EmulationStation vertical theme builder - any interest?

[thebrokenjoystick]

I'm about halfway through my icade conversion to a vertical RetroPie (pics/info soon) and I've been looking for an emulationstation theme that works well vertically. The best (only) I found so far that is specifically for vertical is
https://github.com/RetroHursty69/es-theme-vertical_arcade
and it's very specific in what it does and doesn't quite fit my needs (wants).

So... I poked around in that theme and have started customizing it but I wasn't sure what I want exactly so I started writing some scripts (I'm a coder by profession) to save me time. It's not much right now, but it works and I only started playing around with it yesterday. So my question is... is there any interest in an easily customizable vertical theme for emulationstation? If there is interest, I'll post this stuff on github with instructions on using it.

Right now what I have working:
1)  a script that will take a tall image, split it into pieces, overlay console images from an existing theme and create a new vertical theme from this. I think this would be really handy for someone with a game-specific art theme and wants an easy way to make a matching UI
[2) a script that will take console logos from an existing theme and make a new vertical theme from it

FULL CREDIT WHERE DUE : I did not create ANY of these graphics (I'm a coder not a graphics designer). My work just builds on the work others have done before me.
The base vertical theme is from https://github.com/RetroHursty69/es-theme-vertical_arcade
example console images I used are from https://github.com/TMNTturtleguy/es-theme-ComicBook_4-3

Here are some pics:

For the first example,I took this image:
http://www.arcadeartwork.org/picture.php?/10591/category/57
and had my script chop it into menu pieces and overlaid the comic book logos over it so it makes a scrollable menu background. The background image spans more than one screen and as you scroll you see more of it. I need to show a video for you to get the full effect. That's the first screenshot attached.

For the second example, I pointed the script at the Comicbook theme and it copies the files to the right places in the vertical theme. This makes a VERY usable vertical theme (IMO). See the next two screenshots attached.

Let me know if you have any questions/comments, etc. Maybe this is only useful for me, and if so, that's fine, but if anyone else could make use of it, let me know.

[thebrokenjoystick]

UPDATE: I added a video:

[thebrokenjoystick]

HeyChromey looks nice vertically as well!

[RxBrad]

Your script #1 is a cool idea, but tough for themers to make happen universally in RetroPie, since it relies on people actually having ROMs for all of the systems.  If they're missing any systems, you end up with that background image being broken up.  You could keep the background image static, and that'd be pretty easy.  Or, your script could look at some RetroPie XMLs or ROM folder contents on their system and see which systems have games installed, and use that info to break it up.


I put a small amount of work into writing custom scripts that users can run to manipulate my Freeplay theme, but I don't think anyone really uses them but me.  Most people don't go to Github to discover the extra stuff hidden in a lot of themes; they just install them as-is.


That said, I have had a bug up my butt to make a vertical 4:3 bartop and a theme to go with it (I try to make my themes 4:3-centric, but 16:9 compatible).  I just need a kick in the butt to finally get moving on it.

[thebrokenjoystick]

Your script #1 is a cool idea, but tough for themers to make happen universally in RetroPie, since it relies on people actually having ROMs for all of the systems.  If they're missing any systems, you end up with that background image being broken up.  You could keep the background image static, and that'd be pretty easy.  Or, your script could look at some RetroPie XMLs or ROM folder contents on their system and see which systems have games installed, and use that info to break it up.

Yep - I thought of that too. if there were interest I'd make it do something like that (read your roms dir to see what you have then make the images for what you have). For now, I just have it hardcoded for the ones I use.

I put a small amount of work into writing custom scripts that users can run to manipulate my Freeplay theme, but I don't think anyone really uses them but me.  Most people don't go to Github to discover the extra stuff hidden in a lot of themes; they just install them as-is.

yep. I think these scripts will only get used by me, but I'm fine with that - they saved me a ton of time creating different vertical themes. I think #2 would actually get used more than #1. I was thinking about setting #2 up so that you just run the script and it makes vertical themes out of which ever themes you already have (basically by taking the vertical_arcade theme as a base and putting images from other themes into it). This works surprisingly well for some themes.

That said, I have had a bug up my butt to make a vertical 4:3 bartop and a theme to go with it (I try to make my themes 4:3-centric, but 16:9 compatible).  I just need a kick in the butt to finally get moving on it.

Consider your butt kicked

[morton]

I like the dedicated ES vertical build idea. Vertical doesn't get as much love in the layouts as Horizontal. If there was a vertical console, you know they'd have one offered stock that was great... At least that's the conspiracy I subscribe to haha.

One of the folks on the Attract Mode forums has a builder to do custom layouts. It's easier for a layperson like me to click and drag and guess than it is to program something fully functional.

All I ended up with was the video snap playing full screen and the game Logo appearing. Nothing else. Looks clean and is basic enough but am sometimes left wanting the completeness of a proper dedicated front end build for customization and navigation ability... It's more polished.

Looking forward to seeing how this progresses.

[nitrogen_widget]

I like that.
Will look good on a CRT TV as long as actual game selection has the same giant font and shows a full screen image of the game.