Retake Extra Information

I am currently retaking Showreel Preparation, and I need a few more marks to pass, so I decided to make an entirely new interface keeping in mind several lessons I learned from my last attempt.

There were two problems with my previous menu design, in my opinion. Firstly, the execution was terrible. The 3D animation was vague and rushed and the menu itself lacked any flair. The second issue, and perhaps the bigger one, is that the menu solves nothing. It does nothing any better than any other menu systems, takes several step backwards, and has no reason to exist. For my new menu design, from the very beginning I've looked for problems with existing menus which I can fix.

My new interface is no longer for a JRPG, it's for a fighting game character selection screen. I noticed lots of problems with existing interfaces for this purpose, and decided that my interface could actually add something.

Here is a list of what all of the new files contain:

I created my demo interface in Maya and rendered it from the orthographic camera. I used Maya because I am more confident with Maya and it would be quicker for me to animate the interface, and easier to go back and make changes should I run into problems. I still wanted the interface to be 2D, so I used the orthographic view to create the illusion that it’s 2D.

1 – Read This First.docx – This is the file you are reading right now.

2 – Menu Animation.mp4 – This is the menu animation on it’s own with no commentary. It’s best to watch this before the commentary so that you know what it’s supposed to look like. In the commentary, I reverse the footage quite a lot to make sure that what’s shown on the screen is relevant.

3 – Commentary  (Main Video).mp4  – This video runs through some existing fighting game interfaces, highlights good points and bad points, and then runs through my interface and explains how it improves on these points.

4 – Commentary (Abridged).mp4  – The same as the previous video, but with all of the bits about other fighting games cut out.

5 – Menu With Characters.png  – A picture of what the interface would look like with character icons in place, and sprites shown on either side of the circle. This is also shown during both Commentary videos.

Thanks for reading/watching!