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Zombeaver's Platform Backgrounds


Zombeaver

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The topic of creating platform backgrounds was raised in the clear logo thread so I've been doing some experimenting and I want to get a feel for what people like and if this is something worth pursuing. The first thing I tried was something similar to the clear logos I made. (fullscreen view is recommended)
    Super-Nintendo-SNES.jpgSega-Genesis.jpg
I think this looks pretty cool but it might also be a bit too busy when everything's together in Big Box. I'm not sure.
    SNES-Background-Platform-View.jpgSNES-Background-Game-View.jpgGenesis-Background-Platform-View.jpgGenesis-Background-Game-View.jpg
So then I thought maybe I'd see how they looked without any text at all.
    Super-Nintendo-SNES-No-Text.jpgSega-Genesis-No-Text.jpg
These definitely look cleaner in Big Box, but I think they'e a bit boring/generic honestly.
    SNES-Background-Platform-View-No-Text.jpgSNES-Background-Game-View-No-Text.jpgGenesis-Background-Platform-View-No-Text.jpgGenesis-Background-Game-View-No-Text.jpg
So then I took the baby bear approach and tried something a bit in between with some very simple text.
    Super-Nintendo-SNES-Simple.jpgSega-Genesis-Simple.jpg
I think this adds a bit of visual interest while still looking relatively clean within Big Box.
    SNES-Background-Platform-View-Simple.jpgSNES-Background-Game-View-Simple.jpgGenesis-Background-Platform-View-Simple.jpgGenesis-Background-Game-View-Simple.jpg
What do you guys think? Any particular preference? Any ideas?
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Interesting idea, I like the artwork and what you are going for. On their own the pictures with the text are very cool looking but when in actual use the text is kind of pointless since you don't see it anyways. With all the stuff that is on the screen any sort of picture that isn't simplistic just gets the vast majority of the art hidden anyways. My personal preference in my Launch / Big Box is no background pictures just because it can sometimes interfere with the text I actually do want to read at times I actually want to read something. That's just my personal preference though, I am such a minimalist with my UIs. I am sure someone will really like this though, the artwork looks really cool.
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Yeah, I went in knowing that the text was going to be illegible because most of it would be covered up - that's why I opted to have no spacing between each letter so that it's basically just a big shape, the name is just determining what the shape looks like...if that makes any sense haha. Unlike the clear logos, legibility doesn't really matter here; the text is just serving as a means to add visual interest. I'm just having a hard time deciding what I really like here. I want it to be simplistic enough that it doesn't get in the way or clash with the rest of the art/text but interesting enough that there's actually some point in making/using them. I'm trying to decide whether or not I should go in a different direction altogether and whether or not this is something anyone (myself included) would even want to use Confused
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  • 2 weeks later...
I've been messing with these a bit more lately. The idea I have for them is to do 3+ for each system. When they're placed in the appropriate Images -> Platforms -> [platform name] -> Fanart folder it will actually cycle between them at random while switching between any games within that platform that don't have existing fanart. I'm hoping that eventually a new priority will be added to the Background Priorities list (Tools -> Options -> Images -> Background Priorities) that will be specifically for platform fanart, because right now if the game itself has it's own fanart it will always appear, rather than platform fanart. I'd like to have a way to have these always appear for everything within the relevant platform. Anyway, these are what I've come up with so far: Sega-Genesis-01.jpgSega-Genesis-02.jpgSega-Genesis-03.jpgSuper-Nintendo-SNES-01.jpgSuper-Nintendo-SNES-02.jpgSuper-Nintendo-SNES-03.jpgSony-Playstation-01.jpgSony-Playstation-02.jpgSony-Playstation-03.jpg
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I've been considering making some more of these and it occurred to me that I might be able to do some interesting things with them for platform intro videos.

I'm still kindof noodling around with it a bit but I think this might be something neat to work on in the future.

 

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