Menu

Mockup(Paint.NET) of a menu style I threw together today. I added a community page. Very loose framework. Objects would slide exponentially into postion(smoothly). Just concept...I'll try to turn it into a working product.

Main Screen:


Community Window:


Technical Details(Updated as I go):
Gaussian Blur on Text: 2
Gaussian Blur on Lines: 1
The Gaussian Blur effect is awesome when applied realtime. Shattered Horizon uses this effect.

Edit: Meant to say, any changes/comments/criticisms?

looking good. i like the ingame community aspect!

Yes please. It looks much better than the menu of the game-the-name-of-which-shall-be-forgot.

nice, although i really like the thick bulky text that the Nexuiz was using for all its headings. And what about having the menu list on the right?

The colours are off, they don't fit with the main blue/orange defined by the logo. In addition, the logo uses colour gradients for its inner part as well as the outlines, it adds certain dynamics to the design.

Also I'd suggest changing the font, as it doesn't really fit - again comparing this to the feel of the logo, which is sleek and futuristic.

The main page looks a bit... blank. I think it would be better if you could have a selection of wallpapers like in Nexuiz

Also I think the text looks squashed together.

Looks nice! Much better than in Nexuiz. (Which has the strangest menu, ever.)

Over all I think that looks great! I agree with ThePWTULN that the very first shoot of the main menu should have something more. What I don't know. I'd hate to say the wallpaper like look from Nexuiz because I think it needs to be different.

I think you should change the font and the colors. The orange was meant as a subtle accent, not as the main color.
Otherwise, I like the community idea, and the news ticker at the bottom. Maybe a "X days till Xonotic v.A.B.C" message too.

@Lamoot:
I plan to recreate the gradients from the logo instead of a solid color. That is the main difference...just imagine it.
I don't have the logo's font. If I could obtain that font, I will use it. Anyone know which font was used?

@MoonRise:
Here was my thought on the main screen. Start a simple, small, grayscale rendered map(a ship?) That is flown over. Run a mipmap blur on it and render windows and buttons with that blurred background. I'll try to give an idea of this as soon as I get back from Gatlinburg, TN. I had to use a laptop for this(with a poor mouse). I should get a better mockup when I get back...hopefully with the real font and gradients.

I'd like to get a simple animation(gif) to demonstrate menu motion. As for programming it...I need to start researching.

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I think you should change the font and the colors. The orange was meant as a subtle accent, not as the main color.
Otherwise, I like the community idea, and the news ticker at the bottom. Maybe a "X days till Xonotic v.A.B.C" message too.

Hmmm...want the whole thing blue? Would look a little weighted, but I'll try it. I know I'll end up liking the blue better.

Blue feels like the main color because of the logo. Orange seems more like the accent color. So maybe you could make the blue color the menu background color and the orange the border/text color.

Hmmm...will it match? I'll try it out on Sunday(if I can).

I am not sure about this but i believe sev may be making a menu design as well. you may want to work with him. his latest nexuiz menu was looking really solid: http://alienTRAP.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=5998

I am not sure about this but i believe sev may be making a menu design as well. you may want to work with him. his latest nexuiz menu was looking really solid: http://alienTRAP.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=5998

Oh wow, that does look good

Eh. It's mostly a suggestion. It's a different menu style, more like the original 'game that shall not be mentioned' menu. The current one is the 3 window style. I'm just experimenting with a more well known menu style. I wouldn't be able to merge well with sev. I'll try an get a better mockup for reference. To be clear, I have had no 3d engine programming experience and no experience with quake C. I am ready to learn, I just need a teacher/teachers.

I do agree that the menu needs to be changed up to be more organized and user friendly. The menus system now is sort of weird and takes awhile to get used to and exploring to find what you need.

Looks interesting this menu skin, but I like better this one: http://pics.nexuizninjaz.com/images/ahom...q3bz5m.jpg . And as I know, it is already implemented.

Try putting the skin in a blue theme and implement it, to see how it actually looks like on the screen. It might be a good alternative.

I'll try on Sunday, Monday at the latest.

How 'bout now? Here is an updated mockup:

Main Screen(pretend the picture in the background is realtime on these):


Community Window(Minor Changes):


The blur I used is a true Gaussian blur. It looks nice, but is very process intensive. This is what a simple bilinear would look like:

Much easier...as in reduce 25%(bilinear) and grow 400%(bilinear). It's almost a natural process of the GPU. Just throwin' that out there.

Looks fantastic. I'd ask for a font change, though.

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I loooooove the incorporation of the IRC.

Only thing I want changed as well, I just don't have the original font(from the logo) HINT HINT...


Edit: The font doesn't look bad, it's just inconsistent, and not GPL. If ya'll find a better font, PM me, and I'll finalize the mockup.

The latest mockup with the real time map looks awesome.

That's a lot better. Really nice. I like more the version without blur. It looks more clear. Also, I like the thing that the menu is on the right side. Not many games have that.

Someone said he likes the incorporation of IRC. That's a good idea, but a better one is that with the forum. That's really neat! This way more users will join the forums.

I'm sort of curious how the forums will be incorporated, though.

Actually rendering the forum is probably easier then it is to implement a irc client in-game. There was once a proof-of-concept game based on DarkPlaces which used webpages as textures. I think it was used to show stuff like myspace, facebook.. Maybe some of that could be reused to display the forum in the menu. I'm not sure if its possible to compile liboffscreengecko for all the needed operating systems and how well inputing text worked.