Hooptie Screens

[DaFalcon]

I'm thinking of much simpler graphics (for now, at least, if not as completely final graphics) for the other screens. As for this screen ... I feel like it is missing something, and that is probably related to the big gap in the middle of the screen :-) And that is becase the original design called for this being an interface screen, and that is where the options would be. Anyway, it is probably OK as a temporary splash screen, though all input is, as always, welcome!

[Edit: I moved the scoutbot towards the center of the screen from the far left to help with the balance a little.]

http://members.aol.com/alanfalcon/ink_splash.jpg

[Pazolli]

Simply brilliant! So good I want to implement it at once...but I have a Maths lecture.

Thanks for your work Falcon.

Unless you have an improved image (in which case mail it to me) I'll take that one and implement it ASAP.

BTW: Screens are fine in the *.jpg format.

As for doing simpler images for other screens that sounds like a pretty reasonable idea.

Spam-free e-mail:
quirinus at nospam.mac.com

Mark

[Pazolli]

I couldn't wait, so implemented the new splash screen just then. Before my maths lecture.

[flipflop]

Just downloaded the new CVS and recompiled the code. The image looks great and fits perfectly with the Hooptie theme. Great job DaFalcon! :)


- John

[DaFalcon]

lol, I'm glad you like it :) And that is the most recent version I have of the image. I definitely plan to meet the deadline for all the screens, but I can't say if I'll be able to finish the screens any sooner than that. So it is OK if I just u/l the screens as jpegs to my own site and link to the images here? I tried poking around SourceForge, but had no idea how, or if, I would upload images there when complete :-)

[Griggs]

I gotta say, that looks really good. It definitely fits better than the old one, and it is very spiffy (professional even.)
I try to keep up with Inkubator's activity, and it looks like you guys are going to get one hell of a good game from all this.

[Pazolli]

Originally posted by DaFalcon
lol, I'm glad you like it :) And that is the most recent version I have of the image. I definitely plan to meet the deadline for all the screens, but I can't say if I'll be able to finish the screens any sooner than that.

Excellent to hear, though I must confess, those deadlines are just there because SourceForge required an end-date.

So it is OK if I just u/l the screens as jpegs to my own site and link to the images here? I tried poking around SourceForge, but had no idea how, or if, I would upload images there when complete :-)

Yep, there certainly is no problem simply posting the images to here.

Keep 'em coming,
Mark

[DaFalcon]

Is it possible for a screen to be less than the size of a whole screen? Similar to a dialog box...? And if so, is it possible, too, for it to be semi-transparent? I don't mean with an alpha channel (though that would be nice too), but I mean having a whole jpeg appear at, say, 80% opacity. This screen is meant to be placed on top of the game screen when paused, and possibly be semi-see-through, though I don't know how that would look in practice. I was also thinking that it might look nice with just the "Game Frozen" text placed on top of the game in progress at full opacity, without the surrounding rectangle. Let me know what is possible here :-) And as always, let me know what you think of the graphic!

........http://www.snakequest.com/cgi-bin/ub/Public/Uploads/Post-13-373-gamefrozen.jpg

I had a couple of my classes canceled today, so I went into the computer lab at school to create this. Unfortunately, that means I made in on a PC -- and I can tell you that there is a real difference with the appearance of graphics working on a PC vs. a Mac..! Ah well, it should be good enough. Also, this is what I meant by having simpler graphics for the other screen. Though I do want a *really* nice looking "you win" screen eventually. I've always liked proper rewards for beating games :-)

[DaFalcon]

In the current game, a screen displays when you start a new game, right? That isn't on the list of screens to create right now, I think (unless that is where the splash screen goes? I haven't played Hooptie recently because I've been in OS 9 because Photoshop (the version I have) still runs much better in 9 than X).

Anyway, I was wondering (always wondering, I am,) if such "story screens" could be set to appear before any given level. For instance, there would be an intro screen before level 1, and then before level 5 there would be another "story telling" screen (just click to advance to the next level) and so forth. I wouldn't be making those screens anytime real soon, but it would be good to have in the future (and especially for any major Hooptie Mods) and should also be a part of the editor if it will be included.

Thanks :)

[DaFalcon]

I have a design for a Game Over screen created... It is basically a very frightened Hooptie strapped to an uncomfortable funky alien chair with a giant laser pointing down at him. He is surrpunded by metallic pincers (claws?) coming out of the shadows. Hooptie is being hit by a sharp bright spotlight. In the background, three alien eye stalks are peering through a low window in an alien door. (Poor Hooptie!)

All of this is in quick pencil sketch form, but there's no telling how well I'll pull off the actual image :-) But I think it should display for more than the second or two that the current game over screen displays before the splash screen covers it.

On a related note, does anyone have a preference for what the screen text says? Just "Game Over"? Or something more creative? Or just let the picture speak for itself?

I have no time frame for being able to complete this screen, but I thought I'd get some feedback before really starting it.

[Pazolli]

I got nothing, sorry, but it all sounds good. I hope to see the Game Over screen soon. :)

[DaFalcon]

Here is just the start of a work in progress, though it is something that could be used temporarily if you want. It gives you an idea of what the claws/talons will look like.. I don't think I like the "game over" text how it is here though.

[edit]....IMAGE REMOVED: See post later in this thread for finished version.

[Pazolli]

Very, very cool, but I agree the "Game Over" text could be a little more apparent.

[Chris Burkhardt]

Is it possible for a screen to be less than the size of a whole screen? Similar to a dialog box...? And if so, is it possible, too, for it to be semi-transparent? I don't mean with an alpha channel (though that would be nice too), but I mean having a whole jpeg appear at, say, 80% opacity. This screen is meant to be placed on top of the game screen when paused, and possibly be semi-see-through, though I don't know how that would look in practice. I was also thinking that it might look nice with just the "Game Frozen" text placed on top of the game in progress at full opacity, without the surrounding rectangle. Let me know what is possible here And as always, let me know what you think of the graphic! I love that graphic, how did you make it? Photoshop style? Is this what you were thinking of?:
http://homepage.mac.com/crisco_kid/gameover.jpg
That is at 80% opacity. I think it looks good, but we could just use the text without the rectangle (at full opacity or not) if people think that would look better.

All I did code-wise was:
change - (void)centerImageInView:(NSString *)whichImage; to - (void)centerImageInView:(NSString *)whichImage:(float)opacity; (GameView.h) and then in the implementation of centerImageInView (GameView.m) I replaced the last line with: [turtle compositeToPoint:turtlePoint operation:NSCompositeSourceOver fraction:opacity]; ... so that centerImageInView now takes an opacity as an argument. For all the screens except paused it is set to 1.0, paused is 0.8 (80%). I also took the drawing of the tiles out of the conditional #ifdef SCREEN_SHOT_FRIENDLY block (in the kPausedState case of GameView's drawRect method) so that you can still see the game state while paused. Are these CVS worthy changes?

Good start for the game over screen. I agree that the "Game Over" text should be brighter (glowing even)

[Chris Burkhardt]

I just added the game over screen to the version on my computer... looks good :cool:

[DaFalcon]

I love that graphic, how did you make it? Photoshop style?
I have been working with photoshop styles for a long time now, and have found certain combinations that produce certain effects very well, and also how to mix and match :-) In this case, yes, it is essentially little more than a photoshop style tweaked to perfection :-) I will send you the style if you like...

For the text, I rasterized the text layer and created an "icicle" paintbrush by drawing an icicle in black, scaling it, selecting it and defining it as a paintbrush. Then I simple "brushed" on the icicles to the text as I saw fit, applied the style, tweaked the color, and the text was done.

Is this what you were thinking of?:
Yes! That is exactly what I had pictured :-) I always hated when the game screen dissapeared when I paused a game, because I was not sure where I would be thrown when I unpaused it! This gives the user a chance to "warm up" from the "frozen" state. (awful puns.)

I can imagine a sound effect of the scren freezing over when the game is paused... :rolleyes:

I could easily create a graphic in which the background ice covers the whole screen, which might look better, or I could send a TIFF with just the text on transparancy, which might also look good. Maybe the best thing would be a 30% white rectangle covering the screen and the game frozen text displayed at full opacity center screen.

Your code sounds great to me if it works. Mark, what do you think?

[Pazolli]

Hi all,

Chris that code was pretty much what I did for the second milestone release, but I used the no block image that DaFalcon sent me and I didn't see your code before I implemented the change. However in tribute for your work I have added your name to the credits, though unfortunately I've already posted the second milestone release. :(

Nevertheless with the second milestone release behind us (as well as some major bugs) we are now ready for this project to fire up. The Hooptie tree is now of course open again for all contributions (no contribution too trivial) and I'd be delighted if DaFalcon could increase the "apparency" of that Game Over text and send result to Chris so he could get a bit of experience with CVS commits. Also if DaFalcon (and others?) decide that the block graphic looks better for the pause screen could you send it to Chris who should be able to just overwrite the "paused.tiff" and post it. That is of course, if Chris doesn't mind (otherwise I can take over that work if need be).

Also Chris I should point out that since you and I have both made non-identical changes to the GameView.m file you may encounter conflicts when dealing with the CVS, since they're pretty complicated to deal with, you might just want to download a fresh copy. But if you don't mind I'd like to stick with my changes.

Also, (to everyone) generally you do not need authorization to commit to the CVS (obviously around a milestone release that changes) so feel free to make any changes you like without my approval because (in a very worst case scenario) project members can always reverse your changes.

On an unrelated note I'm reading "Open Sources: Voices from the Open Source Revolution" at the moment.

Cheers,
Mark Pazolli

[Chris Burkhardt]

For the text, I rasterized the text layer and created an "icicle" paintbrush by drawing an icicle in black, scaling it, selecting it and defining it as a paintbrush. Then I simple "brushed" on the icicles to the text as I saw fit, applied the style, tweaked the color, and the text was done.Very clever... it looks nice. I would love the PS style... but I don't own Photoshop, so... maybe I'll ask you for it later :)

... could you send it to Chris who should be able to just overwrite the "paused.tiff" and post it. That is of course, if Chris doesn't mind (otherwise I can take over that work if need be). I like the text only image better. No, Chris doesn't mind... Chris likes to feel important :cool:


Also Chris I should point out that since you and I have both made non-identical changes to the GameView.m file you may encounter conflicts when dealing with the CVS, since they're pretty complicated to deal with, you might just want to download a fresh copy. But if you don't mind I'd like to stick with my changes. Already done... yes your changes are better unless we will want any of the other screens displayed transparently (gameover, outoftime, youwin). Either way it is easy to change in the future.

And let me know how you like "Open Sources: Voices from the Open Source Revolution". I just took a look at it on amazon.com, and was impressed by the list of authors, it seems they got everybody to write something :)

Thanks for the name in the credits... hopefully I'll have earned it before version 1.0 is released :)

[Josh]

Originally posted by DaFalcon
I will send you the style if you like...
I realize that I am not involved in Hooptie, but I LOVE that "Game Frozen" screen! Could you send me the style?

[DaFalcon]

Here is the "Game Frozen" photoshop style available for a limited time only (because of my limited web space! :)) for download:

http://members.aol.com/alanfalcon/frozenstyle.psd

It works best with text, but I applied it to the Hooptie Logo I made, and that worked out well with a little tweaking. As always with styles, be sure to scale the style to fit your size text/graphic, or else it won't come out right. But experiment and you may find something you like even more :) The text must be the color you desire, and you can try using it on other colored text (though it was designed to be ice, so probably looks best with blue.) As for the icicles on the text? You're on your own for those :-)

I hadn't realized how graphics could be open source too :p

[DaFalcon]

Sleep is sooo overrated. Instead of sleeping, I decided to finally go ahead and finish up the Game Over screen. Hope y'all like it :-)

. . . . http://members.aol.com/alanfalcon/gameover.jpg

[Pazolli]

Wow. That's brilliant. Much improved from the last (though the last was pretty cool too). I'm not on my Mac at the moment so anyone feel free to commit DaFalcon's new "Game Over" screen to Inkubator's CVS. It's a pretty simple process (and good for experience too), just download it, replace the "gameover.jpg" with it and type "cvs commit -m 'Updated the game over screen." in the Terminal window when the working directory is the "obj-c" directory of your "working copy".

Mark

[DaFalcon]

This screen is meant to be like the Game Frozen screen, overlayed onto the game screen. I have a tiff with transparency which I will be sending to Mark/Chris shortly.

. . . . http://members.aol.com/alanfalcon/outoftime.jpg

If I'm right, this leaves me with just the "You Win" screen to do. And given that I've only passed Hooptie's four built in levels once, I figure this is probably one of the less-seen screens :-) It is also the only one that I don't have a design for quite yet, but I want it to include an image of a crashed alien spaceship (which means I get to design an alien spaceship) and an image of an actual image (which also has to have a finalized design), so I am thinking I might want to create those animated baddie graphics before doing that screen. Any preferences?

[Kjurtyl]

I really wanted to see the new screens in action so I commit both the game over and out of time screens. After testing them out in the game, I have this much to say: They look good!

Great artwork, DaFalcon.

-Kjurtyl.

[DaFalcon]

Originally posted by Kjurtyl
Great artwork, DaFalcon.

Thanks, Kjurtyl! The Out of Time screen is actually meant to be displayed on top of the game screen, but perhaps it looks better on its own? I assume that you just displayed it against the white backdrop as it is show above, since you didn't have the tiff file with the alpha channel. What does everyone think? Which way does it look better? [Am I making any sense? :)]

[Kjurtyl]

Hrrm, your right, I didn't put in the one with an alpha channel. Whoops!

I think it looks great like it is. Since time kills you, I assumed it was meant to work like the game over screen..

Whichever way people prefer it, although I can't tell how it looks with transparency.

-Kjurtyl