It took me a bit longer than anticipated to make this, and it's definitely more ambitious than I originally planned, but it's here:
The Official Interactive Countdown to Uncharted executable and screen saver
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=NNT8DJ0U
When you download the archive above, it will have three files, and they all show the same basic thing that looks like this:
So, in the archive there's an .exe that can be run in a window on a desktop (no instalation required), and two installer files for the screensavers - one shows countdown stretched in fullscreen, one shows it unstretched with black borders around. You'll need a very hefty machine to run the fullscreen one, especially if you want the smooth animation during the payoff sequence (when the counter reaches 0). For example, my P4/3GHz is not enough to get smooth animation in fullscreen.
As I mentioned, this countdown is interactive, so you can click / rollover various things, and stuff will happen. Main point of interest is of course the treasure chest in the middle, but you can click on other things as well. The design philosophy of the countdown was similar to that of the game it counts down for (as much as it can be applied to something as simple as this)
- There's animation blending and selection from the pool of several random animations for the treasure chest.
- The responsiveness comes first: When you click on the chest it will animate instantly, even if you click very fast.
- There's a "Next Gen Mode", which is enabled by default, but can be disabled by clicking on the countdown numbers. It enables/disables motion blur, complex shadowing etc.
- It's multilingual! Click the logo at the top for that well known 'other' logo
- The payoff sequence will make you smile and say WOW! (well, I hope)
- Best of it's kind? Welp, I can't think of too many game countdowns this ambitious
