Hey guys.

The Dynasty Warriors Portal (which should be getting a lot of updates soon due to the game being released in Japan, hint hint) is going to get a makeover of sorts when the team at NeoHQ can get around to it. The main thing that will be getting changed is the awfully cropped banner.

But I'm going to take a general opinion here, would people rather see a whole new skin, or just the banner at the top replaced and updated with a DW6 themed banner? In any event, any suggestions for a new portal banner will probably speed up the process, either by providing images, ideas or attempts at what you'd like to see.

Thanks.

Just had to pop in to say I love the caption.

Oh and I personally like the color scheme, suits it perfectly in my opinion, but change isn't necessarily bad I suppose. Definitely a new banner for the site, consisting soley of Lu Xun though.

Your Welcome.

I guess a new layout would be good, if not then definitely a little banner. As I read, I thought the thread was made by SXH, judging on the caption, but me lacking to read the author, it turned out to be DM48.

The layout is fine in my opinion, all retro and what not.
The banner could change, definitely, I suggest maybe holding a vote for one person from each force (Shu, Wei, Wu and Other) and whoever gets the most votes gets put on there (when we get good enough scans too cut that is)
So for example if for Wu people vote Sun Jian, for Wei people vote Cao Cao, for Shu people vote Liu Bei and for others they vote Lu Bu, The banner will have the logo with Sun Jian, Cao Cao, Liu Bei and Lu Bu in it.

Hopefully Deathy and myself weren't the only ones bothered by Lu Bu's chopped headdress and Guan Yu's broomstick....

As soon as our friends in Japan scan in the character models in the artbook I can finally cut out all the DW6 characters and add them to my PNG warehouse, of which already holds 10 DW6 warriors and cut outs from a few other games. (For instance, the much fawned-over by pokemaniacs--> Looo June)

Also I could even give a shot at designing my own header as a means of advising possible direction....

The warm hues of desaturated oranges and reds works nicely. So colors are fine. Besides, that medium brown cannot be changed as many of the character pages depend on it to appear "seamless"

I do suggest a layout change. The left column is dominated by the Screenshots links. Which is confusing for those trying to navigate the portal.

These side columns on the left and right should be rearranged so users can select one of the dozens of DW/KW games with ease. Like the drop down menu to quick select a platform could be moved higher and given a special box. Some of the links found here are very important, but lack that visual gravity necessary to direct the user's attention.

The Zelda, Kingdom Hearts, and Resident Evil designs are pretty eye-catching and initially understandable.

quote Tiger of Wu

The banner could change, definitely, I suggest maybe holding a vote for one person from each force (Shu, Wei, Wu and Other) and whoever gets the most votes gets put on there (when we get good enough scans too cut that is)

I think the redesigned game deserves a redesigned page. Maybe someting a little darker to go with all the darker colors in everyones costumes. Also, I think there should be a clear "Samurai Warriors" section and a "Dynasty Warriors" section. I guess that could be accomplished through a simple and easy way of picking which game you wanted as SXH suggested.

But a new banner is clearly in order. I think it should feature character models from all the games (SW included) though, not just DW6.

The problem with the colors being changed is everything, images/font, has been colored around the current concept. I personally find it the most visually appealing out of any of the Portals thus far, and I agree with SXH on a new way of navigating from game to game. I believe I asked about this before and I was told that such a thing might be tedious to do but it needs to be done.

Also what I suggest for a banner is one that changes when the page is refreshed, or if you navigate around the website. This way we don't have to clutter all characters on one banner, and thus we can still represent both series with tidiness. Not sure if such a thing is possible on the Portals, but its an idea.

I like the over all color scheme. But it would be nice to have a complete redesign. Something fresh and new would go with the game's fresh and new look (keyword: "look" ).

Though I don't think I'm a big fan of the black background. I guess not much could be done with that.

Also, I highly agree with what SXH said about the screenshots section. That always bothered me.

Bearing in mind a complete redesign will take much longer to do (with staff at NeoHQ having other things to do as well) than a simple banner change, 2-3 weeks or so. Personally I like the current colours. The screenshots section wouldn't be so dominating if there were more info in the DW6 section, pushing the screenshots off the bottom of the screen. =P

Unlike last time I'm going to insist on seeing the final banner (final as in final decision by the staff) before it gets put up to avoid the horrible crop job that we had on the current banner. If you want to take a stab at it then by all means do so, but there has to be one of the significant and prominent figures on it. And I don't mean someone you like, everyone has their favourites and could argue to death about why they were good, but at the end of the day, characters like Lu Bu, Zhao Yun and Zhou Yu are more recognisable than Lu Xun.

On the reskinning issue, I mean, what could it be reskinned into? There isn't really a dominant colour that goes with the games, sure you have the red/blue/green of DW, but then what about SW? The orangy/beige colours that are on there suit the portal well imo, so if you're designing a banner to give the staff some kind of idea, keep in mind the colour scheme it will be going with.

lmao, I feel like such a *bleep*, I thought you meant the forum... lol, anyways after understanding the question fully, I agree with what SXH said

Cant We have the portal reskinned (for portals v2 - which I'd like to see) and a new banner for the time being? Thats something I can do, but ofcourse it will mean that YOU GUYS will have to create the new banner which incorporates the current color scheme. I'll be able to give you the template that you HAVE to work of off when I get home. I'll also try and see if I can get the photoshop file of the design for a better template.

Deathy, would you prefer that? Changing the header if made by the members should be easy as long as I have free time to do what ar_cat will want in return for replacing the banner

Well guys, they're going to start work on the banner tomorrow, so if you've got any ideas (either verbal or visual) then you need to post them ASAP.

How about this:



All made to the size of the current banner with sections for mapping links. A bit of DW3 nostalgia with DW6 reps in front, all keyed to the warm brown hues of the portal.

Although, I regret not sliding in some Samurai Warriors....


EDIT:

Solar Flare edition:



I like the brilliance around Diao Chan, but then again, it has a lens flare. The ultimate graphics cliche, but it helps bring depth and fix some problems in the first version...

Now I will go and put something together even though I stand behind this design as well. Confusing.


This message was edited by SadXuHuang on Nov 19 2007.

I like everything about the Second banner, except for the fact that the solar flare by the Dynasty Warriors Logo completely blocks out what were already hard to see characters.

Again I really like the current skin/Color Scheme of the portal. It fits it perfectly in my opinion, and its very easy on the eyes.

Please note that the colour scheme of the Portal wont change, only the header/banner will (call it what you want).

[size=1][color=#666666]This message was edited by Krunal on Nov 21 2007.