Friday, January 15, 2010

Loadscreens

OK to make up for lack of screenshots, and to give me something to do with the 30 minutes I've had on the toolset before work for the past week or so, I've been starting to collect the loadscreens for the areas. I'm still torn about how to to display them - whether to add a border, if so what type (a full blown WPM border was what I'd err towards but is beyond my artistic skill sadly), whether to 'artify' the images e.g. stain glass, mosaic, brush-strokes etc - or to leave as is. I've be keen to hear any thoughts on this. The basic images I'll use to create the loadscreens from roughly a third of the areas so far are below, some you'll recognise form prefabs/earlier screenshots. These correspond to ~50% of the sidequests done so far, none from inside White Plume Mountain itself just yet.

































































SO let me know if you have any thoughts about how you like your loadscreens to look

8 comments:

EC said...

Like that is fine!

Overdose of awesome shots. My mind is numb!...

Seriously, I like borders, but only if you have the time. Otherwise leave them as is. I don't like them too arfified though (typical stain glass, mosaic, heavy desaturation etc. effects are no-no's in my book).

Awesome shots. Really.

Anonymous said...

Really great screenshots. Only the webs look a bit weird (like in picture 7). Spots like these could use some artifying, but other than that I think the screens are fine.

dgraf said...

my 2 cents - I like borders also. Just seems to add that extra touch and set the mod apart from all the rest of us who haven't conquered custom load screens yet (the emphasis on YET).

Anonymous said...

I commented in the thread, but I figured I'd stop in here.

Borders are great. I would try for them if at all possible. Filter Forge has some snazzy, simple borders you might want to try out. It helps make the boundary between loadscreen and default UI seem less jarring, IMO.

The image with the bridge over the lava is quite inspired: I love seeing new design ideas in NWN2. :)

Lance Botelle (Bard of Althéa) said...

I'm amazed at how fast you work! You already have more areas designed than I do in a fraction of the time I have been working on my own project. And they are all great!

Anyway, I like borders as well. They just seems to finish them off (imo). I'm in two minds about any additional effects. The right effect applied well can add an element to the design. Sometimes, it also depends on the style of the mod.

The safest way to go is probably include a border but no effects. Although I am consdiering a sepia effect for my own ... why not experiment with one or two shots first? ... and post them for opinions. I will probably do the same when I eventually get to that stage. ;)

Lance.

Anonymous said...

Beautiful screenshots.

In the forums, you say "It will start at Level 7, and probably encompass at least 10 levels progression."

Advancing 10 levels in how many hours?

It seems too fast level progression (and less fun). It´s better to taste a slower progression of your heroes :)

Juan Valera

Wyrin said...

I feel I should add a disclaimer that several of those shots are from prefabs (and 2 from Amraphael's kind help), so I can't take all the credit!

Wyrin said...

Hi Juan,

That's a fair point. Level progression will depend on how much the player explores - there's 22 sidequests unrelatred to the main plot (largely) and the player can do any or all of those. Plus with random overland map encounters, there will be variation in the amount a PC progresses.

10 levels was a guesstimate that will firm up during playtesting. But I don't anticipate this being shorter than 7 hours - again, playtesting will tease that out. Likely a *lot* longer for those who want to find everything