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I agree that the current launcher looks incomplete. And since it's the first view most people get of Ren'Py, style matters.

A big problems is that I would like to add a lot of new functionality to the launcher. Things like the ability to open a a particular label in the editor, to build an android game, and to update the translations. So the current layout - everything on a single screen - has to go.

Now the question is - what style should the new launcher have? I sort of like the idea of having a VN-inspired look to the thing.

The problem I see in going the visual novel route is ending up with a lot of modes, in a way that makes it hard for the user to navigate back to the root or find one specific action. Maybe we could have an Analogue-style interface, with Eileen to the left, with a texbox at the bottom, then some kind of (tabbed? accordion? treeview?) interface grouping the actions in logical expandable categories. Or we go with the visual novel look, but add breadcrumbs to orient the user.

(http://i.imgur.com/wgFij.png just a quick doodle.. bear with my ugly letters XD)

I think that a tabbed mode would definitely make the most sense in that case. That "start menu" style mockup is going in the right direction. How large, exactly, is the new launcher going to be? 16:9 or 4:3? Would it be the same size as a default game (800x600)?

One thing I'm thinking about is that the new launcher should be a lot more modal. For example, there's no reason to have the launcher options on the screen when we're working on a given game. What's more, keeping every option on the screen can take up a lot of space.

Here are a couple of (crappy) mockups I did:
When we need to present a lot of data, Eileen can leave the screen. That will let us fill the screen with labels - which could be important when editing a large game.
Probably in a real design, the "Go back." and "Launch the game." buttons would always remain in the same place, so that people stay oriented regardless of what screen they're on.

IMO, Eileen takes up a lot of space... it's kind of distracting having her staring at you all the time. What it needs is some sort of chibi portrait that would be confined to the upper sector and not be so intrusive. That way, it wouldn't have to disappear and reappear so much.

It'd nice if the launcher has a side bar mode whose window width is minimum, and which only has primary tools and developer tools. It may have the same alignment to the expanded mode which has subtools and dialogues

SundownKid wrote:IMO, Eileen takes up a lot of space... it's kind of distracting having her staring at you all the time.

The thing is, in the modal interface that space wouldn't be used for anything.

PyTom wrote: The thing is, in the modal interface that space wouldn't be used for anything.

True, there is quite a bit of open space, but I think either a background design or a more compact launcher would be a better idea. Seems somewhat unprofessional-looking the way it's mocked up.

I'm not so keen on that mock up with the large Eileen sprite. I agree wit Sundownkid; she takes up a lot of space. You could maybe move her down or shrink her a little so she's not overwhelming maybe? Also, for the design aspect, why not make something based off of the Ren'Py home page's current layout? It would be nice looking but simple.

I'm no designer so the exact placement of the text is a little iffy but I made two quick mock ups; one with the renpy logo and one with Eileen.

Eileen draws attention, but I think it's a good thing. We don't read instructions, but we hear what people say, even if the "person" is a drawing and she's "saying" it as text in a word balloon. Clippy was annoying because it was always there, hour after hour, watching you work; but normally, you don't spend more than a few seconds in the Ren'Py interface anyway. Just don't make her blink, please!

Personaly, I like the launcher as it is now.
But if you'd like the dialogue-based style, why not to make launcher looks the same style as tutorial VN? Eileen at side, textbox with tips as her words at bottom and all options as choices. People who plays VNs will easily operate this launcher.
(the art style might be not the default one, but in general the basic elements of VNs are the same)

I think sciencewarrior's insight is one I sort of agree with - people pay attention to people more than they do animate fasteners.

Alex's mockup is along the lines of what I was thinking, except that I think there should be a text dialogue up top, since the natural interaction is for Eileen to ask a question, and the user to reply to it. I'd also like a more custom set of interaction boxes - the defaults are terrible ones I came up with years ago, and nowadays the community can do so much better.

Whoa, actual mockups!

As far as having options be easier to find and read (a really important point, IMO), I think I'm preferring SundownKid's general layout ideas so far. I think it helps that the clickable menu items are like buttons instead of just standalone text. The color differentiation helps too (the high number of different colors for the few number of items on screen might be debatable, but I personally don't mind it). The buttons might look a bit better with a slight color gradient or a bit of 3D shadowing, instead of a solid color throughout the button; and maybe the colors could stand to be a bit less bright, particularly the yellow. But other than that I'm liking it.

Icons: putting icons next to most of the options can help to find things, as well (this is actually PyTom's insight, not mine). Kind of like what SundownKid has going next to "Create a new game". Wikimedia Commons has a collection of icons, so that's one place to get ideas for icon design.

Eileen: it depends on how much screen real estate we have, but unless we have a pretty wide launcher screen, I'm personally favoring just a small view of Eileen (like a dialogue box side image) for most screens. In fact, it might literally be a dialogue box + side image on a dialogue box, since the launcher's coded in Ren'Py screen language. And as PyTom explained, this might be best at the top of the screen.

Category views, breadcrumbs, etc.: not sure about what kind of interface to use for navigating modes, categories, or whatever we're going to call them, but a good start could be to brainstorm how we could group the old and new launcher functions into modes/categories, as a basis for the content in further mockups. One thing though, I like sciencewarrior's idea of using breadcrumbs so the user doesn't get lost or disoriented. The breadcrumbs could also be clickable, to offer another way to return to a category/mode menu or the overall launcher main menu.

Skinnability: it's important to make the default theme of the launcher look pretty good, so that people can enjoy working with Ren'Py. But unless the best designer ever comes to help with the launcher, it's probably not going to be perfect. However, since the launcher should in theory be as customizable as a set of Ren'Py screens, letting the user easily apply a custom "skin" to their launcher could be a smart thing to do. (I thought for a moment that the current launcher could already do this with "Choose Theme", but then realized that actually changes the default theme of the game you're working with... >_>)

How about something like this? (just an idea, composition, typography and icons are not final >> )