I agree on the lack of creativity and so I'll work on it, but I'm happy a couple of you liked the font.
I think it might be worth mentioning that the theme of my map is team unit composition and micro, so in that sense, the portraits emphasize the role of individual units, imho. Maybe I could maintain this theme in an original creative work.
I guess it's very busy so it's hard to see your brand. I am, contrarily, not a fan of that font personally as it is not really as good looking as the real SC2 font (which as far as we know is not public, sitting somewhere on Blizz's hard drives). Honestly I just try and find other high-tech fonts since the Starcraft font in public circulation (that we all use) just looks like a cheap knock-off of the real SC logo font :/
Note: But your texture on the font is good, definitely keep that.
Below are some loading screens I think would be good to look at. Examples include busy ones and simpler ones, but it should be noted that in all of these cases you can see the brand / logo easily.
Yeah.. too many random pictures. Looking at this screen isn't helpful to player and it gives impression of a random low quality map. The picture itself feels like an obligatory work done in 30 min and does nothing other than throwing lots of random colors at me leaving me confused and little bit annoyed.
Make loading screen useful, give me somewhere to stare at while map loads. Perhaps some black area on the left of screen with a few sentences explaining general gameplay and a few cuts of said gameplay one the right. Something to familiarize player with your map before it even starts. One - two sentences isn't much so players probably won't skip the text.
I'd probably even go as far as to say that I'd prefer default Blizzards loading screens or art pieces to this because they usually have theme, style and color consistency. They're pleasant to look at.
@OneTwoSC: Go
Yeah, I see what you mean about it being too busy, establishing a brand, and the font being kinda cheesy. I'll keep that in mind, thanks a lot.
@DuckyTheDuck: Go
Good points. In the next version, I'll add a brief how-to-play section so players can familiarize themselves with the map before playing.
I dont think loading screen matters that much. But I suppose a bit more simple would be better indeed.
I suppose I always liked wc3 dota loadinscreens. Beautiful art and simple and some information. I wonder if I can get my own artist to do loading screens lol
I dont think loading screen matters that much. But I suppose a bit more simple would be better indeed.
I suppose I always liked wc3 dota loadinscreens. Beautiful art and simple and some information. I wonder if I can get my own artist to do loading screens lol
Have you noticed most of the maps on the top pages have custom pics? (on NA anyway) it shows that you know what you were doing in the editor, and that its probably interesting, idk why but loading screen kinda does matter, especially if you don't want some random planet view...
@Nerfpl: Go
Haha niice I really like those mods, especially the second one!
Here's version two. I tried to change the font of the Title, but imo even the SC knock-off font looked better than the other fonts I have. I ditched all the portraits because, I agree, they were too busy, and replaced it with a Blizzard background from the editor. I really liked the top and bottom border idea, so I made one of my own. I also put a short how-to-play explanation in the "Help" section of the load screen. This version isn't really any more creative, but hopefully at the very least easier on the eyes.
Never played your map but here's my two cents. Random ideas:
Teach the player how to play the map before it even starts. Make boxes about 1/10th and use screen-shots of the game stages. Ex: Base? > a army w/ mixed units > battle > victory & defeat (two screen-shots overlapping slightly). Text underneath, something like "*Mastery comes to those who see beyond thy enemy's stratagem"
Same as above but, instead of individual boxes somehow make the seens transition into each other
Instead of portraits use screen-shots of each unit and combine them into some kind of seen of battle
or alternatively, simply use the units in the editor to make a awesome battle seen and get a good screen-shot of it.
Also, for Ryan's SCUniverse, due to being unsatisfied with the public SC font, I ended up (with Prozaicmuze) tracing my own letters in Photoshop, and having to fudge the letters we don't know... ie U, N, V, etc...
The font you used is cool. The rest... not so much. Be creative!
Not very creative, but it looks pretty nice. I especially like the font.
You could scale the portraits down, and make some kind of mosaic. That would be pretty unique, but also very time consuming.
5/10
Thanks for the feedback.
I agree on the lack of creativity and so I'll work on it, but I'm happy a couple of you liked the font.
I think it might be worth mentioning that the theme of my map is team unit composition and micro, so in that sense, the portraits emphasize the role of individual units, imho. Maybe I could maintain this theme in an original creative work.
@Swagblanket: Go
I guess it's very busy so it's hard to see your brand. I am, contrarily, not a fan of that font personally as it is not really as good looking as the real SC2 font (which as far as we know is not public, sitting somewhere on Blizz's hard drives). Honestly I just try and find other high-tech fonts since the Starcraft font in public circulation (that we all use) just looks like a cheap knock-off of the real SC logo font :/
Note: But your texture on the font is good, definitely keep that.
Below are some loading screens I think would be good to look at. Examples include busy ones and simpler ones, but it should be noted that in all of these cases you can see the brand / logo easily.
Hope this helps bud :)
Yeah.. too many random pictures. Looking at this screen isn't helpful to player and it gives impression of a random low quality map. The picture itself feels like an obligatory work done in 30 min and does nothing other than throwing lots of random colors at me leaving me confused and little bit annoyed.
Make loading screen useful, give me somewhere to stare at while map loads. Perhaps some black area on the left of screen with a few sentences explaining general gameplay and a few cuts of said gameplay one the right. Something to familiarize player with your map before it even starts. One - two sentences isn't much so players probably won't skip the text.
I'd probably even go as far as to say that I'd prefer default Blizzards loading screens or art pieces to this because they usually have theme, style and color consistency. They're pleasant to look at.
@Swagblanket: Go
Rate your load screen?
1.5/10
1 point because its at least a custom load screen.
Extra half point because I am kind.
@OneTwoSC: Go Yeah, I see what you mean about it being too busy, establishing a brand, and the font being kinda cheesy. I'll keep that in mind, thanks a lot.
@DuckyTheDuck: Go Good points. In the next version, I'll add a brief how-to-play section so players can familiarize themselves with the map before playing.
@EternalWraith: Go Hahah thanks for your generosity.
I'm going to work on the second version and post it later today, I'll be curious to see your second impressions.
I dont think loading screen matters that much. But I suppose a bit more simple would be better indeed.
I suppose I always liked wc3 dota loadinscreens. Beautiful art and simple and some information. I wonder if I can get my own artist to do loading screens lol
Have you noticed most of the maps on the top pages have custom pics? (on NA anyway) it shows that you know what you were doing in the editor, and that its probably interesting, idk why but loading screen kinda does matter, especially if you don't want some random planet view...
set transparency of Portrait BG to 25%
then add a Black BG behind your Portrait BG..
here my 2 mods :p
@Nerfpl: Go Haha niice I really like those mods, especially the second one!
Here's version two. I tried to change the font of the Title, but imo even the SC knock-off font looked better than the other fonts I have. I ditched all the portraits because, I agree, they were too busy, and replaced it with a Blizzard background from the editor. I really liked the top and bottom border idea, so I made one of my own. I also put a short how-to-play explanation in the "Help" section of the load screen. This version isn't really any more creative, but hopefully at the very least easier on the eyes.
@SnyderGuy: Go
That shows you know your way around paint/photoshop more than the editor lol....
Never played your map but here's my two cents. Random ideas:
Teach the player how to play the map before it even starts. Make boxes about 1/10th and use screen-shots of the game stages. Ex: Base? > a army w/ mixed units > battle > victory & defeat (two screen-shots overlapping slightly). Text underneath, something like "*Mastery comes to those who see beyond thy enemy's stratagem"
Same as above but, instead of individual boxes somehow make the seens transition into each other
Instead of portraits use screen-shots of each unit and combine them into some kind of seen of battle
or alternatively, simply use the units in the editor to make a awesome battle seen and get a good screen-shot of it.
Regarding font, here's some discussion we had a while back: http://www.sc2mapster.com/forums/general/general-chat/23960-wheres-the-real-starcraft-font/
Also, for Ryan's SCUniverse, due to being unsatisfied with the public SC font, I ended up (with Prozaicmuze) tracing my own letters in Photoshop, and having to fudge the letters we don't know... ie U, N, V, etc...
Not sure if it's worth your time though...
I would post the Tofu loading screen but I don't particularly want to get banned again ... -_-
@Swagblanket: Go
Much better.
7.1
Thanks again everyone for all the feedback. This time I wanted to have a relevant background and a more detailed tutorial. Here's version 3: