what is the benefit of a loading bar?

[jjmafiae]

something i been thinking on for a quite a while (about a year): what is the benefit of having a loading bar in a game?

[MadByte]

If you create huge games which have to load tons of data ( images, sounds, ... ) and may have to create a world first on game start or have to perform other heavy calculations ( i.e calculate the terrain, populate it, apply textures etc. ) a loading bar is a great thing to set the player on hold and gave him a feeling about how long it take to finish the loading process.

For löve games a loading bar is almost everytime unnecessary because most projects didn't get that much stuff to load. and the game is able to start immediately.

That's what I think they are for.

[jjmafiae]

If you create huge games which have to load tons of data ( images, sounds, ... ) and may have to create a world first on game start ( i.e calculate the terrain, populate it, apply textures etc. ) a loading bar is a great thing to set the player on hold and gave him a feeling about how long it take to finish the loading process.

For löve games a loading bar is almost everytime unnecessary because most projects didn't get that much stuff to load. and the game is able to start immediately.

That's what I think they are for.

not my game wastelands of death (its becoming more huge for every update!)

[josefnpat]

A loading bar performs three functions. It informs the user that the game;

1. is loading,
2. hasn't just locked up or crashed, and
3. approximately how much longer they have to wait for the game to load.

[MadByte]

...

not my game wastelands of death (its becoming more huge for every update!)

I don't exactly know how much data your game uses but from what I've seen so far
I would dare to say it is more code / optimization related and not because you load tons of stuff in.

[jjmafiae]

...

not my game wastelands of death (its becoming more huge for every update!)

I don't exactly know how much data your game uses but from what I've seen so far
I would dare to say it is more code / optimization related and not because you load tons of stuff in.

hmm i and i thought my code was optimized :/

[micha]

Mari0 has a sort of loading screen. Without a loading bar, though. When you start the program, a line of text appears until loading is done, then the actual game starts.

[Xgoff]

a loading bar indicates you are not a proponent of premature optimization

[Plu]

A loading bar performs three functions. It informs the user that the game;

1. is loading,
2. hasn't just locked up or crashed, and
3. approximately how much longer they have to wait for the game to load.

This. And they are vitally important things to inform the user of, too. Because otherwise they'll get frustrated.

[jjmafiae]

A loading bar performs three functions. It informs the user that the game;

1. is loading,
2. hasn't just locked up or crashed, and
3. approximately how much longer they have to wait for the game to load.

This. And they are vitally important things to inform the user of, too. Because otherwise they'll get frustrated.

yes