..or so they say. Whereas many retails games get multi-million dollar marketing budgets, games distributed digitally often have to rely on demos to get sales. The game becomes the advertising. I think that’s a good thing.

Over the last couple of days, I’ve been working on improving the main menu screens in Star Hammer that first greets a player when they are starting the game. I thought I’d share some before and after pictures. So here goes.

Here is the pre-makeover screenshot:

Star Hammer Main Menu - before

It features a computer console screen which looks nice enough, but the overall appearance of the screen is a bit drab. Apart from the blue background of the screen, there isn’t really any color at all. The stars in the background are animated and fly across the screen from left to right. The currently selected option blinks (tastefully) so that the player know want will happen when they press ‘A’ on the controller. And when an option is selected, the console slides off the screen – no abrupt screen changes here.

It’s a functional main menu, but hardly inviting or appealing.

I thought about what would be cool to add to the menu screen to give it some oomph, and figured I needed a few things. First, more color. Even though the game is set in space, trying to add some color and avoid too much darkness is a constant challenge. The other thing I wanted to add was more movement. A blinking menu option is fine, but more is needed.

Here is the post-makeover screenshot.

Star Hammer Main Menu - after

So, what’s going in here? First, I added a nebula backdrop. Nebulas are really interesting visually (well, I think they are). Like the previous menu, the stars move from left to right, giving an impression of travel.

Last week I did a new Star Hammer gameplay video to add to the showreel for iParty, and with all of my newly-won experience wielding Sony Vegas under my belt, thought that adding some video to the menu screen could be an idea. So, there is a looping video on the left hand side projected onto a curved screen. The video screen is a really easy-to-make 3D model, just a curved plane. The video was made with Fraps and Sony Vegas, and I used a filter called “TV Simulation” to add some interesting effects like static and a raster scan. XNA 3.1 introduced a new video playback library that makes playing and projecting video onto 3D models really straight forward.

The actual menu on the right got a makeover too. The frames at the top and bottom animate when the menu opens and closes, and the highlight box behind the selected option scrolls smoothly when the player changes options.

Oh, and the font is completely different too. I think with font selection, I’ve been trying to find “Sci-fi”-looking fonts. I have to say it’s not been working out as well as I’d like. I think clean and readable are better priorities than “space-y”.

The final element that isn’t apparent from a screen shot is a revamp of the theme music, recently done by my friend and colleague Simon Wittber. ( Here is a short sample…turn it up loud! )

There is another reason for using the video that way I have. Games on Xbox Live Indies Games (where Star Hammer will eventually be available), have an 8-minute trial. That means you have 8 minutes to convince the player that your game is worthy of their Microsoft Points. As there is a lot of interesting content in the game after the 8-minute trial deadline, I figured it would be a good idea to show the player what they can expect further into the game. So, I make the game look more polished, exciting and professional, and at the same time give would-be purchasers a window into what lies ahead. Win-Win!

Overall, I’m really pleased with how it’s all turned out.