New Horizon on 18/11/2006 at 04:08
I don't know who designed the menus for TDS, but they certainly lacked any sense of composition. I saw that concept awhile ago...and I still find it to be the most bloated excuse for a menu I've ever seen.
242 on 18/11/2006 at 12:15
Most probably it's by Frank Teran. I'm not sure if I like such style of the menu or not, but I think he's great artist - he made many exceptionally beautiful concept art pictures for TDS.
New Horizon on 18/11/2006 at 21:10
Quote Posted by 242
Most probably it's by Frank Teran. I'm not sure if I like such style of the menu or not, but I think he's great artist - he made many exceptionally beautiful concept art pictures for TDS.
Well, if he was the one who did it. He's a fantastic artist, horrible menu designer.
sparhawk on 19/11/2006 at 00:16
The menus always reminded me of menus that were done by programmers as stand ins until the real thing is done. Funny thing is there were other things as well, that gave me this impression, and at least one was confirmed to be indeed such a thing, by the developers.
Beleg Cúthalion on 20/11/2006 at 21:21
Well, I'm uncommonly playing computer games, so could you please tell me your criteria to judge a menu's quality as long as there are no bugs or things are illegible? :erm:
sparhawk on 21/11/2006 at 08:15
Quote Posted by Beleg Cúthalion
Well, I'm uncommonly playing computer games, so could you please tell me your criteria to judge a menu's quality as long as there are no bugs or things are illegible? :erm:
The menu is kind of the entrance to the game. As such it should alerady convey the feeling of the game. You can implement a fully functional menu simply as a list of buttons, but the question is wether this would really incite you to get more interested in the game. Some good examples of very well done menus are Thief 1 and 2, as well as the menus from Syberia or Baldurs Gate 2. That's just some examples that come to my mind without thinking, not neccessarily an exhausitve list.
Especially Siberia is really good. The menus could be just as well part of the game and are really interesting to look at. And once you got into the game, you can easily see how the menu art perfectly ties in with the rest of the game.
TDS on the other looks to me just like a colourfull techdemo of the menu, which works fucntionally, but that's about it. Quake 4 and Doom 3 have similar technical minded menus, but in that case I consider it less of a problem, because both of these games are science fiction themed, where a clean unpersonal menu works a little bit better.
I can only talk for myself of course. Other people might see this different, but personally I always liked the introduction of a game as much as the game itself, which includes trailer movies, menus and other accesoires that may not have directly to do with game in a strict sense.
Jashin on 21/11/2006 at 09:30
You're crazy. T1, 2, and DS have pretty much the same menu layout and it's utilitarian (a la Enter the Matrix, Gothic 3), not aesthetically pleasing at all. This concept is more stimulating than the retail one.
As I recall, Riddick has really cool menu, Oblivion's isn't bad either.
242 on 21/11/2006 at 10:14
Quote Posted by sparhawk
The menu is kind of the entrance to the game. As such it should alerady convey the feeling of the game. You can implement a fully functional menu simply as a list of buttons, but the question is wether this would really incite you to get more interested in the game. Some good examples of very well done menus are Thief 1 and 2,
I think you're biased ;) If you take T1/2 menu as example of very well done menus there are hundreds of better examples and thousands of more or less analagous.
sparhawk on 21/11/2006 at 18:53
I'm not talking of the layout, I'm talking of the general art, how the menu is displayed. And of coruse I'm biased. It's my opinion, as I stated quite clearly, so what else can it be than being biased?
