Hoping to upload this theme when I'm truly happy with it. Had suggested to STAiN that themes should scream play me rather than looking beautiful. This is my attempt (probably last) at a theme that inspires game playing. Many many years ago I found that emulation was possible by playing Super Mario World. From there I needed more and more and more. The next step was to put said games together in a UI so it would work as a game station. It's been years on years with no end in sight. My first UI was Maximus Arcade which eventually lead to HyperSpin. Both of these compelled me to replay these old games, but they had their quirks. Maximus was just pick your system, pick your game, and play. HS was about the same but lead to art hoarding, but showed me the importance of each game and their respective art leading to a better experience. So, I wound up @ RetroFE where limitations were mostly my imagination. I combined the two theories and made this from my scraps.
Firstly, Maximus kept the focus on game playing. Left right arrows for system and a list to find that favorite game I wanted to play. So my main menu is simply system scrolling left right. HS says don't be bland and spruce it up so I did lightly. Speed. I just wanna play the games and not be dazzled by artwork. I coded it for speed and reliability. HS has blinky things and sounds constantly so I added that factor. When I messed with MUGEN, I hated the app name in the bottom corner but it helped tie it all together so I did the same for the RetroFE logo (original). Maximus has a beautiful screen transition between system select and game select which I still love. Don't know how to do it yet but...
The game select screen needed various items but a lot of it I don't give a shit about. The year, manufacturer, story, rating, and genre are useless to my taste. I just want to know the game name, how many players is the game, and some instructions on what buttons do what. I added the first letter after my friend was searching for a game and suggested it. He also looked lost not knowing how many games I had for each system, so I added the index in the upper right. I've always loved big video to see the game in action, and big box art so nobody has to squint as they browse the collection. No game logo art is used as sometimes it doesn't make the box somehow and it's yet another resource needed to complete the experience. So I decided to just use the box art to draw the user in more to their selection. Also, I used color boxes to draw as they're easy to modify and makes elements pop a little more.
In conclusion, I took a Maximus approach to the main menu and a HS approach to the game select. I also figured the easiest way to complete things was to use existing art and themes. I got color drawing from the Flatio theme. I got character art from the LUNA theme. I got the background system art from my old HS themes. The game bezel idea came from RocketLaunchers many bezels and it's what I use to launch all my games which use bezels. Smooth transitions
