Title: Changes again
May 18, 2010 § 12 Comments
So as you can see I’m thinking about reworking the title screen / title of the game. The only thing is, I can’t really decide what would be a good thing to have for a title screen! It’d be entirely re-done in assembly, so (almost) any feature you can imagine is doable. Basically what I’m asking is, does anybody have any ideas for the image, title, features etc?
Also, finished a new TSC command that lets me overlay an image onto the screen (I.E. a map) which should be quite handy. The only downside is that the full 640×480 images are a bit large filewise, but at least only one needs to get loaded into RAM at a time.
I guess for a pic I can give you the high-res version of the “map” I’ve done up. And yes, you will be able to take it with you this time. And tell me if you can’t read my “handwriting” :/
Checklist completion: 11/28
King's Story 
I can`t advice you for the title screen, since I`m not very artistic. I could read your handwriting, but I would redo the text to fit more in esthetically (since everything in this mod is so nice and artistic). It`s a big practical improvement that now we can take the map with us. I wonder, could you somehow manage to insert video cut scenes (at least by rapidly changing high-res backgrounds or in any other way) since you are so good at assembly – that would be awesome.
I could use a script font like I did last time, that would make it a bit neater, or I could have it be like a computer-font as though it were a printout. I figured using actual handwriting might make it more realistic, but of course my handwriting is awful and even worse on a computer.
Video cutscenes are actually possible with the new TSC command, animated frame-by-frame. However, the downfall there is that every frame would need to be a 640×480 [320×240 in regular res] bitmap so even a tiny animation would make the game file size absolutely massive. It might be more viable if it would accept .GIF format images, but I’m not sure if it’s compatible or anything since I didn’t bother to look into it. I figure that a few high-detail, high-quality still “storybook” images would have a much greater impact than a low-quality animated one.
Maybe you could scan your handwriting and superimpose it on an empty map-or some similar solution involving a scanner? You are right that handwriting is more realistic so I would definitely stick with that, and the character in King`s Story who made the map could actually have a bad handwriting…:)
Oh man, I’ve got a cool idea for the title screen. Make it start out with the sword driven into a pedestal. For a small animation, have a tattered robe/cape blow in the wind from the right and wrap around the base of the sword. The cloak would be King’s cloak from his adulthood (like in the ending pics for the original Cave Story). After the cape gets stuck around the base of the sword, have a close-up of King’s eye in the background opening up slowly. The sword in the foreground would line up with the slit of his eye as his eye slowly fades in. Then, as a final touch, embers start pouring in from the right going left in the breeze of the wind. After that, the menu system loads up. How does that one sound, eh? Hard to imagine, but I could make a simple animatic to demonstrate this idea.
If you want to add more (like a slideshow of images), that would be awesome; I could help draw them up. A fancy intro is always good to see; it’s the hook you need for your audience. Beyond some cool visuals, new custom music would be great to hear; something dark, foreboding.
It’d be cool to see more hand-drawn material in the mod! I really liked the map when I first found it. Maybe you could put some hand-drawn notes in the Research Hub or something.
By the way (not sure if this is the place for it…), I’ve got major progress made on the Mimiga tileset. Making the rock graphics blend with one another has been the biggest holdup yet… I’ll probably send a progress report sometime this week. Work is being done! :D
Man, that sounds.. complicated :0
I guess it’d be “possible” though. As long as the player has the option to Skip past if they don’t want to see it again.
As for other stuff, well, I’ve got something somewhat special planned… tell ya later :]
Can’t wait for the tileset!
You could do something like they did for the Chrono Trigger start screen. If you wait and don’t press anything, you see the pendulum swing back and forth while the title comes in. If you press any button, it instantly goes to the finished state and the menus.
Can’t wait to hear what else is in store! This game seems to be getting better by the day. :D
I’ve got some ideas Noxid. I’ll send you a message as soon as i write up a description.
For the title screen, you should have it like the map.
That would be awesome.
You mean like a large image? That’s what I’m probably thinking of doing.
Unless you mean an actual map, because that would be silly :0
No, like, the ‘old, weathered paper’ look.
I have an idea for a pretty simple title.
Either with a mug shot, or with king’s back to the player, having one eye gazed on them, have king’s eye closed. In a second frame, have him open it, to reveal a blue eye. In the third frame, have the eye red, and display the load game screen.
I have a quick mock up of what the later would look like that I can post in the thread on the mirai forums, if you’d like.
Sorry for being so late approving this, found a job so I was at work most of the weekend.
I’d be interested to see it, for sure..
At the very least it could provide some inspiration.