I agree the menu is sort of jarring but that's not going to make a difference. What struck me immediately was that the in-game graphics could probably be improved. The platform(s) that swing back & forth look aliased, perhaps because they are being drawn as 3D geometry. What if you were to use an image instead (painted in photoshop or rendered offline), rendered as an alpha texture? This would let you get nice feathered (antialiased) edges and still keep the same overall look. The whole scene looks very flat and overlit, it could use some shadows or other effects (depth of field, etc) to add realism. The particle "poof" that happens when a ball drops seems to appear and disappear suddenly. It's a nice idea but should be a smoother transition or be more dynamic. Perhaps it should also appear near the bucket the ball drops into, rather than in the middle. The balls look like discs, they need some shading / lighting. I don't know what the 2>8>> at the top right is supposed to mean. Hope these help
Uh oh, the wife has spoken! Someone suggested that the buttons be the same size. Again, from an aesthetic point of view, I think the varying size and weight of the buttons is what makes the menu work. The play button is the most important, obviously, because it is given more weight and our eye is immediately drawn toward it. This is something to think about as you revise the menu.
Okay, here's the latest version: Remark: The Play button is in "selected" state. Do you think now it fits the game better?
I'm going to improve the ingame graphics. However I would not replace any of the 3D elements with sprites, else the physics won't work. The counter on the top right corner shows the current level and the number of remaining ones. I will try to be more explicit here also. Thanks! Now what about the new menu? It's ok? I find it way better than the original one (check it out in the thread starter)
I guess this was addressed at me. I certainly agree that emphasizing "play" makes perfect sense. One way of doing this is simply by having it being the first option in the menu, having it being the dominant visual element is another. I agree that this is a perfectly viable choice and as I stated in my original post I think the original menu looks good. However, I do not believe abstracting menu elements, even with fairly recognizable icons is a wise choice. In my mind the elements quickly becomes mystery meat which is simply not particularly user friendly. Also: While I agree making the "play" button larger than the others I have a harder time seeing the logic of "more" and "highscores" being larger than "sound" and "about". In the end though there will always be a huge element of subjectivity to these matters. I personally think menus are generally an element graphic designers tend to let their creativity get the better of them at the expense of functionality. I'm sure I'm not the only one who have struggled to figure out just how to reach correct sub-menu on a DVD for instance.
