[Theme Changes] Attention Theme Makers: Upcoming Game Collections in ES

[UDb23]

@mediamogul said in [Theme Changes] Attention Theme Makers: Upcoming Game Collections in ES:

small graphical addition might help cement the look

Looks great !! Haven't seen that before. And also the "footer" pac man graphics: wow!

Is that footer fixed or "per system" ? Can it be done in ES ?
Or is it just the background image being black in the upper part and having the graphics in the lower ?

[mediamogul]

@UDb23

Is that footer fixed or "per system" ? Can it be done in ES ?
Or is it just the background image being black in the upper part and having the graphics in the lower ?

I'm not really sure. It's been a little over a year since I last tried RecalBox. It's really sharp looking though.

[pjft]

@mediamogul Were you per-chance referring to the hearts under the name?

I believe creating something like the "ghosts" for Carbon would not be ideal, as Carbon is meant to be a low-memory, lightweight theme - hence all backgrounds being the same image.

Still, wonderful idea for a new theme. :)

[UDb23]

@pjft He surely means just the hearts.

[pjft]

@UDb23 Got it.

Yeah, I'm certainly supportive of something like that - and, keeping with the theme, I love your font work in the other arcade logos and such, so I'm sure whatever you come up with will be great!

Thanks for the hard work in this :)

[UDb23]

@pjft It's not that hard... it's fun ;-)
Just requires time. That's always the point: finding time. As for any of us I believe.

[mediamogul]

@UDb23

He surely means just the hearts.

Yeah, I was just referencing the hearts. However, I'm also not suggesting that they be directly copied either. I was just posting them as an example of how the graphical elements could be used to make the basic fonts look more like logos and blend more naturally with the overall look of the theme.

[UDb23]

@mediamogul No intention to copy at all.
It's a good idea of adding some small related graphics to the text, thanks.

[ChoccyHobNob]

Cygnus and Eudora-Updated are both ready to go now.

[mediamogul]

I have the day off and woke up with a little inspiration. I designed these for myself as a stopgap, but in the interest of sharing ideas, I thought I'd also post them here for feedback.

[pjft]

@mediamogul I love it!

The folders look stellar, and the logos also look quite nice, but as I'm used to seeing them in landscape, 16:9, I'm having a hard time comparing to the others :)

The "All Games" and "Favorites" look great, though without more "theme" context, I'm having a hard time figuring out whether the "Last Played" one is just a little too "big" vertically when compared to the rest or if it's just right. That's my only question.

[mediamogul]

@pjft

Context is key. Here they are in their natural habitat...

[pjft]

@mediamogul Context is key indeed!

It still looks slightly "taller" than other logos overall, but it's minor.

Looks great - thanks for sharing!

[mediamogul]

@pjft

It still looks slightly "taller" than other logos overall

Keep in mind that the logo in front is always enlarged. 'Last Played' is a bit taller than it's neighbors in the picture, but it's still in-line with the larger logos found in Carbon.

[pjft]

@mediamogul Hah, you are indeed correct! Forgot about that. :)

[UDb23]

@pjft Found some nice new fonts I believe would fit. As usual will update logos and custom texts over the weekend.

[pjft]

@udb23 Looking forward to it! I'm sure we'll have plenty of great options here to update Carbon then :)

Thanks all for the hard work!

[UDb23]

@pjft "controller" and Text icons for Carbon finalized (download here).

"Controllers" now all line art as requested (no fills); added one alternative "controller" for "custom collections.
Added new "custom collection" and "Favorites" texts.

(size should fit properly when in ES)

Can you test them and give me your feedback ?
Thanks.

[mediamogul]

@udb23

One thought off hand is that 'Custom Collections' is really close to the AdvanceMAME artwork currently in Carbon as seen below.

What about something that would evoke the notion of custom creation? There are probably more than a few solutions there, but one example would be an architect drafting font like the one below.

[pjft]

@udb23 thanks. I'll test them during the week, as I am unable to do so today. Thank you!

A thought on the naming of custom collections: that's actually mostly the internal name for it. It can end up being called that in the theme of you'd like it, but I don't object it having a more user-friendly name like "my collections", "game collections" or something.

Maybe I should stop naming things as that's clearly not my forte :p

Thank you!