Finally got around to finishing this
* even chucked in a quick scene & stick character (with a cutscene) I mocked up in photoshop.
this is a really rough base for a professional menu screen which includes ...
º actual functioning "new game" & "resume game" buttons which use if else statements to decide if ... + they should change to scene of current character or ++ load from a quicksave +++ a (#0 for new game with all conditions, values & so on reset) +++ b (#1 for resume from last quicksave which is automatically saved every so often or whenever you press "esc" to go back to main menu)
º save menu with ... + previous / next save arrows/buttons ++ highlight on mouse over / remove highlight on mouse out (unless current slot has been selected - uses an if !=x slot statement to check) +++ checks whenever you click a slot if you can save/load/delete etc & only enables the actions you can use ++++ enables a confirm box if a save already exists on selected slot which in turn performs an action based on action selected using an if else value
º fully working options menu which (if available) reads & sets options based on config.ini file found in the root directory ... + includes einzelkaempfer's volume slider script (english version) ++ select language & enable/disable subtitles +++ select resolution & enable/disable fullscreen (note if fullscreen = true then resolution = Auto) ++++ select if full special fx should be enabled & choose quality - sets values which you can use in game to decide which animations / particle fx to display - consider this for people on low end machines. +++++ if you edit any of the settings it trips a condition which when you click to go back to the main menu will disable the mouse cursor & display a saving animation while it writes the new settings to the config.ini. ++++++ & so on ...
º Bonus Screen which is only available if autosave #2 exists (for me I plan on adding at the end of my game possibly) + bonus content itself can only be accessed/viewed if certain achievements have been earned which are determined by autosave x # exists. - this is quickest method as opposed to reading/writing from/to a file with LUA Script. ++ I even included a quick mock-up bonus content thingy ...
º also included as mentioned above is a quick scene & character I mocked up in photoshop (took me about an hour to draw & animate etc) º basic save & achievement interface which fades in & out images/animations based on which condition = true.
-- * notes * --
as I said this is really a rough draft base for a professional menu template so you can see how to use conditions, values & if else statements to control everything without it spewing foul errors into the the messages.txt log file.
for my game I plan on splitting the options into sections: game settings, visual, controls, etc ... also planning on animating each of the menu sections based on what they are for. - will probably be adding some extra settings: brightness/contrast, graphic/texture quality etc.
save & achievement animations will probably animate or slide into the screen as opposed to just fading in/out as they do now.
all the current graphics & animations will be replaced too.
** background music is from a ambiental/soundscape I produced a couple years or so back called "Jähân".
P.S: there might be a few bugs but I cleaned up/removed as much of the spare conditions/values & files as I could find.
Safe