Redesign mainmenu [See proposal]

[rubenwardy]

A thread to discuss general UX issues with the main menu.

List of concepts:

• tacotexmex: Redesign mainmenu [See proposal] #6733 (comment)
• Freeminer, v-tabs: Redesign mainmenu [See proposal] #6733 (comment)
• rubenwardy, v-tabs: Redesign mainmenu [See proposal] #6733 (comment)
  • Alternate styling: Redesign mainmenu [See proposal] #6733 (comment)
• numberZero: Redesign mainmenu [See proposal] #6733 (comment)
• pauloue: Redesign mainmenu [See proposal] #6733 (comment)
• rubenwardy figma mockup (per-game menu design): Redesign mainmenu [See proposal] #6733 (comment)
• Zughy + G1ov4, pixelart: Redesign mainmenu [See proposal] #6733 (comment)

Supersedes #3818

[jmdevy]

Although not directly related to the main menu, aren't the buttons for things like "Play game", "Configure", "New", etc, the default Irrlight buttons? I feel like those were built into Irrlicht for prototyping. If we change the main menu then those ugly buttons should go, at least I think so.

[ThomasMonroe314]

This may not be "Main Menu" but CBugDCoder and I had an idea for moving the sound menu into a options menu and adding things like FOV, shaders, etc to that menu.

[C1ffisme]

Relevant: #5810

Albeit that has to do with problems effecting all formspecs in general, while this has to do with main menu design.

[ThomasMonroe314]

Just curious, but does anyone use the Mods tab and what is it even there for?

[ghost]

There's a Mods tab?

…

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[NathanSalapat]

@ThomasMonroe314 @jastevenson303 The mod tab gives a list of all the mods you have installed, giving information and shows the screenshot, if the mod has one.

[ThomasMonroe314]

I know that, but you can just as easily either open up a file explorer, or make a world and open up the configuration.

[rubenwardy]

It was added at the same time as the mod store, and wasn't removed when the mod store was removed

[ThomasMonroe314]

I figured that was the case, I'm just wondering if it is necessary to keep around.

[tacotexmex]

I think the main menu begs to be redesigned with much larger content areas, considering

• Content DB integration brings much more data that need to fit
• There's a font size feature that currently doesn't work with larger than default sizes without the UI looking like garbage.

[tacotexmex]

Just throwing something out there:

[rubenwardy]

I like that a lot

[Desour]

Such singleplayer world screenshots would be easier with #7111. (Just show the newest screenshot of that world.)

[benrob0329]

Or just save a screenshot into the world directory when you quit (similar thing could be done for known servers)

[rubenwardy]

Working on the main menu is on my to-do list. Just need to get all the formspec problems fixed

Would be nice if people could come up with a load of designs to choose between

[tacotexmex]

a load of designs to choose between

That, or we develop one good design together with all relevant goals of it in mind. It shouldn't boil down to taste but what performs best imo.

[tacotexmex]

Uhm, so I got a little carried away (it's interactive).

[rubenwardy]

How do you expect this to resize?

[tacotexmex]

I'm unaware of how/if formpec elements can have fluid sizes. If so, no problem. If not, well, it should support it 😅

[rubenwardy]

the thing is that the formspec in your mock up is fitted such that it fills the entire window, which isn't possible currently for that exact reason.

So I guess it would need to be an inner formspec that doesn't scale, like the current menu

[benrob0329]

Could be an inner formspec with a large background.

[tacotexmex]

Then I suppose this design is for when formspecs do get fluid size support. 🤔 Either that or demanding a larger minimum screen size (1280x800 in this example). Since it's been drawn with for being responsive it's easy to see that it looks okay down to 1024x768. Works with 800x600 too but not with that font size.

[tacotexmex]

Resizing the current main menu I spot some responsive elements so my design could probably be made to work on lower resolutions too.

[tacotexmex]

When this Ratio Workspace is released I'll probably try to mockup the main menu with it.

[LoneWolfHT]

You could remove the 'Change Game' option and show the world's game's logo instead of a world screenshot for now

[tacotexmex]

I could, but it's supposed to be a game engine, which is why I've chosen to emphasize current (sub)game context. The list itself would also become innumerable quickly with that approach.

[RustoMCSpit]

@appgurueu have you seen how the naming vote has ended up? If Minetest has no direction, we can cast all the votes we want and it'll be worthless anyway. Personally, I'd like to hear from a professional

sounds like a good call hinestly

[v-rob]

We've got v-rob's formspec (& hud) replacement in the works (it's waiting for review, actually). A proper "mainmenu redo" should definitely wait on that - otherwise we'd be writing already-deprecated, unnecessarily awkward code to produce a potentially suboptimal UI.

It's up to anyone who wants to redesign the main menu as to whether they want to wait for the new UI or not--I won't give any advice on the matter. However it proceeds, I think that the main menu design should be created with the new UI's capabilities in mind, even if a present-day formspec implementation can't fully support that design. Don't let formspecs limit the imagination!

(And if the new UI doesn't support feature XYZ--well, I'm open to suggestions ;-) )

[Heus-Sueh]

Something that bothers me a lot about Minetest's UI is the color scheme, more than the layout and spacing of things, this gray with the small font doesn't really help

[Clemstriangular]

I have drawn a lot of inspiration from existing concepts. However, I envisioned something simpler to avoid getting confused between worlds and games.

-All worlds are in the same place, and when selected, you can see and modify their specific features.
-You must select the game when creating a world.
-You can choose a different texture pack for each world (if feasible).
-The game thumbnail specifies the game used for each world.
-Just press "creative" and it directly switches to "survival" and vice versa (I think damage should not be activated in creative mode).

[RustoMCSpit]

Something that bothers me a lot about Minetest's UI is the color scheme, more than the layout and spacing of things, this gray with the small font doesn't really help

i feel like adding custom colors for ui elements can be added to this issue as well

[RustoMCSpit]

could this become a pinned github issue next to a name change? i feel more eyes being on this would be better as it's pretty essential :D @rubenwardy @Zughy

[RustoMCSpit]

@Clemstriangular does the world rotate around like it does in minecraft for your proposal?

[Clemstriangular]

@Clemstriangular does the world rotate around like it does in minecraft for your proposal?

Imagine that I have no idea, because I have never played Minecraft. When I discovered minetest, the only obstacle that appeared to me was the interface. And world creation is not very intuitive.

[Eyalonsky]

i like this but i would add date and time stamps for when the world was created and last played

[Zughy]

I was working on something a couple of weeks ago, helped by @rubenwardy @grorp and @freshreplicant, so I might as well share it. Working on the mainmenu wears you out, so a step by step approach sounds healthier.
Pictures are clearly used just as a placeholder. If anyone involved is upset (which wasn't my intent and I'm sorry), please tell me so and I'll put something more neutral

Singleplayer

• The idea is a grid layout as seen in basically all the other libraries out there (Steam, GoG, Lutris etc.)
• We'll ask game devs to provide a coverart.png. If there is none, use the logo + the name as done with Klots

Singleplayer -> game selected

• Settings button should display game settings, which should be removed by the overall settings menu
• "i" shows more info about the game (maybe on top of the darkened cover art?)
• Someone suggested to display at least 4 worlds at a time
• I got bored and started sketching things: the three check boxes below the world selection is creative etc.
• game devs should be able to customise the colour of the fade effect
• a "back" button is missing

[RustoMCSpit]

there needs to be a sort button

[RustoMCSpit]

could this become a pinned github issue next to a name change? i feel more eyes being on this would be better as it's pretty essential :D @rubenwardy @Zughy

@rubenwardy @grorp and @freshreplicant ?

[RustoMCSpit]

@Zughy how much backend stuff needs to be resolved first before this happens?

[Zughy]

@RustoMCSpit sort by?

About the pin: I'd avoid that until 5.10, as we're already pretty busy with several things and it might end up overwhelming us. I'd gladly pin it after 5.10

About backend: we need some changes from #14510 and then it's already doable

Also please write one single message instead of 3, it spams notifications otherwise

[RustoMCSpit]

sort by last update, release, name, 'genre', star ranking. when is 5.10 expected roughly?

[swagtoy]

Hey. Has anyone tackled this? When I move the contentdb to c++, and the config menu on the pause screen, then I'd personally love to tackle this.

My only concern is fonts. What would we use?

[RustoMCSpit]

@swagtoy to my understanding, this issue #14510 is currently blocking a re-design. if you want to help with that that would speed up the process

[rubenwardy]

We need a design and user testing before we can start implementation. Zughy is working on designs (subject to limited time). If anyone has user research/testing experience that would be helpful

[RustoMCSpit]

We need a design and user testing before we can start implementation. Zughy is working on designs (subject to limited time). If anyone has user research/testing experience that would be helpful

About the pin: I'd avoid that until 5.10, as we're already pretty busy with several things and it might end up overwhelming us. I'd gladly pin it after 5.10

if help is wanted on this issue why not pin? pinning things is to get attention from people outside of the project, not inside?

[Zughy]

@RustoMCSpit I'll pin it once I'm free enough in real life, for I wouldn't be able to follow the subject in the current situation. That should be in about a month

[RustoMCSpit]

@RustoMCSpit I'll pin it once I'm free enough in real life, for I wouldn't be able to follow the subject in the current situation. That should be in about a month

ahh i see, right well im assumung youre the desiginated maintainer of this issue and theres no one else to keep up with it instead. have fun!

[appgurueu]

if help is wanted on this issue why not pin? pinning things is to get attention from people outside of the project, not inside?

Yes, but it is important that there are resources available to properly review such a change either way. And that just isn't the case at the moment.

[Secret-chest]

I don't think the font has to be pixelated. But if we really want, maybe GNU Unifont?

[daniiltur4in]

Don't worry, you know yourself that you can change the font in minetest

[crse]

GNU Unifont seems like a good choice as it has various language support, avoiding potential custom font that might break the layout.