Low Resolution Theme

Rookervik · 21 Jul 2016, 18:08

I've had several users, and even a developer, come to me about a low resolution theme that can be easily viewed on small screens.

I don't really have too much input on the subject. My suggestion was a very large image, large game text, and a system logo...
and maybe

Though the second cuts off game list text pretty badly.

markyh444 · 21 Jul 2016, 18:39

@Rookervik The first one would be much easier on the eye with a small screen. Interested to see how this develops.

Rookervik · 21 Jul 2016, 19:16

Flavor · 21 Jul 2016, 19:21

@Rookervik I like this latest idea. I'll copy my last thought from another thread we were chatting in...

"Is there a way to show the currently selected game in a way other than highlighting the whole line and changing the colors? I have yet to see any of the themes show the selected game in a very readable way. The most high contrast way to show the list would be white bkg with black text. Then, instead of recoloring the selected game, could it just draw a box around it, put an arrow in front of it, bold it, double its font size, etc?"

Flavor · 21 Jul 2016, 19:23

Also, I like the large picture, but I have to say that I prefer box art, as it usually has the game name on it.

Is there a "smart" way to put box art next to a screenshot? I'm no artist, so it's hard for me to visualize if this would work well, but I do think the big graphical representations are preferred over lots of text on the small LCD.

Rookervik · 21 Jul 2016, 19:26

@Flavor said in Carbon Light:

Is there a way to show the currently selected game in a way other than highlighting the whole line and changing the colors? I have yet to see any of the themes show the selected game in a very readable way. The most high contrast way to show the list would be white bkg with black text. Then, instead of recoloring the selected game, could it just draw a box around it, put an arrow in front of it, bold it, double its font size, etc?

There is very little you can change about how ES highlights a game. These are your options:

Wing Commander: Is a 100% opaque game highlight bar. Any color you want. And Wing Commander, any color
Winter Olympic Games: Semi-transparent bar (any percentage you want) any color, and any color highlighted font
Wizardry V: Completely transparent highlight bar, and colored text.

These are all the options you have. You can only change the color and opacity of the highlight bar and the text. You cannot change the font for the highlighted game, cannot change the indent, cannot add graphics like an arrow pointing to it. Cannot theme the game highlight bar.

Such are the limitations of ES.

And I don't have any box art, that's why I just use screenshots :P You would have whatever you have scraped.

Rookervik · 21 Jul 2016, 19:31

The only way you'd be able to put both box art and screenshots would be to edit each scraped image, individually, and create an image containing both. Very time consuming, I highly suggest against it.

I did see a post, somewhere, about someone that had tried to automate the task. But it wasn't customizable. He had screenshots, box art, logo text and something else.

Flavor · 21 Jul 2016, 19:32

@Rookervik I guessed as much based on the fact that I hadn't seen anything else done.

I guess that I'd ASSUME that I'd be in favor of options that didn't change the color of the text itself.

After that, I'd wonder if something simple like a white (or very light) background with black text would look good highlighted in yellow or something. Of course I'm thinking of a typical book or printout where someone takes a yellow highlighter marker and sets off some text. This barely affects the contrast, but it still makes the selection pop.

Rookervik · 21 Jul 2016, 19:36

Could try one of these options:

#1 Leave the entire game list a little light, then highlight the game with black text.

#2 Or Black text and a very, very translucent highlight.

Flavor · 21 Jul 2016, 19:36

@Rookervik said in Low Resolution Theme:

The only way you'd be able to put both box art and screenshots would be to edit each scraped image, individually, and create an image containing both. Very time consuming, I highly suggest against it.

Okay, scrap that idea, then. I'm mostly brainstorming here. Obviously I don't have a grasp on the technical limitations of ES.

Can ES only show one or the other?

On your original mockup (black background SoR screenshot), there was no room for anything else. On the one to the right of it, the SoR screenshot leaves room for boxart below it.

Your 3rd mockup (with the game list full-width below the screenshot) is by far the best, IMO. In theory, there may be room for boxart+screenshot side-by-size above the game list, but I really don't know (or know if it's doable). I would not be in favor of creating new images.

Flavor · 21 Jul 2016, 19:38

@Rookervik said in Low Resolution Theme:

Could try one of these options:

#1 Leave the entire game list a little light, then highlight the game with black text.

#2 Or Black text and a very, very translucent highlight.

I really like #2, but I'd have to see it on the small LCD before I say it's better than #1.

#1 would be good if it didn't make the deselected games unreadable.

Rookervik · 21 Jul 2016, 19:42

ES can only show one image for each game. There is no way to script in an ability for it to show multiple images for each game. ES is very very limited. Pretty much any trick you can think of has been done in Carbon and Luminous and Pixel. You might want to check out the EmulationStation Theming Readme to see what ES has options for. It would take too long for me to make a bullet list on things it can do. :D

Sadly, several points in the README were never implemented. Such as: event sound effects, music, and grid layout.

lilbud · 21 Jul 2016, 20:12

@Rookervik Where is this luminous theme you speak of?

Flavor · 21 Jul 2016, 20:13

@lilbud said in Low Resolution Theme:

@Rookervik Where is this luminous theme you speak of?

See https://retropie.org.uk/forum/topic/2600/carbon-light/

Rookervik · 21 Jul 2016, 21:10

@lilbud Yeah, it's what I decided to call the Carbon Light theme. Since it wasn't very Carbon-y. LOL

Rookervik · 22 Jul 2016, 00:49

This is actually running in EmulationStation at 320x240 screen resolution: (Changed font to be bigger)

Flavor · 22 Jul 2016, 01:09

@Rookervik I like that! Let me know if/when there's a zip to test. Thanks!

Rookervik · 22 Jul 2016, 01:23

Test it out. See if the retropie menu looks bad. Might take some custom work. Or not. Might be just fine. /SHRUGS/

I might use this as my default theme. Ta heck with meta data :P

Download MiniLumi Beta 1: Yes I have a folder this time, QQ

Flavor · 22 Jul 2016, 01:36

@Rookervik ;) Thanks, I'll try it in the morning.

Flavor · 22 Jul 2016, 14:13

This is REALLY good compared to anything else I've seen so far.

It looks a bit goofy for any game that doesn't have an image, though. Is there a way to pop in a default image or something? I guess I should read the Theming Readme. :)