Hardwar

I want to start getting some things done off my list of stuff. One of those things is the artwork for the main menu of our game.

I plan to render the background with a 3d model so you don't have to worry about making a background for the menu. The background will be in space with a planet and moon moving. If you want an example look at the first couple of seconds in this movie.. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-ZYJZGXJpas

The main menu will have a way for the player to:

• create new single player games
• join multiplayer games
• change game options such as keyboard controls
• quit the game

It should be similar to our loading screen..


Here is my first attempt below. I based it off mass effect's main menu screen. I have uploaded the zip file with the included svn images.

I am looking to take this on first .

Back when there was talk within the community about developing a sequel to Hardwar, I put this together for that . I still feel that, obviously minus the II this would be a good replacement logotype for the Hardwar rebuild . Would you not agree ? It is based on a typeface that I created myself a few years ago . It only happened that as I was collecting the myriad of typefaces I've made over the years that I stumbled on this .

http://www.niroku.com/fetch/2.jpg

Here is the original box art, which as I mentioned in the previous post was the reason I bought the game in the first place:

http://hardwar.corsarius.net/wp-content/uploads/2006/11/hardwar-box-cover.jpg

I was thinking that we could definitely take more of this direction into the game because I felt there wasn't nearly enough of it .

Unless you have your heart set on the direction you have which is the showing of Titan with Saturn (is it ?) in the background I could do that too, but I would like to drive more graphic design elements into the UI, as it were .

I'm happy to change it. I was considering something else anyway because a space theme would require more artwork which wouldn't be reusable and since we're short on artists it doesn't make much sense.

One thing about the font however, the a looks very much like a d. Is it possible to change that to make it more distinguishable?

I think it'd be great if the menu background had some animation to it rather then just a static image. I personally like how valve has an animated scene as their background in games such as half-life 2, etc. Perhaps inside a hanger or something like that?

I understand .

I'll look at adjusting the logotype and see what I can do about the 'a' . As I say it was made a long time ago . Also note that I put the [ ] around the 'w' instead of the original logotype which was over the 'a' . This never quite made sense to me other than the possible connection to Alpha district/zone etc .

I like the idea of having an animated menu and if I recall the original game did have a window to the left of it which showed in game ? This would require a lot more of the art assets being produced though to really sell this though .

I was wondering how you currently connected to a game, because if you didn't immediately join the game as soon as you connected to a server: you could show the moon from space while 'offline' but then show on the moon once connected to a server . Submenus could have a more graphic approach . I had an idea of Titan turning fully red and filling the screen with graphic elements, like you're looking down on some sort of map . This could all be animated .

There is a lot I would like to do visually with this game !

Here is a new version of the logotype .

http://niroku.com/fetch/3.jpg

I did this also, in case at any point we get slapped with a lawyer that says the name has to be changed . "titan" would be a good name instead I feel .

http://niroku.com/fetch/4.jpg

I am in the process of putting together a video which will be a sort of demo of how I believe the menu would look and work .

Currently you start up the client and it attempts to join a server with the IP you have given straight away.

How it will work in the future is that the game will start up with a main menu, you'll connect to a master server to pull a list of servers people are running and then connect to a game. Alternatively you will be able to start a single player game.

The name can stay as 'hardwar'. I checked this out and the trademark already expired some time ago so we are free to use it.

These are my concepts for the menu and UI *before* you get into the game world . Once in game I would imagine them to look a bit different from this .

http://www.niroku.com/fetch/menu.mov - quicktime version of the title screen and main menu
http://www.niroku.com/fetch/menu.wmv - windows media version of the same

The idea with this whole menu interface is that at stage you get closer to Titan, starting from the title screen being in orbit . The main menu is as you can see more of a top down schematic view of the topology of the moon . The dots and curved lines that move over everything are stars that would be visible from this moon to tease the notion that space is above you but you can't get there - you can only go to this world .



This is the main menu with the mouse as you can see hovering over the single player option . Above the menu there is room to show various objects in game such as buildings, moths and logos . Omitted from this design until we have something that can go there .



After selecting 'singleplayer' as an option and clicked it reveals the options of creating a new game or continuing an existing . As shown the colour scheme changes to something that is easier on the eyes . The "6-6" refers to the sixth moon of the sixth planet of which Titan is .



Once you have selected 'new game' you are given this screen which has you enter your player name and choose the class - these classes are from the original game and subject to change . Clicking 'confirm' will take you into the game .



This is the find server screen of multiplayer which lists all of the available servers including the name, the date, number of players and ping . This is based on the design by Andrew but I added the date which would let players choose based on the evolution of a persistent world, it could be more fun .



While the game connects to the server this screen will be shown and give you a final chance to back out . Once connected the topological map will disappear and show a camera that physically exists in the server's world and the 'wait' box will change to 'join' and the date and population will update in realtime .

That looks amazing. You've really captured the original art style and shaped into something more modern