NEW! Chicuelo Dark Theme

lilbud

@Weatherby Like you said, each system's preview is going to be a different size (and even sometimes on a game by game basis, which prevents a real one size fits all.)

Maybe a gradient over part of the preview image, like the bottom half fades to black to meet the background. Not sure how much you could shrink the preview image before it might not look all that good.

chicuelo

@lilbud @Weatherby
Maybe creating 2 different setups, one for vertical snaps and another for horizontal snaps, where the text fits the area of the image,
If we reduce the size of the image and place the description aside, I think we will have a lot of empty space arround

lilbud

@chicuelo For vertical snaps, you could probably have the description next to the vertical box art or videos.

chicuelo

@lilbud Yes, In my case I have only landscape snaps because I use the game preview on each system, but it could be a possibility for those who use box art or other stuff

Weatherby

Maybe one possibility is laying game information out in thirds. This is something I did recently when fiddling around with the Switch theme: https://images-ext-1.discordapp.net/external/AwGi24jCtMPuQKMVefm0NmPfhj0N-qbelLAwe5k9kZA/https/i.imgur.com/zoOHZPR.jpg?width=1202&height=677

Note that I better organized the size and alignment of some of these elements after taking this, but it should give a rough idea. That said, I don't know how compatible organizing information in thirds like this would work for this theme. It seems like you're going for something much more visually dynamic, with large impactful images present on each screen.

It's a toughie since a lot of descriptions that get scraped are overly wordy, and so they seldom fit well into the space allotted in most themes. I really like how it's laid out as is though, the larger images compliment the rest of the visual style of the theme, and reducing it too much would take away from that.

chicuelo

@Weatherby
Seems to dividing text in thirds reduce the amount of text displayed, so you got more chance to scrolling text. although however it looks better. Another options is removing the text in order to maintain the snap size and using that area for other info

sergioad

@chicuelo I would love to have both the light and dark version in a single theme like @lilbud did for the switch theme

Null Reference

@chicuelo how can I get this theme and start using it? It looks absolutely incredible, you're doing an awesome job!

chicuelo

@sergioad As I said, I will no develop all the media, I will make the main structure and leave a psd for everyone who want to use the theme so they create their own artwork based on this design.

chicuelo

@Null-Reference Its still in a design fase, It needs some more work and then I will need some help making the xml files!

Null Reference

@chicuelo I wouldn't mind helping out, I'm not sure what the xml would take but I am a fast learner and would be more than willing to help out! If you've got discord you can add me NullReference#9285

chicuelo

@Null-Reference
Thank you! I will look fowrard to work on the xml, I have no idea too! my previous theme was coded by some great members of the forum. maybe we can make a collaboration again to bring this theme to life

nevisx

Hi @chicuelo & @Null-Reference,

I've been tinkering with emulation station themes for some time privately, I don't have a ton of time/experience, but I know my way around and get can get things running and optimized. I've been looking for a new theme project to work on as I build out my XU4 build, I'd be happy to support if I can.

Discord >> nevisx#3559 Happy to chat whenever.

-c

chicuelo

@nevisx That sounds great! Im finishing the visuals so then we can move forward with the structure

blackerking

What a nice theme.
Instead of using some IP-Character of different companys you may use pictures or icons(outlined) of the gamepads.

chicuelo

@blackerking IMO games make consoles successful so I think having an iconic game would make you recognize easier the system. Also is more eye catching than the gamepad but I will give a try.

IanDaemon

@chicuelo Don't you already have a picture of the controller/gamepad?

chicuelo

@IanDaemon Yes, its on the left corner. I think blackerking is suggesting to use the controller as the main character. I tried and it looks awful, a controller so big has no appeal. I will remain with the character instead

Jimiga

@chicuelo Great to see you back here and very cool to see this new theme! Always appreciated the openness and creativity around your first theme, and it remains in my opionion the classiest, cleanest theme out there! It's not easy to create minimalist, clean designs that work well and look great, but you've knocked it out of the park once again!

Sorry to hear people were passing off your designs as their own, that's always sad to hear - but great that you've shared this one with an open approach like this and I'm excited to see where it goes!

@Wildfire and @PittStone , your mods on the original theme were great. I'm currenlty working on a similar idea with a modified gamelist screen I'll share here soon. Thanks for the inspiration!

nil06

Hey all,

Apologies for reviving such an old thread, but I was wondering what happened to this particular theme. Has development stop?

I have fallen in love with @chicuelo's amazing artwork and I truly believe that his original Chicuelo theme is hands down the best theme for Retropie, so I'd love to help out bring this new theme of his to life!

I've been working non-professionally with graphics & photography for over 25 years now and am currently studying programming with the aim of a computer degree, so working with graphics and XML is not new to me.

@chicuelo, if you are interested let me know!

Cheers,
Nick