Adventure Game Studio

AGS Development => Editor Development => Topic started by: Crimson Wizard on Thu 19/12/2024 00:31:35

Title: The new look for the New Game Wizard, because we need more height
Post by: Crimson Wizard on Thu 19/12/2024 00:31:35
In 3.6.2 and 4.0.0 New Game Wizard displays a template's description under the list of game templates.

Without changing the overall dialog's height these controls look cramped:
Spoiler
(https://github.com/user-attachments/assets/1785f243-f8fc-4469-8377-99e421587ec5)
[close]

IMHO it needs at least 1 more row for the list of templates, and increase the Description field maybe x1.5 in case the text is longer.

Unfortunately, it's not easy to do because of the first page that has this bitmap:

(https://raw.githubusercontent.com/adventuregamestudio/ags/refs/heads/master/Editor/AGS.Editor/Resources/wizard.bmp)

I'd like to find a way to redesign this wizard's intro page in such way that will let us increase the height at least once, or ideally - will make it easier for us to adjust its size in the future, if such need arises.
Title: Re: The new look for the New Game Wizard, because we need more height
Post by: Gilbert on Thu 19/12/2024 01:43:20
I don't know what restrictions are involved in designing an interface in Windows, but can we just leave empty space on top and below the image (or just stretch the image, at least until a newer image is made)?

I think it won't look bad, at least not something that can't be tolerated:
(https://i.imgur.com/7O56QF8.png)
Title: Re: The new look for the New Game Wizard, because we need more height
Post by: Crimson Wizard on Thu 19/12/2024 01:49:32
OTOH, if we are to keep the original bitmap, then it could be aligned to the top, and have something distinct below, like a horizontal strip of different color.
Title: Re: The new look for the New Game Wizard, because we need more height
Post by: Cassiebsg on Fri 20/12/2024 14:36:11
Just remember that even though pretty design is nice, functional design is essential and much more important. ;) Which seems like a lot of websites/UI designers (or their clients) forget, and seem to prioritize the "looks pretty", while making the site/program less functional.
Title: Re: The new look for the New Game Wizard, because we need more height
Post by: Snarky on Fri 20/12/2024 17:12:10
Would it be possible to stretch and crop the image to fit? That's how this sort of decorative image is usually handled in web design.
Title: Re: The new look for the New Game Wizard, because we need more height
Post by: Danvzare on Fri 20/12/2024 20:07:46
What about adding a border to the top and bottom of the image. Maybe something like a row of cups.
Title: Re: The new look for the New Game Wizard, because we need more height
Post by: homelightgames on Sat 04/01/2025 06:58:29
I'm not sure this will be of any help, but I tried to recreate the bitmap as a vector as close as possible and expanded the image. Not only can I make it any resolution needed, but it can be cropped to whatever is needed.

If it is helpful, I can post the vector svg file (made in Inkscape).

The posted image is a png.

(https://i.ibb.co/N1cC6cK/ags-bluecup.png)
Title: Re: The new look for the New Game Wizard, because we need more height
Post by: eri0o on Sat 04/01/2025 09:03:48
@homelightgames that is beautiful. Yes, the SVG file would be helpful.

Also can you additionally render two pngs, one that is only the background and other that is only the cup with a transparent image?
Title: Re: The new look for the New Game Wizard, because we need more height
Post by: homelightgames on Sat 04/01/2025 18:34:55
Absolutely.
Here's the separate cup and background images:

(https://i.ibb.co/MgvsZfs/ags-bluecup-bg.png)

(https://i.ibb.co/VLkRQ9H/ags-bluecup-cup.png)

Here's the plain SVG
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1fGa2xUCwhVWOa7y-2syrOTxlt3swfTGe/view?usp=sharing

And here's the Inkscape SVG
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1yhOK0NSaUF4i7hZgzpOINy4vWuBw1tUR/view?usp=sharing

I hope this helps.
Title: Re: The new look for the New Game Wizard, because we need more height
Post by: eri0o on Sun 05/01/2025 12:34:42
@homelightgames  that is beautiful! Thank you so much! I will try to tackle an idea I had for this using your images. ❤️ 8-) ❤️
Title: Re: The new look for the New Game Wizard, because we need more height
Post by: homelightgames on Sun 05/01/2025 22:07:43
Good luck!

Let me know if there's anything else I can do.
Title: Re: The new look for the New Game Wizard, because we need more height
Post by: Crimson Wizard on Sat 01/02/2025 19:47:23
I finally found some time to look into this.

Here's an example of looks, using images provided by @homelightgames:
(https://i.imgur.com/KnTcT5o.png)

In case of a smaller wizard size (depends on pages):
(https://i.imgur.com/edxk315.png)


In the above dialog there are 2 separate picture controls, where background is scaled to fit the page's height, and cup pic is fixed in size.
The cup may be adjusted (position and size) separately.
Title: Re: The new look for the New Game Wizard, because we need more height
Post by: Snarky on Sun 02/02/2025 07:18:43
@Crimson Wizard, I can't see the image you linked. It might only be visible if you have a GitHub account and are logged in.
Title: Re: The new look for the New Game Wizard, because we need more height
Post by: Crimson Wizard on Sun 02/02/2025 07:53:13
Uploaded to imgur instead.
Title: Re: The new look for the New Game Wizard, because we need more height
Post by: Crimson Wizard on Mon 03/02/2025 19:49:49
@homelightgames I'd like to add you to the credits, since we are going to use your variant of the cup pic, would you prefer to be mentioned by this nickname, or by a real name?
Title: Re: The new look for the New Game Wizard, because we need more height
Post by: homelightgames on Tue 04/02/2025 20:24:14
@Crimson Wizard For the credits, HomeLight Games is great. Thank you.