Critique my game home page!

[TerranRich]

So because I'm a web developer first and a game developer second, I've been working on the home page for my By the Sword series of games, partly as a portfolio piece, and partly as a legitimate home page for my games.



What do you think? I've gone over this with a fine-tooth comb, altering details here and there, and I've come across the block where I can't find anything else on my own and would like outside help on this. What needs to be changed? Added? Taken out? Moved around? Shaken, but not stirred?

Thanks guys.

[PixelPerfect]

From a short glance some feelings I had:

- I really like it! 
- Color scheme is good. Only thing worth more testing would be maybe to bring the light blue down from links just a bit to blend in more but still be easily detectable.
- Maybe swap the "Keep updated" and "See more posts" -boxes? Would seem more natural to me.
- If you want more space there for news text you could make the boxes on the right a little bit smaller.
- The "haze" effect in the main picture is a little bit overwhelming for my taste. Maybe take it down a notch.
- Overall very nice! I'd surely visit!

I'm on a crappy monitor right now so the color things may be off. 

Kudos for the nice design!

[Chicky]

Looks very good, i like the character models as well! I don't think it needs a lot more, maybe an email box for a mailing list?

[Shane 'ProgZmax' Stevens]

The robot guy looks like he's doing something to the girl's ass, but other than that I like it.  Maybe flip the robot guy and put him on the right side and the other dude in the middle?

[TerranRich]

LOL. That's a good observation. Plus, the main character should be in the middle anyway. Thanks! Here's what I've got now:

[IndieBoy]

The main character guy looks like he's doing something to the robot's ass...
Only joking. Very nice and professional looking.

[Anian]

Maybe the main character should be looking at the us (in front of him). Did you think about some more background except just the blue light(maybe some shot from the game like spaceships and some plantes etc.)?

[TerranRich]

As the game progresses, I will be adding better header backgrounds with screenshots, collages of images, etc. And I'll try it out with Ron facing the viewer. It makes sense.

[LGM]

When are your releasing this game?

[TerranRich]

The first game should be out early 2010.

Here's the home page with Ron facing the viewer. Also, should I put a divider into the "Keep Updated" box like below? Or leave it the way it was?

[AngelicCharon]

I'm kind of with Anian here.

While it looks great, and 'professional' from a web design perspective...that blue light behind the characters is a smidge generic/dull, and seems to take away from the rest of it.  For me, it makes it feel like something's missing.

I think almost any sort of BG element may so better....I say this because of it's size.

If the header area was smaller, the empty space the blue blur is occupying wouldn't be as distracting.

[TerranRich]

How is this? I used a collage of several backgrounds already done for the game, with an effect over them, and I solidified the characters.

[FSi++]

Here's the home page with Ron facing the viewer. Also, should I put a divider into the "Keep Updated" box like below? Or leave it the way it was?

Looks better with the divider.

[PixelPerfect]

Good progression! Gripes: The background is too detailed in relation to the characters. Here's a quick mockup:



And I don't know about the "looking towards the user". I think it's kinda weird. But that's just me.

[Anian]

Hmm, now that I've looked again, I think the problem might be that the main character is small and/or the same as the other two, except that he looks blander (hope I'm not getting into criticing your character design here), cause personally, from what I see here, I'd rather play as them than the charcter in the middle (they're kinda cooler and I actually think the girl's heads is larger than his, in any case they both draw more attention than the main character). I mean they have cool battle armour and a mask and the guy in the middle has a t-shirt...

On the composition part, maybe move the characters to one side and smaller...not really sure, IMO.

[TerranRich]

Now you've got me worried that my main character might be too bland. I hope that won't be the general consensus when people play the game. My intention is to have him wear an off-duty type of outfit instead of his usual uniform, since the first game takes place on Earth. I suppose I could display him in the uniform he'll be wearing in the other two games.

How does it look now?

[kconan]

The page looks great overall, while it might be nitpicky my only input is to use less variety in your types of fonts.

I like the "keep it simple" menu on the top right.  Don't drop that.

[Intense Degree]

The only thing that I would say is that the magnifying glass icon in the See More Posts box looks too big and too luminescent (if that's the right word ). Otherwise it's looking good.

[Shane 'ProgZmax' Stevens]

I completely disagree with PixelPerfect.  I really like the new backdrop WITHOUT the blur because now it's really distracting to see masses of over-softened pixels behind very clean characters.  I find that in the clean example my attention is naturally drawn to Ron while my eye wanders uncomfortably around the header when it's blurred.  

Also, what if Ron is looking up to the stars or something instead of at the viewer?  It's a bit creepy having a 3d face staring at you while you browse!  

[PixelPerfect]

Yeah the latest isn't good, it's too blurry and the blur is a weird direction blur. If you do a blur, you should do a subtle lens blur to give the feel of an actual camera and space difference. The totally crisp one isn't bad, but I think it could be better. It competes too much with the characters, in my opinion.