Low spec, fast & visual interface - Arcade Attract

[Domarius]

Hi guys, I'm nearing some kind of official announcement (with videos and screenshots and things) for my super simplistic general game front end add-on for Launchbox (called Arcade Attract) and I want to gauge people's interest for this kind of thing.

It's meant for social situations where even non-gamers could come up to your machine and just start pressing directions and buttons and choose a game - visually - it's always gameplay screenshots filling the screen, you don't scroll through a list of titles before you see a screenshot.

Launchbox can be customised to be like that but mine is streamlined to be readable on a CRT, and also handles the running of the game and the closing of a game, with a "menu" button, and can also add screenshots in real time with a "screenshot" button, for any games missing screenshots.  It's really meant as a "kiosk" style situation - 100% joystick & button control (with onscreen keyboard for search interface), no need to touch a mouse or keyboard or manually close the game.

It also gets its name from having an "Attract mode" where it randomly changes running games every few minutes, and you can jump in any time and it will let you play.

It's EXTREMELY fast; it builds from LaunchBox's data but caches it in binary files so even with tens of thousands of games on a very low spec system, the interface starts up pretty much immediately and scrolling is also immediate with no frame drops.

I have a placeholder website here, please register your interest in any way you like, even by posting here.

https://www.domariusgames.com/games

Edited January 21, 2018 by Domarius

[Lordmonkus]

So let me get this right.

You want to make a "BigBox" like UI for Launchbox (which already exists) and call it Attract Mode  (which is another front end all together) ?

Maybe I am missing something here ?

[Domarius]

Not quite - as I said, Big Box caters for some of that functionality, but not all of what I just described, here's a not-exhaustive bullet point list;

• Low spec - very fast, even with tens of thousands of games - almost instant load time and fast scrolling
• Make your own screenshots on the fly
• Screenshot based browsing - the screen is full of screenshots, as opposed to a list of titles with one screenshot at a time.
• CRT compatible - Large text and edge to edge screenshots, no wasted screen space
• Attract mode - runs games on its own every few minutes when enabled
• Manage playlists from within the interface
• Even simpler interface with just the playlists and a "Party Mix" playlist which contains a selection of all the playlist contents (so you know they are hand picked) which shuffles to the bottom as each game is played so that the least played are on top, so something new is always available.

The devil is in the details, once I have videos and screenshots up it will be more clear what need I'm filling here.

Basically I have my own arcade cabinet and not only does Launchbox not go well on a CRT but I have several ideas for improvements to make it super easy and fun for the average person to browse.

Edited January 21, 2018 by Domarius

[Lordmonkus]

Yeah that's fine, I don't need the sales pitch but what it sounds like you are saying here is what you are doing is making your own custom "BigBox like" controller driven UI using Launchbox's data.

If that is not what you then you need to explain it better.

If that is what you doing then well there's gonna be problems because you are cutting out @Jason Carr from his main premium feature.

Essentially all that needs to be done to achieve what you are saying is just a simple theme, no need for some 3rd party program.

[Domarius]

Actually I've been talking with Jason personally, and showed him a video, and he said rather than me extending Launchbox, the community would probably like this as a separate streamlined CRT based interface, as LaunchBox's frame work would kind of get in the way of what I'm doing.

I made a bullet point list of features that BigBox doesn't have, I don't understand why you think it's still the same thing?

Edited January 21, 2018 by Domarius

[Lordmonkus]

As long as you aren't cutting Jason out of money for BigBox then that's fine to me.

[Domarius]

BigBox is great, but it doesn't do the things I listed, hence me making this

[Lordmonkus]

That's fine but like I said as long as you aren't basically producing a way to get around paying for the premium license of BigBox it's fine.

Because if that is exactly what you are doing then people could just get the free version of Launchbox and use your "plugin" for free or pay you for it and Jason makes nothing.

[Domarius]

I see where you're coming from now.  Well it will be a paid thing, so there's that barrier of entry.  But as for that, I need to discuss the details of that with @Jason Carr, and he's been hard to get a hold of on email in recent times, so if you know any other way of getting in touch with him other than tagging him this way, please let me know.

[Lordmonkus]

I'll send him a message reminding him to get in touch with you.

But i'll tell you right now if this goes live without a deal with Jason and people can basically skirt paying Jason for a premium license then your product won't be welcome around here.

My best advice here is to put some sort of check (if possible) to make sure the end user has a valid non pirate premium license for it to work.

[Domarius]

Yes of course, that's why I'm putting feelers out right now, I've just been making the thing do it's job as best it can, and now that it's looking like it's actually doing its job well, I'm confident enough to begin discussion on how it will be implemented.

That makes sense that it would only work with the premium version - that way there's no chance of people skirting around the main premium feature, and it would help drive up Jason's sales, at least a bit of my demographic, which wants this kind of thing.  Which is probably not that huge, I admit, but the need is there, because I need it

Ideally I want to be able to charge for it so I get something back for the past almost year of work - so they need a valid Premium Launchbox licence, and then to buy my add-on, it'd only be like an extra $5 or something.

[Lordmonkus]

Yeah I think your idea is great for a nice CRT friendly UI even though that can be taken care of with a theme designed to it. The more light weight for lower end hardware is also a good feature and even though I have no specific interest or need in what you are doing I know there are people around here that would be interested.

A video of it in action would certainly be good.

[Domarius]

Thanks - yes indeed, proper screenshots and even a video trailer and other instructional videos are planned, in fact it was only after I sent the video of the prototype that it "clicked" with Jason and he said it would be better as a separate entity, like an add on, rather than me extending LaunchBox as he first suggested (as he was looking for programmers at the time).  He actually said for CRT support the way I was intending, trying to use the existing LaunchBox system would just get in the way of the minimalism I was going for.

When you start trying to make your arcade a very user friendly, idiot-proof "kiosk" system, using LaunchBox as a starting point, all kinds of details emerge for areas of improvement, and that's what Arcade Attract is designed to address.  It's hard to explain till you actually try to do it in practice.

Here's the old video of the prototype that I sent Jason (first half has a little demo of the attract mode, and is a little long winded - actual interface is halfway through - if I did this video now I'd do it very differently);
https://photos.app.goo.gl/ynNbBKseruprwrki2

[Lordmonkus]

Cool, looking forward to a more up to date video and finished product.

[Jason Carr]

Hi @Domarius, sorry I've been tough to reach. Looks pretty neat; I'm sure there's a number of people who would appreciate the simplified, CRT-focused interface. I do also appreciate that you're willing to check that the end user has a license, because I know that you wouldn't have to do that. Feel free to PM me here and we can discuss any necessary logistics.

[Domarius]

Awesome, will do