by Bob on Sun Jul 05, 2009 5:51 pm
Haha, when I heard "Fallout Boy" I thought you meant the band . . . I guess this is from that PS3 game? I've never played it, but nonetheless, I'll critique your stuff.
Coherence - 9/10
For the most part all of the images "stick" together. I can definitely tell all of the elements go back to the central theme, so that's good. Y'know, since it's a THEME and all. Good job.
Wallpapers - 7/10
I'm guessing that you want something that's coherent to the theme, but not distracting from the icons, so you did that. My only problem is that everything is so . . . brown. I understand that you want to keep it in that retro style, but it comes off as a little bland for me. I also noticed that you only included one wallpaper, one USB screen, etc . . . if you're ambitious enough you have the capabilities of putring a different wallpaper and USB screen in each of the "A, B, C, and D" directories and that's what the dingoo will use when you select the appropriate "theme number" within the dingoo.
USB Screen - 6/10
This is your opportunity to get as creative as you want. The USB screen isn't serving as a backdrop for anything . . . it IS the central image that warrants the viewer's attention! I was a little disappointed when it was the same backdrop as the wallpaper, only you stuck a different icon on it. If you go back and retry, I'd recommend doing a completely different color-scheme and maybe even putting the phrase "CONNECTED" or something like that. If there's a line from the video game where you could stick that word in and include it in the screen, that might be cool.
Charge Screen - 7/10
The Charge Screen is simple, yet effective. You can obviously tell it's a battery and that it filling up gradually signifies that it is charging. But again, since this is your time to shine as far as creativity goes, I feel you could have done a little more. Don't really know what to advise to do since I've never played the game, but just something that still follows the Fallout theme, but looks DIFFERENT than the rest of the Fallout theme. Does that make sense?
Buttons - 9/10
The main interface buttons (i.e. Game Center, Music Hall, etc.) all look good to me. I see that you made the _big images grow larger as there highlighted, so I'm glad to see you were able to differentiate from the _small images and the _big images. To further accentuate it, I might try making the _big images a slightly different color or making the _small images more transparent. You could possibly consider putting the images on top of a pre-made button but what you have looks fine too. I can also see a small square around each of the icons, as if you didn't make everything but the image transparent. If you're going to go with just using the image (no button) as the icon, you'll need to get rid of the dark stuff around the image so that blends perfectly with the wallpaper. There are several ways to do that within GIMP if you need help, so just ask.
Now, the sub-interface buttons (i.e. Apps, Emulators, etc.) are intriguing. Are these the buttons that were on the dingoo BEFORE the custom firmware upgrade? I kinda like these better than the new ones. But I see you changed the color of those to match your theme, so that's good. There is a small problem with the "glowing animation" around the sub-interface icons though. It looks like there might be one frame missing toward the end of the animation because it just stops . . . and then starts over. Not sure if you had anything to do with it, but just something to look into if you wanna perfect this little theme.
Font - ?/10
You said you changed the font but it looks exactly the same on mine . . .
Misc.
*The "folder" icons throughout the dingoo have the same problem as your main interface buttons . . . they all have a solid background against your wallpaper. Try putting the folder image on top of a transparent layer and sticking it back in. I think that would make it blend better.
*If you can think of anything to put there, you might want to consider changing the "loading" icon to something else. Not that it looks bad, but again, that's one of those images where ONLY THAT is showing on the screen at the time, so be creative!
*I just learned something today! The "circle" image is used for the little button that tracks the file when playing recordings, music, and such! Didn't know that . . . I see you changed it to the Fallout boy head, so that's pretty cool. Good job!
Overall - 7/10
You have some good ideas here, but it's all so brown! If you need any help working with GIMP or maybe some ideas to bounce off of someone, just let me know. As far as I know, the community of theme creation is pretty small here, so we have to stick together! Sorry if this was wordy, just wanted to be thorough!
res.rar
