Top requested arcade games for overlays

UDb23

@jozzy1 thanks. Don't forget sharing some pics of your cab!

swaggers

@UDb23 Do you have a page where all of your overlays are?

UDb23

@swaggers Not so far. You can search this forum for "overlays" or check my posts.
I'll create a specifc thread with all of them as soon as I finish these top10.

meleu

The "overlay" tag brings useful links :-)
https://retropie.org.uk/forum/tags/overlay

UDb23

@meleu I'm thinking of defining some standards to create a common retropie overlay repository on github as you suggested. Idea could be having a global "index" file with relevant info about each available overlay. In this way a script or application could automatically detect/update and filter current available overlay list and select them for install.
Each time a new overlay is added this global idx file must be updated accordingly.
Another way could be having info/index file for each overlay providing the same info; in this case the app/script should go thru each overlay (one folder for each?) And compose dynamically the global list.
I don't know much about how Github works; what do you think?
In any case info contained in the index file should include ( for each overlay):
ROM name,game name, platform, supported cores, screen resolution, fullscreen/integer. A thumbnail could also be useful.
Could the folders you created for the overlays on github be a starting point ?
Second step could then be sharing not only overlays but full artwork pack for each game: splashscreen, overlay, image for ES gamelist XML..... And, why not, video preview ;-)

meleu

@UDb23 You are an artist. You can focus on the art. :-)
If you do exactly what you are doing but instead of uploading to mega.nz, upload to a folder in a github repository, it's enough. No need to create and manage an index file.

meleu

@UDb23 answering your question better

Could the folders you created for the overlays on github be a starting point ?

yes.

we can discuss about the standards (maybe create another thread to avoid polluting this one), but the files we need are

The folder in the github repository should have a "human friendly" game name. Example: Marvel vs. Capcom: Clash of Super Heroes
ROM_NAME.zip.cfg: the file that will be at roms/mame-libretro folder (maybe other arcade core directory too). This file must have the input_overlay line, where the script get the full path to the overlay config file.
ROM_NAME.cfg: the file that will be at /opt/retropie/emulators/retroarch/overlays/arcade-bezels/ (since the script will get this file name directly from the file described above, the name doesn't matter, but having a standard is a good practice). This file must have the overlay0_overlay, where the script get the image file name from.
the overlay image file itself: since the script will get this file name directly from the file described above, the name doesn't matter, but having a standard is a good practice. I like the RomName_ArtistName.png standard that you are using.

We can talk about the second step (launching images, images for ES gamelist XML, video preview) after... :-)

Cheers! And thanks for sharing your artwork with us!

UDb23

@meleu sounds good. Basically just keeping the current standard.
What about games (roms) having multiple overlays: from different artists or just different overlay options for the same game?

One more question: I now got a github account, can I create new folders for overlays in your existing github repository or do you need to grant me permissions?

Btw I'm not an artist at all ;-)
But having fun doing these.

meleu

@UDb23 For the sake of simplicity I suggest you create your own repository. I suggest the name MAME-overlays. Then you can just upload your files. No need to deal with Pull Requests, and other not-so-intuitive github features.

If you follow the standards I commented above you can leave the rest (the script) with me. ;-)

EDIT

What about games (roms) having multiple overlays: from different artists or just different overlay options for the same game?

Oh yeah. We need a standard for those image files. My suggestion is RomName_ArtistName_SequentialNumber.png, the _SequentialNumber part would only be used when needed. Examples:

pack with only one overlay: frenzy_udb.png.
pack with more than one overlay: mvc_udb_1.png, mvc_udb_2.png.

I'm proposing this standard and have just noticed that the "Marvel vs. Capcom" pack doesn't follow this. No problem, we can rename the files in existing packs and start to follow this standard from now on. What do you think?

UDb23

@meleu Your proposal is simple and effective, thanks.
Next weekend I should be able to start on this ;-)

UDb23

nr. 10 now ready: TAPPER

2 different overlays for you to download ;-)

based on Budweiser ads (the one on the left is a famous one used around the same period of the arcade game)

based on arcade cabinet artwork.

What's you choice ?

Note: lr-mame2010 is needed as the ROM does not work correctly with lr-mame2003.
Have Fun!

UDb23

Created Burger Time overlay ( Nr. 8 in the poll).

As suggested by @meleu , with Burger Time I started loading the new overlays on Github.
This is the repository.

Will be moving also all existing overlays there as soon as I get time.

mviars

This burgertime overlay may be my favorite yet.

UDb23

@mviars :-)
I'm working on multiple projects at the same time... more new overlays of the top10 coming by this sunday.

mviars

NO problem. Dont burn yourself out.

jdorion

@Floob has included overlays in his rp-video-manager:
https://github.com/biscuits99/rp-video-manager/

There's a number of good ones in there!

jdorion

Here's a link to folder in his project that contains all the arcade bezel overlays.
https://github.com/biscuits99/rp-video-manager/tree/master/users/arcade-bezels/arcade-bezel-overlays

UDb23

@jdorion Thanks. We are aware of that repository.
Goal is different: my overlays try to get maximum game area (or max scale integer) @ 1080p while the ones you mention aim to recreate "real" arcade feeling, including cabinet with reflexes and scratches (that implies smaller game area).

jdorion

@UDb23 - thanks for the clarification, looking forward to trying yours this weekend! :)

UDb23

nr. 9: Dig Dug.

Entirely made with vectors (SVG), it's based on actual arcade bezel artwork and Atari's official arcade game Flyer.

Download it here.