The loading menu

This is the first screen the ‘player’ should be greeted with.

It must be:

• Fast to load
• Simple
• Consistent
• Effective

Why?

It must be fast to load for a simple reason. If every part of a flash has to be loaded then the loading screen has to be loaded too and if it takes too long to load the loading screen the player might think it’s not working and exit the game.

It must be simple. If a loading screen is too complex it can take too long to load and can put the player off. If they are playing a bridge building game then don’t put some game onto the loading screen. It can be a nice addition but generally i’d rather be woking while it’s loading.

It must be consistent. If you have a bridge building game for example (where did I get this influence) then don’t put daft mouse effects on the loading screen. I immediately think – look I can copy code to make a game and generally close the game as I know no effort has gone into it.

And finally it must be effective. Use your menu screen as an asset to your game. Make it scary or eerie for a horror game. Make it cartoony for a cartoon game. Set the scene and start the music.