MetaPixel - A New Emulationstation Theme

[mattrixk]

I made a new theme for Emulationstation and RetroPie:

Grab it from GitHub

MetaPixel

This theme was originally built on top of the great 'Pixel' theme by @Rookervik. I used both the 'Pixel' and 'Simple' themes to work out how the XML worked, then completely rewrote everything to reduce the amount of code duplication, and make things fit my coding style.

I liked the 'Pixel' theme the most out of all the themes available to EmulationStation, but it was lacking metadata, so I made my own version of the theme with metadata. Using smaller boxes for the border, I was able to fit a lot more information onto the screen. I also added info and screenshots for each system to the System View screen. I think it makes things look nice.

I tried to make it work for @Zigurana's Child-Friendly ES, but I'm having some trouble getting the icons to play nice, so they are out for the time being.

Also, I don't have much free time, so I've only created the Views for the systems that I do/will/would use. As such, there are many systems missing, but it's not hard to create your own (just time consuming).

Images

RetroPie Settings System View

SNES System View

Mega Drive Detailed View

Jaguar Simple View

For more images view the album on Imgur

Edit
I'd like some feedback so I know what to change/fix for the next revision. If anyone has anything they really don't like about the theme, let me know. If anyone has anything they really do like about the theme, let me know that too, because hey, I'd like to here about people liking my work.

Edit 2
MetaPixel now works with the Child-Friendly icons for anyone using the Child-Friendly ES Mod by @Zigurana.

[markyh444]

Digging this mate, might give it a download and see what it looks like on my NES

[PokeEngineer]

@mattrixk

I added your theme to the setup script! :)

https://github.com/RetroPie/RetroPie-Setup/pull/1619

[BuZz]

I just realised a change is needed - the retropie-setup script expects the repository to be named "es-theme-metapixel" - if it is renamed to that it should work.

[PokeEngineer]

@BuZz

Heh, one step ahead me!

[Zigurana]

@mattrixk said in MetaPixel - A New Emulationstation Theme:

I tried to make it work for @Zigurana's Child-Friendly ES, but I'm having some trouble getting the icons to play nice, so they are out for the time being.

Hey, I appreciate taking the effort to make it Child- compatible! I am currently traveling, but will try to help out in about two weeks.

[mattrixk]

@BuZz said in MetaPixel - A New Emulationstation Theme:

I just realised a change is needed - the retropie-setup script expects the repository to be named "es-theme-metapixel" - if it is renamed to that it should work.

I'm new to Git, do I just rename the repo from 'metapixel' to 'es-theme-metapixel'?

@Zigurana No worries. I read in another thread that you were away. Have fun on your travels and be safe. I'll have a few questions for you when you return.

@RetroPieNerd Cheers. It gives me the warm and fuzzies.

[herb_fargus]

@mattrixk yes

[BuZz]

@mattrixk yes. Thanks.

[Rion]

@Zigurana said in MetaPixel - A New Emulationstation Theme:

@mattrixk said in MetaPixel - A New Emulationstation Theme:

I tried to make it work for @Zigurana's Child-Friendly ES, but I'm having some trouble getting the icons to play nice, so they are out for the time being.

Hey, I appreciate taking the effort to make it Child- compatible! I am currently traveling, but will try to help out in about two weeks.

@Zigurana
Yes please! Can't wait!

Great work @mattrixk !

[mattrixk]

@BuZz said in MetaPixel - A New Emulationstation Theme:

the retropie-setup script expects the repository to be named "es-theme-metapixel"

Done. The new url is https://github.com/mattrixk/es-theme-metapixel. (I also updated the link in the main post).

Let me know if there is anything else you need from me.

[meleu]

@mattrixk let's talk about the theme here...
well I think the font is the only thing I didn't like.

Do you like the font used in @Rookervik's original Pixel theme?

Yes, I do.

Is there anything else?

well... since you asked, here it go...

I think Final Burn Alpha game screenshots could have at least one CPS2 game (maybe street fighter alpha 3 or Marvel vs Capcom).
And MAME could get a real old game. Suggestions: Pacman, New Rally-X, Elevator Action.
I didn't see the NeoGeo, but it should get a King of Fighters for sure!

These are my suggestions. ;-)

[mattrixk]

@meleu Great, thanks for these.

I chose AvP and Armored Warriors for FBA, as they are 2 of my favourite games of all time and I couldn't resist. As for MAME (and also most of the systems to be honest), I just went with interesting images from a quick google search ("MAME game screenshots" for example). I do understand what you're saying though, and it is a good idea. I'll add it to my To Do list.

I haven't added in a Neo Geo folder because I use FBA to play any Neo Geo games, but I'll add one in the next revision, with a King of Fighters screenshot, and probably a Metal Slug screenshot.

[meleu]

I haven't added in a Neo Geo folder because I use FBA to play any Neo Geo games,

I use FBA for neogeo too, but I put the roms in the neogeo folder (I think it's more organized).

but I'll add one in the next revision, with a King of Fighters screenshot, and probably a Metal Slug screenshot.

This choice is unquestionable!! :D

[SnipedintheHead]

So I have both an arcade folder and a Neo Geo folder that I have made and am willing to share with the community (king of fighters Screenshot included).

I have also isolated the border that you have around the screenshots so that people can easily make their own, it's available in both PNG and Photoshop files (you just slide your image in behind the border and viola!). I am by no means an expert at photoshop so my borders are definitely not perfect, but I figure they're small enough that it may not matter.

Here is the Neo Geo folder:
https://www.dropbox.com/sh/2tg8yhsttn8uowr/AABW7fBLL2W07tXIxUQmadAOa?dl=0

And my arcade folder:
https://www.dropbox.com/sh/cj7x58af3rp0o6s/AACEyyzWOuLh2WvAiTKXIIEVa?dl=0

A note on the arcade folder: I use my arcade as an option for 3 and 4 player games to make it easy for my friends to come over and get into some big multiplayer action. You would need to change the description to make it your own.

Credit should also be given where it's due. I did none of the really good looking stuff, I just took the images and such from the Pixel theme and moved them over, so Rookervik should be complimented for the super nice theme.

[mattrixk]

That's some great work @SnipedintheHead. Well done.

I like your idea of using the arcade folder to house your 3 and 4 player games. I may have to look into that.

[SnipedintheHead]

@mattrixk said in MetaPixel - A New Emulationstation Theme:

That's some great work @SnipedintheHead. Well done.

I like your idea of using the arcade folder to house your 3 and 4 player games. I may have to look into that.

Thanks! Came out of necessity, I didn't have the ability to mark favorites at the time and a number of games worked across various platforms.

[mattrixk]

@SnipedintheHead said in MetaPixel - A New Emulationstation Theme:

I didn't have the ability to mark favorites at the time

I use @Zigurana's Child-Friendly ES. It lets you select favourites, but also lets you set it to kid's mode which hides a bunch of the setup stuff so you can leave it with young 'uns (or drunk friends) and they are less likely to break everything. It's still experimental and can get a little buggy at times, but it hasn't really effected me too much.

What I'd love most is a Tag and Search system, so you could create tags like '2_player_brawler' and add a bunch of games from different systems, then you could search by tags, or by metadata (like genre, number of players etc) and it would just display all the games in a big list regardless of system. One can dream.

In the meantime, I saw someone mentioned putting your games into folders within the system, so you could split your games up by genre or any other way you prefer, within the single system itself.

Hmm... I wonder if I could split my roms up so they look like this:

• roms
  • megadrive
    • 1 Player
      • Action
      • Brawler
      • Racing
      • Shmup
    • 2 Player
      • Action
      • Brawler
      • Racing
      • Shmup
  • snes
    • 1 Player
      • Action
      • Brawler
      • Racing
      • Shmup
    • 2 Player
      • Action
      • Brawler
      • Racing
      • Shmup

This may take some time, but it's worth looking into.

[SnipedintheHead]

@mattrixk said in MetaPixel - A New Emulationstation Theme:

I use @Zigurana's Child-Friendly ES.

I just switched over, tonight actually. I have no programming skills, so if it bugs out too much, I'm in trouble, but so far it's been great.

[mattrixk]

@SnipedintheHead If you backed up beforehand you can always just go back to how it was. I have almost a dozen SD card image backups on my PC, one for each major thing I've attempted. Thankfully I haven't had to use any of them so far.