Does Lockjaw need another facelift?

By "mode" you mean "scenario", right?

So in other words, I'll have to write my own font loader whether I like it or not.

Simple in what way? Could you provide mock-up screenshots?

Creating a format that's not based on text mark-up involves creating an editor for that format. If I went this route, it could be months before I finish the editor and the format gets supported in Lockjaw. By that point, I could lose interest in the tetromino game relative to other projects that I want to work on. I'm at the point where patches are welcome; kesiev got his pet feature requests done by prototyping them in a patch.

 

I think you're all thinking too big. LJ just needs to look prettier. Aren't there any guys out there who have an interest in graphics design? LJ needs a title screen that's smoother and I'm thinking with cooler tones. Blue over a rough line then orange with a pink title simply doesn't work (no offense tepples).

LJ's title screen is on a par with:

MoHawk & Headphone Jack



Or maybe even Werewolf: The Last Warrior



Check out Wikipedia's title screen list for inspiration.

There's no need for the ellipsis after "options," "skin," and "game keys." There's no need for "Arrows: change; Enter: Choose." After selecting a replay or skin, I don't care what Jujube says but the cursor should not move on its own. It's tacky.

Game keys, options, and play screens: whatever the colors you used in the title screen, use two shades that match those colors-- a darker shade for the background and a lighter shade for the text. Simple.

Under play, "[TC]" has to go. The design should be understandable for anyone, not just us.

When inside a game, the background has to be smooth and very easy to look at. I'm not saying monochrome like mine, but I'm thinking something like those cool abstract desktop wall papers. kiruat's is a good example.

There's my two

 

right. and i was about to say "don't you mean gimmick?"

i only requested that because i don't use the mouse at all within Lockjaw, so to me the cursor is jumping unnecessarily into the center of the replay and skin menus when you access them. so that request was made because the cursor was already moving on its own.

in most games it's up to the user to put a replay file into the correct folder, so there can be a simple in-game menu where the user doesn't need to select the drive and folder where the replay is located. if that were the case in Lockjaw, i don't think anyone would feel the need to use the mouse.

 

I'm typing this comment into Firefox, and Tools > Options... has an ellipsis. I thought anything that brought up a dialog box was supposed to have an ellipsis.

That was put there to address three groups of people:

1. People who try WASD, or who try the number pad, or who sit there and freeze not knowing what keys to press. That has happened to more than one Heboris Unofficial Expansion player who has posted to this board.
2. People who would try to use the mouse to navigate. Or should I just add mouse support to the title, options, keys, and scenario screens?
3. People who would plug in a USB joystick and expect Lockjaw to auto-configure it, which I'm not sure how to do reliably with real-world devices. I own a gamepad that maps its directional pad to the main axes, one that maps it to other axes, and one that maps it to buttons. Should I store the number of axes and buttons on all connected joysticks, and then nag the user "You have plugged or unplugged joysticks since Lockjaw was last run. Do you want to reconfigure game keys?" whenever it changes?

There are five ways to do this:

1. Do not respond to mouse movements or clicks on the replay and skin screens at all.
2. Turn the mouse on for any screen that uses it and off for the rest, leaving the pointer over the OK button.
3. Turn the mouse on for any screen that uses it and off for the rest, and drop the pointer out of view before showing a screen that doesn't work with the mouse (current behavior).
4. Turn the mouse on for everything, including game play.
5. Add yet another user interface preference.

Options are good when they allow Lockjaw to simulate various other products. But for user interface, too many preferences can degrade the user experience (search this page for "The Question of Preferences"). So when I try to make my program do the right thing, and someone always objects to what I choose, to whom should I listen?

Good idea.

I couldn't find terms of use on that site.

There was a time when one couldn't visit a StepMania forum without a "how do i installed songs" post from a newbie. If I follow StepMania's lead on this, I imagine I'll get the same sort of "how do i installed skins" and "how do i installed replays" questions.

 

"Dialog box" to me sounds really broad. Wouldn't that mean all of the selections except "exit" would need an ellipsis?