Spring RTS Engine

I have to say, i´m impressed by the work moth3r has shown. If this guy would work with his heart on an user interface both for the game and the lobby client, i really doubt id be any less impressed.

I also like the page designs he is proposing, while the current one is good it looks just.. generic, and believe me there are a lot of people that get second thoughts at trying out stuff that just looks to them as.. generic. Although it would come to another problem if the designs go over-fancy...

moth3r, dont be put back by the flames, while your designs might or might not be used, keep up the good work.

regardless of wether the current website design is aesthetically pleasing enough ti fails to address several major problems:

The frontpage is a wall of text intimidating new users

The website shows nothing about how pretty spring is and what it can do, no new user is gonna drop by then start reading the extensive amount of threads to fidn out, they're just gonna leave.

PC Zone linked to taspring.clan-sy.com for the starwars mdo but there's no foreseeable way of getting it from the main page, save surfing the forums. There isnt even a hotlink to the spring installer on frontpage....

One thing I'd recommend is a thumbnail on the front page that shows random screens from the screenshot section, maybe set to choose the most recient to get the best. That'd solve the design issue of wall of text, and also give newcomers an idea of what Spring is like right off the bat.

A very good idea, but if you made it so that the main image rotated with differnt images, then would you still need it? Plus hand picking the best images, and taking some realy good new ones, would be better.

Also, a download link for the latest version should probablie be provided right on the front page...

Also... probablie the front page content shoudl be split in half (not nesacerialy equaly... maybe a 200/300 wide strip down one side) so that you can have latest new, the misson, ect... in the main area, and then quick links to Mods, Maps, AI's, similar things in the strip on the side.

Also, I've done some changes on this:

http://www.onebob.co.uk/darren/springs/spring.htm

aGorm

is this subject open to suggestions for new logo's and site designs.. if so i have a handfull of ideas id like to throw in...

if the point of this discussion is making the site more profesional.. how about flash.. im ok with flash.. extremely slow with it but i can get some good results.. but more to the point in the few hundred users on this site there must be 1 or 2 with flash abilities.

ill start to throw together my logo and background ideas..

Flash will start a big argument... Theres a fair number that don't want it. Personly I dont mind a bit of flash at all, I enjoy playing around in flash. But, then again, it should only be used for what it needs to be used for.

Can make sweet navs in flash, and image rotators ect...

And yes, as far as I know, he wanted people to post alternat ideas (and if he didn't I am anyway) so the more the merrier!

http://www.onebob.co.uk/darren/springs/spring.htm

aGorm

ah ok then... so far i havnt come up with anything i would personally like to see as the spring logo.. if anyone likes any of these.. feel free to improve the image.. each 1 took about 10 mins to do and are all pretty rushed.. if you like any just say and ill make a higher quality version. i still love the sun logo..

this was my first idea it was based on the surrent spring logo.. not sure where the spring sign would go yet

its just 8 circles and a smudge tool

then i saw a cool picture of a cumpass so i decided to go with that

this took the longest.. mainly with making the arrows

after that i thaught about the word spring like flowers and daisy's and the like and used a tree

this was lazily done in paint with a brush and fill tool this is my favourite

and got bored so i classed it up a notch.. maybe could be used for the homepage or something

playing around with the blending options

played around with sumi-E and came up with this for a background style for the site


and this is a logo for another project im on that wasnt used... cog sort of thing


anyone have any ideas they want me to throw together?

No comment

i appologise moth3r if ive kinda burst your bubble =]

Uhm... I don't think that was a burst bubble "no comment"

since a bunch of people with very little digital art ability are posting IDEAS for what they want to see...


My idea for the homepage... minus art..

how about something like this (someone said something about a phoenix)

Sinbadev, thats more or less the way I was thinking about (I´d do less news, and more describing the game). Anyway, as everybody is talking about redesigning the homepage:
Here is your chance to do it! I have been thinking that the first homepage is not very functional in getting new players attention, so I concluded that we could make a wiki page roughly the way we wanted the front page to look.
I´ve done no work at all on it myself yet though, I must admit :/ .

yeah... move the news box down and put a good...

The Spring Project aims to create a robust, dynamic, 3D Real Time Strategy game engine. This project has grown from a project to recreate Total Annihilation for modern computer sytems to a Open Source Cross Platform engine that supports diverse Unit and Army packages... blah blah blah... working towards an easy to modify game system with substatial artistic freedom for community members to create content... dynamic shading, fully controllable 3D camera, deformable terrain. Check out the wiki for a more in deapthe look at the project, and keep up with new developements in the forums.

BIG DOWNLOAD LINK

Personally I really like the design aGorm has come up with. I think with a bit more transparent menu it would look really sweet. I made a mockup in photoshop to show what I mean (This is just aGorms site with a small bit of change I added). Also if I had the photoshop source files I would be able to clean it up a lot. Also I would change the 'Creating a new RTS' part to read' An Open-Source RTS Engine.'

SeanHeron wrote:Sinbadev, thats more or less the way I was thinking about (I´d do less news, and more describing the game). Anyway, as everybody is talking about redesigning the homepage:
Here is your chance to do it! I have been thinking that the first homepage is not very functional in getting new players attention, so I concluded that we could make a wiki page roughly the way we wanted the front page to look.
I´ve done no work at all on it myself yet though, I must admit :/ .

Good approach taken.. this sort of info, first users have and want to see! I like the picture too. It is type of pics i wanna see in header, as i said.

hrmph, teh problem with doing that with teh menu (which I admit is realy cool, tahts why version 1 was more like that) is that you cant have transparent stuff floting around on top of other objects. As you resize teh page teh image moves to fill the width, but It cant with the menu on top (Unless some of that top ection was built in flash... then I THINK it can be done, but thast just a think.)

Also... my copy was just... a place holder Im no good at thinking up tag lines.

You have to bear in mind that my design is also based on whats possible with HTML. Good looks is one thing, but good looks that have functionality is another.

aGorm

I'm well aware of what is possible in html. The images can still move to fill the width if you just use some clever table tags.

Not whilst keeping the nav in the middel of the page...

However, this has given me ideas for Version two.

I'll be back with something even better (I promis)

Meanwhile, maybe moth3r can make some coments on it?

aGorm

aGorm wrote:..but good looks that have functionality is another.

aGorm

Hmm... good looks and function why separate these terms? Because this equals design. Function + looks = Design. It is that simple. So always keep in mind that you can have both.

Hmm... i am generic again. Now you know why.

Oh, odn't wory I wasn't seperating them. I was outlining that you can have both, but that sometimes you do have to compramise on one for the sake of the other. IE, you could have the nav more like hrmph altered it, but then it would not be able to resize in teh same way. Which way do you go... best looks or the best functionality (per a situation, not on a site in genral...)

However, this of course leads to teh question... what if it was flawed in the begining? I now can see teh flaws in atempt 1, so I'm knocking up atempt 2, which will be like mine, with a few ideas nicked from moth3rs, to see if we hit somthing everyones like WOW over.

aGorm