A New Options Screen Is Needed!

Not an options menu but an idea for a new pause menu, the slider on the right would have the options for relics, spells, familiars, equipment, and system. The character would show what's equipped and everything is pretty much on screen

All of the links tell me error 404 page not found. Is that just me?

Sorry, it was my mistake. I re-uploaded them on Google Drive. I hope this time they are functional:

Main Background
Character Mini-menu Format Example
Alucard's Menu Artwork
Maria's Menu Artwork
Richter's Menu Artwork
Master Librarian's Option Menu Artwork
Paper Texture
Framework
Font

Ill put something together the next few days.

Tying thematically and for color theory I am thinking of using some of the elements from the title screen and file select screen.

Are you wishing to keep the look low res?

These are early starts.

I didn't realize the background element for the main menu was the Alucard shield. I have reconstructed pictures before so I think I can actually just build on it. But here is the early attempt. Gonna take a few more days.

The other looks boring maybe but it is intentionally so. You'll notice the cropping bars are present. So on him im working in a resolution of 480 by 640 attempting to maintain the 4:3 aspect ratio. It is double the res of the PSX to keep the charm of the pixelated look and to also make scaling certain icons and characters to a proper fit.

It is hard to see what is going on just yet. But before rambling too much I need to finish these. But I will try to keep it brief.

1- There will be a box that animates to the right side. When going to any of the menus, the intent here is to highlight the Alucard image in red like Dark Metamorphosis as the "in game sprite" teleports to the right like the simple spell for the Alucard sword. He teleports to the top right and drops into the box that will show up. He will be in his standard walk animation with his shield drawn so when you are swapping the shield and cape he will update visually.

2- When going into the spells menu or relics menu similar things happen. He would demo the spell or relic effect.

3- From the relics menu they are layed out in an easy to organize manner, with the "form souls" occupying up, left, and right of the lion head back ground, and when you highlight them it would manifest the enhancements they have like "power of mist" or "sonar of bat." The familiars gain a simple icon similar to the forms "down" from the lionhead background detail and opens this menu separately.

4- The main menu has two additional subheadings. "Bestiary" and "Castle Map" so in addition to the main game UI map there is a slightly more stylized variant where you can drop details for point of interest. "Soundtrack" might be nice as well. I don't know what your plans are with the Librarian, but before I put in the work (which I wouldn't expect you to simply green light) I wanted to know if these ideas interest you.

Honestly the sheild image is going to take the bulk of my time. I could get everything else done in a few hours to simply show off in a nutshell my thoughts. But if you want something that looks a little more polished I could take feedback on these and proceed from there. Layout and style is a big part of what I do.

Some progress. My goal was to leave the original asset untampered. The actual Alucard shield is much longer and stylized differently in Kojimas artwork. But with the rounding in the background sprites concessions had to be made. However I am really stoked! I can fit in enough edgework to make it beautiful. I am a bit at a loss though. I attempted to add the super bushy tail of the original artwork but every attempt is making it too busy with the upper elements. I think I will continue with the stonework styled panels that comprise the body of the wolf on the shield.
I think it is coming along nicely!

I have much of the other overlays ready after I have added the appropriate coloring and etchwork and I got a nifty idea on how to make the background surrounding the shield fill and still look convincing as semi low res.

Above shows the final outline detail work for the shield. I wanted to get as close as possible to the original design. You are partially correct Morell. The design looks like etched stone and more angular than the concept art. I took advantage to shape the wolf fur in such a way that mimics the winged design to create a balance in the art. I took this same design approach for the wolf tail.

I wanted to show what progress looks like as well. Extending the shield so it looked more uniform and increasing the detail of the art takes some patience. But the pay off is worth it.

Below shows the source material I was working from as well:



Esco, the next phase of what I am working on will use layers in GIMP so if you want anything tweaked on my options menu but you overall like the design we can work backwards on it. This way we aren't looking at tripling efforts. I think you will really enjoy what I have in store for you.

The font I will be using is "Cambri" in case you like it and want to use it elsewhere. It is the font used when entering new areas in the original playstation Symphony of the Night. So it is not chosen at random.

In addition to my editing on the shield, I wrote in microsoft word layout organizations which keep all of what we love about the menu screen and ditch alot of the bad that came along with it.

This is black Friday week and I work retail. My original goal was to have the first draft completed by Thursday and that might still happen. It could just as easily happen on my next day of the week after, of which I do not know what that is.