Author Topic: Main Menu Background  (Read 8786 times)

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Offline killzonea59

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Main Menu Background
« on: December 04, 2010, 09:49:22 pm »
Is it me, or does a background for for Soldat game menu seem like a good idea?
Is there anyway possible were able to format a picture into the background to make it seem more "exciting"?

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Re: Main Menu Background
« Reply #1 on: December 05, 2010, 05:22:20 am »
Current background of Soldat's menu is hardcoded, meaning the "design" is in the code and thus untouchable for us normal players/modders. You could hack Soldat like Shoozza did with his ChatMod, but that's a looooooot of work and you'll need to do it again, everytime a new version is released. But I don't think it's even necessary. I like the colours: Plain (and) nice!

Offline chutem

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Re: Main Menu Background
« Reply #2 on: December 05, 2010, 12:53:52 pm »
Doesnt have to be just a background, the whole menu is disgusting to look at. If it was made skinnable or at least a new design that people approved of was made it would be good, but this kind of thing comes secondary to more important things such as bugs.
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Offline killzonea59

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Re: Main Menu Background
« Reply #3 on: December 05, 2010, 01:07:21 pm »
Yeah, but i wasn't considering it as such an important matter, i was just suggesting a way to change it as a set aside project sort of thing.
Like if it was possible.

Offline JotEmI

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Re: Main Menu Background
« Reply #4 on: December 05, 2010, 01:54:24 pm »
I think it's quite good idea. Of course, there are lot of more important things to implement first, but I'd like to see that eventually.

Offline Shoozza

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Re: Main Menu Background
« Reply #5 on: December 05, 2010, 03:15:17 pm »
I have to agree the tab menu in Soldat 1.5.0 doesn't look so nice. Soldat 1.3.1 had a better one.
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Offline L[0ne]R

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Re: Main Menu Background
« Reply #6 on: December 05, 2010, 04:56:55 pm »
I have to agree the tab menu in Soldat 1.5.0 doesn't look so nice. Soldat 1.3.1 had a better one.
Really? Other than the issue with custom resolutions, I don't remember it being any different. o_O

But anyway, a skinnable menu would be nice. Only thing I like about current menu is the color scheme (which is somewhat unique and should not be messed around with too much). But other than that, it's dull and boring.

I'm not saying it should be overloaded with shading, sparkles and other graphics. But even a slight bit of texture, a bullet hole or two - IMHO it would really make the menu a lot nicer.

« Last Edit: December 05, 2010, 09:16:09 pm by L[0ne]R »

Offline Furai

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Re: Main Menu Background
« Reply #7 on: December 05, 2010, 05:27:08 pm »
Or just make it modifiable. To fit one's likings.
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Offline smiluu

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Re: Main Menu Background
« Reply #8 on: December 05, 2010, 07:29:02 pm »
Menu should have a little more pixels

« Last Edit: December 05, 2010, 07:33:35 pm by smiluu »

Offline Illuminatus

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Re: Main Menu Background
« Reply #9 on: December 06, 2010, 01:20:48 am »
Bah, sry, but this pseudo-improving just looks f**king ugly. Making color gradients and using a background which looks like roofing tiles is not really helpful...

And since Shoozza suddenly appeared I'm gonna do what MM said and kick his ass:
Heya! Waht's up? Do more commnucation!1 I wanna see some introduction of you developer guys, what you're doing at the moment, what you're planing to do (some roadmap), if you will implement the new anti-cheat-solution (MSAC) and where and how often you'll update us about your progress (here's my suggestion).
And I want this info now! Gimme, gimme!!1 :C

And btw: Small info-updates are better than some bigbang-news where you'll all surprise us with some major huge new features and a whole of bugfixes which let us cry for joy.
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Offline smiluu

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Re: Main Menu Background
« Reply #10 on: December 06, 2010, 07:52:27 am »
Those tiles does indeed look like s**t, lets get back to plain standards and perhaps add some margins too. Ahh look at that tutsy pie.


Offline Espadon

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Re: Main Menu Background
« Reply #11 on: December 06, 2010, 09:01:47 am »
Add fractals and a lens flare for a pro finish.
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Offline Monsteri

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Re: Main Menu Background
« Reply #12 on: December 06, 2010, 09:16:13 am »
Second one is goood. Though it should be symmetrical.
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Offline Furai

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Re: Main Menu Background
« Reply #13 on: December 06, 2010, 10:18:52 am »
I say make a contest for best menus. I think many people will try to make up something new.
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Offline vehicledestroyer

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Re: Main Menu Background
« Reply #14 on: December 06, 2010, 03:28:23 pm »
I say make a contest for best menus. I think many people will try to make up something new.

I agree. If a lot of people start making and redesigning the main menu the new devs will see. Plus smiluu's redesign is pretty good (still needs work).

I can't wait to see what else people will come up with!! I'm no artist but I do have Photoshop cs4...(makes it easy) I'll see if I can come up with something later on. Where should we post our pictures? Here?
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Offline Furai

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Re: Main Menu Background
« Reply #15 on: December 06, 2010, 03:52:59 pm »
I say make a contest for best menus. I think many people will try to make up something new.

I agree. If a lot of people start making and redesigning the main menu the new devs will see. Plus smiluu's redesign is pretty good (still needs work).

I can't wait to see what else people will come up with!! I'm no artist but I do have Photoshop cs4...(makes it easy) I'll see if I can come up with something later on. Where should we post our pictures? Here?
I'm not a mod here and it's not up to me to decide...And I think that there is already PS CS5. If someone agrees with it (from mods) I think he'll make an announcement about it. We also have to ask about it our new developers.
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Offline Espadon

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Re: Main Menu Background
« Reply #16 on: December 06, 2010, 05:16:40 pm »
If it was my call to make I'd only let freestyler touch the gui.
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Offline Furai

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Re: Main Menu Background
« Reply #17 on: December 06, 2010, 05:27:03 pm »
Maybe you are right, he's experienced in interfaces terms but little contest wouldn't do harm.
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Offline vehicledestroyer

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Re: Main Menu Background
« Reply #18 on: December 08, 2010, 01:29:15 am »
Maybe you are right, he's experienced in interfaces terms but little contest wouldn't do harm.

I agree let's do a contest. Since there is no official contest YET. I'm posting my submission here. Hope you like it.

It's based off of "Battlefield Bad Company 2" 's Gray black and orange menus. I use two screen shots of the menus, Photoshop CS4, Ms paint and the little skill I have using these programs. Time taken, about 3.5 hours...

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Offline Furai

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Re: Main Menu Background
« Reply #19 on: December 08, 2010, 04:29:46 am »
Maybe you are right, he's experienced in interfaces terms but little contest wouldn't do harm.

I agree let's do a contest. Since there is no official contest YET. I'm posting my submission here. Hope you like it.

It's based off of "Battlefield Bad Company 2" 's Gray black and orange menus. I use two screen shots of the menus, Photoshop CS4, Ms paint and the little skill I have using these programs. Time taken, about 3.5 hours...

http://i872.photobucket.com/albums/ab284/CRASHCOMMANDOdotnet/soldatGUItext.png

New idea. Make menus theme-able. Not one fixed menu but just like it's done with interfaces (it even should be merged together). Add "Theme" option in settings.
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Offline Monsteri

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Re: Main Menu Background
« Reply #20 on: December 08, 2010, 08:00:08 am »
I really agree with Wookash. Menu we have now, is default but you can change it from config. @Vehicledestroyer: Nice work but it feels too filled. Try different colours.
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Offline Illuminatus

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Re: Main Menu Background
« Reply #21 on: December 08, 2010, 12:59:25 pm »
New idea. Make menus theme-able.
Ehm...I don't want to interrupt your creative stadium - new ideas are good and useful suggestions are always welcomed.
But...really?! Skinnable menus? Do you know any game where you can choose different themes for the menus?
I mean it's no winamp-mediaplayer or internet-browser...it's just a game's menu to quickly choose your options and then get into the game as fast as possible. I don't care how the menu looks since it consumes less than 1% of my Soldat-time.
I don't think we really have the ressources to even think about this idea.
« Last Edit: December 08, 2010, 01:01:08 pm by Illuminatus »
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Offline Furai

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Re: Main Menu Background
« Reply #22 on: December 08, 2010, 01:11:12 pm »
New idea. Make menus theme-able.
Ehm...I don't want to interrupt your creative stadium - new ideas are good and useful suggestions are always welcomed.
But...really?! Skinnable menus? Do you know any game where you can choose different themes for the menus?
I mean it's no winamp-mediaplayer or internet-browser...it's just a game's menu to quickly choose your options and then get into the game as fast as possible. I don't care how the menu looks since it consumes less than 1% of my Soldat-time.
I don't think we really have the ressources to even think about this idea.
My idea was to have few different sets of menus and be able to choose it from options. Or as I said, merge it with interfaces so modders could do whole mode which not only affects the looks in-game but also menu.
And you might be right that it'd be another useless feature.
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Offline vehicledestroyer

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Re: Main Menu Background
« Reply #23 on: December 08, 2010, 02:24:06 pm »
@Monsteri Thanks, but what do you mean by "filled". I don't think I will try different colours because it will take away from what it's based on: Battlefield Bad Company 2 's menu design. 1 2

@Illuminatus The point is the menus are ugly, we want it changed. winamp-mediaplayer or  your internet-browser are perfect examples of customizable LOOKS/skins. I do agree that completely modifiable menus (like changing the size AND position of things) like the in game interface is much. but then again I did have problems making my menu fit right on top of the original. I had to move the "Bots" list and "Bot Team" boxes. I want to hear what another dev has to say, about both ideas: Skin-able menus? or Mod-able menus?? OR just redesign the default. Maybe a combination of these ideas would work best...

In the end I must agree with Mod-able menus... and a redesigned default.
« Last Edit: December 08, 2010, 02:30:33 pm by vehicledestroyer »
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Offline chutem

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Re: Main Menu Background
« Reply #24 on: December 08, 2010, 03:04:21 pm »
A competition would work. If the community can come up with a design a significant majority likes, it could get added to a future soldat release with little workload placed on the devs. Lets just hope if a competition is officially started, it goes the way of the previous banner competition and not the trailer competition.
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Offline L[0ne]R

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Re: Main Menu Background
« Reply #25 on: December 08, 2010, 04:47:24 pm »
Simply remaking menu to use images instead of hard-coded colors should suffice. I don't think there's a need to have a whole "choose a theme" system - copy/pasting graphics would be more than enough.

New idea. Make menus theme-able.
Ehm...I don't want to interrupt your creative stadium - new ideas are good and useful suggestions are always welcomed.
But...really?! Skinnable menus? Do you know any game where you can choose different themes for the menus?
I mean it's no winamp-mediaplayer or internet-browser...it's just a game's menu to quickly choose your options and then get into the game as fast as possible. I don't care how the menu looks since it consumes less than 1% of my Soldat-time.
I don't think we really have the ressources to even think about this idea.
"Skinnable Menus" would be more of a side-effect of using images instead of hard-coded colors. Like the in-game interface and player/weapon graphics - they weren't MADE to be moddable - they just happened to be easy enough to edit, so everyone started modding them.

I agree that going through menu consumes very little time compared to actual gameplay, but if you're an active player and do it several times a day - same old menu will eventually become annoying. It is for me at least.
Besides, that buggy menu needs to be remade anyway.

Maybe you are right, he's experienced in interfaces terms but little contest wouldn't do harm.

I agree let's do a contest. Since there is no official contest YET. I'm posting my submission here. Hope you like it.

It's based off of "Battlefield Bad Company 2" 's Gray black and orange menus. I use two screen shots of the menus, Photoshop CS4, Ms paint and the little skill I have using these programs. Time taken, about 3.5 hours...

http://i872.photobucket.com/albums/ab284/CRASHCOMMANDOdotnet/soldatGUItext.png
Battlefield BC2? Aww, and there I was thinking this color theme wasn't used anywhere else. :(

Anyway, your version is really nice, though I don't like the fact that Soldat's "official" color scheme is completely replaced. Also, the black background for "Game Style, Goal, etc" - they're not clickable, they're just headers. But a new player won't know that since they look the same as actual clickable buttons.
I wouldn't vote it as replacement for default (because of a different color scheme), but overall it's a really nice skin and I would definitely use it.
« Last Edit: December 08, 2010, 04:51:26 pm by L[0ne]R »

Offline killzonea59

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Re: Main Menu Background
« Reply #26 on: December 08, 2010, 05:31:46 pm »
New idea. Make menus theme-able.
Ehm...I don't want to interrupt your creative stadium - new ideas are good and useful suggestions are always welcomed.
But...really?! Skinnable menus? Do you know any game where you can choose different themes for the menus?
I mean it's no winamp-mediaplayer or internet-browser...it's just a game's menu to quickly choose your options and then get into the game as fast as possible. I don't care how the menu looks since it consumes less than 1% of my Soldat-time.
I don't think we really have the ressources to even think about this idea.

Well, the fact needs to be seen, you see all these other mods that have creativity added to them like themes and "skins" if you will, to show what is to be modded.

What's the big problem to have a more creative picture in the background to show what soldat is all about?
Instead of just being dull and boring?

Offline MattH

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Re: Main Menu Background
« Reply #27 on: December 08, 2010, 07:09:31 pm »
Pleh?



From: December 08, 2010, 08:08:24 pm
Ehhh.... forgot to add the bot team control panel

Fixed!
« Last Edit: December 08, 2010, 08:08:24 pm by MattH »

Offline Espadon

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Re: Main Menu Background
« Reply #28 on: December 08, 2010, 08:58:32 pm »
Sorry to sound like a downer, you guys might be proud of your work but you were probably proud of your kindergarten crayon scribbles, too.
Nice effort, but plastic surgery should be left to the surgeons.

Leave the default as it is. At most, add option to load an image file in the back for those who really can't live without their COD wallpaper.

...it's just a game's menu to quickly choose your options and then get into the game as fast as possible.

Basically the gist of it. Vanilla Soldat should always maintain its no-frills spirit. I'm all for community additions, but that's exactly that: community additions.
« Last Edit: December 08, 2010, 09:02:53 pm by Espadon »
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Offline MattH

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Re: Main Menu Background
« Reply #29 on: December 08, 2010, 09:29:24 pm »
Sorry to sound like a downer, you guys might be proud of your work but you were probably proud of your kindergarten crayon scribbles, too.
Nice effort, but plastic surgery should be left to the surgeons.

Leave the default as it is. At most, add option to load an image file in the back for those who really can't live without their COD wallpaper.

...it's just a game's menu to quickly choose your options and then get into the game as fast as possible.

Basically the gist of it. Vanilla Soldat should always maintain its no-frills spirit. I'm all for community additions, but that's exactly that: community additions.
Meh... you're right, but its still fun anyway...

Offline L[0ne]R

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Re: Main Menu Background
« Reply #30 on: December 08, 2010, 11:53:26 pm »
There's a very fine line between "simplicity" (good thing) and "primitivism" (bad thing).
In Soldat's case it's more towards the latter. Some things just look primitive, ugly, boring. To me the menu is one of such things. It doesn't really have any style. It's just a bunch of things mashed together on a screen.

Color scheme is pretty unique, as well as font choice. But it could still use better arrangement of elements (why have 7 checkboxes for gamemodes if you can have one textbox, or even a dropdown menu?) and a graphic or two in the corner (Soldat logo in the background?). It shouldn't ruin the simplistic feel of the menu, and would make it look a bit more "professional".