Any tutorials on menus in homebrew?

[Gusjdt]

I was looking around the forums and google to see if I could find any tutorials on programming menus. For example, if you press select in the game, a new menu appears showing your inventory of items or something. All I found was this: http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/PSP_Programming/Text_Menu

But I wanted to check if anybody knew of any more similar tutorials.

[JaSo PsP]

Insert_Witty_Name made a small series of tutorials on how to make a fully functioning game. Part 1 is about menus Part 1 - Menu

[Gusjdt]

This is great information! Thanks for the link, I'll take a look at it.

[a_noob]

Im sorry to inform you, but If you dont understand the simple concept behind a menu then you most definantely shouldnt be writing a game. menus are pure and simple logic you shouldnt need a tutorial. If you took time to actually learn how to program instead of Copy and Paste things together from tutorials then you would see how easy a menu is.

[hallo007]

with some knowledge of if statements and some brain storming you will fast find out how to do it , later you can easily make them better and better and better , it's not a good idea to follow a tutorial for a menu , it's better for yourself if you find it by yourself

[placo23]

Menus are so simple. Just like Hello Worlds.

Actually I remember when I made my first menu, it was for a hello world, where you could select in which language it would be displayed.

just as a proof of concept, but was nice to see it working and creating the logic by myself

[Ghoti]

on topic: Think of it, save your current menu item render different picture or text for that menu item, everything else the normal way. When pressing up or down just decrement or increment your current menu item value. Then render that item different. It is really easy and you should be able to figure this out yourself.

offtopic: The first menu I ever made was on a very slow computer and it worked perfectly. Then someone tried it on his computer, which was way faster, and with one press it cycled through every item I forgot to check for up and down states of the buttons

[placo23]

Originally Posted by Ghoti

on topic: Think of it, save your current menu item render different picture or text for that menu item, everything else the normal way. When pressing up or down just decrement or increment your current menu item value. Then render that item different. It is really easy and you should be able to figure this out yourself.

offtopic: The first menu I ever made was on a very slow computer and it worked perfectly. Then someone tried it on his computer, which was way faster, and with one press it cycled through every item I forgot to check for up and down states of the buttons

That was the fastest menu ever.......

[Gusjdt]

Originally Posted by a_noob

Im sorry to inform you, but If you dont understand the simple concept behind a menu then you most definantely shouldnt be writing a game. menus are pure and simple logic you shouldnt need a tutorial. If you took time to actually learn how to program instead of Copy and Paste things together from tutorials then you would see how easy a menu is.

Who said I didn't understand the concept behind a menu? It won't kill me to use tutorials as reference. Also, who told you that I don't take time to learn how to program instead of copy paste all the time? Everyone starts somewhere. I wouldn't be surprised if _you_ copied and pasted sample code when you started programming. Thanks for your advice but take better care when you assume something of others.

On the plus side, thanks to the others who posted their advice and pointers.

[Judas]

Originally Posted by a_noob

Im sorry to inform you, but If you dont understand the simple concept behind a menu then you most definantely shouldnt be writing a game. menus are pure and simple logic you shouldnt need a tutorial. If you took time to actually learn how to program instead of Copy and Paste things together from tutorials then you would see how easy a menu is.

That was the stupidest post I have ever seen. You're telling me that he should automatically know how to program a menu? And if he doesn't, he shouldn't be programming. You're retarded. And, no, it isn't just simple logic. If it was, everyone would be able to be a programmer. And to the original poster, if you want a good menu example, just PM me, I have some examples.

[MániácX]

Gus, I can show you a couple of quick examples. MSN me when ur online

[a_noob]

What I meant is, If you understand if statements then, how to make a menu should be really easy. Personally I make my menus over complicated. And yes I did start somewhere and the only thing I copy and pasted was the call backs (for the home button) I could send you my menu But you probably wouldn't understand it because it is a dynamic menu that uses some pointer techniques that most people don't learn about untill later on in programming. And Imo if there is code you dont understand dont try using it because if some error happens you wont know how to fix it.

If you want i can post my dynamic menu once i get my HDD restored. You dont need to understand it to use it but it would help alot if you understood it so that you could code your own menu. But as I said before I dont understand how you plan to make a game if you cant make a menu. Games usually require a bit more logic than menus. Pong for example requires simple Ai logic. And simple collision logic. There is no game i can think of that requires less logic than a menu.

[Gusjdt]

Thanks for your reply, a_noob. I understand where you're coming from, but I never said I was trying to make a game. Like I said before, everyone starts somewhere, and I even if I was trying to make a game, I have to learn the basics somewhere. This is where my thread comes in, how to make menus. I simply had a doubt on how they were implemented, that is all.

Sure, if you don't mind posting your menu code, I'd like to take a look. The more material to learn from, the better.

Btw, I had a slight idea on how a simple menu worked, but what I didn't know was how to implement window menus, and then being able to close that window, thus returning to the game exactly as it was left before I opened the menu window. I read somewhere that savestates had to be used, but I'm not too sure on that one.

An example would be the main menu when you press the triangle button in FF7. A new window pops up with several options, and when you exit the menu, the game is the same as it was left before you opened the menu.

[Ghoti]

Originally Posted by Gusjdt

I read somewhere that savestates had to be used, but I'm not too sure on that one.

An example would be the main menu when you press the triangle button in FF7. A new window pops up with several options, and when you exit the menu, the game is the same as it was left before you opened the menu.

You do not need savestates for this. If you have to leave your loop at one moment just do not leave it just start your menu code from within your loop, if you use classes just run the menu class from your game loop. This way your loop only just halts and continues after you leave your menu again.

If you want the game to be shown in the back, just save the screen as an image before entering the menu and pass it to your menu and render as background

hope it helps

[Gusjdt]

Originally Posted by Ghoti

You do not need savestates for this. If you have to leave your loop at one moment just do not leave it just start your menu code from within your loop, if you use classes just run the menu class from your game loop. This way your loop only just halts and continues after you leave your menu again.

Yes, that makes better sense, thank you.

If you want the game to be shown in the back, just save the screen as an image before entering the menu and pass it to your menu and render as background

I imagine there is a function that you can call for saving images currently displayed on the screen in order to do this. This is a good idea, I wouldn't have though of it. Thanks again.

[JLF65]

Often, you can use the menu/message services of the game you're converting (if that is what you're doing). Look at the recent Doom release - when you select a cheat using TRIANGLE + LEFT/RIGHT, it uses the Doom message system to display which cheat you would be selecting if you released the TRIANGLE button.