the games should be clickable at all, unless the link takes you to the game pages.

To get the Internet Explorer to display the PNG correctly requires a workaround:
I've added the required CSS command at the top of the demo, but you can add it to the site.css later.
Then just save this script to where the CSS command points (I'd suggest /pngbehavior.htc for example).
(I've modified it so you don't need an extra blank.gif, so take this one).
Read all about the script here.

I've tested the demo with both Internet Explorer 6 and Firefox 0.8. Both display it perfectly.

[Sam.]

coul it not be a randomley gengerated image either on page load/refresh or just on rotate, showing a montage from a popular game, or ags resource like the wiki, and then be a link to that, that way it could look pretty and serve a purpose.

[Mats Berglinn]

I would like to have a new banner and a longer one too. The random banner selection doesn't sound too bad but I've got a suggestion based on the World of Monkey Island site, having a number of banners and the members can choice the one they like best and the banner won't be on every computer but on your PC when you're logged on.

[MrColossal]

oh man, imagine 10 random banners and someone posts:

Hey, what games are in the banner?!

every 2 weeks!

[HillBilly]

Maybe if the banners linked to the different games? I don't know, maybe I'm making a big deal out of nothing. But it would solve the whole "what are the games?" problem.

[Barbarian]

Or (if going with the rotating banner idea) perhaps make a permanent thread in the "Popular" fourm in which authors of new banners could post there banner within the thread and mention what games the banner(s) refer to.

[Squinky]

Man, I knew I couldn't have a spot on the banner forever....(Mine is the one nobody ever remembers).

[Sektor 13]

Here is contribution !?

[ManicMatt]

I like that! Stargate screenshot? Cheeky!

and the second right picture, while well drawn, isn't exactly enthralling is it?

[Sektor 13]

I like that! Stargate screenshot? Cheeky!

and the second right picture, while well drawn, isn't exactly enthralling is it?

These are all backgrounds from various games, i think second right picture is good too.

[AlbinoPanther]

We could also make right part of banner "Adventure Game Studio" changing from time to time.Just like GOOGLE do (christmas,haloween, CJ birthday etc).

[Joseph DiPerla]

Sektor I like your banner design.

Anyways, What if we had an animated GIF banner. It wouldn't cycle through a script, but rather just keep animating. Each new side would show something new like every 30 seconds. We could possible even make it have some cool transitions too.

Just my idea.

[Barbarian]

Joeseph: Though your idea is interesting, I think it may not be the best choice for a couple of reasons.Ã, 

If you had a large gif file that had several banners to load in, it would add much more to the loading time of the page (especially for dial-up users).Ã, 

As the banner is at the top of the page, and if you had a gif image on a 30 second delay between displaying the next banner image, it might seem unfair to the various banner contributors that their banner was not the first one to be displayed in the gif image, as I would think within 30 seconds, people might already tend to be into reading a posts or such and already have scrolled-down the page, therefore the banner is already out-of-view and not hardly ever getting to see the rest of the banner images past the first 30-seconds.

Each time a new banner was to be submitted, this would make the gif file get larger and larger, and taking longer and longer to load in. Plus, a new gif image would have to be remade each time.

Ã,  Ã, I dunno, these are just some of my thoughts of why throwing all submitted banners into 1 gif image might not be the best way to go.Ã,  I think sperate banner images on a cycle or loaded from a data-base of sorts might be a better way to go?Ã,  It would probably allow the image and page to load in much faster, plus giving all the banner contributoions more fair/ equal showing.

[Evil]

What about a marqueeing banner? We could have a bunch of games and there'd only be one longer load time. Most people that make it this far will be patient with the load time. But then again maybe not if what Eric says is true. Didn't the banner, when highlighted, used to display the names of the games?

[Matt Goble]

How about this:

When people submit their games, they could include a banner advertising their game with a link to the game's page on the main site.



Of course, there's no form of quality control so you may end up with some pony-looking banners!

[Mugs]

Wow! A thread just for that little banner on the upper-left corner.Ã,  I don't really care about it, but here's an idea:Ã, 


Maybe we could change the banner for special occasions, ex.: Halloween,Ã,  Christmas,Ã,  AGS anniversary, etc.Ã,  It would be like the google's logo on google's site.

[ManicMatt]

Wow! A thread just for that little banner on the upper-left corner.Ã,  I don't really care about it, but here's an idea:Ã, 

Maybe we could change the banner for special occasions, ex.: Halloween,Ã,  Christmas,Ã,  AGS anniversary, etc.Ã,  It would be like the google's logo on google's site.Ã, 

That's a great idea! Too bad Ljubi already mentioned it in this very thread... sort of.



"We could also make right part of banner "Adventure Game Studio" changing from time to time.Just like GOOGLE do (christmas,haloween, CJ birthday etc). "

[Mugs]

Damn,Ã,  I searched the thread just in case the idea was already taken, and I didn't even spot LJUBI's post. The funny thing is that the explaination of the idea is practicaly the same (both using Google as an example).Ã,  Ã, : Oh well, it's not much of a big deal.Ã,  Ã, 

[AlbinoPanther]

LOL

[AlbinoPanther]

Is this topic dead or what.If you dont have time to do this complicated scroling banner just let us(everybody from forum) do it and use the best one.

LD

[Akumayo]

Sounds like a peachy idea to me, unless someone is against changing the banner at all.

[jetxl]

Maybe it should be in the Competitions and Activities thread?

[Elliott Hird]

Honestly, all this fuss over nothing! It's fine, perfect and dandy right now and it isn't biting anyone (except for that one time). Why don't we just keep it?

[Andail]

Elliot, people aren't making a fuss or complaining, they're just discussing what could be a nice change (it is logical to vary the banner after all, considering AGS has so many games to showcase).
New ideas don't bite either.

[JRock]

Hey Sektor 13!Ã,  Ã, The character on the far left in your banner is Detective Hayes from my game "Requiem Of Darkness" (which nobody but one commented on by the wayÃ,  ).Ã,  I lost that game after a factory restore on my comp, so its dead and gone (ahhhh....memories), but nice job though!Ã, 

more on "The Requiem Of Darkness"

[Pet Terry]

I made a banner too.

[JRock]

These are all very good!  (better than I could ever do  )

[Sektor 13]

Hey Sektor 13!   The character on the far left in your banner is Detective Hayes from my game "Requiem Of Darkness" (which nobody but one commented on by the way  ).  I lost that game after a factory restore on my comp, so its dead and gone (ahhhh....memories), but nice job though! 

more on "The Requiem Of Darkness"

Well, it was a nice picture so i used it !

[Pumaman]

Thanks for your banners, guys!

I've set it up now to supply a random banner out of the four that we have so far (the original one, JetXL's, Sektor 13's and Petteri's).

Note that it's not random every single time you switch pages because that would use up too much bandwidth, but it should change about every hour or so (or if you Refresh the page).

We could also make right part of banner "Adventure Game Studio" changing from time to time.Just like GOOGLE do (christmas,haloween, CJ birthday etc).

I like that idea, but I don't really have the artistic skills to update the logo and still make it look decent. However if anyone would like a contribute a Christmas-ised, Halloween-ised, Valentine-ised or any other variations on the right hand banner, they'd be welcome.

[DoorKnobHandle]

Looks very good and changing works smoothly...

[Barbarian]

Excellent! Great job on the banners guys.
And thanks to CJ for implementing them, it really "freshens" up the place 'round here! 

[m0ds]

Yep, nice changing banners! Well done

* m0ds goes on the AGS experience

[JRock]

 ;DÃ,  Thanx sektorÃ,  Ã, 

[magintz]

hmm the second image sees a bit... empty

[vict0r]

However if anyone would like a contribute a Christmas-ised, Halloween-ised, Valentine-ised or any other variations on the right hand banner, they'd be welcome.

Yay! I took the liberty to make an easter banner. You dont have to use it, but i thought i should contribute to the whole makeover thingy.


EDIT: Made a .jpg version of it too, seen as the pic is originally .jpg and this way it might look better.

[Domino]

The new banners look great!! Hope to see many more up there. Good Job!!

[Sektor 13]

However if anyone would like a contribute a Christmas-ised, Halloween-ised, Valentine-ised or any other variations on the right hand banner, they'd be welcome.

Yay! I took the liberty to make an easter banner. You dont have to use it, but i thought i should contribute to the whole makeover thingy.


EDIT: Made a .jpg version of it too, seen as the pic is originally .jpg and this way it might look better.

Nice pic. But JPG format is not that good as it distorts a picture to some sort, if you look at the original you can see that some parts around the white font has slightly colored pixels, this is distortion you get for saving in JPG, i recommend to use PNG format..

[Akumayo]

I think waht he was saying is that the actuall AGS banner up there is in JPG format, so he converted his to JPG as well, so the files would match up.

[vict0r]

Yeah! Aku got it right. The first pic is actually .PNG

[Gregjazz]

Hooray for the random banner! No really, I LOVE it!

[AlbinoPanther]

Here is our contribution to AGS community



version withou cell


LD[/color]

[ManicMatt]

I really like that one Ljubi! Even if it isn't in sync with the normal banner design, and the mind's eye (?) cell looks tacked on.

But great job! my fave! (If you remove the mind's eye bit, or make it fit in properly.)

[AlbinoPanther]

Well we think that it look good with cell on the right but if you think that we should change it wait for a few minutes for another version (but maybe not we realy like it this way)

Thanks

LD

[ManicMatt]

No probs, it's just my opinion anyway.

What does everyone else think? (Try not to make me sound too bad!)

[Pumaman]

Here is our contribution to AGS community

Thanks! It has been added to the rotation.

Oh, one other thing guys -- could everyone who has submitted a banner please list what games it features. If I can create some sort of tooltip thing for each one then that should stop the inevitable "what games are on the banner" posts from coming up in future

[AlbinoPanther]

can you please update our banner with this one (realy minor changes but it is quite better (cell borders))

And for the games start from the left 7 day's a sceptic, No action Jackson, Apprentice 2, Woodlands (demo), Mind's eye

THANKS

LD[/color]

[mozza]

I just wanted to say that this is a brilliant idea, and that all of the banners are excellent! I like the way that the cell is overhanging the blue in the background in LJUBI's banner. Sektor's is also great.
I think that rotating was the best way to go, as it shows more games rather than just one set for however long.

If I get time I might throw a banner together, but don't hold your breath.

[Kinoko]

Man, I love these! The page looks great, and it's nice to get a different look at lots of different games everytime to load it up. I'm really impressed with what people have come up with so far! This just makes browsing the forums all the more fun ^_^

[Sektor 13]

Hey LJUBI excellent banner, I really like it ! Keep up the good work.

my banner games are:

The Requiem Of Darkness, Indiana Jones and the Crown of Solomon, Stargate Adventure, Nataly Buchannon and the Amulet of Kings

[mozza]

Is the random banner also going to be put on the bigbluecup home page?