Fresh Air

Sorry for lack of info about what i'm doing with that project, but 2-3 times per year I'm doing Stalker series marathon, that is nothing more than 4-6 days of 14 hours(per day) nonstop gaming :]
I'm finishing right now last mod for Call of Pripyat(My eyes looks like boiled tomato), so probably I would upload Main screen, Lobby, game menu and weapon menu concept in Monday/Tuesday :]

After that it would be easier to talk about it and modify it to fit your idea of game :]

 

Well, as I said before, I still dont see the point of having any graphic in 4:3, maybe 1% of people use this aspect ratio :]
Its take useless space for graphic and time to convert it...


But I think that for best results one part of graphic should be scaled(backgrounds, main logos, etc) and other part(buttons loading bars) should be the same size no matter what res someone use.
But still, there should be set MINIMUM res for game, like 960x540 or even 1024x600(times when 640x480 res was minimum are way back in 2004, even my phone have fullHD screen...) so it would need less work to create all graphics and to scale them in actual game.


In loading screen this should be background:
http://s26.postimg.org/4wydiduw9/load_screen_background.png

and this are parts that should be static:










And beside, like I said in other topic, its still mess in graphic resolution of Menu, one of example:


This is part of lobby, one of server window. All graphic are only visible here, and they all are the same size on actual game, but still all this graphic have bigger source res, so after scaling you get weird artifacts on those graphic.
Why not to use actual size of graphic? it way better for look of it, and for future modifications.
The sooner you could fix that the better for game. I dont think game need some massive revolution in menu and lobby, so even if you change something in the future all that graphic would be the same size...
Im gonna use source sizes, but still it would need fixing...

 

Well, to be honest I didnt spend to much time on it(lack of time, and then that stalker marathon...), so for now I have only screens from lobby and SP menu...




I also have bunch of random small icons from other part of menu but I need to see how they would look on actual game.

PS. about that replaced logo, I think I make square background for old one and add title from new one.

PPS. probably you wondering what is that "sponsored server" :] I think it should be in every MP game.
Because sometimes there are loots of cool servers buried in lobby full of other servers that are really average and people play there only because there are other people(no one like join empty server and wait even few minutes for players).
Just like in soldat right now: best server is not one with most players(<cough>zabijaka<cough>) people play there because they don't want scroll all lobby and search for cool server to play, and wait alone for others players to join.
So there should be something like mod that every few days look for good server and put it in that sponsored list, so players would find out new servers to play, new one, or with new cool maps. because if there is bunch of players that stick just to one server and they play there for years and have no idea what other servers have to offer, new players will forget about lobby and join always first, full server, something like stagnation, no one care to search new servers, so its good if we show them something new.

 

yea, that is one of problem with such menu :/ Probably minimum would be 960 in width for best result.

Upper menu part is not the problem, because it have big texts and even after resizing its look good, but problem would be with solid graphic like windows...
I also checked old boxy lobby and put sponsored server on top:


And here are parts from both screens, most of graphic are resized, because I worked on original graphic(and each of them have different sizes).
http://speedy.sh/c8BRT/s2d-samples-menu.zip

 

splash? you mean THD logo?
http://speedy.sh/HUJXA/thd-logo.zip

I squeezed those lobby list a bit without modifying icons:


here is this new background for it:




Ps maybe you could made normal, simple server list(but with game mode icon and those small ones) and small window on the left with all info about it? I'll check how it would look...

 

I think I found best and simplest solution for menu. I'm gonna work on medium resolution, between 960x540 and 1366x768(probably PAL format 1024x576).

So when it would be scaled (without interpolation) it not gonna lost any quality and it not gonna have blurred lines no matter if you scale it down or up.

 

I wanted to apologize for lack of new graphic or your latest request, but I lost a bit "enthusiasm" for that project :(
Charms of free community work... :/

Normally there is that heat of that community or single person who bother me all the time with this project, so I'm working on it until i'm done.

Beside its summer, i have few weeks of free time from work, steam finally accepted my credit card so im downloading loots of games that for now i had only from torrents, and finally I was working on my portfolio site that need massive uploads from my hdd...


About that quality: yes i tried it before i uploaded lobby mockup, from 1366x768 to 960x540 graphic lost quality, but its all depend on what scaling method you use, if you use just rescaling, some graphic have annoying bugs, if resample method like triangle or (better) lanczos its a bit blurred but still look better.

And to be honest I did that wrong, because I could work on minimal res and then just resize few main panels....



So for now i can only say sorry, and If I find my "self-denial" I would upload, not rest of mockups, but at least all that small icons to fit that menu style....