Idea for new Main Menu design - With Mockup

[eRe4s3r]

Lo - I was bored and made a different styled Main menu mockup.. and i dropped something which i find utterly pointless (The scrolling credits/story thing)

This is the first idea that came to mind - so far i already noticed that i probably have to add a Story/Credits button somewhere ;p

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So yeah, i know this is kinda pointless to fiddle around with but what can i say, i was bored and maybe something sort of looking like this can be considered for the main menu upgrade whenever it comes.

I attached the png source - which is the real source (The menu is a a full 3d rendering) so no layers per-sé but i can definitely render a "buttons active" version too - Or different Fonts...

Technically i just made this for my port-folio though ;p (without the AI War logo)

copy.jpg is the mockup
Menu 2.png is the edited version
Menu 3.png is the raw revised rendering (without side-limiters at the buttons) (Note that the cables are too bright ,p)

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At first i wanted to post here with the text version of the above - but since a mockup says more than a thousand sentences i figured why not do this instead ,p)

The idea was that AI War logo connects with all the elements (a play on AI and electro chips etc.)

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Not sure this is something that is usable or can even be considered to be used - but if it can this free-as-in-free-beer free, and if so requested i can do some revisions and changes as well.... (Like button pressed/mouse over versions) but i figured these might be best done in photoshop anyway

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Hopefully this leads to an at least somewhat decent looking main menu ;p This is just an idea ^^

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Edit: menu 4 is the last and latest revised version ^^ , My boredom phase is over again ^^ Doesn't look half bad considering i never did a main menu before.. keke ^^

[x4000]

Very cool.  Bear in mind that I don't think I can do transparency on GDI+ elements like the main menu.  So probably having gaps under the different menu parts is something that won't be possible, but I'm not sure.  I'd have to check that out to be certain.  Thanks for the suggestion and mockups!

[eRe4s3r]

Well you can do that actually, though i don't think with standard gdi features.

The idea would be to completely go away from gdi windows and render all menus with the engine itself - That way could use even animations in menu, though it might be tricky doing that right for stats/scores window..

At least for the main menu though you could easily forgo gdi and have transparent multi-blended textures pose as buttons and just specific a mouse "hotspot" where it switches to mouse-over and activates further menus when you click on it.

Well its maybe too much work for minimal gain.

[x4000]

Well you can do that actually, though i don't think with standard gdi features.

The idea would be to completely go away from gdi windows and render all menus with the engine itself - That way could use even animations in menu, though it might be tricky doing that right for stats/scores window..

At least for the main menu though you could easily forgo gdi and have transparent multi-blended textures pose as buttons and just specific a mouse "hotspot" where it switches to mouse-over and activates further menus when you click on it.

Well its maybe too much work for minimal gain.

I know I can code this all out in DirectX, the in-game stuff is all DirectX.  But I think consistency in the UI is important, so since the lobby and settings and such need to be GDI (so that I have access to ready-made tabs, checkboxes, textboxes, etc, rather than having to code my own -- which I have done before, and don't really want to get into here), that would mean I would want the other menus of a similar fashion to also be GDI, etc.

[eRe4s3r]

Yeah - But (theres always a but)

Gdi windows are really ugly Well this is one of these baseline things that were decided when you started coding AI War - I guess having dx based menus was not something on your mind back then (Eh, as you said.. you'd have to code your own logic for the GUI.. so more work too..)

Just saying that the main menu / company logo / game logo really could use a more professional look... its the first impression kind of deal  

But its also one of the least important areas of the game... so no panic ;P

[x4000]

Well, but see -- GDI menus are not inherently ugly.  I can put any graphics in them I want, make them look very nice, they just have to have an overall rectangular shape with no transparency.  Aside from those two conditions, anything is possible with the GDI windows as much as in DirectX.  Phil is just working on the in-game HUD first, and then other updates are coming!