Spring RTS Engine

current black background image is ugly, we should replace it. what do you think? do you know a neutral good looking screenshot of a nice map?

imo the old screenshot looked much better, but it is quiet old.

if nothing is done here, the current black background image would be used for 95.0.

note: neutral means, no game specific screenshot, just a map & features.

Please allow me to create the new one. I am quite good at creating bullshots of maps that aren't actually bullshots

definitely a pretty screenshot rather then black back, would it be possible to have them rotate randomly like with load screens?

I'll try and come up with a few candidates.

It is not about how pretty the picture is.
The reason why it was even thought about replacing it in the first place: it was "not neutral enought."

A map is not neutral imo even without units:
conflict terra or kernel panic maps look like their games. Even a "normal" map (like old image) is connected with TA-style games and variants, while excluding the previous mentioned kind of games.
I doubt any other map screenshot will be "more neutral" than the old picture was. So must probally be something else.

imo just put the spring logo.
or something like this wallpaper by Satirik:
http://springrts.com/dl/tasclient/Sprin ... aper.1.jpg
of course in a way that it does not have buttons in bad places etc

+1 to what knorke said, I had never thought of it like that.

How about this too: when the user selects a game it could change the background image to a randomly picked loadscreen of that game, if available.

Problem with 'engine logo' background images is aspect ratio stretching, which is why I suggested a blank (rather than specifically black) image.

knorke wrote:It is not about how pretty the picture is.
The reason why it was even thought about replacing it in the first place: it was "not neutral enought."

A map is not neutral imo even without units:
conflict terra or kernel panic maps look like their games. Even a "normal" map (like old image) is connected with TA-style games and variants, while excluding the previous mentioned kind of games.
I doubt any other map screenshot will be "more neutral" than the old picture was. So must probally be something else.

imo just put the spring logo.
or something like this wallpaper by Satirik:
http://springrts.com/dl/tasclient/Sprin ... aper.1.jpg
of course in a way that it does not have buttons in bad places etc

I'm still not really understanding this "more neutral" or "not neutral" labelling in respect to screenshots... I was just assuming it meant not including any game-specific stuff in the screens, but now I'm just confused.

The wallpaper is alright, but I see it as much more appropriate to include a shot of something showing the capability of the engine, rather then just some photoshop work someone came up with.

I was just assuming it meant not including any game-specific stuff in the screens, but now I'm just confused.

For example look at these maps: http://code.google.com/p/conflictterra/wiki/MapOfficial
They have a "cartoon style" just like the game they were made for.
With other games and their maps it is similiar: KP maps have a cyber/tron/computer style, Spring1944 maps have railroad tracks or houses etc.

something showing the capability of the engine

imo impossible, like trying to show the universe in one picture

Also remember this menu/picture will rarely be seen by players since it is just for testing. If a player ends up in this menu he is likely in the wrong place, he should be in lobby or some SP thing. The nicer the picture is the more a player will assume he is in a real game, when in fact they are not.
So maybe at bottom a text: "If you are trying to play, this is the wrong place. Try the multiplayer lobby. Go to springrts.com to find help"
And also put the engine version.

mostly game & engine / map devs will see it. normal players only will see it when they have to change settings i guess.

currently its still something like a "debug menu" but as long as spring has no customizable menu it will be seen by players, too.

i personally would still prefer an image that is maybe not neutral but looks more friendly. i know its difficult as aspect ration wouldn't be kept, but with the "old" image it mostly looked nice.

Took quite a few screens of some of my favorite maps visually speaking, full album here:

http://imgur.com/a/Uw4h7#0

EDIT: Zip file of album with full quality pngs: https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/583 ... gshots.zip

Here are some screenshots of various maps.

http://imgur.com/a/X5ojC

The Yak: What maps are those? They look awesome and I've never seen them before (especially the lava one).

In the order of the gallery the maps are:
-DeltaSeigeDry Deluxe
-Escarpment
-Apophis
-Calamity
-Gehenna Rising (the lava one)
-TheRockJungle
-Colorado
-last one is another DeltaSeigeDry Deluxe shot

Maps like Folsom Dam or asteroids imply high tech era and space travel. This is not neutral to those of us working fantasy themed games. Unfair!

http://imgur.com/a/Uw4h7#1 this one gets my vote.

I think the old screenshot is very good because it's very low key, it's got just a few main colors that match with the menu colors also.
So a new screenie should be something similar in my opinion.

Apparently Imgur converts every image uploaded to jpeg? Did not notice this before, there's a very noticeable (to me anyways) quality loss at full res.

Here's a dropbox zip file of original .png files from the album if anyone decides to use them for anything (feel free to do that by the way if I didn't make it clear).

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/583 ... gshots.zip

I fail to see what was wrong with the previous default background image.

zwzsg wrote:I fail to see what was wrong with the previous default background image.

I tried to explain here: http://springrts.com/phpbb/viewtopic.ph ... ad#p541719
but now I found original mantis report:
http://springrts.com/mantis/view.php?id=3651

It simply needs to be updated. Who gives a "I FUCK IN SKY" what it represents? As long as it's pretty I don't give a shit and neither should any of you.

That said, it can be manually replaced pretty easily.

Just make it the same simple gradient as the website background.

No stretching, super-neutral.