How to make loading screens more interesting?

R

RecursiveFault

Banned
I think most people agree that loading screens are the defintion of boring. It's a static screen, usually with a repeating animation or some game tips. Games that do away with them are pretty rad, but I was wondering what you guys think are some good ideas or good examples of games making them more interesting.

Recently I've played Awesomenauts and Project Diva f, both of which feature fanart in their loading screens. I think it's a really solid way to liven up loading screens, while also encouraging, especialy in the case of Awesomenauts, more fanart to be made, in order to be featured.

Another example are the PS2 DBZ minigames, or DMC3 on PS2's slice/shoot. These are just simple little button mashers, but it's something to do.

Any other ideas or examples?
 
I had so much fun with the Dragon Ball Z: Budokai loading screens, lol.

Saibaman_Loading_Screen.jpg
 
You may not know this when you made the thread, but EA hold a patent for making interactive loading screens - which some people pay for and others ignore. But at least two games from Ubisoft had interactive loading screens pulled. There's an old Neogaf thread about it from 2008-ish, if I recall.
 
Wolves Evolve said:
You may not know this when you made the thread, but EA hold a patent for making interactive loading screens - which some people pay for and others ignore. But at least two games from Ubisoft had interactive loading screens pulled. There's an old Neogaf thread about it from 2008-ish, if I recall.
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Woooow, really? I'll look into this, thanks.
 
I prefer artwork, or item descriptions, like Dark Souls.

Minigames during the loading screen are okay, but I never play them.
 
Quick mini-games always works in my book, unless they make a long load time even longer, like what they were going to do with Crash Bandicoot: Wrath of Cortex. Even just a training mode, ala Bayonetta, can work for me. I dunno, so long as its somewhat controllable, load screens become significantly more bearable.
 
Every loading screen should be a shmup or rhythm game.

That or a training screen to practice combos like in Bayo/W101/Some Fighting games.

I'll even take Tetris/Puyo Puyo as a loading screen.
 
I really liked how in No More Heroes pressing the A button caused the loading icon to spin faster and faster until it starts scrolling during that game's brief loading screens.
 
Wolves Evolve said:
You may not know this when you made the thread, but EA hold a patent for making interactive loading screens - which some people pay for and others ignore. But at least two games from Ubisoft had interactive loading screens pulled. There's an old Neogaf thread about it from 2008-ish, if I recall.
Click to expand...

doesn't namco have a patent for old games/arcade games being played during loading screens
smh :/
 
In the PS2 version of Okami, you could get Demon Fangs from the loading screens. There were two different ones: one where you mash the X button and get a Demon Fang for every 50 paw prints, and one where you time pressing the X button with paw prints appearing on the screen for a Demon Fang.

Both of these were removed in the PS3 and Wii versions because of faster loading times, I believe.
 
I believe Namco patented mini games during loading screens back in the '90s. They actually used it in some Ridge Racer games, and doing certain things in the minigame would actually unlock bonuses or something in the main game.

I think they had Galaxian in Ridge Racer for the PlayStation, and Rally X in a Ridge Racer on PSP.

Wolves Evolve said:
You may not know this when you made the thread, but EA hold a patent for making interactive loading screens - which some people pay for and others ignore. But at least two games from Ubisoft had interactive loading screens pulled. There's an old Neogaf thread about it from 2008-ish, if I recall.
Click to expand...

I believe just Namco holds the patent, unless there's something I don't know...
 
I really enjoyed PSO's. Being able to move the little star around in the original PSO or the direction the pipe was going from Episode 1 & 2.
 
Wolves Evolve said:
You may not know this when you made the thread, but EA hold a patent for making interactive loading screens - which some people pay for and others ignore. But at least two games from Ubisoft had interactive loading screens pulled. There's an old Neogaf thread about it from 2008-ish, if I recall.
Click to expand...

Doesn't Namco own something related to putting old arcade games in their loading screens? Playing Galaga for 30 seconds can take a lot of the annoyance out of loading screens.

I still like seeing game tips, as in Assassin's Creed, or little bits of game lore, as in Nier. Final Fantasy XIII gave you a recap of the story so far. There are lots of things that can be used to liven up those screens. I have no problem with them in comparison to the pointless middleware/studio-advertising splash screens that require you to meaninglessly Press Start when you first turn a game on.
 
Rayman Origins had a good one. You can run down a hilly path until the stage loaded. Sadly, the game loaded pretty quickly so it didn't last long.

Not that every load screen needs to be interactive. For something like Sonic, I wouldn't mind a different dumb running Sonic gif being played for a loading screen.
 
DJIzana said:
I really enjoyed PSO's. Being able to move the little star around in the original PSO or the direction the pipe was going from Episode 1 & 2.
Click to expand...

Damn, I was literally just playing PSO! Playing with the star is awesome, but nothing beats the telepipe loading screen! There's also one before/after missions where you can change the color of some little emblem.
 
I know not everyone might agree, but I think the spaceship loading screen is actually a neat detail in Destiny. You can basically customize your own loading screen. And if you're playing multiplayer, it's cool to see other people with rare spaceships.

It's just a shame you can't do anything else with the spaceships besides the loading screens.
 
joe2187 said:
Every next gen loading screen should just be this

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OWxnDUSg-NU
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picard_clapping.gif
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Banana Aeon said:
I prefer artwork, or item descriptions, like Dark Souls.

Minigames during the loading screen are okay, but I never play them.
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I don't think most games approach the lore Souls does, but just a few little sentences about the setting and world are definitely more interesting than gameplay tips.
Dawg said:
I know not everyone might agree, but I think the spaceship loading screen is actually a neat detail in Destiny. You can basically customize your own loading screen. And if you're playing multiplayer, it's cool to see other people with rare spaceships.

It's just a shame you can't do anything else with the spaceships besides the loading screens.
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I don't mind it being just cosmetic, but it'd be nicer if the social element had more to it. It is definitely better than a blank screen though.
 
The Darkness' loading screens often involved the protagonist Jackie Estacado deliver short monologues that would inform you about the location you're traveling or his own thoughts about his current circumstances. Worked really great at showing the character's changing state-of-mind as the game went on.
 
DMC3's slashing apart the loading icon
RE5's trivia/RE history during load screens

These are both good. Ideally i would prefer a game not do loading after the initial load though.
 
Not a loading screen per say, but install screen of Heavy Rain was really nice, showed how to fold an origami. Really nice touch imo.
 
Bayo and DMC gamelpay interaction in which you can get better before the levels loads.

hydruxo said:
Aaand then Unity had to go and give us a completely black screen with an icon in the top right and a tiny loading bar in the center.
Click to expand...

Wait what? This was like the staple of the series. Running around or "dancing" was killing time in good way.
 
DJIzana said:
I really enjoyed PSO's. Being able to move the little star around in the original PSO or the direction the pipe was going from Episode 1 & 2.
Click to expand...

Yes it's the first game I played with an interactive loading screen, and it was nice. As pointless as it can be, I was glad to have something to do instead of being completely passive. Warframe does it with the ships in the loading screens too.
And of course there's Bayonetta that makes them not only interactive, but useful. I wish it became a standard for beat'em ups and fighting games (although fighting games shouldn't have big loading screens to begin with).

When non interactive, I'd settle with the usual tips & tricks. With the disappearance of game manuals, it can be useful, and reduces the need for lenghthy tutorials.
 
Don't remember what game, but whenever a loading screen came up, the loading screen was old school Pong and you could play Pong during the loading screen. It was great.
 
my first reaction when I played WarioWare for the first time was "pretty soon, loading screens are never going to be boring again"

it's a dark, sad future we live in
 
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