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Main => Software Forum => Topic started by: Well Fed Games on April 01, 2011, 12:11:36 pm

Title: One-input,"List-less" game launching... MALA?
Post by: Well Fed Games on April 01, 2011, 12:11:36 pm
Ok, been playing around with MALA, and searching the board, but have this question:

I'm hoping to do a dedicated Pac/Ms. Pac cab that, after a short intro, presents a menu screen that basically says, "Press P1 to play Pac Man, Press P2 to play Ms. Pac Man." What would be the right approach to using a single-button launch into a game from the menu screen, as opposed to scrolling through a list? The aesthetic I am looking for is similar in concept to the system in the Ms Pac/Galaga reunion cabs, only in this case it is a Double Pac 30th Anniversary cab.
Title: Re: One-input,"List-less" game launching... MALA?
Post by: BadMouth on April 01, 2011, 12:30:52 pm
It would be easier to just not use MALA at all.
Just have the menu as your desktop picture and an autohotkey script that launches (and closes) the games via a standard mame command line.
Maybe use video clips of the attract mode of each game as a screensaver.......
Title: Re: One-input,"List-less" game launching... MALA?
Post by: Well Fed Games on April 01, 2011, 01:30:00 pm
Ok, thanks for the suggestions. Not sure if either gets me quite where I am hoping to me. Definitely want to keep MALA, as I want the flexibility of the intro video and animated GIF options. MAME is so easy to assign controls, I was hoping I was just missing a launch-game-on-button-press option.
Title: Re: One-input,"List-less" game launching... MALA?
Post by: Howard_Casto on April 04, 2011, 03:17:14 pm
Ok, thanks for the suggestions. Not sure if either gets me quite where I am hoping to me. Definitely want to keep MALA, as I want the flexibility of the intro video and animated GIF options. MAME is so easy to assign controls, I was hoping I was just missing a launch-game-on-button-press option.

I don't think you are thinking this through.  You are talking about a gamelist with TWO games.  That's not even a gamelist. 

You know what else supports videos and animated gifs?  A webpage.  Make a webpage and have it load at startup in fullscreen mode.  Or even better set the webpage as your desktop wallpaper.   Use a ahk script to launch the games depending upon which button you press. 
Title: Re: One-input,"List-less" game launching... MALA?
Post by: Well Fed Games on April 05, 2011, 12:44:17 am
Well, I was hoping for other button combinations to launch other games (Mappy, DK, etc.), but to stick with the theme of the cab (I'm going with a 30th anniversary Mr/Ms Pac theme), wanted to keep the presented options simple, again, like some of the re-issue cabs. Thanks for the suggestions, though, it all comes from a misunderstanding on my end of how MALA assigns functions as opposed to MAME. I'm still learning, but I know MALA can make me an elegant game selection screen, so I will go the list route. Nice to know I have options, though!  :applaud: