Display level name when starting the level

[Germanunkol]

The player can currently only see the level name if he/she comes from the level selection screen. I think the level name should also be displayed at level start - preferably at the top left. It could "sweep in" from the right, stay for a little while, then sweep out towards the left. What do you think?

We could also make it visible again for the level-end screen. So the player knows which level he/she has just beaten.

[michalove]

Good idea. It should be shown only when the level is entered first (not everytime the player dies and restarts).

This is in line with one thing about the transition animation, that I'd like to discuss: Currently the transition (shadow of the ninja in large size) is shown whenever the screen changes. I would like to use it only, when the two states before and after are different. For example from Menu to Worldmap and from Worldmap to Level, but not from Menu to another menu or from death-screen to level. If we implement it like that, then displaying the level names could be integrated there. At the moment the screen is black, the level name is shown in white (on black) then the black fades to the level, while the white text stays there. And after approx. one second, the text sweeps out to the top, or like you suggested, to the side.

[Germanunkol]

I can do this. What I don't know from your answer though: When the screen stays the same - do you want no silhouette of the ninja, or no transition at all?

[michalove]

Yes, transition, but without the silhouette and maybe a little bit shorter.

[michalove]

Wow, that was fast. Well done.

[Germanunkol]

I'll use the large font for now, but maybe we should make an even bigger one? How do you render the fonts? I can't find it in any of the render*.sh files - did you manually render all 10 versions?

[michalove]

Yes I did it manually. This is because, for the font, the vertical separator lines have to be accurate to the pixel, otherwise the individual letters are not cut correctly. So I had to postprocess each png-file in gimp manually to add the vertical green lines. I can do it in large size once more. Otherwise, the clean (but cumbersome) solution would be to use Fontforge to make a .ttf-font from the images. That would mean that we have to draw each letter once more. But then, scaling should be for free. Unless you want to make a ttf, I'd say, let's do it manually. I think I can finish that until the weekend.

[Germanunkol]

I used the current large font for now - please see this commit: 62de4dd60a644fcfd9ddab4553263d77284120d4 and tell me if you like it or have any other ideas. The effect and text are relatively subtle atm.

On my resolution, it looks all right with the large font - so we wouldn't have to make any others.

[michalove]

Looks good. I like the smooth fade up. Two suggestions:

• Why not make it centered at the top, instead of top left?
• Let's add the level number, like in Super Mario: "1-1: Welcome".

And if you want to make it stand out more, we can a "box" (like in the menus) around the text, with semitransparent, black background.

[michalove]

I implemented both bullet points. I only realized, the font does not have the "-" and the ":". I will have to add them sometime. Are there more symbols that we need in the future?

[michalove]

I also added a box now. I consider this finished, unless you have any changes in mind.

[Germanunkol]

I'd need the ' : ' as well, and it might be smart to add the exclamation mark ' ! ' while you're at it because we might need it and it's less work adding it now than going back later.

[Germanunkol]

Oh, and the / to display "meters per second": m/s

[michalove]

Noted!

[michalove]

With the addition of the new symbols, I consider this closed.