Options gui for 3d racer

[matt]

this is my gui to change all the sound and display options.

the game i am making is a 3d racer and i would like some tips. CONSTRUCTIVE critisisam welcomed but don't be an idiot.

[Babar]

CONSTRUCTIVE critissisam? I'll try not to be an idiot, then

- You've used a greyish wood texture for the back, which doesn't really work well with the bright red and green text and blue buttons. I'd suggest you change all the text to black (or a really dark grey) to make it look like it was etched onto the wood. This would work well with the grey, giving an old-car dashboard feel. If you are going for that, I'd suggest making the slider thing bigger and rounder.

- The Okay and Cancel buttons are too close to the edge. I'd suggest moving them up to where the Apply button is. Also, the text in the apply button has the Y going down below the button, which doesn't look so good. You might want to fix that.

[Stupot]

Hey Matt.
I don't really like the colours of the text, or that blue 'sample selected' strip.  I like the silvery background, and you should choose colours that will complement that.  At the very least, make the green darker, because it's difficult to read.

I would also suggest having a play around with some different fonts, especially for the 'Options' title.  What is that, Comic Sans or something?

PS.
[IMG ] and [ /IMG] (without spaces) are the image tags you're after

[Evil]

I had so many comments, I just made my own to show you what I mean. Not great, but hopefully it'll help.



Didn't have much time to fix some of the embossing, like around the lighter gray boxes, to make them look more like they're attached. Same with the "indents" around the illuminated buttons.

[matt]

would you mind if i used your pic i am crap at graphics?
Ps i would put you in the credits

[Andail]

looking good, Evil, but how about brass plaques for those music- and other-options buttons?
And the blue buttons at the bottom don't really work; either go for gradients or illuminating, not both. I would make them much smaller, plain light blue with a very subtle lighting effect.

[Evil]

I was trying to mimic what was already done, because I thought that some of the graphics choices pertained to other, already completed backgrounds.

I agree with the brass. Layered metal is hard to make look convincing. Changing around the grain direction and texture might help too.

I illuminated the buttons because it looked like that on the original. I love the idea of illuminated buttons, but it doesn't work unless they're all illuminated, and that would make it too messy. I think if you put a lot of effort into making the buttons look like they're recessed in a pre-cut hole, a slight embossing is all you will need.

It would be fine if you used this graphic, but I'd recommend playing around with it a bit. Especially matching things like fonts and colors to what you already have for your game. There are a lot of things that could be changed functionally. Like, apply and okay are sort of useless. Either set the options and hit okay to apply, or cancel and revert back to original settings. Other menus could have a default button if necessary.

If you use Photoshop, here's the PSD with all of my layers. I was also playing video games while doing this, so nothings labeled or organized very well. If you've got any questions about anything send me a PM.
http://www.harryday.com/images/options_buttons.psd


Also, does anyone else find that when writing comments in the Critics Lounge, that most of your paragraphs start with the letter "I"?