Press Q To Quit

Thinking about improving the Artwork in Vega Strike, or making your own Mod? Submit your question and ideas in this forum.

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Accu-Accelerated
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Press Q To Quit

Post by Accu-Accelerated »

Everyone knows that when you press ESC, this really, really ugly looking box that says "Press Q To Quit. ESC Resumes" appears. Well, I decided to make a better one, and it's transparent too! 8)

http://vegastrike.sourceforge.net/galle ... rt/newquit

That's a real screenshot of it in-game, not a mockup.

Suggestions and comments are welcome. (Maybe use a different font/color?)
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Post by Shadowmane »

I like it. It doesn't hurt the eyes as bad as the other one does.
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Post by Luengo »

I like it as well :)
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Post by Silverain »

Colour is good, but I think font needs a more 'spacey/futuristic' feel to it.
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Post by pontiac »

It's a clear improvement to the one currently in the game 8)

But i have to agree with Silverain here, the font looks a bit too ... plain.

Just my 2c,
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Post by Ari Rahikkala »

And while we're criticising this, the text really ought to be vertically centered in the blue box IMO..
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Post by pontiac »

Maybe something like this would be good .. textwise (but keep in mind that this are just mockups, and not intended to look cool, i'm not skilled enough to make it look much better)
http://vegastrike.sourceforge.net/galle ... en_quit_01
http://vegastrike.sourceforge.net/galle ... en_quit_03 <-EDIT: was 02

Source images are avaiable, just ask if you need them.

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Post by pontiac »

Actually i kinda like the last version i did when doodling around with the background 8)
http://vegastrike.sourceforge.net/galle ... _quit_04_2 <-EDIT was...04.png

Could need 'some' details/tweaks and it would fit in quite well.
But i suspect most of the other artists out there are just laughing at me right now ;)

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Post by pontiac »

Image
http://vegastrike.sourceforge.net/galle ... _quit_04_2

Ok, here are the files ready for use:
http://vegastrike.sourceforge.net/users ... t_04_2.zip
just extract the zip into your "./vegastrike-data/sprites/" directory (2 files will be replaced.)

The Gimp sourcefile is here:
http://vegastrike.sourceforge.net/users ... efiles.zip

Pontiac
Last edited by pontiac on Sat May 28, 2005 10:10 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Post by pontiac »

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Post by Silverain »

I quite like the look of that last one pontiac.
But i have to agree with Silverain here
And that's so hard to do? :lol: I suppose I am a disagreeable fellow. :)
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Post by pontiac »

And that's so hard to do? :lol: I suppose I am a disagreeable fellow. :)
I don't remember disagreeing with you ... ever [1] ... i think ;)

Pontiac

[1] You may insert a 'yet' somewhere in the sentence.
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Post by Silverain »

pontiac wrote:
And that's so hard to do? :lol: I suppose I am a disagreeable fellow. :)
I don't remember disagreeing with you ... ever [1] ... i think ;)

Pontiac

[1] You may insert a 'yet' somewhere in the sentence.
:lol:
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Post by Halleck »

Yay! The quit dialogue has been bugging me ever since I first got vegastrike, good to see people working on it.

From a purely asthetic standpoint, I prefer the simple style of space pirate's logo. However, the one we eventually pick should match the game's GUI, and will probably look more like pontiac's. Personally, I think we should approximate the style of the in-flight console:
Image
Even though it's 3d, I think that the console should be used as a point of reference because the quit menu is also an in-flight interface component. Also because the other option is to match it with the base computer GUI (yuck).
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Post by klauss »

Nah... I like tha last quit dialog. If anything, it should be the other way: make the nav map in the style of the quit dialog. It shouldn't be difficult... Just make the nav a quad textured with the quit menu's background, replace buttons... You know? It could be both possible and easy.
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Post by pontiac »

Ok, here's a screenshot of my current HUD i'm playing with
Image
Image
http://vegastrike.sourceforge.net/album ... .thumb.png

New things in the screenshots:
  • new energy and fuel bars (borders may be remade in the future)
  • shield and armor graphics instead of vector-lines
  • new crosshair
  • new overload image
  • new default image for planets
  • new quit dialog from above
I hope i didn't miss something.

I've encountered 3 'problems' so far with HUD making:
  • The energy/fuel bars lose their 'borders' which their glowing part because right now one side of the image is just cut away (or better 'not drawn').
    See this thread for more info.
  • The second problem is that i want to remove the engine-drawn lines of the shields (which is easy), but leave the small picture of my ship in there (it normally vanished with the lines)
  • The last problem is that i want to draw the shield images for my targets (not target with shields in this screen) as well (instead fo the lines).
    This would of course pose a problem when switching the VDU type ... because the shield images would still be there ....solution: maybe 'grouping of sprites?
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Crosshair MK2

Post by pontiac »

Here's the crosshair i'm using right now.
Image

I scaled it about 1.5-2 the size it really is (see the pic for real size) and it looks really cool that way.

EDIT: Oh, and one more issue with HUD design
  • I can't seem to place the quit dialog somewhere else (instead of the center) on the screen. All my changes to the config files are ignored somehow.
Pontiac

PS: Yes, i know could just make the image bigger, but it doesn't really make a difference.
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Nice work - wording suggestion

Post by Zuidera »

How about attempting to maintain the suspension of disbelief as much as possible e.g. the style and / or feel of the Max Payne exit screen.

The text currently reads:

Press
[Q]
on your console
to QUIT or
[Esc]
to RESUME the game.


If you reword the text to not refer to Vega Strike as a game it helps to maintain the immersion in the Vega Strike universe e.g.:

Press
[Q]
on your console
to QUIT misison
[Esc]
to RESUME.

or:

Press [Q] to QUIT the mission
or [Esc] to CONTINUE mission.

or:

Leave Vega Strike?

To QUIT press [Q]

to CONTINUE Press [Esc]

or:

Leave Vega Strike?

I had to ABORT the misison

I had to CONTINUE my mssion.

(using the mouse to click on ABORT or CONTINUE)
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Re: Nice work - wording suggestion

Post by rubikcube »

One thing I dislike about the "current" version
Press
[Q]
on your console
to QUIT or
[Esc]
to RESUME the game
is the closeness of the word "QUIT" with the key [Esc]. So please either use one of the 2-liners do it another way so that noone presses Q when he really means Esc.
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Post by klauss »

How about:

Press on your console:

[Q] to QUIT
[Esc] to RESUME


Very vague, not referring directly to the game, and very clear also.
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