New Comic Book Theme!

hansolo77

@TMNTturtlguy said in New Comic Book Theme!:

Added the controller for each system back in, under the system mascot as only 1 scraped image can currently be displayed in any view right now.

You sure about that? Mine shows the static image with the video in the larger box. Are you referring to 2 static images not being possible? If that's the case, I still prefer the other way. I'm actually in the process right now of trying to re-scrape to get just BOX images for that. Would kinda suck to lose that. Can you make it so the controller image shows up underneath? Sort of like what would happen if you don't have a video or image for the other box? That way the controller will show if you don't have a box, etc..

TMNTturtlguy

@hansolo77 Please read the post more carefully! I have not released this yet, I was just posting an update to let everyone know that has been asking for improvements that I am listening and working on updates.

Upcoming Theme Update Preview
I am hard at work putting together the next theme update and I wanted to put together a post just to let everyone know that I have been working hard and taking all of your suggestions and requests into account. Here is what i am working on:

Also, you don't need to worry about the video view. That will remain the same. I am also putting together box art that i will display in the box below the mascot for my build as well. The video will remain in the larger black box, and the image will remain in its current location. The controller will not show in video view. The updates i am making are for detailed view only. Currently in detailed view, the image shows up in the larger box, and the small box under the mascot it empty. The images i shared show that the controller will now fill the empty box. To see what i mean, just go into the start menu, scroll to the bottom and where it says automatic, change it to detailed view only. Then you can view detailed view. Be sure to switch back to automatic after you test.

hansolo77

Ahh I see. Cool. I didn't really realize I was in that automatic mode. I remember having problems last week and had changed it, but then figured out it was some update I got in the kernel that broke it. Been set to automatic the whole time since then, and never even thought about changing it. I like it the way it is though, and can see why you'd be trying to tweak the detailed-only layout view.

screech

@TMNTturtlguy

The 2.2.0.3 is out ;) you can download the "comic book MIX" in the "download mix" menu ;)

If you wan to regenerate "only" picture, you can choose in General config menu the "only picture mode" ;) it won't touch your gamelist.xml, but regenerate all picture ;) (Save yours before, it will overwrite them ;) )

TMNTturtlguy

@screech Well done! very cool. Is the only way to get these mixes to scrape from the pi then?

screech

unfortunately yes :S

I have on my numerous project the conversion from GDI+ to imagemagick ;) (so I can generate a Batch file with imagemagick command from the MIX template...) But it's really not done ^^ I must learn how imagemagick work before that ^^

TMNTturtlguy

@screech Ok, thank you sir! I always have trouble scraping several different roms for some reason, so i just download the individual images for that mix and create it myself to match your mixes that scrape properly. That won't be so easy with the comic book mix....but it is super cool, so i will give it a try anyways!

screech

@TMNTturtlguy If needed, this is the PSD I use for my try ;)
https://1drv.ms/u/s!ApLfgMfQ7OL9gbYpOvLPYpPycJzqhw

TMNTturtlguy

@screech Got it! Thanks so much, that will be a great help!

TMNTturtlguy

@pjft any thought or request on the character/mascot that should "rip" through the game selection screen for your 3 requested systems, Favorites, all games, last played?

ruckage

@TMNTturtlguy said in New Comic Book Theme!:

@pjft any thought or request on the character/mascot that should "rip" through the game selection screen for your 3 requested systems, Favorites, all games, last played?

How about some actual comic book characters as they aren't related to a specific system and would obviously fit the theme.

TMNTturtlguy

@ruckage that opens the door to a huge number of possibilities! Are you thinking super heroe comics like DC and marvel?

ruckage

@TMNTturtlguy
Yeah, you could just pick some of the more popular characters. I'd probably pick Spider-Man, Superman, and Batman. For 'all games' a group of heroes such as Avengers or X-men might work well.

You could always include a few alternatives as well - I kind of like Spawn myself.

Edit: I think one of them would have to be Deadpool - don't know how I didn't think of him immediately.

pjft

@TMNTturtlguy Hm. That's a good question.

I'll usually leave things up to the artists' discretion - as my intent with those is more to have something to be able to create those sections and confirm that things work as intended in ES :)

That being said, at high-level direction, I wouldn't be shocked if the mascots would be "related" to the topic of the section. I was thinking of some star-like character for the Favorites one (I'm not sure if there's one character that would evoke, visually, the "favorites" thing); a character related to "time" for the "last played" (here the first thing that came to mind was Marty McFly or a Delorean), and for the "All" it could certainly be a large group of... something. Either several of the current mascots together, from different systems, or a group of characters (maybe all 4 TMNT, all 4 of the Simpsons, all XMen or something?).

Anyway, it's just a thought.

Thanks for asking!

esmith13

I LOVE this theme and the new intro video for it!! Thanks so much for the hard work!
Thought I'd share a launch screen I I was inspired to make to go with it to remind me of the hotkey commands in retroarch. I use this same launch screen for every system. My Pi is in a 3d printed snes case and I use SNES30 8bitdo controllers with it (hence the SNES controller theme.
http://imgur.com/hxUIUuY

TMNTturtlguy

@esmith13 Thank you and that is a really sharp launch screen! Nice work. I do plan to make launch screens for the system, for at least the most popular systems anyways, but i really like yours. I would stick with that one!

As an FYI - I have been trying to release progress updates, have 21 new systems that I will be adding to both the 16:9 and 4:3 themes. That will take me over 100 supported systems...and I am getting exhausted! I will throw up another post shortly with a list of systems I am working on.

pjft

@TMNTturtlguy I feel this will soon be appropriate:

alt text

TMNTturtlguy

Update: Upcoming System Releases

In addition to the items mentioned in this post above: link to post 479 I am working on creating systems for the list below. I am working on creating the logos, backgrounds, and comic rip characters for each system, and completing them for both 16:9 and 4:3 versions. I appreciate your patience as this takes a considerable amount of time. I have also been working on a method to create custom systems to play any game from any emulator. This work has been assisted by and now modified by @meleu in this post: Create a custom ES system able to launch games for many systems You can follow the links in his post to see my method as well which does not include scripts, but works just like the current arcade system does. Either way, we now have a few methods for you to make a "Mario" "Mega Man" "TMNT" or any other system you want. Because of this I have created special systems in my theme, They are noted by * in the list below. Look for some preview images hopefully this weekend.

List of Upcoming New Systems (not yet released):

Wii
WiiU
PS2
PSPminis
MSX2
Game Cube
Trackball
Lightgun
Mario*
Sonic*
Mega Man*
TMNT*
Batman*
Sports*
Racing*
Fighters*
Beat'em Up*
Shoot'em UP*
Kids*
Favorites*
All Games* (note that this is intended for use by our fantastic coders for some potential and exciting future ES updates)
Last Played (note that this is intended for use by our fantastic coders for some potential and exciting future ES updates)

pjft

@TMNTturtlguy the "Favorites" one should also end up being part of that special group. It doesn't mean people can't use them in the interim. :)

TMNTturtlguy

@pjft It is, i made it just for you! But seeing we now have 3 different versions of how to create favorites using scripts the like, i didn't add the note on that one. I figure users will use it prior to any ES releases that might take place.