Add some kind of ruleset full-screen intro animation when switching them

[Gabixel]

Not sure if I need to explain much. My proposal here is to have some sort of full-screen short intro for each individual ruleset when you switch them.

There are a few reasons for this proposal:

• sometimes isn't really clear when the ruleset changes (this also happened to me a long time ago).
  Sure, there's an audio cue, but with all the music (even with ducking) it might go unnoticed, especially for new users who don't quickly understand the ruleset switcher and its implicit logic when presenting a beatmap from another ruleset.
  Maybe a user opens a map linked by another player, and he isn't aware that it's from another ruleset;
• I'm pretty sure this can also happen in multiplayer if a user doesn't pay attention to the selected map's ruleset (picked by another player).
  So in this way, if you have another ruleset before starting the map, you'll see this intro while the game changes game mode (when it goes to the loading screen, because that's where the ruleset changes.. if I remember correctly);
• it's just cool I guess ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Note

My prototype/design below is not the greatest: I just re-used one video I made with the taiko ruleset name and icon, it took me longer than I expected.

It's just a sketch and I hope it makes you understand the core concept.

TL;DR: Do not take this animation too seriously, use your imagination, think of a playful and dedicated transition for every single ruleset. This is just a concept, not a design proposal.

osu.ruleset.switch.fullscreen.anim.mp4

(I actually had this idea for a very long time, but never managed to make a prototype for the animation 😅)

[tadatomix]

May I also suggest the animation not being just static icon with 3 particles behind, but something fitting for sounds these buttons make?

Like taiko has a don don duo kat animation
osu has aiming and clicking on circle
mania has a some fancy pattern of notes
catch has combo drop of multiple fruits

something like that

[tadatomix]

Static variation could be used for custom modes tho. Like some sort of fallback mode

[Gabixel]

Something like that, yeah! I suck at animation so I couldn't really show it, we have to use our imagination 😅

Don't take that animation too seriously.

[Maxio68]

As a person who plays multiple rulesets, I don't really like this because it seems slow and intrusive
Having this happen in the song loading screen would probably be best, and it also covers the second point you made (switching gamemode via not the top bar or the ctrl+number shortcut)