javeryh's Small-ish Bartop ["Jack Attack!"]

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javeryh:

--- Quote from: Jimbo on November 18, 2019, 05:51:25 pm ---I just got the artist (that you also used) to do the pixellated drawing from an idea I had, and I put it as a start up screen in retropie's options I think (it's been a while now, can't remember which settings or anything right now). It was messing around with the splash screen I think, you can set it as a video etc. :) I might even have linked to a retropie startup how-to on my Videotron thread.

A friend at work did the animated videotron logo/vector lines and made it look like a VHS tape loading while my music played. :)

Get an idea for a loading screen graphic using the cool robot art and ask the same artist to do one for you is my suggestion. Same artist will keep the theme the same, they could even pixellate it ;)

Good luck!

--- End quote ---

I started messing around with a "boot logo" or whatever it's called - just some image that will be shown as Retropie is booting up in the background. The stock image shows lines of code and the pi logo (made out of font) and kills the "custom" experience. I know nothing about photoshop so I'm using Paint... yeah. Anyway, I think I just want this centered on the screen to start (black background):

It's pixelated enough and gives off an 8/16-bit feeling but you can still tell what it is. Ideally, I'll figure out how to turn this into an animation where the words "Now Loading..." appear at the bottom maybe blinking or something along with some audio of my son saying "Jack Attack" modified to sound robotic as soon as the cabinet is turned on. I think my kids have some iPhone apps where making a movie is kind of easy - I need to look into that.

I'm not 100% sure this is the direction I'm going to go but right now I just want to hide Retropie as best as I can. Separating the marquee logo from the background is beyond my skill set so I don't think I'll be using that image here even though it might look cool as well. Of course, I might scrap this tomorrow if I think of something else.

I've also been messing around with the software over the last few days - trying to teach myself how Retropie works and how to set stuff up over SSH. So far so good... I think. Last night I "set up" the Atari game list... which just meant deleting hundreds of games that were already there. The list is down to 73 now but after playing for about an hour I realized that probably 63 of them are crap and can be removed... I still like Adventure for some reason and I'm sure there are 9 more games I would play from time to time to justify the inclusion of the Atari 2600. All of this is up in the air right now though.

I picked the "tft" theme to start with - seems like the most bare bones theme out there and I got rid of all the videos, game info, etc. The only thing I want to add back in are screenshots but I want them to appear behind the game list exactly like the old Gamelauncher front end used to do it. I'm going for simple. I also might see if I can change the color palette of the theme to match my cabinet art... I have a lot of learning to do.

:cheers:

wp34:
That boot logo looks great. That would be a nice finishing touch.

javeryh:

--- Quote from: wp34 on November 22, 2019, 09:50:43 am ---That boot logo looks great. That would be a nice finishing touch.

--- End quote ---

Thanks - baby steps. There is quite a bit left for me to do but I'm chipping away at it. All of the game lists are pretty much pared down now - I attached my Excel file of the games I have on this thing). I'm a little afraid to make some cuts for some strange reason. Like, I highly highly doubt anyone will ever play Castlevania or even Mega Man all the way through on this thing but the options are there.... cluttering up my lists!

I still also have to figure out how to map certain controls for the different emulators, replace the boot screen, add t-molding, rewire some stuff inside (including the ServoStik) and tweak the Retropie theme. I should have some time this weekend to work on it.

javeryh:
I got the boot logo working! It's pretty sweet (and looks better in person).

It comes on as soon as the cabinet powers on... not that flashy. Next up is turning this into a 10 second movie because I want to add some sound. Not sure what that's going to be like yet...

EDIT: It works!! I managed to find some online tools to help make a movie so now when you power on the cabinet it shows the boot screen and a robotic voice says "Jack Attack. Now loading." three times and then it jumps straight into the game menu. No Emulation Station logos to be found anywhere - feels totally custom. I ended up using my voice for the robot voice instead of my son's because it's a gift from me to him and also he's out playing football somewhere with his friends haha.

Now that I've sorted that out, I am going to finish paring down the game lists (the "Arcade" list is 1679 games long and is ridiculous) and once that is done I'll configure the controls properly and install the t-molding so it looks "finished".

Jimbo:
Well done! Where's the video though? :)

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