Hi all,
I've decided to go ahead and utilise Java's menu item icons to make the menu bar a bit more fun to look at.
However, my pixel art skills are nowhere near as good as some of the work I've seen done by people on this Forum, and any lemmings time I get at the moment is pretty much all going on Forum moderation and programming, so I'd really appreciate the help on this one.
There are 11 icons altogether. I'm open to ideas as to what exactly the icons should be, but here are some ideas to get the ball rolling:
IconAbout - a book or a pair of glasses
IconCodes - a pair of sunglasses or a Sherlock Holmes hat
IconEntrance - this should definitely be an entrance hatch
IconExit - this should definitely be an exit
IconHotkeys - an inverted T-shape with arrows (arrow keys layout)
IconMouse - a mouse
IconOptions - a cog
IconPlayers - Cluedo tokens
IconReplay - a clapper board
IconRestart - a reload arrow
IconStyles - a folder with an arrow pointing into it (this is for "Update Styles")
I've made some very basic versions of the above, please feel free to edit them or completely recreate them.
Size-wise, they should be no larger than about 24(h)x32(w), but if you can make really great looking 32x32 icons, that's fine. The menu items automatically resize according to the icons anyway.
So yeah, if you fancy giving this a go, please download the .zip and see what you can come up with!
(https://i.ibb.co/237SWhVh/image.png)
This looks like a fun challenge! I'd like to take a crack at it, though time might be spotty this weekend. I whipped something up in Blender/Krita for the replay icon.
Here's one with a dead-on camera angle.
IconReplay32x32.png
Here's one with a slightly angled view, to hit the 32x24 aspect ratio a bit better.
ReplayBlenderWide32x24.png
It's a 3D model, so the lighting and camera angle can be whatever we like.
ReplayBlender.png
Which one do you like better?
I don't know what you had in mind for art style, but I have AnimationFactory.com (https://www.animationfactory.com/) on the brain atm, so I'm leaning towards simple, cartoony 3D renders?
Quote from: zanzindorf on February 28, 2026, 01:31:34 AMWhich one do you like better?
Thanks for making these! I probably prefer the straight up 32x32 one, but both could work.
Quote from: zanzindorf on February 28, 2026, 01:31:34 AMI don't know what you had in mind for art style ... I'm leaning towards simple, cartoony 3D renders?
Yes, ideal. By all means have some fun with it and see what you come up with. I'd say 32x32 is probably a good size to aim for if you're working with large 3D renders.
Here's an attempt at the code icon:
This one kinda needs an outline for dark UI. Cramming sunglasses into 32x32 is very hard lol
Code32x32Glow.png This one's angled nicely, but might be too small.
Code32x32FrontGlow.png This one's a front view with some binary.
Do we like the binary code? I can add or remove it to either render.
CodeBlender.png
Also did a few more renders of the replay arrow.
IconReplay32x32.png This is the one from my last post.
IconReplay32x32.png For this one, I changed the lighting a bit to brighten everything.
IconReplayB32x32.png Completely new model, is a bit more flat.
I'll likely have more time tomorrow. I may work on one of the more complicated ones, like IconEntrance or IconExit.
Great work, zanzindorf :thumbsup:
Quote from: zanzindorf on March 01, 2026, 12:08:20 AMHere's an attempt at the code icon:
...
Do we like the binary code? I can add or remove it to either render.
I definitely prefer the front-view glasses. The binary is also a nice touch.
Quote from: zanzindorf on March 01, 2026, 12:08:20 AMFor this one, I changed the lighting a bit to brighten everything.
I can't decide which I prefer of these. The darker one seems a bit more 3D, has more depth to it, which is good. The lighter one is more "visible", but might not contrast as well against the standard menu background.
I'll get some previews of these icons up later today.
Got to put my vote in for the side-view glasses; they look great! :thumbsup:
Quote from: WillLem on March 01, 2026, 04:35:54 PMGreat work, zanzindorf :thumbsup:
Quote from: Proxima on March 01, 2026, 07:43:02 PMGot to put my vote in for the side-view glasses; they look great! :thumbsup:
Thanks! Glad you like them! I like the side view glasses too, but as an icon, the front ones I think are more identifiable. The resolution kinda shreds the fine detail on the side view one. Maybe a thicker glow can help, but not sure.
Code32x32Glow.png <-- Original
CodeSide2.png <-- Thicker glow and added binary
Here's the icons so far on different backgrounds:
Comparison.png
I think if these will be on a bright background, I may need to add some dark outlines to make them pop a bit. The binary is hard to make out on a white background.
The hatch was fun to build. I used the original sprite as reference, and didn't realize until now how wonky the perspective is on the original sprite. The model ended up needing some fun-house style warping to match the general shape of the original sprite.
WindowBlender.png
Here's the resulting icon: Window32x32c.png
Quote from: zanzindorf on March 02, 2026, 12:44:18 AMHere's the icons so far on different backgrounds
The dark background looks so much better. I'll have a play with the menu bar, it probably should have a dark mode.
The angled glasses do look great, but the front-view ones are just way better imho. Maybe somewhere between the two perspectives could work...? Keep the originals as well so that we have a few to play with.
The hatch looks good as well, I did end up wanting to straighten the edges and make it slightly bigger. Here are the icons in context so far:
(https://i.ibb.co/YBbGBK1m/image.png)
I'll have a go at making a dark mode now and post the results soonish.
Here are some demo background colors. I really like the blue:
(https://i.ibb.co/bMvRws05/image.png)
A more standard-looking dark gray:
(https://i.ibb.co/Jw3zM1CW/image.png)
A much darker gray (also made the text a bit darker for this one):
(https://i.ibb.co/JW5GR6cx/image.png)
And, a darker blue (the same color, in fact, as the Amiga blue background):
(https://i.ibb.co/Tx9TWWf9/image.png)
The last of these blends in perfectly when playing a level in one of the OG styles. Maybe a bit too perfectly, but it does look awesome.
EDIT: I've now also updated the hotkey text color so it's visible against all backgrounds.
Dark mode for RetroLemmini would be very nice, nice looking icons. Thank you all.
Quote from: WillLem on March 02, 2026, 03:49:16 AMI really like the blue:
I think that's my favorite too! The lighter dark grey is also very nice.
Looking at how the icons are rendering on the menus, I wonder if the size is being stretched a little:
PixelSizeComparison.png
Your clapper icon looks like it's rendering pixel perfect, which is good.
Under that, I pasted in my icon as it would look pixel perfect.
And under that is how my icon currently render in menu. It's much wider, roughly 49x49 instead of 32x32.
You sure the icon size is 32x32? You could try a different resolution if you want to see if it looks more consistent.
Attached is a zip with 64x64 and 49x49 sized icons, if you want to test them out.
That's wierd, I wonder why it's only happening for the glasses and not the other two. Or maybe it is and I just can't tell.
I'll certainly investigate the other icon sizes and/or find out if there's anything going on in rendering which might be causing the scaling.
The about icon was fun:
About32x32.png
About49x49.png
About64x64.png
About 3D.png
Let me know if you like the composition of this one. I can pose the question mark and the book differently if you have suggestions.
Quote from: zanzindorf on March 05, 2026, 02:44:48 AMLet me know if you like the composition of this one. I can pose the question mark and the book differently if you have suggestions.
I like this one as it is, you've got the composition just right. Nice work!
Quote from: WillLem on March 08, 2026, 03:09:47 PMQuote from: zanzindorf on March 05, 2026, 02:44:48 AMLet me know if you like the composition of this one. I can pose the question mark and the book differently if you have suggestions.
I like this one as it is, you've got the composition just right. Nice work!
Yay! Good to hear.
Here's two more:
IconHotkeys
Keys_32x32.png
Keys_49x49.png
Keys_64x64.png
IconPlayers
Player_32x32.png
Player_49x49.png
Player_64x64.png
Quote from: zanzindorf on March 08, 2026, 07:47:09 PMHere's two more
IconHotkeys is excellent, I wonder if we could rotate it slightly more to the left? If you need to make it wider to allow for this, that's fine (width is generally a bit more flexible than height (which needs to be around 32px max)).
You definitely have the right idea for IconPlayers, but I was thinking more along the lines of the classic Clue / Cluedo tokens, like this:
Cluedo Tokens
(https://media.discordapp.net/attachments/889239304818286652/1480300434135585033/image.png?ex=69af2cb6&is=69addb36&hm=fb124dd7e48b65975bed12d7d502c255ee04be70e713fcba7119275eb67c32be&=&format=webp&quality=lossless&width=755&height=525)
Keep going with these, they look fantastic in context.
How's this?
Clue_32x32.png
Clue_49x49.png
Clue_64x64.png
Keys_40x32.png
Keys_62x49.png
Keys_82x64.png
Perfecta! :thumbsup:
Here's Settings and Styles:
Gear_32x32.png
Gear_49x49.png
Gear_64x64.png
Style_32x32.png
Style_49x49.png
Style_64x64.png
Quote from: zanzindorf on March 10, 2026, 12:00:36 AMHere's Settings and Styles
This is beautiful work @Zanzindorf, thank you so much for doing these. Keep 'em coming :lemcat:
Also, if you want to revisit the codes icon (or any of the others) and make it 48 x 32 like the hotkeys icon, that seems to be a decent size in general.
Thanks! Glad you like them :) They're fun to make, and I'm remembering how to use Blender a bit more now.
I'll take another look at t he code icon tomorrow I think.
I'm not sure I like how this one turned out, but here's my progress on the mouse icon.
I could try a different type of mouse if you don't like this one. If you had a specific mouse model in mind, let me know.
Mouse_32x32png.png
Mouse_49x49png.png
Mouse_64x64png.png
Quote from: zanzindorf on March 11, 2026, 02:01:31 AMI'm not sure I like how this one turned out, but here's my progress on the mouse icon.
Looks good to me. By all means rework it if you wish, but this one will certainly do the job.
Quote from: WillLem on March 11, 2026, 11:00:52 PMLooks good to me. By all means rework it if you wish, but this one will certainly do the job.
Yay! Good good.
Clapper_32x32.png
Clapper_49x49.png
Clapper_64x64.png
I still plan on re-rendering the glasses, but I had an idea for an alternative to the code icon:
Computer_32x32.png
Computer_49x49.png
Computer_64x64.png
The Replay 'clapper board 'is very nice. The 'retro computer' Codes icon is also a very nice touch, I've gone ahead and added this one as the default (the glasses one will also be included as an optional alternative - users can simply rename the icon to get whichever they prefer).
I've done some slight editing to most of the icons to increase contrast, tweak the colours, and enhance detail at the smaller size (for example, making the "Code" word a bit more visible on the computer). Here are the results so far:
(https://i.ibb.co/mrC3jjkK/image.png)
EDIT: After posting this, I've realised that the icons are aliased slightly (you also noted this several posts ago (https://www.lemmingsforums.net/index.php?msg=108181)). This is happening due to the fact that my display resolution is set to 1.5x, and so Swing is scaling the icons to 48 x 48.
Solution: I've introduced some repainting code to support display scaling, so we can provide the icons at 32 x 32 (1x), 48 x 48 (1.5x) and 64 x 64 (2x) and the correct icon will always be chosen depending on the display's current DPI. There will still be some resizing/aliasing for 1.25, 1.75, and any scale above 2.0, but this should be fairly acceptable. With this in mind, we should probably stick to a straight 32 x 32, 48 x 48 and 64 x 64 for all icons (including Hotkeys*).
Once we're happy with all designs, I'll just need each one at 64 x 64. I can apply resizing from there, and will most likely provide the icons as sprite sheets. EDIT 2: I've sorted this out code-side now. The icons will be provided as single sprite sheets with a 32, 48 and 64 version (see attached template).
*We could do with having a version of the Hotkeys icon that's flipped horizontally (but still lit from the right) to match the others in terms of general orientation. I've attached the current version as a guide: this icon can actually be a bit bigger whilst still maintaining the rotation / dimensions.
Side note - having thought a bit more about it, maybe the Amiga 'tank' mouse would be a good choice for the mouse icon?
(https://i.ibb.co/JRpGGPtV/image.png)
If you can make the "Code" computer an A500 as well, that would be ace! ;P
(https://i.ibb.co/9mhhRyHt/image.png)
Exercised some artistic licence with the width of the monitor here!
Many thanks again for all of these :thumbsup:
Yay! Glad to hear you have a solution to the aliasing. Attached in the zip file is all the icons so far in the requested sizes: 32x32, 48x48, and 64x64. I included a few extra sizes for the keys icon in case you want to crop/scale it a certain way. I re-rendered all the icons previously posted as 49x49 to 48x48.
I tried flipping the key icon horizontally. Let me know how that looks.
I also render the exit icon and revised the mouse and code icons with the given suggestions :thumbsup:
Not sure if it looks like an A500, but I think I like it better than the previous attempt lol.
Mouse_64x64.png Exit_64x64.png CodeFlipped_64x64.png
The exit icon was the most complex one, but I love how it turned out :)
Exit.png
I think I have something for each requested icon now. Let me know if I missed something, or rendered something out the wrong size in the zip. Happy to re-render something if needed.
Everything.png
Quote from: zanzindorf on March 14, 2026, 11:29:09 PMI tried flipping the key icon horizontally. Let me know how that looks.
It looks excellent, thanks for doing this.
Quote from: zanzindorf on March 14, 2026, 11:29:09 PMI also ... revised the ... code icons with the given suggestions :thumbsup:
Not sure if it looks like an A500, but I think I like it better than the previous attempt lol.
It definitely looks like an A500 for sure. The only issue is that the "flipped" version (with the monitor facing to the right) has the keyboard layout flipped. This is probably the orientation I'd want to use, since all of the other icons are in a left-to-right orientation.
Meanwhile, the new mouse icon looks fantastic. The exit icon is also incredible, you've really captured what the exit would look like large and in 3D. I'd be interested to see your take on all of the OG exits, not necessarily for these icons but just as an artistic project in general! :)
Here's everything as it looks at this point. Let me know your thoughts:
(https://i.ibb.co/1GXWn80M/image.png)
Quote from: WillLem on March 15, 2026, 01:01:17 PMHere's everything as it looks at this point. Let me know your thoughts:
They look great in-menu :thumbsup:
Lol I forgot about the keyboard. Attached should be a fix for that.
CodeFlipped_64x64.png
Quote from: zanzindorf on March 15, 2026, 10:27:15 PMLol I forgot about the keyboard. Attached should be a fix for that.
Perfect, thanks :)