in game menu -noob question

Blitz3D Forums/Blitz3D Beginners Area/in game menu -noob question

Gamzman(Posted 2006) [#1]
Sorry if this has been asked before but how do you create in game menus. Do you use sprites attached to a pivot or is there another way?


jhocking(Posted 2006) [#2]
There is no single way, it depends of course on what your menu is going to look like. About the only general advice I can give is to use bitmap fonts (eg. FONText) for your text. It's faster and nicer looking than the Text command.

Are you talking about a really bare-bones start menu like an arcade game? I (or someone else) can bang out sample code to show you how that's done. Or are you talking about something like the inventory screen in an RPG?

Incidentally, it's redundant to put "noob question" in the subject line. This is the beginners area, after all.


boomboom(Posted 2006) [#3]
One way is todo it with sprites. there are benifits too this, as sprites have easyer control over alpha.

There are a few Librarys that are free (and some that are not) that can really make this site of things alot easyer


Gamzman(Posted 2006) [#4]
My menu is quite a complex one, I want to make it transparent while 3D stuff is going on in the background (kind of like an intro to make the menu more interesting).

"Incidentally, it's redundant to put "noob question" in the subject line. This is the beginners area, after all."

Sorry, got to use to seeing it on the DarkBASIC forums, now that I've switched to Blitz I’m a beginner now ;) thou I've been using DB since it was first released, feels weird asking for help :)


Sir Gak(Posted 2006) [#5]
Gamzman, welcome to the Blitz Community! Don't feel weird asking for help. We all help one another, and the whole community gets strengthened in the process.


boomboom(Posted 2006) [#6]
You might be able to find what you are looking for here:

http://blitzbasic.com/toolbox/toolbox.php?cat=14


Gamzman(Posted 2006) [#7]
@Sir Gak, yes I agree it does strengthen the community; I like the Blitz one already!

@boomboom, thank you.


Boiled Sweets(Posted 2006) [#8]
Use Sprite Candy


Bankie(Posted 2006) [#9]
I bought Sprite Candy at the weekend, and at just over £20 is probably worth it. Instantly, you'll have access to a bunch of fonts and a number of routines that'll save heaps of time and let you concentrate on the more interesting parts of game programming.


Gamzman(Posted 2006) [#10]
thank you for help everyone. I've now created my own functions to make a resolution independant hud with alpha and text.

Once I understood how Blitz handles pivots and other elements it was only a matter of time and I soon got it working :)