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How's this'n?

Wikinazis

You know that I'll dream of pencil-moustachéd viking conquerers for AGES now, do you?

Hah!
That's very good. I like that.

Judging by that second picture, they're a good way to distract people while you throw snowballs at the back of their head.

Other than that, it's a really cute idea.

Congrats, rharpe.
Well deserved in my opinion, but the entries were indeed all good this round.

And thanks to Ben for giving us such a good shape to begin with.
I look forward to the next round.

This might be a bit off topic, but I had problems with the tick (ok) and cross (X) marks when I was younger. [...]
I would suggest to color code them (green tick and red X) to help us ignorant people from strange countries.

That's a very good, logical suggestion.
Not just in aid of you foreign types, but it'll make them more instantly distinguishable for everyone.
I'll have to shuffle stuff around a bit so the green tick isn't directly next to the green exit, but it's well worth doing.

Thanks for the feedback.

Personally I try to separate options into groups with similar functions, then order those groups depending on how much they affect the game

This is exactly what I had in mind when I asked about the layout.
However, while I certainly appreciate your mock-up, there's way too much dead space for my liking.
I've got a thing about having stuff neat and tidy, equal distance apart, and symmetrical to at least some degree.

(If it were me when coding the interface I'd also interlink the slider and button functions, so that when you click the mute button the slider's value is set to zero, and when you move the slider to zero the button changes graphic to the muted state).

The reason why I put the music toggle switch in at all is because volume at zero != silent.
However, it looks like CJ might be about to change that, so maybe by the time I finish this game it won't be necessary.
But I do like that idea about using the button it as a shortcut to moving the slider by hand, so I may leave it in and tweak it to do just that.

One other thing I would mention (and I haven't added) is that because your interface relies so much on icons you might want to stick a text box right at the bottom that displays tooltips for whichever button the mouse is currently over.

As I said, I've already got a status bar that is coded to say what's under the mouse, but you're not the first to suggest this in this thread, so maybe I should disable that while the gui's open and replace it with a varying label within the panel window?
I think that may be a good idea, actually.

You've certainly made me think of a possible alternative setup, so I'll tool around with it and see what the reaction is.
Thanks for the suggestions.

That was so damn sweet, I think you gave me diabetes.

I think the simplicity of it (both in the graphics and the gameplay) really added a lot to it's charm.
I'd love to see more games like this.

Aye, 'twas right cool, sir.
Well done to you, and everyone who submitted stuff.

Annoyingly, it gave me an idea for something I should have thought of in time to submit.
Oh well.

Also, it gave me a warning file with a string of sounds that didn't play.


And, of course, congrats to all the winners!

You really like the idea of using music symbols, don't you?

Anyway, that's a pretty good idea, actually showing the default settings within the button.
It'll take some tweaking to make it fit in, make it obvious it's a button, etc.

But I like it.
Thanks for the suggestion.

the most money is made using as much eye-candy as possible [...]
Show him a random screenshot of a "rich 3d world" and he'll go "ahh, uuhh, me wanna play" without even having a clue what the game's about or how good it is.

This is pretty much it.

Most people buy games based on very little information - a couple of screenshots, a trailer, maybe a short demo - and graphics are the first impression the games give.
It doesn't matter if the gameplay's pants, because by the time they figure that out they've already bought the game.

Conversely, a game could be the best in the world ever, but nobody will know that if they don't buy it.

Graphics are like the picture on the box, it's just a shame that lately the prettiest boxes have had turds inside them.
Can't judge a book by it's cover, and all that.

Thanks for the feedback.
I'm glad you guys like it so far.

* The game has optional arrows that can be overlaid onto the room screens to help show where the exits are, in case you were wondering.

Yeah, it's a pretty damn silly game based on a kids' TV show (the link in my sig), so lots of bright colours, big clear controls, etc.

The slider handles do still need doing, that's what I meant by "still not finished", but I'm drawing a blank.
Also, there must be a better icon for "default settings" than just a cog.

Any suggestions?

The level variables were for the actual levels and the sldvals were the sliders' values (positions).
I had them both because at first I tried just this...

Code: ags

function btnNoChange_OnClick(GUIControl *control, MouseButton button)
{
  sldMusic.Value=lastMlevel;
  sldSound.Value=lastSlevel;
  sldGamma.Value=lastGlevel;
}

...assuming the sliders were kinda hard-wired to the levels, so they'd change together.
When clicking it made the sliders move, but the levels stayed the same, I thought I'd need to set them both separately.

I wouldn't have thought that it would be possible to read from a variable that was only just set within the same function, but Khris' suggestion works perfectly.

Thanks a lot.

Bit of an update following people's suggestions...

alts:

Instead of just one "continue" button, it now has a "save changes and continue" button (the tick) and a "continue, but don't save changes" button (the cross).

Better?
Still not finished, mind, but am I at least maybe heading in the right direction?

Hello people.
I couldn't find the answer to this anywhere, so...

How can I get the game to read and store the user-set volume levels for music and sound?
Here's what I've got now...

After tooling around with the sliders, the player clicks either btnResume to save their changes and resume playing, or btnNoChange to discard the changes they made and go back to the last saved set of values.

Code: ags

function btnResume_OnClick(GUIControl *control, MouseButton button)
{
  lastMsldval=sldMusic.Value;
  lastMlevel=
  lastSsldval=sldSound.Value;
  lastSlevel=
  lastGsldval=sldGamma.Value;
  lastGlevel=System.Gamma;
}

function btnNoChange_OnClick(GUIControl *control, MouseButton button)
{
  sldMusic.Value=lastMsldval;
  SetMusicMasterVolume(lastMlevel);
  sldSound.Value=lastSsldval;
  SetSoundVolume(lastSlevel);
  sldGamma.Value=lastGsldval;
  System.Gamma=lastGlevel;
}

What can I fill btnResume's gaps with?

Thanks in advance.
J.

Yep, possible, but would require some scripting.

I figured it would. 8)

I was going to ask when race started to be judged on visual prowess (or lack thereof), but then I remembered an old preachy sci-fi story about people entering into a civil war that pitted the long-sighted against the short-sighted.

Was it a Star Trek episode or something?
Maybe The Twilight Zone?

Or maybe I'm just getting confused with the Moles vs. the Cyclops in Futurama.

-Save and Load, they seem really flat and don't really match the rest.
-That green button as well

It'll be really easy just to add a bit of depth to them in photoshop.
That's a really good call, and it was something I simply didn't think of.
Thanks for suggesting it.

-Continue should be replaced as well. (an arrow like the one of return in your browser might do it.)

The continue button doesn't even exist yet. That's the main reason why I started this thread.
What's there is just a place holder to show roughly where and how big it could possibly be, maybe.

Also, I'm already using an arrow very similar to browser nav ones as the button for the arrows, so that could get confusing.
Although, you did draw my attention towards the page refresh icon, which might make a good "restart" button... Hmmm...

How about using some music icons...

I thought about that, but I figured it might make it tough to pick out which button(s) actually control(s) the music at first glance.

However, it does sound like it'd be wicked cool, and it's actually given me a really good idea.
It'll be a bitch to actually pull off, though.

Actually, I seem to actually be using the word actually a bit too much, actually.

You can also add a label and set its text to whatever the button under the mouse does.

Yeah, I know, but I figured since I already had the status line, I might as well use it for this as well.
Is it possible to do scrolling text within a label or button, do you know? Because that might be cool.


Thanks for the feedback, guys. Including Babar, who I forgot to thank before.
Keep it coming.

I've used this site before and made a series of episodes I call Office Life wow!
http://www.xtranormal.com/watch?s=14050

Have you been spying on me?

I didn't manage to play through all the nominees in time to vote. :

Oh well, maybe next year, eh?

The Reset/Restart icon is actually an 'off' symbol (or power symbol).

Yeah, I know.
It's usually green for "power on", and red for "power off", right?
So I thought using an orange one could possibly mean "reset".
As I said, I'm not really happy with it, but that's why I'm asking for help.

As for the continue being a little "x", I'd prefer for it to be a big chunky button like the others, really.
It's arguably the most important button on the panel, because without it the player is pretty much stuck and can't continue playing, so I'd like it to be big and noticeable.

I am using this icon to mean "yes" / "okay" for a few other guis, so maybe it'd work as "okay", as in "I've finished tooling around", with this one? I dunno. It seemed a little... tenuous to me.

It won't let me make a Cockhog! Boo!