Your thoughts on screens and graphics

[FINisher]

Yeah. It is clearly the first thing a customer, a player sees. If I would not be such big wrestling fan, or big TEW08 fan, I would really be turned off by the screens and the main page look. They are not selling! It really makes the game looks really amateurish from the outside, to a normal customer; Which we, the players know isn't true. The game itself is great. We all know what's behind the surface. The effect and importance of a good design has really been underestimed. :(

[kettley]

[QUOTE=FINisher;431426]I think it's funny as how I said "lame fake", "a really bad fake" in that one topic in which someone had posted the [U]actual[/U] TEW08 mainpage screen. I honestly thought it was fake. So did everyone else. I thought to myself that GDS would never do/allow such a bad main page screen, after the great 2007 main page. I was shocked when I got the trial and that screen was the actual mainpage screen. It looks REALLY amateurish and ugly. And so does other screens aswell.[/QUOTE] Lets not forget that's mainly because you're a retard ;)

[FINisher]

Mmm.. .. I'm sorry, what? Are you serious? Just look the image. I could show it to dozen of people and I'm absolutely sure they would think the same what I thought. That it would be a fake, ugly, and badly done. It it just that bad looking. And also, watch your mouth here. I'm just trying to make a valid point, and I'm sure that many people here agree with me.

[BadFurDay]

[QUOTE=FINisher;431537]I'm sure that many people here agree with me.[/QUOTE] Hey we're two people so far, that sure is what I'd call "many" :D My issue isn't mainly with how bad the screens look (though boy do they look awful and painful to me), more with how hard it is to mod it. In TEW07 I could just get myself a new skin in one minute tops, seems like I'm gone for days of tedious cutting/replacing with TEW08, that's just plain annoying -_- If anyone's up for a try, here's the topic in the right section: [url]http://www.greydogsoftware.com/forum/showthread.php?t=31906[/url]

[Adam Ryland]

[QUOTE=FINisher;431537]I could show it to dozen of people and I'm absolutely sure they would think the same what I thought.[/QUOTE] FINisher, I think it's this sort of sentence that's really starting to annoy people (mainly me, it has to be said). We get it - you don't like it. But different people have different tastes, the way you're writing makes it sound like you've decided that because you don't like it, nobody will. You're coming across as pretty arrogant as a result. Please, at the very least dial it down a little - not everyone has the same extreme reaction as you.

[Adam Ryland]

[QUOTE=BadFurDay;431539]My issue isn't mainly with how bad the screens look (though boy do they look awful and painful to me), more with how hard it is to mod it. In TEW07 I could just get myself a new skin in one minute tops, seems like I'm gone for days of tedious cutting/replacing with TEW08, that's just plain annoying -_-[/QUOTE] You can't have it both ways. People wanted a game that didn't take up so much memory, having buttons embedded in the screens achieves that brilliantly. Sorry if that annoys you, but in my book a faster, more efficient, more reliable game trumps the ability to mod screens on every front.

[FINisher]

Understood. Didn't mean to come across as arrogant, I don't usually complain about things or voice my opinions in the internet. Just trying to make a valid point and then someone says "Lets not forget that's mainly because you're a retard" comment, of course I am trying to explain my point of view even more harder. And oh btw, I am not a retard. Just a normal person making a point of view. Agreeing that people are different, everyone has right on their own opinion. I'm all open to other peoples comments and ideas, that's why I started this topic. Wanted to see what other people think about the screens. And Adam, what do you have to say to kettley? Just a stupid, unnecessary flame. EDIT: And I do AGREE with the new system. It is far more better, faster, and less memory eating than the old way. But the modding is much more harder :)

[D16NJD16]

I mean I know upon my first reaction to the graphics I immediatly went and strangled my sister to death before gouging out my eyes, and therefore I can't imagine how many other murders these things will be responsible for

[Michael Wayne]

look at it this way.. With the pre-designed "borders", people won't need to put them on promotion logos and such.

[kettley]

[QUOTE=FINisher;431550]And Adam, what do you have to say to kettley? Just a stupid, unnecessary flame.[/QUOTE]Is it still a flame if it's true though? And anyways I'll stop now... I promise ;)

[Malioc]

I don't agree with the general graphical critics. The opening screen is simple, but it has it's style. Personally I didn't care at first, now I like it. Simple might not be for everyone, but too much details pull down the [I]atmosphere[/I]. Maybe you should thin about that, FINisher. From this point of view it works fine. Also I must admit, I already love this game. In my opinion it's in every point even [I]better[/I] than TEW 2007 so far. The style changed a bit. But it became more clear / pragmatic and the reduced loading times totally sweeped me from my feet. Man, Adam, love you, man!

[The Shape]

The opening screen looks kinda retro more than anything, certainly not too easy on the eye but then you look at it for what 5 seconds every time you play? So it's not a huge concern lol.

[FINisher]

Yes of course. But I wasn't talking just about the opening screen :) Oh well. Atleast I started a good topic which has a lot of good discussion on the topic..

[djthefunkchris]

I don't share this negativity at all... Not even a little bit. Complaining that it looks cartoony? IT comes with a complete set of "Cartoons".... Weather or not you want to admit that fact or not. Maybe I'm on to something here though... Like quite a few people that play TEW, I prefer a good "real" database with people I have watched over the years. This helps me get lost in the world tremendously, and forget I'm playing a game, but living out a dream (of being head booker or promoter). For those that think it's too "Comicbook"ish, I think you might be a bit like me. You might like the C-verse (as I do), and you might even prefer it, but I'm thinking you like to "imagine" yourself "in" the world that is created. I suggest doing as most people do, and making your own screens (pretty sure you can utilize some of the one's you used for '07 with a bit of editing), or allow other's to come up with some. There are always at least half a dozen (or more) skins that come up, and I'm betting one of them will make it all better for you. Then there are those like me.. I think the skins highlight the character's nicely. It's a fictional world, with what I would expect as a fictional workshop. It goes nicely together. I can understand what it might look like seeing "real" stars with all that boldness around them, making it feel too cartoony, but the game is not BASED on real world mods. SO just make real world skins to go with your real world character's (or C-Verse, if that's your preference) and continue to immerse yourself.

[Undertaker666]

[QUOTE=FINisher;431426]Not only they are all that, but they are extremely painful to mod and replace, as now all the buttons are in the screens! Try it. Replace one screen which has buttons in it, replace it with, lets say just blank white screen. You can't see the buttons. You can't see the menus. Therefore, when editing those screens, it takes extremely long time to get ALL the screens done, because in every screen where there is a "button", you have to save that piece of the image so you would know where every button is. It's frustrating.[/quote] Embedding the buttons as part of the screen was to reduce memory usage and speed the game up. As i'm sure you'll agree, for that part they work very well. [QUOTE=crayon;431511]I've made a lot of complaints of the graphics based on the screenshots we were given.. and I will stand by it and say that they do come off more "i just got photoshop and found some neat tutorials" amateurish than I'd expect at this stage (examples: bevel boarders, and yellow cartoon style fonts, really?), but they are an improvement over '07. And I actually do [i]kinda[/i] like the new layout of things.. for the most part.[/quote] Regarding the 'cartoon fonts', you have to remember that it's got the C-Verse in mind. The C-Verse isn't die-hard serious so I think the 'yellow cartoon font' fits in perfectly with the light-hearted nature of the C-Verse. [QUOTE=FINisher;431530]The effect and importance of a good design has really been underestimed. :([/QUOTE] The key to a good design is functionality and being user-friendly, I think the interface succeeds on both counts.

[thommohawk]

In my opinion, I have to be honest and say that I really like the new style of the graphics. I like the fact that the game is now awash with color. Previous TEW games felt lifeless graphically and far too "cold" color palette in my opinion (perhaps that's why I couldn't get into them as well as I should have, who knows) but the new graphical style for me is a homage to the old EWR days. And I much prefer this style over previous TEW styles simply because it makes better use of color and therefore feels much more vibrant and "alive". Again just my opinions. Big thumbs up, from me. :)

[Gigas]

Are people really complaining about graphics in a text based sim? I didnt even notice them, I was too busy playing.

[FINisher]

[quote=Undertaker666;431742]Embedding the buttons as part of the screen was to reduce memory usage and speed the game up. As i'm sure you'll agree, for that part they work very well.[/quote] Actually I did agree with it on my previous posts already. I'm perfectly fine with that and agree 100% with that, and it's great that the game runs smooth. I just think that the designer should have done better job with the colours and borders etc.

[Von Dozier]

I like a blue/black scheme, but I definitely don't like the blue background in this game. Maybe if it was darker, it'd look good. But the brightness of it makes it look like a freeware game. It's a petty complaint, but I agree that I did like 07's layout more. Seemed more serious and professionally done, and wasn't hard on the eyes at all.

[W3LSHY]

I created some alt. screens... [url]http://www.megaupload.com/?d=240BAIK8[/url] ;)

[Von Dozier]

[QUOTE=W3LSHY;431862]I created some alt. screens... [url]http://www.megaupload.com/?d=240BAIK8[/url] ;)[/QUOTE] I'm really liking that. Are you gonna be completing it? Because I'd definitely use it, and it seems alot of other people would too. I'd really love it if you did that style replacing ALL the blue backgrounds.

[W3LSHY]

Yep, i just may do that. I released them with all the screens for the editor, but haven't completed the rest for the Trial/Full game.

[EricAdams]

I love how when looking through the characters it will have Wrestling Stats and Announcer/Road Agent/Ref stats for others. Great change, very helpful. I'm sad that Debuting Workers/Promotions was integrated Current ones, it makes it a bit harder to find future workers when mod making. Overall, loving the changes thus far.

[mvargus]

I like the graphics. They do the job they need to, without taking up too much memory. TEW is about the game play, not the graphics If I want great graphics, I'll go waist my time playing Sword of the New World, or some other game that receives high reviews for graphics. I play TEW because its a great simulation of the tasks, trials and tribulations of owning/booking a wrestling promotion in a competitive environment. The whole game basically is a bunch of integrated data bases and spreadsheets with a dynamic system to calculate results based on user input and the interrelation of the data. This game could realistically have no graphics at all, and would still have most of the challenge. (if lot less of the fun.) Because of that, I worry far more about the gameplay, than the graphics. I look at the screens this way when I'm dealing with any simulation. 1) can I find the button I need 2) is the data arranged in a way that I can find what I need 3) does it slow the game down to make all the graphical displays. for TEW, the answers are Yes, Yes, No. So. I'm happy. :D

[Ghetto Anthony]

[QUOTE=FINisher;431426]I think it's funny as how I said "lame fake", "a really bad fake" in that one topic in which someone had posted the [U]actual[/U] TEW08 mainpage screen. I honestly thought it was fake. So did everyone else. I thought to myself that GDS would never do/allow such a bad main page screen, after the great 2007 main page. I was shocked when I got the trial and that screen was the actual mainpage screen. It looks REALLY amateurish and ugly. And so does other screens aswell. No offence to the guy who did all those graphics and screens, but that what I said above really defines my thoughts about the new screens. They're just plain ugly, bad, and irritating to the eyes. Not only they are all that, but they are extremely painful to mod and replace, as now all the buttons are in the screens! Try it. Replace one screen which has buttons in it, replace it with, lets say just blank white screen. You can't see the buttons. You can't see the menus. Therefore, when editing those screens, it takes extremely long time to get ALL the screens done, because in every screen where there is a "button", you have to save that piece of the image so you would know where every button is. It's frustrating. Just remember how good looking TEW07 was from a graphical viewpoint. And then take a look at '08.. Makes me sick. I would really like to hear other peoples opinions about those screens; I am sure I am not alone. Discuss! :D[/QUOTE] I agree. The graphics are awful and will look horrible with real world mods. Hopefully some kind soul creates a full screen set for the community. However, Ryland is still going to get my money, because the game itself is AMAZING.