Banner for my game

fred · Sun 12/03/2006 12:19:07

This animated banner is supposed to be at the top of every page on my upcoming game website. I didn' use web-safe colors for it, so I'm wondering if it turned out alright for people with non-windows or non-internet explorer systems.

You can check it out on a black background (as intended on the site) here: Banner on black bg

Do you think it will work as a banner?

Robert_Kosten · Sun 12/03/2006 12:47:44

Might I suggest a few more frames with quicker intervalls? 5 frames at 200ms isn't smooth (At least not in any browser I have on my Linux system)

Haddas · Sun 12/03/2006 12:56:32

Yes. Make it a bit faster. It looks alright in firefox

fred · Mon 13/03/2006 00:13:44

Ok, I made some updates w/ different framecounts and framerates. Any c&c?

12 - On black background

Here are some other ones:

13 - On black background

14 - On black background

15 - On black background

LilBlueSmurf · Thu 16/03/2006 03:56:09

I think it looks too fast

I _think_ what the others ment, was not to speed up the actual animation, but to reduce the delay between frames by adding more. In other words, keep the animation looking like a slow throb (instead of manic pulse as it is in the new ones), but have 2 or three times as many frames so it looks smoother. The first one was just very jumpy and made it look really random. I dig the effect though. What filters/settings did you use to create the effect?

fred · Thu 16/03/2006 17:04:07

Yes, I like the slower ones better myself. I did add some more frames in the new versions, as well as adjusting the framerates. But maybe I should add more frames, then, so it can be made as slow as the first one, but in fluid motion. Problem is the effect I've used depends on random clouds filter, so I have to make the in-betweens manually (new random clouds frames will just make it appear more random). I will try though. This time I'll also try to cut down on filesize a bit - banner takes too long to load, I realize. Thanks you guys for the critique, and glad it works in linux.

I used Gimp for the effect:
1. rendering clouds inside the text (alpha to selection),
2. make a copy of the text-layer and set it to subtraction,
3. make a contour-dependent gradient fill in the new layer,
4. merge the text-layers,
5. invert colors,
6. adjust color levels,
7. colorize it to green.

Afflict · Thu 16/03/2006 18:00:05

Its an interesting banner maybe dont animate? $:-\$

Or slower animation like a pulse'ing effect...

Ubel · Thu 16/03/2006 18:08:30

I'd actually also like it much more if it wasn't animated. It would look kinda irritating on a website in my opinion. Looks quite nice though.

fred · Thu 16/03/2006 18:30:12

Maybe you're right that I should keep it static or just with a minimal pulse. I'll have to make a few tests to see

Here's the newest attempt at an animated one. It has same speed as the top one, with an extra frame in between the existing ones to make it smoother. And less colors to cut down on file size.

On black background

LilBlueSmurf · Fri 17/03/2006 00:30:13

I think it looks much better. Has a nice 'spacey' feel to it instead of the techno feel it had. The last thing that I notice now is the top pulse in the 'PA', it really seems to be stronger than the rest of the image and makes it slightly harder to read since my eyes want to keep going back there. I think it is fine though, there will always be little glitches like that unless you spend a lot of time and go frame by frame, which I would say is not worth the trouble.

sergiocornaga · Fri 17/03/2006 07:40:24

Right now, it doesn't loop too well. Maybe throw a reverse in there, or cut out some of the frames.

rharpe · Tue 21/03/2006 14:54:21

Animated banners are VERY annoying on websites... (Games with only a few loops are ok.)

*my 2 cents*

fred · Wed 22/03/2006 04:05:28

Er... Thanks for your two cents, guess it all adds up. Obviously I disagree with the first bit, the second I just don't understand. Games with just a few loops? Like "Duck Hunt", or what?

Evil · Wed 22/03/2006 05:04:48

I agree with rharpe. If you're going to have it animate, have it animate every 15 seconds or so. It looks good (though aliased looking, due to gif?), but would be distracting from the website.

Desmond · Wed 22/03/2006 06:45:37

Please keep in mind how your banner might look to someone who filters out animated GIFs of all types:

(Of course, on a black background a lot of this would go away, but it's rather jarring in this thread.)

Khris · Wed 22/03/2006 06:54:38

Why don't you work on your game instead of devoting a whole week to a IMO totally superfluous and annoying thing like a website banner?
I can't see any big changes from version to version either, so post a background or character or something else worth of our time.

fred · Wed 22/03/2006 09:48:31

Quote from: KhrisMUC on Wed 22/03/2006 06:54:38
Why don't you work on your game instead of devoting a whole week to a IMO totally superfluous and annoying thing like a website banner?
I can't see any big changes from version to version either, so post a background or character or something else worth of our time.

Some people have found it worth their time, for which I'm grateful. And I don't know where you got the notion that I spent the whole week working on the banner. I also rendered some end-game screens that are coming up shortly.

Desmond>>
Look what you did to my bannerÃ,Â :o But I see your point. I didn't know about people blocking animated GIFs in their browsers. Is it common?

Quote from: EvilI agree with rharpe. If you're going to have it animate, have it animate every 15 seconds or so. It looks good (though aliased looking, due to gif?), but would be distracting from the website.

I might try that solution. But I'm hoping it wont as much distract from the website as add to its atmosphere. It's supposed to be a game website, so I want the atmosphere from the game to be dominant there... even if it takes some animation.

Afflict · Wed 22/03/2006 09:56:11

Hey i think a stationary banner is kewl just a png is fine look at mine lewks stylish and simple no crummy animation that annoys you or hurts your eyes.

There are alot of ppl that turn of the animted gifs in the browsers. and then there those that dont.

Desmond · Wed 22/03/2006 10:37:06

Quote from: fred on Wed 22/03/2006 09:48:31Desmond>>
Look what you did to my banner :o But I see your point. I didn't know about people blocking animated GIFs in their browsers. Is it common?

Honestly, I didn't do anything to your banner. That is how it appears in my browser; I just took a screenshot. Until I read that it was animating (supposedly), I assumed that was how it was supposed to look.

Disabling animated GIFs is very common, in my experience. Animated GIFs have two common uses:

1) Adding inconsequential animation to a page where animation isn't necessary
2) Really irritating advertisements

For many people, #1 isn't worth enduring #2, so the whole thing gets shut down. In my case, the animated GIF gets replaced with either the first or last frame of the sequence, and all other frames are removed automatically.

If you wanted to avoid displays like this in different browsers, you could make sure that the first and last frame in your animated GIF were full frames, rather than updates from the previous frame... the GIF will be larger, but anything that strips it to its first or last frame will at least get a complete image.

fred · Wed 22/03/2006 10:51:32

Quote from: Desmond on Wed 22/03/2006 10:37:06If you wanted to avoid displays like this in different browsers, you could make sure that the first and last frame in your animated GIF were full frames, rather than updates from the previous frame...

Ok, I'm glad there's a solution like that. I was starting to think about how to autodetect gif-blocking in peoples' browsers, which I'm glad I wont have to.