Author Topic: My custom Mala Layout (opinions/suggestions please) (Read 6124 times)

Deefish · « **on:** March 04, 2009, 09:32:11 pm »

Hey guys, I took a stab at making my own Mala Layout and wanted some opinions on how I could make it better.

My photoshop skills are very basic. I have only taken a couple beginner classes, so I am sure there are ways to make this look tons better or even sharper.

I really love the Blue layout by GameCreature. I was hoping to get his PSD files to manipulate so I emailed his website but got no answer.

Ok any way here is my layout:

Cheers,
Deefish

wooowman93 · « **Reply #1 on:** March 04, 2009, 10:06:20 pm »

I would move the arcade over and give more room for the gamelist

dungbeetle46 · « **Reply #2 on:** March 05, 2009, 01:08:11 am »

quite like it, the colors stand out great

KnightofTruth · « **Reply #3 on:** March 05, 2009, 01:18:08 am »

Matches the sideart etc. perfectly (from what I saw on your other thread). No constructive criticism (sorry), just awestruck compliments!

cmoses · « **Reply #4 on:** March 05, 2009, 10:45:25 am »

Looks really good, maintains your theme well.

I would put your Infernal Machine Marquee at the top where it says Infernal Machine in text and let the game marquees appear in the machine.

Any chance of using the font from Infernal Machine in the game list?

Deefish · « **Reply #5 on:** March 05, 2009, 12:48:48 pm »

wooowman93, Yea I would do that but the CP is already butted against the right side of the screen. The only thing I can do is reduce the Machine size, but I dont think that would look as good.

Thanks for the compliment KnightofTruth.

cmoses, good ideas. I did try all of those. The name at the top is actualy the Game List. So when I hit a button that changes to show which game list I am in. I only have two, All Games and Infernal Machine. I was copying Blue by GameCreature. He has the list at the top. I did try putting the Marquees on the top of the marquee on the machine, but I was not happy with the way it looks. Some game marquees are small or faded looking or missing all together. I just wasnt happy with it. As far as the Font. Yes I am playing with that now. The only tricky thing with the Font used for the Marquee (Metal Lord) is that in the game list it can get hard to read. The font does not work well for small font type that is close together and needs to be readable at a glance. I may get it to work, but may have to use an alternative. I do have a cool Mame Font and some other ones that really pop. I will be trying them all out.

Now that I know how to manipulate a custom layout, I am having fun tweaking it to make it the best it can be.

Thanks again guys for the input,
deefish

Deefish · « **Reply #6 on:** March 12, 2009, 06:01:03 pm »

Ok I think I am close. Here is Version 2.

Deefish

dkubarek · « **Reply #7 on:** March 13, 2009, 06:02:24 pm »

Version 1 seemed less busy to me. But both are killer. Post it to the mala site if you like and include the .psd if you don't mind sharing.

dkubarek · « **Reply #8 on:** March 16, 2009, 12:00:24 am »

well s--t, I just looked today and prefer the second one, if anyone cares.

Deefish · « **Reply #9 on:** March 16, 2009, 01:49:27 pm »

Hey dkubarek, I care! I appreciate the critique!

I changed the Game list name that appears at the top of the games to Classic Games, so that Infernal Machine is not up on the screen twice.

I have also made a Jukebox layout that I really like. I will post it later today.

I do wish that the jukebox built into Mala had more features, like support for album art and graphic equalizer of some sort. Someone may have already done this, but its above my meager skills.

Thanks,
Deefish

Kronos · « **Reply #10 on:** March 16, 2009, 04:38:12 pm »

I really like that layout.. IMHO best I have seen. Great work.

jasonbar · « **Reply #11 on:** March 16, 2009, 05:09:31 pm »

Very nice.

I prefer the custom logo at the top in the 1st layout vs. the plain yellow text "Infernal Machine" in the 2nd.

I like the bottom left silver/red display. Out of curiosity, I see that you're using the "x of x" field over there, next to the manufacturer & year. Many people use the "x of x" field on their front end--I don't get it. Does it help in navigation? Is it useful info? Is it a brag of how many games you've got? Just curious--not critizing--if you like it, keep it.

Most importantly, I love the theme--what's the "Infernal Machine"? Any reference to the old Indiana Jones game? Mine's the Infernolab. Some artwork here: http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php?topic=87990.0. Ah yes, found your other thread. Indeed. I don't have any screen grabs of my Mala layout, but you can see it in a few of these pics (http://s242.photobucket.com/albums/ff97/infernolab/Arcade%20Game/?start=all)--stark & plain compared to yours--hopefully you'll motivate me into spiffing mine up...gotta make a build report thread one of these days...

Keep us posted--it looks great.

-Jason

Deefish · « **Reply #12 on:** March 16, 2009, 08:44:33 pm »

Hey Jasonbar, I really like your theme too. I like all the fire and red. InfernoLab is a very Cool name! Yea you got it right it is a reference to Indiana Jones, but I also like the meaning of how infuriating games and Mame machines can be at times. Also, a little evil! hehe

I like how you made the gear the O in the word. In my old design that you found when it was Curse of the Infernal Machine, I had some gears in the background.

As far as the x of x field, I just copied the Blue Layout. It really isn't needed, just more info on the screen. I may try it without it since you suggested it. Manufacturer is nice to have I think and definitely the gamelist name so you can keep track of which one your in.

Ok here is the Jukebox layout I made.

Deefish

jasonbar · « **Reply #13 on:** March 16, 2009, 08:57:51 pm »

Yah, I noticed your gear too--I like it. That is/was the logo of my robotics company, and my middle name is Dante, so that's where the name came from.

My original logo was taken by tracing the outline of a LEGO gear, cleaning it up a little, then free-handing a flamey spline around it in Illustrator. Pretty simple: http://infernolab.com/shop.html#music

Then, somebody spiffed it all up for me when I redid my website in 2002: http://infernolab.com/index.html

So, what I'm getting at is, don't give me full credit for the slick flamey gear as the O in Infernolab.

Agreed, mfger & year are pretty key data to show! As (if?) you grow your game list, you'll find the occasional oddball loooong game name or mfger name that is really hard to accommodate if you have those keen "frames" around the text fields (like your red rectangle around mfger/year). Watch out for that. It bugs me when MaLa crops the long names, but I don't see a feasible way around that...

-Jason

PS--nice juke--the vinyl record looks a little too clean & perfect compared to the rest, which is all textured & gritty & seems to have more depth.

PPS--your layouts made me think of 80s metal bands. Yup, Iron Maiden font, right? http://images.google.com/images?sourceid=navclient&rlz=1T4DKUS_enUS264US264&q=iron%20maiden%20font&um=1&ie=UTF-8&sa=N&hl=en&tab=wi

Deefish · « **Reply #14 on:** March 16, 2009, 11:04:17 pm »

Even if you didn't create the whole thing, it was still born from your inspiration. You get the kuddos for that! It is a rocking logo!

My Artwork was made by Pixelhugger, with my design input. I just sent him some pieces of art that I wanted to see integrated into it and chose the font of course. He did his magic and created my beautiful cab art.

Hmm, don't like the record huh? I can try some other version that I have. I wanted to be some type of music item. I like the nostalgia of vinyl. Hey just like the nostalgia of arcade classics huh?

"PPS--your layouts made me think of 80s metal bands. Yup, Iron Maiden font, right"

Yea you got it right. It is Metal Lord. I think they don't call it Iron Maiden for copyright reasons. I love that font, although it is hard to read sometimes when using smaller font or in the gamelist. I originally had it all over, but it was to much.

jasonbar · « **Reply #15 on:** March 16, 2009, 11:58:04 pm »

Dee-

I think the retro vinyl record is a great idea. The 2nd & 3rd images (photos, not render) both look good at a glance--I'd be happy to give you my feedback if I saw them dropped into the layout. Definitely draw/write over the label in the middle, as done in your layout.

Where did the robot logo come from? It's really slick.

-Jason

Deefish · « **Reply #16 on:** March 17, 2009, 09:20:34 am »

Yea I will play around with the records and see what looks better. I will try to find some other items to put on there to like a retro radio.

I found the robot on some website quite a while ago and I cannot find it again. I am waiting on Pixelhugger to send me the PSD files from my artwork and then I can really dissect it to be able to add and remove art on my layout. I had just used PS to extract certain items, but that is tedious.

Yea I really like that robot, it has a certain cartoony evil to it.

Thanks for the ideas,
Deefish

wooowman93 · « **Reply #17 on:** March 17, 2009, 07:24:44 pm »

i meant you can cut off some of the cp

Deefish · « **Reply #18 on:** March 17, 2009, 11:07:25 pm »

aaaahhhh I see what you mean. I will try that.

Thanks for the tip,

Deefish

ivwshane · « **Reply #19 on:** March 18, 2009, 05:25:41 am »

I like the layout except for one tiny thing.

Your __of___. I would just make the "of" have the same background as the numbers and manufacture info and keep the font the same as well.

Deefish · « **Reply #20 on:** March 21, 2009, 01:28:39 am »

Ok did some small tweaks from suggestion on here.

Thanks for the good ideas guys!

Deefish

jasonbar · « **Reply #21 on:** March 22, 2009, 07:52:07 pm »

Looks good to me--maybe play w/ the font for mfger & year--that stands out as "different" now. Otherwise, NICE!

-J


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