2 Menu screens to choose from

police brutality · Wed 03/01/2007 15:38:39

Which one should I use?

Does this one look too "cartoonish" (You can notice I made it in paint) to be taken seriously? I don't want the player to look at it and just start laughing. It's supposed to be a serious suspense game after all.

So maybe this one would work. But isn't it too simple? Anything I can add to it to fit the mystery a-la-Lost atmosfere? (Apart from some good music)

In case you want to know, the "info" button just brings out a screen thanking this forums for their assistance, date the game was made, brief description, "based on true facts" controls etc.

Da_Elf · Wed 03/01/2007 16:00:10

personally i like the image in the 1st one however the text composition needs to be reworked. it looks like a secret base or something in the middle of no where. the other one doesnt really convay that feeling

GarageGothic · Wed 03/01/2007 16:18:23

I think you should try changing the fonts to something more suitable for the theme of the game. Think military, think conspiracies. What came to my mind were two options - an old fashioned typewriter font and a stencilled font, as you would see on military vehicles or stamped on crates. Also, the red color on the first image really dominates the image and detracts from the lovely background picture. I made a quick mock-up with a font similar to that used for the M*A*S*H logo. I'm not crazy about the way the numbers look, and the logo isn't quite centered, but it's just to show what I mean.

ManicMatt · Wed 03/01/2007 16:29:56

Rough idea using the "paintover" suggested.

(Get rid of the blotchy grey bits on the text, I was being messy)

police brutality · Wed 03/01/2007 19:18:32

Thanks for the feedback.

As everybody liked the 1st menu concept I chose to keep it. I'm now deciding between Manicmatt and Garagegothic's layout of the buttons around the screen (Thanks btw on the colours advice, that really helped).

I was looking for that exact font in paint, but I couldn't find it. The closest one is "beast impacted" which you would see in a Jurassic Park movie (Imagine a wooden crate in Site B, saying something like "lab supplies".) and I didn't want to use it.

EDIT: what program did you use garagegothic for your paintover?

GarageGothic · Wed 03/01/2007 19:44:01

I used Photoshop, but the only "photoshoppish" thing I did with it was add a bit of noise to the text. I found the M*A*S*H font on this site, and the typewriter font can be found here.

As for the button layout, I actually prefer ManicMatt's. That's how most modern games show their menus. The only reasons I put the buttons on top was 1) to not deviate too much from yours and 2) take up some more of that boring gray sky area.

police brutality · Wed 03/01/2007 19:56:06

That link with over 100+ fonts is just amazing. just GREAT. I think I'm going with the Blair witch project one. Thanks for the typewriter font, I needed that one too.

Btw mind if I mention you in the 'thanks to' in the information screen?

GarageGothic · Wed 03/01/2007 19:58:16

Quote from: police brutality on Wed 03/01/2007 19:56:06Btw mind if I mention you in the 'thanks to' in the information screen?

Of course not, I would be flattered. I'm glad you could use the links. Good luck with the game.

EagerMind · Wed 03/01/2007 20:24:45

I like what Maniac has done with the buttons, but I don't like that they covers up part of the background, especially since there's so much gray at the top (as GarageGothic mentioned). Some things you might want to try out:

1. Use GarageGothic's edit, but swap the position of the title and the buttons (i.e. the buttons underneath the title)

or

2. Move the title a bit more over to the left, and use ManiacMatt's button arrangement but move them to the top right side (so the buttons go down the right side of picture up in the gray part).

police brutality · Wed 03/01/2007 20:45:16

I did try several arrangements and some fonts, in the end decided to go with this one:

JimmyShelter · Wed 03/01/2007 21:43:36

Great improvement compared to your first version! Nice.

FrancoFranchi · Wed 03/01/2007 22:34:17

The new version is nice! But I think the menu should depend on the graphics of the overall game - if there's no other 3D graphics, then the other menu (with different text) might work better.

Sounds interesting so far!

ildu · Wed 03/01/2007 22:41:50

You need a pretty clear structure to your menu. The menu buttons can't be scattered around, unless there's a specific purpose for it. It also lacks a little depth, because there is just one background layer. In addition, the composition suffers because you haven't got anything to frame to image with.

Here's my semi-quick take on it:

- Menu structured in a clear way
- Added depth elements (items)
- Added framing (snow and ice)

The item arrangement is completely messy in mine, but if you plan it before you start looking for foreground objects, it might end up looking pretty good. It's a very over-used main menu style in WW2 games (or other war games for that matter), but it is effective.

Steel Drummer · Thu 04/01/2007 03:21:25

This is sorta random, but you took part of the foreground objects from Call Of Duty, didn't you?

ildu · Thu 04/01/2007 03:50:27

Quote from: Steel Drummer on Thu 04/01/2007 03:21:25
This is sorta random, but you took part of the foreground objects from Call Of Duty, didn't you?

No, I have only one love which is google images. But yes, the same style is present in CoD, MoH, BF:V, VC1&2, etc. Ripping images from other games would take 10 times longer to do.