Menus Master is composed of 3 modules:

• Menus Master Studio

Dedicated to the artists, it allows to easily and quickly create any kind of game UI with a user-friendly visual interface.

• Menus Master Data Generator

Menus Master Data Generator is a processing module.
It translates the game UI into data usable by Menus Master Development kit

• Menus Master Development Kit

Menus Master Development Kit is the SDK.
It allows the programmers to integrate the game UI into the game.

Basic production pipeline:

1) The Design team authors the game UI with Menus Master Studio.

2) The Game UI data is then converted by Menus Master Data Generator into data optimized for its integration into the game.

3) Programmers finally integrate the UI data into the game with Menus Master Development Kit.

The Linguistic team can also work on the localization and the revision of the texts at any time.

fig 01: Basic production pipeline

Data Generator. This data is optimized for each platform according to each platform’s constraints. Programmers finally integrate the Game UI data into the game with Menus Master Development Kit.

Game UI, made with Menus Master, can be exported to any existing platform, and to any next generation platforms, as soon as technical specifications are known.

• No programming assistance needed:

- Artists can create up to 80% of the game UI and HUD, without any programming assistance.
- Programming assistance is only needed when the UI is integrated into the game, and if complex interactions between the game UI and the game must be established (i.e. to manage dynamic databases).

• No Creativity Constraints:

- Menus Master Studio supports any kind of resources needed to create AAA game UI: Texts, bitmaps, 3D objects, animations, videos, sounds and music.
- All parameters of these objects (position, size, motion, colours, alpha, etc.) can be easily modified and animated within Menus Master Studios.
- 2D and 3D are treated the same in Menus Master; Menus Master offers powerful tools to manage 3D and 2D.
- 3D meshes can be imported from any third party software with their own animations. Animations can also be created within Menus Master.

• Easy Localization:

- All texts created in Menus Master can have several language fields, one for each language, and these fields can be Unicode (Japanese, Korean, Chinese, etc.)
- UI project language can be changed at any time to check if the page layout conforms to wishes.
- All texts are saved in a *.CSV file. The linguistic team can work separately on this file (translate, correct, add languages …) at any time.
- When using Unicode fonts, Menus Master generates a bitmap file with only the characters used in the UI.

• Fully open and scalable:

- Menus Master has an open I/O architecture; all interactions between Menus Master and the platform are made through drivers.
- Menus Master is consequently totally compatible with any existing market’s platforms, present and next generation, as soon as technical specifications are known.
- Any standard or exotic peripherals (camera, microphone, magic wand ...) can also quickly be supported by Menus Master thanks to its drivers-based architecture.
- This open architecture also allows to use any homemade technology or third-party middleware with Menus Master.
- Omegame is establishing partnerships with middleware companies to make their solution work with Menus Master.

fig 02: All interactions are made through drivers

• Real time preview in real conditions (WYSIWYG):

- Menus Master allows a real time preview of the game UI, at any time.
- On a multi platforms project, any resources can be assigned to a specific platform. Users can quickly switch between the different versions to appraise them according to the platform constraints.
- Moreover, the drivers-based architecture of Menus Master also allows to use any homemade technology or 3rd party middleware within Menus Master Studio.
- You can consequently use in Menus Master Studio your own cutting -edge 3D engine, or the latest third-party sound middleware you need, etc ...
- So what you see on your screen is exactly what you will get in your game.
- Real time preview in real conditions: no bas surprises anymore!

fig 03: Use custom technologies within Menus Master Studio

• Teamwork:

- Menus Master allows several artists to work on different parts of a UI at the same time.
- Any asset manager can also be integrated into Menus Master.

• Parallel authoring:

- Menus Master allows to create, from one UI, several others UIs for different platforms.
- Each UI can have its own dedicated resources and parameters (A next-gen version of the UI can have higher resolution textures and a higher display resolution for instance)
- Menus Master Data Generator is batchable with the game production pipeline. UI made with Menus Master Studio can consequently be smoothly integrated into the game.

• Programmer friendly:

- Menus Master Development Kit uses C++ namespace called ''MmDk'', in order to avoid any naming conflicts with the existing game's components.
- Menus Master avoids fragmentation memory problems; data in the memory is used where it is allocated; no additional memory allocation is needed. UI Data is released with one sole memory release.
- All external resource files keep their in-game format; they don’t have to be modified to be used by Menus Master.
- They are loaded according to the game engine’s protocols, allowing custom loading technologies (dynamic, streaming, etc.).
- Several UI data can be stored together in memory; they can be used at will, possibly at the same time.
- UI Data can be processed at will (compressed, encrypted, etc.).
- Menus Master Data Generator provides resource usage statistics, useful to optimize resources management.