4.0 Default theme: Shakesoda's vs. Danford's

[Josh_in_Texas]

When you talk about the default theme, you're talking about a theme that will be seen by hundreds of thousands of people, viewed in thousands of videos, and looked at in hundreds of thousands of screenshots. People have viewed the default 3.9 theme a lot. Whatever theme you make 4.0 have will be viewed so much that making it look nice is one of the most important aspects of the new release.

Danford's theme is set to be the new default theme. However, I think a merger between shakesoda's theme and Danford's theme is more suited for a default theme.

Comparison: shakesoda's theme vs. Danford's theme

shakesoda
http://img98.imageshack.us/img98/793...en00129sg6.jpg
http://img524.imageshack.us/img524/5...en00053rk0.jpg
Danford
http://www.stepmania.com/screens/Ver...ct%20Music.png
http://www.stepmania.com/screens/Ver...s/Gameplay.png

I have been an admin at flashflashrevolution.com in the past, which is by far the source of most SM activity on the web. Although I can't read people's minds, I am confident that they will find shakesoda's theme much more aesthetically attractive. This holds true for every SM website I've participated in--FFR, omgdidinsane.com, rfraction.com, stepmaniaonline.com, and, in the past, arch0wl.com.

Danford's theme, while nailing lots of critical gameplay features, looks aesthetically awful for SM's target demographic. The bright colors are characteristic of a kid's game, while the SM demographic largely consists of testosterone-filled male teenagers that quickly make snap judgments from simply the way something looks. I don't doubt that if this theme becomes the default, many will either not download SM or be reluctant to show the game to their friends because of perceptions that it's effeminate.

However, shakesoda's theme has problems as well. Because it's developed for himself, not for SM players, it lacks many gameplay features that SM players have gotten used to. For example, in the song menu list there is no indication of the file creator, and in the gameplay screen there is no way to view the mods.

Therefore, it would be in SM's best interest to merge the two themes. Have shakesoda's aesthetic designs with Chris Danford's layout and gameplay features so that you have the best of both worlds. This is a very doable idea, and I think it would dramatically help the game in the long run.

[shakesoda]

I find Chris' theme quite nice, but I think you have a very valid point here.

(Although I'm somewhat disqualified from being in this topic. Also it's sort of awkward being the focus of things so much here.)

[RAAAGED]

I have to agree with this. I am a big fan of shakes theme, it looks incredibly good but there are those few annoying things with it. Like the hidden mods menu, scrolling though the song wheel with up and down with left and right changing difficulty and no solo support.

[shakesoda]

a) The mods menu isn't hidden, you just press select to open it (\ or / by default, depending on the date of the build).
b) My way makes more sense :P
c) Chris Danford's theme doesn't support solo by default either.

a isn't something for the default really, b is debatable, c is no problem to add.

[RAAAGED]

Well considering about 1% of the people that would download stepmania would read the readme it would be hidden to 99% of the people that were used to 3.9

[Josh_in_Texas]

I agree with RAAAGED. I think making things explicit is good, because when I used to use the AIM name "Arch0wl" I would get volleys of 10, even 20 IMs from dozens of people asking me questions about the most obvious features of SM you can imagine. I had to set my instant messaging program to disallow IMs from people not on my buddy list because these type of "SM tech support" messages were by far the most common message I received.

[Midiman]

I have a better idea. lets make popcandy 2 the default theme.

[shakesoda]

Originally Posted by Midiman

I have a better idea. lets make popcandy 2 the default theme.

we don't need your trolling right now.

[xjen0vax]

Originally Posted by shakesoda

we don't need your trolling right now.

I don't think he's trolling, and I actually kind of agree with him, haha.

[Midiman]

Originally Posted by xjen0vax

I don't think he's trolling, and I actually kind of agree with him, haha.

exactly.

In all honesty, PopCandy 2 was simplistic, but made its point. fit all the features into a cute package, but didn't overbear. it's a great example, and if properly tweaked, could be a very good template to follow in terms of simplicity-meets-functionality

but then again, trolling :V