I dont know if the terrain is final or not, but it looks very plain and undetailed.
The tutorial is a nice concept, but I think you should move it down, just a bit, and maybe put it to the left instead. The eye moves like in the attached image, so moving the tutorial to the top left, will make it way more noticable.
+3 for elegant and simple gameplay overview;
+1 for not having your name on loading screen;
+1 for cool use of borders and brand;
+2 for familirizning with terrain;
+1 for style. You're heading in right direction;
-1 for sun background which grabs my attention way too much (It's my personal preference but I just like castanar or regular space backgrounds more);
-1 for uninspired terrain, it's blandness doesn't make me want to experience this map;
-1 for feeling of emptyness. Empty terrain, empty background, only attention grabber is the sun. Maybe I'd be more relieved with darker background and some rocks floating in space. Maybe if terrain had some slight decorations (texture play/doodads) I'd be more happier;
+1 for having new awesome avatar.
Thus, my personal impression of this loading screen is 6/10 (which is a huge step up from 1st version which was "I don't even want to rate it" :D)
Ooookay. Your terrain now looks like a burn victim. Right sides dominant color is gray which is pretty neutral, but left side is a mess of white-metallic-lines-ornaments-stuff. It feels damn terrible >.<
Your previous screen was done right, on the top there was a logo, left +middle was occupied by sun (even though I didn't like it), right side had tutorial and most of other free space was map image for players to explore. Now, top feels damn empty, it would be fine if not for big middle letters that are really overwhelming. I don't think they're pretty, and claiming that it's a custom game for ladder players... meh. I see that you felt that left side was lacking, but filling it with huge letters isn't the answer. Will logo at top, tutorial in the middle look/feel bad?
And again, do some texture plays, look at blizzards maps, maybe ask for help/guidance in terain forum, don't just fill one part of map with one texture, other part in second texture, it looks underwhelming, especially since you said "ladder players" and all ladder maps are pretty.
Hahah ahhhh craappp sorry you didn't like it, I laughed when I read it looked liked a burn victim. Again I thank you for your honesty and suggestions, I'll see what I can come up with for the next version. Load screens are hard...how does Hero Attack get away with theirs?
I do not try to hijack the thread, nor do I try to be an expert, but I think that you may want to take a look at my current loadingscreen for Amira Tower Defence. What I really think you lack, are colors and proper placement. I do not show any ingame footage in my own loadingscreen, but I do have a lot of colors. The textplacements are also decent (to me at least).
Feel free to grab any ideas you get from my loadingscreen. :)
Also, if anyone wonder, the description of my upcoming update is not correct. Just a placeholder.
Heh, we're all here just expressing opinions on what we think, what do you yourself think about your load screen? My benchmark for "good enough" is pretty high, and I myself have no experience with loading screens, so don't treat my opinion as ultimate truth :D. This tread need someone to counter-balance my negativity =P
Take a look at scorpSC2s loading screen. It's probably good enough, but if he asked to rate it I would still nitpick that that art piece is one of those that I feel like I've seen thousands of times and that I feel slightly annoyed by "T" which look like plus signs, or that medievalish WarCraft font for logo feels weird next to hi-def sci-fi image. But he's damn right about colors.
I don't think I got any issues with that one. Maybe except for:
Temple Stone Inlay looks weird on metallic space platform. Same goes with destructible debris. They look lame on that alien-themed texture (you can fix it with clever terraining).
Terain is as bland as everyone say it is. But it might be good enough for the screen.
Good progress, feels so much better than 1st version :D
Might even be good enough to be final.
Terrain is quite bad. Feels like a lot is going on on the screen. Its kinda hard to focus on the "tutorial" text. I dont think the colors match that well, the terrain kinda make me go :( .
It will probly look a bit better on fullscreen, but still seems a bit like tons of shit going on...and it doesnt look that natural together. Bright yellow planet against pure black terrain.
I am by no means an expert (or ever intend to be) terrainer, but seems like that might work a lot better if you replaced the odd metallic walls with team colors instead. Like have it be red and blue, tending to be a purplish color in the middle. Main thing is to not make the color too bright, as no one likes playing a map where you have to adjust your gamma immediately upon starting.
Just my thoughts though, do what you like, but that could totally work.
@DuckyTheDuck: Go
Yeah I agree about the temple inlays, they dont blend in as well as I hoped.
I agree with everyone about the terrain. The in-game textures look a lot better than the load screen, but this doesn't make up for the overall level design. I'm working on a completely fresh terrain, and will post that load screen soon.
@Deadzergling: Go
I'm not sure I know what you mean...are you suggesting to change the cliff colors to match the teams?
The last one you made is by far the best. The terrain is much prettier and easier on the eye. I'd highly suggest having a pro-terrainer around here pretty up your map some. That way there is artistic consistency/detail.
One thing I'd do is have an epic battle be playing out in the picture as well. It looks like you used the editor to take a screen shot. Find a way to set up a camera that will show you that view, in game. And place some units around the map that way you can open up your map real quick, have the camera already focused where you want it and not have to wait for an epic battle to play out, 'cause you already placed some units on the map. Now get a quick screen shot of that, than revert everything back to a playable state. I hope you understand my mouth words.
Loading screens that are just snapshots of your map are kind of lame. Make a post on Craigslist, pay some art student a couple of bucks to illustrate something for you based on that screenshot IMO.
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@Swagblanket: Go
I dont know if the terrain is final or not, but it looks very plain and undetailed.
The tutorial is a nice concept, but I think you should move it down, just a bit, and maybe put it to the left instead. The eye moves like in the attached image, so moving the tutorial to the top left, will make it way more noticable.
@Swagblanket: Go
Better.
+3 for elegant and simple gameplay overview;
+1 for not having your name on loading screen;
+1 for cool use of borders and brand;
+2 for familirizning with terrain;
+1 for style. You're heading in right direction;
-1 for sun background which grabs my attention way too much (It's my personal preference but I just like castanar or regular space backgrounds more);
-1 for uninspired terrain, it's blandness doesn't make me want to experience this map;
-1 for feeling of emptyness. Empty terrain, empty background, only attention grabber is the sun. Maybe I'd be more relieved with darker background and some rocks floating in space. Maybe if terrain had some slight decorations (texture play/doodads) I'd be more happier;
+1 for having new awesome avatar.
Thus, my personal impression of this loading screen is 6/10 (which is a huge step up from 1st version which was "I don't even want to rate it" :D)
Here's version 4; you're guys' comments I feel are opening my eyes, keep it coming. Thanks Scorp for the tips, and Ducky the detailed critique :)
ps: the thumbnail of my map (the image when you mouse over a map name) appears yellow on bnet...anyone know what that's about?
@Swagblanket: Go
Ooookay. Your terrain now looks like a burn victim. Right sides dominant color is gray which is pretty neutral, but left side is a mess of white-metallic-lines-ornaments-stuff. It feels damn terrible >.<
Your previous screen was done right, on the top there was a logo, left +middle was occupied by sun (even though I didn't like it), right side had tutorial and most of other free space was map image for players to explore. Now, top feels damn empty, it would be fine if not for big middle letters that are really overwhelming. I don't think they're pretty, and claiming that it's a custom game for ladder players... meh. I see that you felt that left side was lacking, but filling it with huge letters isn't the answer. Will logo at top, tutorial in the middle look/feel bad?
And again, do some texture plays, look at blizzards maps, maybe ask for help/guidance in terain forum, don't just fill one part of map with one texture, other part in second texture, it looks underwhelming, especially since you said "ladder players" and all ladder maps are pretty.
@DuckyTheDuck: Go
Hahah ahhhh craappp sorry you didn't like it, I laughed when I read it looked liked a burn victim. Again I thank you for your honesty and suggestions, I'll see what I can come up with for the next version. Load screens are hard...how does Hero Attack get away with theirs?
I do not try to hijack the thread, nor do I try to be an expert, but I think that you may want to take a look at my current loadingscreen for Amira Tower Defence. What I really think you lack, are colors and proper placement. I do not show any ingame footage in my own loadingscreen, but I do have a lot of colors. The textplacements are also decent (to me at least).
Feel free to grab any ideas you get from my loadingscreen. :)
Also, if anyone wonder, the description of my upcoming update is not correct. Just a placeholder.
@Swagblanket: Go
Heh, we're all here just expressing opinions on what we think, what do you yourself think about your load screen? My benchmark for "good enough" is pretty high, and I myself have no experience with loading screens, so don't treat my opinion as ultimate truth :D. This tread need someone to counter-balance my negativity =P
Take a look at scorpSC2s loading screen. It's probably good enough, but if he asked to rate it I would still nitpick that that art piece is one of those that I feel like I've seen thousands of times and that I feel slightly annoyed by "T" which look like plus signs, or that medievalish WarCraft font for logo feels weird next to hi-def sci-fi image. But he's damn right about colors.
Alright, still not perfect, but I'm a lot happier with this one.
@Swagblanket: Go
Best loadingscreen you've come up with so far. You still gotta work on that terrain though.
Last one, 92/100
@Swagblanket: Go
I don't think I got any issues with that one. Maybe except for:
Good progress, feels so much better than 1st version :D
Might even be good enough to be final.
Terrain is quite bad. Feels like a lot is going on on the screen. Its kinda hard to focus on the "tutorial" text. I dont think the colors match that well, the terrain kinda make me go :( .
It will probly look a bit better on fullscreen, but still seems a bit like tons of shit going on...and it doesnt look that natural together. Bright yellow planet against pure black terrain.
I dont really like it
I am by no means an expert (or ever intend to be) terrainer, but seems like that might work a lot better if you replaced the odd metallic walls with team colors instead. Like have it be red and blue, tending to be a purplish color in the middle. Main thing is to not make the color too bright, as no one likes playing a map where you have to adjust your gamma immediately upon starting.
Just my thoughts though, do what you like, but that could totally work.
@DuckyTheDuck: Go Yeah I agree about the temple inlays, they dont blend in as well as I hoped.
I agree with everyone about the terrain. The in-game textures look a lot better than the load screen, but this doesn't make up for the overall level design. I'm working on a completely fresh terrain, and will post that load screen soon.
@Deadzergling: Go I'm not sure I know what you mean...are you suggesting to change the cliff colors to match the teams?
Here's the latest version. Hopefully the terrain is a bit more appealing. (Team Blitz Tactics has evolved into Equilibrium)
Another update (the terrain from Equilibrium failed hard)
Much better. Nothing really bad about it. The rocks far away look a bit unnatural, but overal its pretty nice.
@Swagblanket: Go
I'd go with that one. Looks much better than the previous versions.
The last one you made is by far the best. The terrain is much prettier and easier on the eye. I'd highly suggest having a pro-terrainer around here pretty up your map some. That way there is artistic consistency/detail.
One thing I'd do is have an epic battle be playing out in the picture as well. It looks like you used the editor to take a screen shot. Find a way to set up a camera that will show you that view, in game. And place some units around the map that way you can open up your map real quick, have the camera already focused where you want it and not have to wait for an epic battle to play out, 'cause you already placed some units on the map. Now get a quick screen shot of that, than revert everything back to a playable state. I hope you understand my mouth words.
Loading screens that are just snapshots of your map are kind of lame. Make a post on Craigslist, pay some art student a couple of bucks to illustrate something for you based on that screenshot IMO.