BW Skin Scoring

[justin_ator]

This thread is going to be designated for a breakdown on each individual skin submitted for the BlackWebb skin designing contest.

Here we will post the breakdown of where points are coming from or being lost, in order to keep the main thread from getting too cluttered. If your skin is receiving [constructive] criticism, it will also be posted here. Tips and pointers from the judges, etc will be added into each scoring breakdown.

As I am not a forum moderator, I can't delete posts that are not productive. So please, keep the conversation to a minimum in this thread unless it concerns your skin design in particular. All conversation and questions otherwise should be directed to the original thread.

Each pass/reject for the file will be posted in the main thread. This is simply to keep the breakdown from cluttering that post/thread.

Skin submission breakdowns can be found in the next post.

1. Genesis FFR Skin / Condoct
2. Press Start FFR Skin / Condoct
3. Clairvoyance FFR Skin / Condoct <---Still being edited, is not in Wave 1
4. nameless / fabledeamon
5. Crystalline / Hazelle
6. nameless 2 / Nytmares_R_Real
7. Dark and Easy / flashpantss
8. Fracture / Linkisdoomed
9. nameless 3 / null03
10. Pulse (rough draft) / x_lambourghini_x

[justin_ator]

Scoring Breakdown for Genesis FFR Skin - Condoct

Judges' Scores:  
1. [4/10]
2. [8.5/10]
3. [8/10]
4. [4/10]
5. [?/10]
6. [?/10]
7. [?/10]

Subtotal:   [?/70]

Skinned Categories:   [?/10]

Subtotal:   [?/80]

Bonus:  
Submitted in a Photoshop/Flash file - [+10]
Central theme used - [+5]
Use of FFR Colors as central theme [?/3]
Use of FFR Colors alone in theme [?/2]

Total   = 

Comments:  
Zageron
I may not like it, but it's a very interesting looking skin. Its futuristic, and somewhat easy to replicate. 
I'm not sure how to critique you on this. Good attempt.
Pro- OOPable, looks neat and would probably appeal to a younger audience.
Con- Looks kind of tacky, looks like velo's engine reskinned and reorganised.

yo man im awesome
Homescreen:
Pros: Wow. Just wow. Absolutely beautiful. Good font choice, Backround is PHENOMINAL. All tabs there.
Cons: Another with no user info. (Though I'm sure you can just put that in that empty space on the right.)
Lobby:
Pros: More pretty backround. Users/Games/Chat is there.
Cons: Unless font color for names and such are the same as you wrote them here, They may be a bit difficult to read.
MP:
Pros: Very well done here. Shows both you and your opponents stats for that round. Return links are there.
Cons: Nothing to complain about here.
Results: 
Pros: You got everything there. Your score, song info, replay save, highscore. Nothing to complain about here either.
Overall: 
Gorgeous skin, I love it. For the most part, there's nothing to really complain about.

justin_ator
I like the look, and I think everything looks pretty slick. Results screen is great, didn't see anything
wrong with it. MP room also looks complete, nothing missing there either (chat seems a little small though,
but that's a petty thing to dock points for). I must say I REALLY like how each of the tabs opens in the screen
in the middle of the current page, instead of bringing up a new page. MP lobby looks fine.

jimerax
Pros - background gfx are somewhat cool (they can be toned down a bit though).
Cons - I personally didn't like light-blue characters on a black background.
The fonts and layout look like an old shooting game or something.
Scoring Breakdown for Press Start FFR Skin - Condoct

Judges' Scores:  
1. [1/10]
2. [6/10]
3. [5.5/10]
4. [5/10]
5. [?/10]
6. [?/10]
7. [?/10]

Subtotal:   [?/70]

Skinned Categories:   [?/10]

Subtotal:   [?/80]

Bonus:  
Submitted in a Photoshop/Flash file - [+10]
Central theme used - [+5]
Use of FFR Colors as central theme [?/3]
Use of FFR Colors alone in theme [?/2]

Total   = 

Comments:  
Zageron
I don't want to condemn this skin, because an 8-bit skin would be really interesting to have in game.
However, it would need a lot more work. I'll leave it up to you.
A tip for you: Don't imitate the old blackwebb design. Make something completely unique.
Pro- 8-Bit is an interesting idea.
Con- Hard on the eyes, bland.

darkshark
Pros - dat 8 bit. I like the fact that you took the time to actually draw out all of this, and really redesigned it.
Cons - WHY SO MANY BOXES. EVERYWHERE. It's visually confusing and seems like it could scare off new users.
Also, even though "8-bit" is a strong point, it's also a weak point...FFR doesn't feel like any type of 8-bit game.

yo man im awesome
Home Page(s):
Pros: Nice color choices, Most things are there.
Cons: Eh, I'm not really feeling this design, that's just me though. No user info again.
Nothing really to complain about otherwise, though.
Lobby:
Pros: Everything's there, need I say anything else?
Cons: A bit dull, otherwise nothing wrong.
MP:
Pros: See above, nothing to comment on.
Results:
Pros: This actually caught my eye. I like how you did this a lot. Everything's there,
along with your username, speed/scroll.
Cons: Only problem I have with this is that it looks a bit bunched up on the left.
Overall: Though I personally don't really like the design, I'm sure there are people
who will like it. A little dull, but otherwise you everything right.


justin_ator
Liking the purple option. =] The skin in general feels a little cluttered though, even with the theme
in mind. Is there no place for your stats on the home page? MP looks fine for the most part. The results screen
made me laugh, it's pretty obnoxious. Everything is there though.
Scoring Breakdown for Clairvoyance FFR Skin - Condoct    

Judges' Scores:  
1. [?/10]
2. [?/10]
3. [?/10]
4. [?/10]
5. [?/10]
6. [?/10]
7. [?/10]

Subtotal:   [?/70]

Skinned Categories:   [?/10]

Subtotal:   [?/80]

Bonus:  
Submitted in a Photoshop/Flash file - [+10]
Central theme used - [?/5]
Use of FFR Colors as central theme [?/3]
Use of FFR Colors alone in theme [?/2]

Total   = 

Comments:  

Scoring Breakdown for nameless - fabledeamon

Judges' Scores:   
1. [5/10]
2. [4/10]
3. [3/10]
4. [3/10]
5. [2/10]
6. [?/10]
7. [?/10]

Subtotal:   [?/70]

Skinned Categories:   [?/10]

Subtotal:   [?/80]

Bonus:  
Submitted in a Photoshop/Flash file - [?]
Central theme used - [?]
Use of FFR Colors as central theme [?/3]
Use of FFR Colors alone in theme [?/2]

Total   = 

Comments:  
darkshark
Pros - Everything is spaced out evenly and easy to find each element. 
It kinda combines oldschool ffr with the new layout approach. I like the layout of the MP In-Room.
Cons - Aesthetically bad on the eyes. Poor color choice with buttons.
Not sure if I understand the "Category scroll" on the main page, might want to create
a better visual representation to get your idea across.
The multiplayer lobby is pretty much the same layout as it currently is.
The "in-game" is just lol.

yo man im awesome
Main Page:
Pros: Another enjoyable simple layout. Sometimes simple is better, like here. Color scheme is alright.
User info and stuff is there at the bottom. All tabs are there. a couple layouts made.
Cons: While simple (yet creative), it's still pretty dull. You may want to change the color of the font
to a more readable color; Green on Blue is a little difficult to read.
In-Game MP:
Pros: Again, keeping things pretty simple. I like seeing all the other opponents' scores as well.
Cons: The sides of the screen seem a little empty. Maybe you could fill those with Perf/Good/Ave/Miss/Boo?
MP In-Room:
Pros: Shows each of the players/song choice/ ready to play or not. Chat box is there, shows player info.
Cons:You wrote that the test should be "a vivid yellow or a bold black". I think you should stick to
black, Yellow is too bright. Again, a little dull.
MP Lobby:
Pros: I'm going to assume the font of names/rooms etc. will be a decent font.
Cons: Not much to say here. A little dull, and it looks like you didn't try too hard for this one.
Overall:
Pros: Decent color scheme, MP is looking pretty good. User info is there.
Cons: Pretty dull, to be honest. Font color is a little difficult to read. MP In-game seemed a bit empty.
MP Lobby didn't look like too much effort was put in.

condoct
I can already tell by first glance that the text is really difficult to read. Some of the boxes
are very disproportional to the rest on the page and it’s distracting. I sort of want the buttons to be
slightly brighter as well. They blend in with the background too much. The FFR logo is missing.
The yellow and purple on the game screen is not at all related to the color scheme used in the other pages.
Pros: Multiple pages were made. Somewhat consistent color scheme was used. The ability to have up to
six players. Multiple FFR elements were shown.
Cons: Text is very difficult to read. Looks incomplete and can be greatly improved. In game
page is an entirely different color scheme than the rest of the pages. 
Suggestions: Fix text layers immediately. Increase the overall size of the text and maybe
change the color to a white instead of green. Brighten up the buttons a bit like the scroll bar
on the Main Page. Align the text boxes better, especially the Lobby page. Fill in the boxes
with some color, like you did with the multiplayer page. Change the colors of the Game Play
page to the blue and white color scheme that the other pages have.

justin_ator
Virtually impossible to read any of the text, is that the final color you were hoping to use? I'd advise
changing that. The buttons on the main page look nice, the majority of the rest of it (especially MP Gameplay)
seems somewhat rushed. The object windows are there, but they look very disorganized and as if there is no
alignment going on at all.

jimerax
Pros - probably okay function-wise.
Cons - Fonts are too small, green fonts on a blue background are quite unclear.
Overall the screen looks like an old windows 95 application. It does not look better than the current engine,
needs major design tweak.
Scoring Breakdown for Crystalline - Hazelle

Judges' Scores:  
1. [4/10]
2. [3/10]
3. [3/10]
4. [4/10]
5. [?/10]
6. [?/10]
7. [?/10]

Subtotal:   [?/70]

Skinned Categories:   [?/10]

Subtotal:   [?/80]

Bonus:  
Submitted in a Photoshop/Flash file - [?]
Central theme used - [?]
Use of FFR Colors as central theme [?/3]
Use of FFR Colors alone in theme [?/2]

Total   = 

Comments:  
yo man im awesome
LevelRanks:
Pros: FFR color scheme Hi5! You used my favorite Font! FFR logo man is there.
All info for songs is there. I like how FC/AAA/Other are separated.
Cons: Outside (beyond FFR man) The bars of color seemed a bit odd. 
Though I like the font, it may be a bit small.
FFR The Game:
Pros: I like the genre choice bar and FFR man has a reflection. 
Cons: Identical to original Theme? "Turn your speakers up and get ready to play!"
Placing that there to take up space?
News:
Pros: Well, it's the news, not much to say here!
Overall:
I liked the Levelranks and News, but unless you were the one that created the original BW layout,
I'm not sure what you were going for with using the original.

condoct
The side bars are incredibly disproportional and very distracting. They even interfere with other layers.
Other than that this is really similar to the original format.
Pros: A slightly improved version of the original format. Multiple pages. Multiple FFR elements were shown.
Cons: Side bars are conflicting and basically distracting. 
Suggestions: Fix side bars or remove them entirely. Center pages a bit more. Be creative,
you have the freedom to change the design to whatever you see fit.

justin_ator
Not particularily creative...you have basically free reign to design whatever you want for this thing. Adding
bars isn't exactly the epitomy of creativity. You can stick with the bars, but in the very least redo it so
the bars are even and not so distracting.

jimerax
Pros - Color usage is overall fine.
Cons - The font doesn't look very cool for me.
Overall not bad, but not that appealing too.Scoring Breakdown for nameless 2 - Nytmares_R_Real

Judges' Scores:   
1. [1/10]
2. [6/10]
3. [4/10]
4. [4/10]
5. [2/10]
6. [?/10]
7. [?/10]

Subtotal:   [?/70]

Skinned Categories:   [?/10]

Subtotal:   [?/80]

Bonus:  
Submitted in a Photoshop/Flash file - [?]
Central theme used - [?]
Use of FFR Colors as central theme [?/3]
Use of FFR Colors alone in theme [?/2]

Total   = 

Comments:  
Zageron
Good attempt, however gradients and squares wont cut it for our skinning process. Sorry to bring you bad news.

yo man im awesome
Pros: I like the overall look, myself. Great font choice on the Genre Select. Spiderweb
was well placed/designed as well, kind of goes with the name, "BlackWebb".
Cons: Though I like it, some may find it a bit dull. Where's the user info?
I don't really like the font of the tabs (Game, News, Levelranks, etc.), it may end up being a bit
difficult to read for some. You also only skinned one category. I'd love to see more from you here.

condoct
Black web, I get it. hehu. Anyways, the FFR logo is slightly disproportional and needs to be fixed.
The spider web in the background is pixilated and should be improved. There’s nothing really else to say,
considering that there is only one page to look at. 
Pros: Simplistic black and white design. 
Cons: Only one page was made. Some text blocks are difficult to read. 
Suggestions: Improve overall quality of the web and change some of the text layers to improve readability.
It’s fine to re-size an image and all that, but try constraining the proportions. Make more pages.

justin_ator
I really like this idea. It has a lot of potential, and the gradients in the text boxes work relatively
well with the background. I must say though, a less grainy spider web would probably look far better, if you
can iron that out. Also, on the left hand side, the text for those menus is somewhat difficult to read and
perhaps a bit scrunched up? Fix the misproportioned stretching of the FFR man logo, unless that's correct and
I just have issues. Where is the user info? What if I lose my identity and come back to FFR to find it, 
am I screwed?


jimerax
Pros - The layout is acceptable.
Cons - Bad font choice overall (especially the one in the side menu), color choices are simplistic.
Background gfx doesn't fit the screen well. It's kinda amateurish and does not
look better than the current engine.
Scoring Breakdown for Dark and Easy - flashpantss

Judges' Scores:  
1. [0/10]
2. [4/10]
3. [3/10]
4. [4/10]
5. [2/10]
6. [?/10]
7. [?/10]

Subtotal:   [?/70]

Skinned Categories:   [?/10]

Subtotal:   [?/80]

Bonus:  
Submitted in a Photoshop/Flash file - [?]
Central theme used - [?]
Use of FFR Colors as central theme [?/3]
Use of FFR Colors alone in theme [?/2]

Total   = 

Comments:  
Zageron
Please put at least a little effort into a skin you develop. Colorizing a skin isn't considered effort.

darkshark
Pros - The black does indeed look better than the current blue.	
Cons - Unfortunately this is a design contest, and no designing went on here. You pretty much just changed
the background color =/ Add in some of your own elements and expand on this darker theme.

yo man im awesome
Pros: So this is Negative FFR... I like it..
Cons: I see what you were going for, but it's a bit under-creative. Also, you only created one category.

condoct
The lines in between each song are a different shade and don’t seem to follow any particular pattern.
Some of the text layers have a blue outline around them and don’t seem to blend in with the rest.
Some of the images like the FFR logo and the scroll arrows are pixilated. Nothing else to say
since this is just re-colored version of the original format.
Pros: Color scheme works great. A darker version of the original. Multiple FFR elements were shown.
Cons: Feels “unfinished”. Too many shades of color for the lines. Only one page was made. Some layers are pixely.
Suggestions: Make more pages. Try and make some of the layers smoother. Fix the lines by the song names
and make them the same shade of color or integrate them in some sort of pattern. Make the text outline
have the same color. Try adding a few more lines. It’ll give that complete and polished feel.

justin_ator
Although I like the idea of a new darker color scheme, I would like if it was a little more creative.
You get to design BlackWebb however you want, do you really want to leave it like this?
Scoring Breakdown for Fracture - Linkisdoomed

Judges' Scores:  
1. [7/10]
2. [6/10]
3. [6/10]
4. [5/10]
5. [?/10]
6. [?/10]
7. [?/10]

Subtotal:   [?/70]

Skinned Categories:   [?/10]

Subtotal:   [?/80]

Bonus:  
Submitted in a Photoshop/Flash file - [?]
Central theme used - [?]
Use of FFR Colors as central theme [?/3]
Use of FFR Colors alone in theme [?/2]

Total   = 

Comments:  
Zageron
Design: Excellent design, a little bland in my eyes but very fitting and a
good example of what a theme should look like. +3
Object Oriented: By the looks of it, this skin will be extremely easy to shrink and/or
expand. The objects are the same with different text. + 2
Vectored: From what I can see, this skin is vectored. This is wonderful news! + 1
Good. I ask that you please rough up a few extra buttons for your next submission. 
Small and wide, small square, small tall, etc... Just to see how they work. 
Continue working on the skin, and make sure to keep the style looking the same,
don't stray too far from your menu style.
Pro- Clean, Crisp, Organized
Con- Boring. (But that's how the skin will be I guess, clean and simple.)

yo man im awesome
Pros: Very pretty. Great use of FFR Colors and Creativity. FFR Man is there!
Cons: No user info/ Other tabs? Where'd they go? Not sure what the white boxes are there for.
I want to assume for songs, but then the middle of the screen looks too empty.

justin_ator
Looking good overall! Everything is nicely placed and easy to read, etc. The theme feels
like it is lacking some excitement, but it is a good look never-the-less. The 'waved' FFR man is a little
distracting, but I get what you were going for. Skin those buttons up top, along with a few more pages
of the game and you might have a good thing going here for you.

jimerax
Pros - color usage and the layout look good.
Cons - Characters on the screen are pretty unclear.
Need to look at more sample pictures. 
Scoring Breakdown for nameless 3 - null03    

Judges' Scores:  
1. [3/10]
2. [4/10]
3. [5/10]
4. [3/10]
5. [5/10]
6. [?/10]
7. [?/10]

Subtotal:   [?/70]

Skinned Categories:   [?/10]

Subtotal:   [?/80]

Bonus:  
Submitted in a Photoshop/Flash file - [?]
Central theme used - [?]
Use of FFR Colors as central theme [?/3]
Use of FFR Colors alone in theme [?/2]

Total   = 

Comments:  
Zageron
Very interesting style, although it seems very limited to the game only. 
If you wish to resubmit, please expand your skin in to other areas,
such as: multiplayer; prochat; the main menu; etc... 
If you have already tried to do that, please make it more clear. 
Much more work is needed on this style, but it could turn out nicely with more work.

yo man im awesome
Pros: Nice simple layout, always good.
I'm liking that I don't need to scroll over a song to see the length/rank.
Cons: No user info, along with other options, only one layout (make some more, I'd love to see them!),
nice job using FFR colors, but for this layout, it looks almost dull.

condoct
I like where this is going so far. The only problem is there’s only one category. FFR logo is missing.
The arrows on the side may be confusing at first glance since they’re reversed. I don’t know if
this was your intention but I feel like the bottom of the page is cut off.
Pros: Solid, yet simplistic design. An original interface. Multiple FFR elements were shown.
Cons: Only one page to look at. Feels somewhat incomplete due to the bottom being cut off.
Suggestions: Try moving everything up a little and fill in the bottom portion to make it more centered.
Switch the places of the arrows. Reduce the size of the category text layers. Add the FFR logo somewhere.

justin_ator
The design overall is not bad. You have a number of necessary gameplay details on the screen.
Only one page was skinned though. This is going to have many categories, skinning only one page is a
little under-doing it. Color scheme is decent, but I feel it would get old relatively quick. Where is the user
info, and other options and things like that? Let us see some more of other pages, and fix the fact that this
looks cut off. Then we might have something good. =]

jimerax
Pros - Fonts are simple but clear. Decent genre layout.
Cons - Color coordination is a bit darkish. I don't know how "page" works on upper side.
Seeing from the buttons, it would be a bit difficult to search a song if 100+ songs in one genre.
Scoring Breakdown for Pulse (rough draft) - x_lambourghini_x

Judges' Scores:  
1. [0/10]
2. [0/10]
3. [2/10]
4. [1/10]
5. [1/10]
6. [?/10]
7. [?/10]

Subtotal:   [?/70]

Skinned Categories:   [?/10]

Subtotal:   [?/80]

Bonus:  
Submitted in a Photoshop/Flash file - [?]
Central theme used - [?]
Use of FFR Colors as central theme [?/3]
Use of FFR Colors alone in theme [?/2]

Total   = 

Comments: 
Zageron
Please put at least a little effort into a skin you develop. Colorizing a skin isn't considered effort.

darkshark
Pros - I don't think there are any.
Cons - What the hell is this.

yo man im awesome
Pros: Well, you got everything there...
Cons: Thank god this is only a rough draft and not the finished product. I would've cried a little
inside if it was. Obviously, things are looking like you barely tried, but that's probably because
it seems you just started it.

justin_ator
This is pretty dang rough... Not very visually appealing at all, and VERY disorganized. Please, if you
are going to resubmit, make all the boxes the same size, line up the edges, make it look professional...
this is supposed to be the new face of FFR.

jimerax
Pros - N/A
Cons - It looks a joke totally.