Hi all,

So, i've spent the last few weeks developing and designing the menu system for my game. I'm now seeking feedback on things i can do to improve it, as shown on the video below:

I'm after constructive feedback, be it critical or not - and i'm not too sure where this belongs as i'm after all round design feedback about the user experience, audio and visual styling of the menus so it doesn't really belong in visual arts or music and sound.

Based on previous feedback i've already turned down some excessive bloom to make the fonts more readable, and i've picked a more readable font for my title (previously the old english style font used here was making the V look like a lower case B). I've also made sure that where possible i've stuck to a simple readable font for options, widgets etc, as i'm no expert in typography (i'm a programmer) and want something people will be able to understand.

I'm also aware that a lot of people hate transitions and want to just get into the thick of things so i don't intend to have transitions at all on the 'start game' or 'load game' options, these will just drop people straight to where they want to go. I've put the transitions on the options screens, as people don't go into these often apart from the first time they run the game or if they get new hardware.

Please offer your feedback below

Thanks!

Edit: It seems youtube is playing silly with me right now and i'm getting an internal youtube error when trying to play the video. If you also get this, just click the 'play in youtube' button on the video player and it seems to play fine. odd...

Is this video from before or after you reduced bloom? The text current looks a bit washed out to me. Other than that, this looks just as good as anything I would expect in a $15-$50 steam game.

The menu buttons usually have shorter descriptors.

In your case something like:

-New game

-Load game (or 'Continue')

-Options (with both graphics/sound options there)

-Quit

Is quicker to understand.

graphics/sound options should be grouped together because theyre both options, and could for example use a common 'apply changes' button or such. They might be 2 different tabs under the 'options' menu.

I suggest separating the 'quit' button from the rest. Spatial separation (add empty space or put it in some corner), color it red, put an empty line above it... That way you dont accidentally click it, and its easy to spot (if you want to quit, you dont use the other buttons, and vice versa).

EDIT:

Also, make sure the transition animations dont last longer than a fraction of a second. That kind of thing is annoying (might have just been the video though). For example, fade in the next menu WHILE the animation is playing, and allow making changes immediately (while the animation is still going)

Although there's not too much option, there is lack of "apply / back" for options and "are you sure" for quitting if you mind.

Maybe clicking on the Load Game menu takes you to a library with dusty records. The Graphics menu could show a room with portraits and banners burning. The Sound option could lead you to a abandoned battle horn, etc.

This is a great idea, thanks! It might have to wait a while though until I can find some nice art assets for it :)

Although there's not too much option, there is lack of "apply / back" for options and "are you sure" for quitting if you mind.

Right now all menu options apply immediately. Right now there's no screen mode change option. This would need an apply button and possibly an "are you sure you want to keep this" prompt with a timeout that resets the screen mode back to what it was previously...

For example, fade in the next menu WHILE the animation is playing, and allow making changes immediately (while the animation is still going)

Yeah you can do this, as soon as the menus are visible while the animation is running, you can click them. The animations are limited to 2 seconds max though, so at the speed you're moving it's kind of hard to click the options :)

Looks nice if you ask me.
Just two small remarks (one mentioned earlier):

- texts of the menu items feel as if they're a bit too long
- maybe a little less fires (a bit less overkill)

Cool camera animation also, when switching menu's

Looking good, I like the animation and the background scenery. I think the glow around the text is a bit too big and that the yellow coloring on hover doesn't really fit. Maybe a sort of fiery effect instead? Also the sound on click sounds a bit muffled, maybe a combustion sound would fit well here. Hope that helps you in some way :).

Once I wondered why there had been so many activation sounds. I guess you were just frantically clicking when the menu item was already activated?

I would only play a sound when activating a menu item, not on each click, and hava another sound for highlighting.