New title screen picture

[NaOH]

Hi, everybody. I'm new to the Lix community, although I've been playing Lemmings since I was about 3 years old. I sadly lost my floppy disk a few years ago, but I was thrilled when I discovered there was a fan-made (!) open source (!) multi-player (!!) version of the game out there -- Lix.

After having had a blast beating up other people's lemmings with green baseball bats for hours, I think it's safe to say this game is fairly professionally done. I haven't encountered any problems with the network, which is exceptional because it's really hard to write good network code for video-games. I've tried. (Kudos, Simon.)

I was wondering if, as a community, we might be able to improve the opening title screen? Now, I mean no offence to Mikex62, who I believe made the previous one. I actually quite like that design; I think it's adorable that it uses the new graphics theme and shows off all the skills. The thing is, it's kind of cluttered and it lacks some shading, and it's a little abstract. For first-time players, the screen is somewhat off-putting, actually, which is a shame because the game is so awesome. I'm actually guessing probably anybody who hasn't seen the radical Lix gameplay video is thrown off by the rather humble opening screen.

So, I was playing around in the gimp and I drew this picture (attached).



I'm not claiming to be a brilliant artist, so if anybody would like to contribute their own design or edit mine, that would be superb. I'm also drawing another one, which I'll post in a few minutes. What do you think?

If you have any suggestions, I might be able to draw it.

(Edit: having trouble with attachments. Please stay tuned!)

[RubiX]

Hi, and nice to see another person onboard with Lix 

I don't see your attached picture, or did you remove it already?
Rubix

[RubiX]

Ok I see it now.  Very nice.  The Lix lettering looks great as its fitting towards the lemmings original bubble lettering idea.
If the Lix were placed into that dirt background this could look very good.

[NaOH]

Thanks RubiX! Hey, I've played some of your levels. They're fantastic.

I'll think about how I can incorporate some actual lix. In the meantime, here's my other submission:

Without Menu: (attached)


With Menu: (attached)

[RubiX]

Thanks

Very interesting that last picture you just posted.   If I were to pick though, I love the basic lix lettering with dirt background if it were used as a backdrop for the lix images that the other mike guy created (im mike too)

If you have IRC we are discussing stuff right now if you wanted to join in
irc.quakenet.org #lix

[NaOH]

Hmm... compromise?  (attached)

[RubiX]

ok that compromise is looking great o_O

just having the letters and picture of a lix mining .. now im intrigued

[NaOH]

Thank you so much! I think it's a good start.

I'd like to attach the source file (gimp), but it seems it's too big. I'll see if I can find an external host in the meantime.

[ccexplore]

In terms of first impressions, I like the first one more myself, but that said, both the letter styling as well as the brown background might be too similar to Lemmings.  While normally that's not a bad thing, I think for Lix, Simon would like to at least create the appearance of not using any original assets from the original games to avoid copyright issues, so the similarities may be problematic in that regard.  Besides, it's worth noting that Lixes don't have green hair (only the bat and the "backpack" are green amongst all the sprites) so the green color is arguably a little out of place.

I think for the second picture I'd prefer to have the Lixes actually be visible in their full-color glory rather than just as silhouettes/shadows (especially since Lixes don't exactly have particularly unique silhouettes to showcase), but I realize that's more a matter of taste and can live with the current version.  I would also request though that the silhouettes used in the title screen be more aligned to the actual sprites as seen in the sprite gallery.

Anyhow, that's just my own opinions, and I have zero artistic talent in my blood so kudos for making something that I could never have done myself. More importantly, I'm not Simon who'll ultimately be the one who decides what ends up in the game. Would be interested to hear what he thinks.

-----------------

Aside:  IIRC making the Youtube video is all RubiX's idea and initiative.  Simon is well aware that some aspects of the game isn't as polished as he'd like before a wider release and wasn't planning on Youtubing it at this point in time.

[RubiX]

^ Correct.  It was something I just wanted to do.

But this is now like 2 years old, and I would really like to make a new updated version.   But when the game is surely at a 'realesed' state as per Simons words hehe

[mobius]

I like any of those pics. Maybe if you just changed the colors of the letters the similarness to Lemmings would be gone.

Aside:  IIRC making the Youtube video is all RubiX's idea and initiative.  Simon is well aware that some aspects of the game isn't as polished as he'd like before a wider release and wasn't planning on Youtubing it at this point in time.

true it isn't polished but most complete industry games got major flaws too so I don't think it's a big deal. If you'd get rtw to do a video on it, it might bring more fans around.

[NaOH]

First of all: here's the source .xcf file for the silhouette image and the dirt image. You can enable/disable the lix logo and menu easily from those. Feel free to vandalize.

@ccexplore: the Lixes in the image actually have colour on them, but it's hard to tell. You're right, though; it's hard to tell that they're Lixes. I'll boost their brightness, but still (hopefully) make them look like silhouettes. (attached)



Some people said on IRC that they liked the "Lix" title, some people thought the title was too intrusive and detracted from the rest of the image. I'm thinking we can (a) make the title smaller and less intrusive, maybe put it in the corner, and (b) change it so that it's less Lemmings-esque.

If it's not going to be Lemmings-esque (i.e. green and bubbly), what should it be? Any ideas?

(edit: fixed source links)

[ccexplore]

Some people said on IRC that they liked the "Lix" title, some people thought the title was too intrusive and detracted from the rest of the image. I'm thinking we can (a) make the title smaller and less intrusive, maybe put it in the corner, and (b) change it so that it's less Lemmings-esque.

The intrusiveness is a good point now that it's been pointed out; more accurately, it is true that it looks quite different from the more plain styling of the menu itself.  So perhaps not having the letters at all is good enough, but I do understand that some people are more used to a game's title being more prominent on the main screen.  I guess a poll might help decide this.  The only alternative styling I can come up with for big lettering is maybe have the Lixes bodies (plus stuff they are holding for executing certain skills) form the letters somehow--sadly I'm even less of a font designer than I am an artist (ie. zero artistry in my blood as I said).

The brighter color on the Lix silhouettes do look nice.   For the miner, I think maybe you should model it after the animation frame where the axe's blade is already at the front side of the Lix--the frame you chose keeps looking a little odd to me because it doesn't really look like the arm holding the axe is there? (it blends right into where the head is)  Also I have trouble identifying with certainty which skill the leftmost silhouette is doing, even after consulting the sprite gallery--the first impression was it looks like the Lix got contorted into an odd snake-like shape. I'm actually thinking for variety, it might be nice instead to do a floater or some skill where the Lix is in the air, to contrast with the other two that are firmly on ground.

[Proxima]

Wow! All these images are gorgeous -- but that latest one, the silhouette image with enhanced colours, is a clear winner. I'm going to use that on my own copy of Lix regardless of whether it gets chosen officially 

The game's title being present already on the menu, I wouldn't include it in the image. It's nicer to have the full atmosphere of the scenery receding into the distance.

ccexplore, the leftmost lix is clearly a runner    I don't know whether it matches any particular frame of the runner's animation, but that's what it's doing. I wouldn't suggest making any changes.

[RubiX]

Ok I'm in agreement with the enhanced colors of the lix too.
This should be our new titlescreen for the next release

Great job Sodium Hydroxide