MetaPixel - A New Emulationstation Theme

[CourierSS]

@Rion

Considering how far I am, if @mattrixk doesn't make them then I should get around to them eventually but it may be a bit slow. In the meanwhile, I realized that for the systems that I have been making screenshots for, saving them in jpegs is leaving more artifacts than I wanted and in retrospect I should have saved png files for safe-keeping. I will be saving uncropped screenshots as png files and probably place them in another folder while possibly redo screenshots for some systems.

[CourierSS]

Well I looked through the screenshots that I made, and it turns out that the artifacts were only noticeable in two systems so I guess I'm lucky.

Added ResidualVM and ColecoVision. Updated screenshots for Sega SG-1000.

Edit: Available in github via update

[ExarKunIv]

@CourierSS

Your work is awesome , i love it.

are you going to do the VideoPac / Odyssey 2?
i know that not many theme have this. so is why im just using the factory theme.
having something awesome looking would be great, but if not no big.

your work is still amazing none the less

[CourierSS]

@ExarKunIv

Thanks but I would say a lot of the credit goes to @mattrixk for creating the MetaPixel theme and his inspiration from @Rookervik 's Pixel theme. I'm putting together descriptions and screenshots to make the theme more comprehensive.

As for VideoPac / Odyssey 2, I will get around to it eventually.

[Rookervik]

@CourierSS Don't forget all the pixel art I did, not just inspiration. LOL. I had to draw all 80-something systems. :P

[mattrixk]

@Rookervik said in MetaPixel - A New Emulationstation Theme:

@CourierSS Don't forget all the pixel art I did, not just inspiration. LOL. I had to draw all 80-something systems. :P

Too true. None of this would be possible without you Rookervik.

@CourierSS: I'm currently sorting out all of your new folders, as well as fixing a few other requests that I've had for the theme (fonts and other images). It should hopefully be all fixed up on git by this arvo/tomorrow at the latest.

[CourierSS]

@Rookervik Yeah rereading it I realized that didn't come out right. Thanks for all the great pixels!

@mattrixk Speaking of pixels, before you add in the folders I'm actually going through the process of remaking screenshots for certain systems (mixture of mine, Moby Games, and theGamesDB), because I realized that my resizing process for screenshots of games could have been better.

Basically, I left smoothing on while resizing them in Paint(.)net when I should have been using nearest neighbors. It doesn't actually preserve pixels but at least it maintains the appearance of sharpness for games where individual pixels are important.

On the other hand, people might like the original way that I did it. Anyone have any thoughts?

Comparison

[mattrixk]

@CourierSS I see what you mean. However, I was on a roll, so everything is updated on the git now. Feel free to update the images and I'll add them to the repo when I get the chance.

@SnipedintheHead: I added in your arcade folder.

@gomisensei: the folders you wanted were created by @CourierSS and @SnipedintheHead, and have now been added.

@Ekstreme: @CourierSS made NGP and NGPC. I also added a Metal Slug image to NGPC for you.

@meleu: I added the ability to choose a font other than the main one (including the default Pixel theme font). However, they all have different base sizes, so many of them are way too small. If a person wanted to use another font, they would have to resize it themselves.

Also, FBA and MAME now have 4 images to choose from (SSF-A3 and MvC/Pacman and New Rally-X).

I hope this ticks a few boxes for various people.

[A Former User]

Great theme but, the only thing I would change is the font, it's awesome anyway ;D

[mattrixk]

@articoz: Aww jeez, everyone's ripping on the font (I quite like it).

I've added a few other fonts that you can choose, but none of the font sizing really works for them, most of them are too small. So if you change the font, you'll need to play with the font sizing too until you find something you like.

[ExarKunIv]

I like the font also. it fit the whole feel of everything

[mattrixk]

@ExarKunIv said in MetaPixel - A New Emulationstation Theme:

I like the font also. it fit the whole feel of everything

Thank you. Finally someone gets it!

(In case it isn't obvious, my last couple of gripes about the fonts have been in jest. Just thought I should clear that up)

[CourierSS]

I've updated screenshots for Amiga, Atari 8-bit family, Atari 2600, Atari 5200, Atari 7800, Atari Lynx, Atari ST, MSX, and Sega SG-1000. I plan on revisiting the rest of the systems that I added, at least the ones that play in small resolutions. These screenshots are almost the same as the previous ones, the difference being the method for resizing them. The upside is that they should look much sharper. The downside is that pixels may be shifted around a bit and not be where they should be.

Also I've added, TRS-80 Color Computer, Odyssey 2/Videopac, and Z-Machine.

For the Z-Machine I wasn't quite sure what to do with screenshots since it's a virtual machine for text adventure games, so I used intro text from The Witness and Border Zone.

Also, it turns out that the hex code for silver is #C0C0C0, so I used that for CoCo's background color.

Updated Dropbox Folder

Couple of screenshots

[ExarKunIv]

that looks tight

so dumb question. how do we get your new files on to our boxes, or it is better just to wait for them to update the theme on retropie's end?

[backstander]

@ExarKunIv
Note: make sure you've already install MetaPixel from the ES Themes menu

Just go to @CourierSS 's Updated Dropbox Folder and click the Download button at the top right of the page, click "No thanks, continue to download" at the bottom of the next window which will download metapixel.zip

Then push that metapixel.zip file to your Raspberry Pi and run this from the command prompt in the same directory with this file:
sudo unzip -o metapixel.zip -d /etc/emulationstation/themes/metapixel/

Last, restart EmulationStation

[CourierSS]

I've added three more systems: Famicom Disk System, ZX Spectrum, and Commodore 64. I'll be busy for maybe a week so I won't be able to do more systems in the meanwhile.

Updated Dropbox Folder

Edit: Changed FDS background color to be bluish like rest of Nintendo systems. There are also two versions for the screenshot on the right for the FDS. Resizing with nearest neighbors created pixel artifacts that are more noticeable than usual, in particular the main character's face and the spider webs (same spider webs but look different due to resizing), but the width of the screenshot matches the actual game play. The one I left as default is zoomed in but is pixel perfect.

A screenshot

[mattrixk]

@CourierSS: You're doing some great work. I am going on holiday for a week (leaving in about 30 minutes) so I won't be making any updates until I get back.

[CourierSS]

@mattrixk Thanks and have a good one!

[ExarKunIv]

@backstander

thank you so much

[CourierSS]

I've added Amstrad CPC, Apple II, Macintosh, MESS, PC (DOS), Sam Coupe, and TRS-80. I also made minor changes to various system descriptions (should be just those that were made after the github update), added the odyssey2 folder (counterpart to videopac folder) and mvs folder (counterpart to Neo Geo with modified system description), and updated screenshots for Z-machine and Atari 2600.

Updated Dropbox Folder

Screenshots: