Screenshot/Music Showcase

Happy Halloween everyone!

Rayquaza. said:

Happy Halloween everyone!

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I like the idea, a lot of people are probably doing something like this, but I feel like the trees should be more orange, or something to set the mood and set it apart from normal every day run of the mill trees

other than that its a pretty cool little addition/idea/side quest/picture

KingCharizard said:

This is a college project? This is all very basic.. cout and cin maybe a if/if else loop, some key press checks doesn't really seem college level, but anyways its a good start hope it works out for you

Looks really cool, love the tiles and the character sprite

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It was the first assignment of the year.
The idea was a make a basic text adventure with 6-10 different areas you can travel to.

So basically yes, couts and cins and if/if else.

ЩѻƦḽᶑʂḽдƴƹƦ™ said:

Menu WIP

Just a mock up of the menu WIP. I will be adding a section for a clock, and a bag quick view (current ball count etc) in the left and right. The clock will open up the options menu, and the other will open up the bag.

The center button with the player OW sprite, will open up a sub menu for options like Pokedex, Trainer Card, and Save.

I want to have the selected button be brighter and have the icon animated, maybe have the name of what option is selected written at the bottom of the screen, such as the name of the Pokemon, or "Player" if the center is selected as in the example above.

It is all subject to change, since this is a mock up I would love some feedback on what I could change, etc.

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IMHO That looks amazing, very new and different. I like how you thought outside the box somewhat literally.

I always thought the point of a GUI element was that you could see it. That first version in particular is really quite dark. Also, which two Pokémon are going to be going into a double battle? I'm assuming the one at the top is the lead Pokémon.

How are you going to access the party screen? Please don't say you're getting rid of it, because seeing the information panels for all the Pokémon in your team at once (without having to hover over them) is very useful. And if you're keeping it, is it going to be arranged in hex form too for consistency?

I'm not keen on the idea of having to press a button again to get access to the other pause menu stuff (Dex, Card, etc.).

KingCharizard said:

IMHO That looks amazing, very new and different. I like how you thought outside the box somewhat literally.

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Haha, thanks :D

Maruno said:

I always thought the point of a GUI element was that you could see it. That first version in particular is really quite dark. Also, which two Pokémon are going to be going into a double battle? I'm assuming the one at the top is the lead Pokémon.

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I need to lighten it up. I posted the summary many places, and I only made the comment about the visibility to Venom12 I believe, but it was a concern of mine. This was just a preliminary so I could get some feedback :). I will probably just get rid of the border transparency and make the selected box a different color.

Party is arranged with slot 1 at the top, then going clockwise. Mewtwo is second, Zygarde is second... you get the idea.

How are you going to access the party screen? Please don't say you're getting rid of it, because seeing the information panels for all the Pokémon in your team at once (without having to hover over them) is very useful. And if you're keeping it, is it going to be arranged in hex form too for consistency?

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Brace yourself... the party screen has currently been tabled. It is not necessarily because I thought it was unnecessary, in fact I feel it is the most important screen. The idea is to create it's own space. So while ESC, or whatever button we go with, opens this menu, a second button will open another quick-view menu, which was the part of the UI I was actually starting last night.

My initial idea was to actually use the lower part of the screen to display information about each individual pokemon by just hovering over them, but it was a space issue.

Key binding for menus may seem strange for a Pokemon game, however people play other games and most games have specific keys opening up specific menus and I do not think that is asking too much of the player to remember the commands. It also makes that part of Oak's speech a little more important in my opinion. Time for people to tap into that old man's wisdom! :P

I'm not keen on the idea of having to press a button again to get access to the other pause menu stuff (Dex, Card, etc.).

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There is some give and take here, that I felt needed to be made, and that involved somewhat restructuring the schematics of the menu options. The interface is designed with trying to provide the most important "field" information as possible and as quickly as possible, while the less important information remains structured and confined within a sub menu to allow there to be more space for other things.

Important field items are things like the party quick access menu (WIP), the in game clock, for tracking time specific events, item inventory (showing how many Pokeballs, potions, or repels are on hand) and maybe there is more I am forgetting.

Thanks for your response Maruno (and hopefully future responses), that is why I wanted to post it early on, so I can adjust or redesign as needed. It is a User interface, not my interface :)


So I have filled in the side panels, strengthened the outline on the shapes, and lightened up the background tint. The highlight is now colored, to better distinguish the current selection

You will also see that there is a word under the menu, this will correspond with what selection you are on. Since the player is active, it will show their name. The pokemon name will appear if a pokemon is highlighted, "Settings" will appear when the clock is selected, and "Bag" when the items are selected.

Selecting a pokemon will open up the summary screen.

EDIT: MENU WIP2

Playing with the idea of coloring the pokemon's hexagon to indicate a status effect, such as sleep, paralyzed, etc. Purple is for poisoned. This idea may end up scrapped, I find it pretty distracting.


Adjusted the brightness and darkness, scrapped the status colors, and removed the center option. I think the highlighted option is now more pronounced, which is what I was going for.

The player option has been removed for the time being. I think it looks better without the option in the center and I am not entirely sure how I want to work that sub menu now. Ideas?


The party menu, this will open up with a secondary key, which is separate from the above menus. This is used for quick at a glance party info from a single key, rather than opening the menu and then selecting the pokemon option. Statuses such as Poisoned or burned, will have an icon appearing just like the classic screen.

Feedback?

in order from left-right top-bottom

1. looks pretty good to me, except for the subtle black square around your text, i'm very picky about that kind of thing, either have it be separate from the rest of the pic or dont, and the way you have it set up it appears to be transparent, but really isnt and while most would not even really notice at first glance, it pops out to me as a sort of out of place sloppy work - you could have intended it to look like that, that's fine, if so then make the white lines you have also conect on the sides so it is separated from the background

2. I like the idea and the style and even the outcome, the only critique is the green "pokemon"/monster, iunno what they are in your game - the green guy is more of a sketch art and looks very out of place compared to the nicely shaded and finished looking other guys (it was the only critique, sorry if its just a showcasing WIP)

3. its nice, but the hands are out of place compared to the beautifully drawn machine - its needs detail and shading, also I know of no one who holds hand held devices in such a silly manner, as though it were to break if touched

4. same thing, the hand is given no detail and is not shaded - the trainer mug shot or w/e looks very out of place with all the nicely drawn things you have not just in that shot, but the game as a whole

5. the HP bar filled zone color thing (the actual thing that is reduced in the pic, not the number or title) needs to stand out more - I get that it changes colors (at least it looks like it does) but it needs to stand out more, be a lighter shade than that darker one

Rickyboy said:

Spoiler:

Our team is scrapping most of my graphical work for a few reasons(for the better in my opinion), so I thought I'd post'em just to get people's opinions so I know what to do better next time around. Please criticize anything, I've got tough shell :)



I already know they are in many different styles, please ignore that. Also, the hands, green fakemon, trainer mugshot were something quickly whipped up, they weren't final products.

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• I'm personally not a fan of the "I'm holding the item" style of UI, but that comes down to personal opinion, I guess!
• I super like the party page, it feels kinda jrpg-y? the tall pokemon images are cool, anyway.
• with the battle...I feel like the main problem for me is the fight/run/etc buttons; they look super out of place. I think it would look a lot better if that section mirrored the "what will X do" thing on the left more, like if the frame was the same size/shape, and the text was the same font/style. Also, the !!s don't look very professional, imo.
• I agree with saving raven re: the title screen, it'd look a lot cooler if the black square was actually translucent.

ЩѻƦḽᶑʂḽдƴƹƦ™ said:

Spoiler:

Battle!

I am still unsure about the battle buttons, but they will be something like that :D. I may change them, I may leave them.
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quick pet peeve: I feel like as a community, we can move beyond "what will X do". the player knows that's the question, they don't need it in their face every turn, you know? I feel like a lot of fangame battle UIs I see are super cluttered, and that's mainly because they're trying to fit in that information, which imo is unnecessary. all you really need are the options

specific to your screenshot: I like the shape of your buttons, I don't love that fitting them together means the whole shape is asymmetrical. I feel like it would look better (in my opinion) if you got rid of the question, somehow made the shape of the option buttons symmetrical (maybe make the inner edge just a straight line, as opposed to the <? that way they could just fit together), and then centered it on that cool wavy black bar.

as an aside: super into your pokemon info bars! they look snazzy and informative without being too cluttered or out of place. they look very cool! I really like the subtle checkerboard pattern.

Vociferocity said:

quick pet peeve: I feel like as a community, we can move beyond "what will X do". the player knows that's the question, they don't need it in their face every turn, you know? I feel like a lot of fangame battle UIs I see are super cluttered, and that's mainly because they're trying to fit in that information, which imo is unnecessary. all you really need are the options

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As a player who has played the games before, I agree. I do not think the "What will X do" question is really all that necessary.

As a designer, I will tell you that it is an integral part of communication between the game and the player. There is a reason you still see Nintendo putting it in their games, and they are how many generations in?

You are seeing cluttered battle UI's because it is no longer just borders around boxes like in Red and Blue, and you are seeing perspective and detail added to the battle screen such as the environmental pad the sprites "stand" on. This level of detail is really only becoming cluttered because official games are using 2 screens instead of 1 and you are finding that all the detail is in a single screen in these fan games.


As you can see, even FR and LG are beginning to have all the elements you see in today's fan games, and the only thing really changing is battle backgrounds and optional shapes. Perhaps what is making it feel cluttered is the array of colors and sprite size which is showing depth?

specific to your screenshot: I like the shape of your buttons, I don't love that fitting them together means the whole shape is asymmetrical. I feel like it would look better (in my opinion) if you got rid of the question, somehow made the shape of the option buttons symmetrical (maybe make the inner edge just a straight line, as opposed to the <? that way they could just fit together), and then centered it on that cool wavy black bar.

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Even buttons is not interesting and actually look pretty bad unless they are rounded edges or squares on the outer edges of the buttons. I did try those options first, and from a design aspect, there was very little flow to be had. As for getting rid of the question, I am not opposed to that at all, however for the purposes of keeping that communication intact, I do not plan on actually removing that at all, perhaps I can set an optional mode in settings or something to allow more advanced players to skip such formalities. It would indeed look much better without it and if I could just make larger buttons, it would even open up space for another option such as a Mega Evolution button or something.

as an aside: super into your pokemon info bars! they look snazzy and informative without being too cluttered or out of place. they look very cool! I really like the subtle checkerboard pattern.

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They are actually just BW2 rips. The only thing I changed was the shades of the health indication color :P.

ЩѻƦḽᶑʂḽдƴƹƦ™ said:

As a player who has played the games before, I agree. I do not think the "What will X do" question is really all that necessary.

As a designer, I will tell you that it is an integral part of communication between the game and the player. There is a reason you still see Nintendo putting it in their games, and they are how many generations in?.

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ok so, I disagree with your designer statement, and I feel like you do too, honestly! if you agree that as a fangame player you don't need that information, then I feel like you agree that as a fangame designer it's superfluous to include.

and I mean, that r/b screenshot doesn't even have it! I have a vague memory of the command popping up and then vanishing before the options being shown, which is a great way to do it imo.

(plus also: every official pokemon game has a bunch of new players who "need" that information (they probably totally don't, let's be real), whereas no pokemon fangame gets played by someone new to pokemon. every single person playing your game knows exactly what to do in a battle. so I feel like "what would nintendo do?" maybe isn't 100% applicable to fangame design)

I agree that the colours play a large part in making a battle screen look cluttered: frlg has a great unobtrusive colour pallet, especially with the backgrounds. & I totally agree about the two screens thing! but imo this just backs up my opinion: fangame creators could take a closer look at their battle screens & edit them a whole bunch. frlg flows really well, even with all that information, because having both the options and the command in that bar down the bottom looks really neat. but a lot of fangames try to scatter the information around the screen, which imo just ends up looking a bit messy, especially when the background and the sprites are super detailed and saturated.

in conclusion: I still think fangames should get rid of that message, especially if they want their battle screen to look like recent pokemon games in other ways (eg: backgrounds)

ЩѻƦḽᶑʂḽдƴƹƦ™ said:

They are actually just BW2 rips. The only thing I changed was the shades of the health indication color :P.

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aha, the one official game I haven't played! no wonder I didn't recognise them :)

As a designer, I will tell you that it is an integral part of communication between the game and the player. There is a reason you still see Nintendo putting it in their games, and they are how many generations in?

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I'm not so sure it's as important for fan games though. Nintendo/Gamefreak only does it so they can dumb it down for kids just getting into the games. I assume if someone is going to be playing your game, they've played a few pokemon games before, or at least can figure out what's going on.
I'm not saying get rid of it, because it doesn't bother me, but I don't think it's as important as your stating.

Also, I like the scene, HP boxes, and all that. Only thing I'd suggest is put Fight above Bag, since it's usually the first option. I believe that it would make more sense to be above bag. That's just a nitpick though, everything looks dandy.

Vociferocity said:

quick pet peeve: I feel like as a community, we can move beyond "what will X do". the player knows that's the question, they don't need it in their face every turn, you know? I feel like a lot of fangame battle UIs I see are super cluttered, and that's mainly because they're trying to fit in that information, which imo is unnecessary. all you really need are the options

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The main reason I disagree with the removal of "What will Pikachu do?" is that it's useful in double battles to tell which Pokémon you're ordering. This is especially true if you make another of the common changes to the battle system, which is to stop the ordered Pokémon from bobbing up and down (probably because you're using BW sprites) - this bobbing, the bobbing of the data boxes, and the message are the only ways in which you can tell what's happening and whether the game is awaiting an input from the player.

It's not exactly "in their face every turn" either. And besides, there's nothing else to put there instead except for making the command buttons larger. Better a message that some people would consider redundant than empty space which everyone would consider redundant.

Atomic Reactor said:

I'm not so sure it's as important for fan games though. Nintendo/Gamefreak only does it so they can dumb it down for kids just getting into the games. I assume if someone is going to be playing your game, they've played a few pokemon games before, or at least can figure out what's going on.

I'm not saying get rid of it, because it doesn't bother me, but I don't think it's as important as your stating.

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I don't, and wont design anything based on an assumption of audience. That is just something that translates over from media design though, the worst thing I have done was work on an ad campaign that was assumptive in nature and it was a failure.

Also, I like the scene, HP boxes, and all that. Only thing I'd suggest is put Fight above Bag, since it's usually the first option. I believe that it would make more sense to be above bag. That's just a nitpick though, everything looks dandy.

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The first option selected by default will always be FIGHT, left takes you to BAG, down will take you to POKEMON and RUN respectively. The reason why BAG is higher is just the flow of the interface. You have things curving out and up as you move away from the Y axis of the screen and imitated depth with things like the battle bases which gives you a false sense of a Z axis that does not actually exist. The reason BAG is higher other than simply moving with the flow, is that things that are closer to the point of origin or an established focal point, are generally things that are more important. With the text on the left, and you reading it when it pops up and prompts you to choose, whatever is closer to the Y axis on the X axis is more important than what is closer to the X axis on the Y axis, if that makes sense. From a design and visual communication aspect, the more important something is, the closer it is to the established focal point, not what his higher on the screen. Once the focal shifts to the buttons, the highlight will establish what is important.

Idk, it works better with the established flow the way it is and I feel that is optimal because your eyes will move from left to right as you read the screen and as they do, the more important information comes first as they move. If I were to keep it and just move it up and BAG down, you then start messing with that false Z axis that is establishing depth and fostering flow.

Maruno said:

The main reason I disagree with the removal of "What will Pikachu do?" is that it's useful in double battles to tell which Pokémon you're ordering.

It's not exactly "in their face every turn" either. And besides, there's nothing else to put there instead except for making the command buttons larger. Better a message that some people would consider redundant than empty space which everyone would consider redundant.

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I'll admit I didn't consider double battles! that's definitely going to have to be something I consider if I make one of these fangames haha. I still think there are probably smaller/cleaner ways of indicating to the player what's going on.

& it's not that I really think it's in the player's face so much as it's an unnecessary addition to the screen that helps to clutter it. I think we can all agree that a lot of fangame battle screens are super cluttered! and I don't think removing that message would hurt, at least in most cases. I also don't think it would create "redundant" empty space, in fact I think empty space is important for a good design.

ЩѻƦḽᶑʂḽдƴƹƦ™ said:

I don't, and wont design anything based on an assumption of audience. That is just something that translates over from media design though, the worst thing I have done was work on an ad campaign that was assumptive in nature and it was a failure.

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yeah ok, I see what you're saying, and fair point: assumptions can lead to making asses out of u and mptions, etc. but I think there's a difference between an entirely new design created with audience assumptions, and a remake of a battle screen that you have seen and reacted to as a player. as a player, you know what you do and do not like about the nintendo battle screen, and I don't see that that information wouldn't be useful in designing a new battle screen.

I have been working on a Zygarde 3D model recently and I thought I would share what I have so far too see if there is any feedback I might find from someone who has done Pokemon 3d models before...

It looks quite good so far, but I do recommend showing the wireframe mesh if you want to get any real feedback on it. As it stands, I can't see much wrong with it yet!

Abnegation said:

It looks quite good so far, but I do recommend showing the wireframe mesh if you want to get any real feedback on it. As it stands, I can't see much wrong with it yet!

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I am making a new and flat one to put a bone structure in. I will get a wire frame posted when I am happy with it :D

Tried my hand at sprite tracing/recoloring. Presenting Mecha Aggron!



I literally took a picture of Mega Aggron from X's pokedex, traced it, and changed the colors a bit. If all goes well, this is going to be a boss in my game (battles are viewed from the side, which is why it's facing left instead of towards the screen).

This is my first time doing something like this, so any feedback or help from spriters would be much appreciated!