WiiBrew:Contests/Homebrew Channel banner

The winner is souLLy. Congratulations! Well done to everyone involved; we got some awesome entries!

Started by henke37.

<marcan> [...]remember this is an animated thing and we're still figuring out the format
<marcan> so make sure you keep the .psd files or whatever in separate layers, since the banners are composed of multiple objects.
<marcan> just keep in mind two things
<marcan> 1) whoever wins will have to work with me on the final version
<marcan> 2) we'll also need a savegame banner, tp hack style, from the winner

The banner is an dynamic animation with sound. It also has a preview banner that appears in the Wii menu when not zoomed in. The format supports scripting and some kind of reading of wiiconnect 24 data. Please make sure that all submissions look cool both with and without widescreen.

Good luck since it's a proprietary format without usable documentation.

A few tips regarding the format (we're getting it figured out lately):

Images are static bitmaps, in several texture formats (we can pick the best for each case)
Alpha channels are supported. Also alpha blending. Alpha masks are there, but we don't fully understand them yet.
The layout is formed by "panes", each of which can contain more panes or pictures. Think of it as "groups" in a vector editor, except we're working with bitmaps and collections of bitmaps here. You can move individual bitmaps, or move a pane which moves all of its contents. Remember, it's all recursive, so panes can contain more panes. There is one root pane that contains the entire image or banner.
Animation is keyframe-based, with smooth nonlinear transitions (with acceleration). So far we know how to move things and how to alpha-fade things.
There is a group system for selecting one of several options, mostly used to deal with the different languages. So keep in mind we'll want international versions of the textual logos.
16:9 vs 4:3 seems to be handled simply by cropping the edges of the picture in 4:3 mode as far as I can tell. There may be a way of positioning elements relative to the actual edge of the screen, or not. Make sure nothing important is cut off when the cropping occurs.
Remember, there are two parts to a channel: the icon (thumbnail), and the banner (fullscreen).

So, don't try to do vector animations or anything like that, since those would have to be included as animated textures (yuck), and we don't even know if those are supported or how they work yet. Things doable with affine transforms (scaling, rotating, shearing, moving) should be fine, since the Check Mii Out icon seems to use them (the dancing men), but we're not entirely sure how they work yet.

Also, remember that the official name is the Homebrew Channel, not the Wiibrew Channel or antyhing like that. So you'll want to use something like that for the small version. For the large version, something like "Homebrew Launcher" or the likes is acceptable (describing the purpose of the channel). Think of Wiibrew as the "vendor" of the channel, not the channel itself. We'll probably stick the Wiibrew logo in a corner or something, but it doesn't make much sense as the name of the channel itself.

Also, don't use any WC24 features or any of that. Don't expect us to figure out those scrolling news banners in time for release. Not even close.

Some templates to get you started on designing. These should help give an artistic leg-up until a more applicable solution becomes available.- Trayne

Templates:

A252

Amoose136

Azeazezar

Brentley_11

Wood :

Flash mockup of the 16:9 menu (There is no music)

BuBBa

CHR

Cladil

Gray :

Blue :

CyberAxe

Disenyo

'Cobete-Blue':

Youtube video of the 4:3 menu
'Cobete-Orange':

'Ocean Palms':

'Rocket to China':

Flyinghorse

GiTkuA

h4xx

Javo

Jeremy2491

limnique

Linkinworm

MadCatMk2

AIO:

Background By: imjtk.com Disc Layout By: CLOSEDone

Submission that will end the contest:

I don't think I have to write anything anymore - maybe I will later.

Nolimits59

OsC

The Logo for the download.

RazielDSM

Youtube video of the 16:9 menu

SanjoPanjo

Scorpei

Inspired and based on the original Fairii from Trayne. For a more detailed description see the images themselves :). Below is a version with a little green on the hill where the fairy is sitting..... Also, since some people feel fairies are lame (sigh) it could of course carry a different name with for example link sitting on the hill.

Now as for the animated version (5.5 megabytes in size): This is just to show you an example of what can be done. Pretty much everything in the image is a variable (from the background tone to the contrast in the sea compared to the sky and of course the general brightness). Also the Fairii logo is independently controlled for brightness. This animation doesn't have a small fairy yet though.

Added grass (it can fade-in too so when the sun comes up the grass gets iluminated; this isn't full brightness btw as the sun isn't fully risen either) and a small line of credits bottom left. Seems like a good spot and also rather justly to mention team twiizers on the launcher banner ;)).

Made a rough animated version of the grass+small_fairy version. Keep in mind it's rought though, the fading can (as with the other 'version') vary depending on what is wanted. So can the movement. Animated version grass here. Also working on some background music to fit the animation, will put it up once I have something I'm satisfied with :).

I've also been looking at designing the save file images. As the banner I made has such a warm feel to it I felt I needed to create a similar image yet slightly different and of course smaller with more accent on the name. As options = bliss I've made two versions (so far) with different texts underneath the name. The original "homebrew launcher" and "Installer":

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