Illarion.org

Hey everybody!

Nitram will work on a new loader program soon. Since it is the very first thing players see when starting the game, it should look really awesome! If you are interested in helping out with a nice design and have some skill in creating 2D graphics, please let me know: vilarion@illarion.org.

You can use existing commercial loaders as inspiration, e.g.:
http://d3onslaught.com/wp-content/uploa ... Loader.jpg
http://i1-news.softpedia-static.com/ima ... ge_009.jpg
http://i28.tinypic.com/im3u42.jpg


Our plan is to show the latest news headlines in the loader. It should also feature a nice background, a loading bar and a button that can be used to start the game (or map editor and other client applications with maybe a smaller version(?) of the same button). Buttons need to have graphics for four states: normal, mouse over, pressed and disabled (you cannot start the game while an update is in progress).

Looking forward to hear from you!

Vilarion

Please provide provision to use "esc" to logoff a char without quiting the game and log in through another char.
also may be another way to quit the game completely too if the above is done; ie to close the client completely.

Are there specific size requirements, preferred color schemes, etc?

The size should be smaller than 800x600, which is the lowest supported resolution. You could use the client's color scheme (green/grey/black), and button style, but you are not bound to.

Mr.Oldie wrote:Please provide provision to use "esc" to logoff a char without quiting the game and log in through another char.
also may be another way to quit the game completely too if the above is done; ie to close the client completely.

The reason that this is not working is a entirely different one and does not effect the development of the downloader. How ever the reason that its not working are founded in the entire way the client is currently working and requires a massive refactoring to be resolved. For now its not possible to fix this.

So.. anyone working on anything in relation to the design to the downloader/launcher?

Nitram

How's the work on the loader going?
I drew a layout, maybe you can use it:


How about using the Homepage's graphics?
This would also keep the style the same in loader and on homepage.

While Nitram is working hard on the new loader, I want to give you a glimpse at the design process, from a first draft we made on google docs, to the first implementation, to the current (still incomplete) state:

Looks great to me!