Suggestions Please!

I'm nearing the completion of my PHP/MySQL game. The only thing that it's missing is the fact that the design is pretty bad (I'm a programmer, not a designer!)...

Anywho, here is a picture of the main interface: http://img86.imageshack.us/img86/3909/gamess.jpg

What could I do to make it look a lot better? (I'm referring to the navigation on the right-hand side mainly)

 

It's not that bad. I wouldn't go for black as the main theme though for a fantasy game, I'd prefer dark greens and dark wood type colors. You could make some nice buttons instead of text links I guess.

 

I'd suggest using rounded corners for your elements. Using lighter colors and convert the text links into buttons. I'v e just put an article on my blog with a few links that will help you out. Link is in my sig.

 

Right now the right hand links are looking good, remember when someone is playing the last thing they would want is distraction from any source, unless you need them to keep looking at armour / weapon etc. So the current theme is perfectly fine - it has subtle shades that do not hurt when you look at them, and while you focus on the game - they wouldn't raise their head to remind you about their existence.

 

Sorry but i disagree, if that was true blizzard would have done the same thing a long time ago. People like eye candy, and whilst i'm totally against going overboard with graphics, that is just too dull. People going onto that site would think that its not ready yet. It needs to compete with other games if he intends to do anything useful with it, so it has to be on par. Thats the job of a designer, to know your limit and know when to stop before going overboard with heavy graphics. If you're good, you will achieve eyecandy without distractions.