New AGS Website

Started by Pumaman, Fri 27/03/2009 22:37:25

Previous topic - Next topic

GarageGothic

#20
ProgZ, I have no issue with you. I understood your post as a response to me, since you wrote right after I posted and started out addressing issues that I had brought up. If I misread, I apologize. I also intepreted your seeming resignation to mean that you saw our comments purely as criticism rather than encouraging suggestions for improvements. I sincerely do hope that you will continue working on the logo.

loominous, the antialiasing even if crude seems to work quite well, and with the larger size characters you still get the feel for lo- and hi-res differences. The main problem I saw in ProgZ logo - apart from the tiny size which didn't really suit my myopic eyes - was that the characters could easily have been from the same game. If, instead of redrawing the characters entirely, it would be possible to keep their individual styles and yet make it a bit more dynamic that just standing around facing the same direction, I think we're heading towards something quite excellent. Positioning them in the right hand corner also nicely balances the huge screenshots in the left column and keeps the logo area itself from being too busy.

loominous

Quote from: GarageGothic on Sat 28/03/2009 12:25:14
If, instead of redrawing the characters entirely, it would be possible to keep their individual styles and yet make it a bit more dynamic that just standing around facing the same direction

I suppose it could be done by either manual edits (as I suggested Prog would take a crack at, as it seems right up his alley) or by finding/taking screenshots from these (or other games) where the characters are interacting, like talking, pushing, picking something up, or whathaveyou, to remove the stiffness.

This is one of those areas where people who consider themselves without any artistic skills could make a nice contribution, either by just finding screenshots or also compiling them into a neat montage.
Looking for a writer

Pumaman

I have to agree that all the posted header images with characters in them do tend to distract too much from the content of the page. I like your latest anti-aliased version, loom, but again the characters stand out too much I think. Perhaps we could try de-saturating the colours of the characters to make them seem more part of the background?

loominous

#23
Quote from: Pumaman on Sat 28/03/2009 14:58:27
but again the characters stand out too much I think. Perhaps we could try de-saturating the colours of the characters to make them seem more part of the background?

Perhaps something like this to detract some attention:



I actually made Larry more saturated, as I liked the colour contrast it created, but that could be muted if it's too attention grabbing.

Edit: Upon looking at it with fresh eyes, the characters looked really washed out, so here's another version with a less bland effect, but where I crunched up the contrast of the logo instead, to retake some of the attention:

Looking for a writer

Takyon


could someone tell me which game this is from please?

ghost.

Peder 🚀

I like that last one you just did loominous, its going in the right direction I think..
If ProgZ would just do something similar also including the same type of cool interactions he also done I think it will be good. Though Chris also makes a good point of maybe making them blend more with the background... or? :).

Quote from: J-MAN on Sat 28/03/2009 20:24:45
could someone tell me which game this is from please?

My guess its an unreleased game by loominous, but I could be wrong :).

Takyon

Thanks peder, has he got any other games released yet?
ghost.

OneDollar

While on the subject, I assume one of the middle or right-hand screenshots is going to be swapped out for another game? Its a great example of a good looking hi-res game, but it does look a bit like there are so few quality games we had to use the same one twice...

GarageGothic

The question is whether it should be three different games or a single one. I think it would be nice to show the progress from background (perhaps with a walkbehind being edited), a character, and finally the whole thing put together. It would clearly demonstrate the principles of AGS rather than just flashing some pretty screenshots.

Peder 🚀

#29
1$, I think the idea was to have several screenshots appear, by using flash was one idea..

rbaleksandar

Don't know if this has been suggested, but how about this (just a sketch):

So we have a list of games and one can scroll through them by clicking on the left or right button. Even better - without buttons. You can just move your mouse cursor to the left/right side of the flash animation an it'll automatically scroll to the left/right by showing other games.
I am a mighty pirate. Arrrrgh!

loominous

I picked those screens mainly because:

I) They represent pixel art and hi-res art.

II) They have strong warm colours that compensate for all the cool blues.

III) They're both nice looking (the right one is from Ignac II)


My initial idea was to have them show the progress of a game, as GarageGothic suggested, but then I was faced with the problems:

I) Should it be pixel or hi-res? I'd have to pick one, and if I picked pixel, it would misrepresent the capacity of the engine, or if I picked hi-res, it wouldn't be as welcoming to pixel-art/nostalgic visitors.

II) As the images (especially in the first version they were featured) took up so much space, there would be an issue of unexciting repetition of the same image/colours.


So that was the reasoning.
Looking for a writer

GarageGothic

I understand your reasoning, and I still think it can work to show a sense of progress. But if they have to represent both lo- and hi-res art, I definitely think the middle one should be changed to a third game. Also, the left screenshot clearly has characters and GUI visible even if what we're seeing it in the room editor. This ought to be a plain background not to look obviously photoshopped.

Bob

The leftmost reflection doesn't match the graphic above it... :o

BOYD1981

I personally feel as if the reflections should be removed, they look very tacky (as does the glowing around the lettering).

Limey Lizard, Waste Wizard!
01101101011000010110010001100101001000000111100101101111011101010010000001101100011011110110111101101011

m0ds

Love the characters all over the words, fun looking style :)

Characters lined up above the SSH box... not very suiting now is it? Just a kind of cop-out :/

Ishmael

I'm on the don't like the characters around the logo wagon. Either a screenshot banner type deal (or something alike) or leave it be is what I'll stay with. It might be a bit dull but atleast it's not distracting.

Quote from: Pumaman on Fri 27/03/2009 22:37:25
* Need to decide what to put in the right hand pane on the News page

A list of news dates and possibly headlines for easy jumping down to the one you're looking for? Or possible jsut the last something or other number.
I used to make games but then I took an IRC in the knee.

<Calin> Ishmael looks awesome all the time
\( Ö)/ ¬(Ö ) | Ja minähän en keskellä kirkasta päivää lähden minnekään juoksentelemaan ilman housuja.

GarageGothic

#37
Headlines of older news (along with dates) would make sense so you didn't have to keep flipping through archive pages. Since the current news probably would only take up  4 or 5 lines at the top, they might as well be included too for easy jumping.

Edit: I was taking a look around the other pages, and on the AGS page, it would be awesome if there was a "See changelist" link right below the version number. Also, I think the recent forum posts box would look better if "Posted by..." and "X minutes ago" was on the same line so there would be less white space between the headers. A small thing I noted was also that on the AGS and Forums pages the main text box is offset a few pixels vertically from the top sidebar box, I think this should be fixed - either by aligning them, or perhaps even by increasing the offset, creating a bit of dynamic.

Ponch

I like the little characters climbing over the logo. It's cute.

Just my two cents.

Mehrdad

#39
hi
please put "current version" on main page
My official site: http://www.pershaland.com/

SMF spam blocked by CleanTalk