theme COLORFUL bigbox theme

[drewjbx]

Ok, thanks for clarifying. 

I do have a theming question, not sure if this is the place for it.. I suppose I need to dive into the theme creator software. 

When scrolling through games in this view.... the game details fades out and you are left with a huge blank space, is it possible to place an image there or even have the game details page not fade out while scrolling?

 

[faeran]

56 minutes ago, drewjbx said:

Ok, thanks for clarifying. 

I do have a theming question, not sure if this is the place for it.. I suppose I need to dive into the theme creator software. 

When scrolling through games in this view.... the game details fades out and you are left with a huge blank space, is it possible to place an image there or even have the game details page not fade out while scrolling?

 

Yeah you can. In the CTC, you would place an image there, and most likely you would want to have it fade out at the same time the other stuff fades in.

Alternatively, if you don't want any of the animations, you would just have to go through all the elements in the CTC that have animations associated with them, and remove them.

Once you have made the changes you like, you simply publish the theme and you'd be good to go.

[drewjbx]

1 hour ago, faeran said:

Yeah you can. In the CTC, you would place an image there, and most likely you would want to have it fade out at the same time the other stuff fades in.

Alternatively, if you don't want any of the animations, you would just have to go through all the elements in the CTC that have animations associated with them, and remove them.

Once you have made the changes you like, you simply publish the theme and you'd be good to go.

Ok, I will check out some workshop videos to get familiar and give it a go.... long hours ahead I'm sure.

[RetroSalad]

I'm having trouble with the Dark theme. Some of the colors of the theme aren't aligned with the videos. For example:

 

Any idea how to fix this?

[skizzosjt]

4 hours ago, RetroSalad said:

I'm having trouble with the Dark theme. Some of the colors of the theme aren't aligned with the videos. For example:

 

Any idea how to fix this?

yea I noticed this stuff right away. Even stuff like shades being off slightly. Someone made a super detailed post about it as feedback to the author so I think they are mostly up to speed on what would need to be adjusted for future revisions. You will need to adjust the colors in the theme if you want this changed. Unless you are comfy diving into pure code the easiest way to adjust this is to get the CTC files and edit the theme in the CTC. Colors can have "conditions" allowing stuff like this area is color ABC when platform XYZ is displayed. So you will have to locate the ones you want to change in the color conditions list and adjust accordingly.

[Kefka2b]

Hey @viking again this theme is just absolutely amazing and also love the colourful start-up video... Looking forward to the loading screen and pause screen!!! Thank you so much.

Following up my review.

I managed to get all the platform images working by using the community theme creator and the BB overrides, basically I had to make sure I renamed the arcade one to MAME (because it would also apply to the arcade platform category which is supposed to be another image) and then put the Platform category images (renamed to just the category name) in the same location as the platform device images (hardware set folder). In the end I don't know if it was the overrides folder or the hardware set folder that did the trick, I just ended up putting the images everywhere possible as I was losing my mind a bit

I Just created my favourites playlist as platform category and struggling to set it up but I think it may be just a naming issue of files or something.

Here are a few suggestions for the future:

Platform categories are my main default landing section and would like to give them each a different colour, currently they are all sky blue, same as the platform would be amazing to have a separate colour for each.

One very minor thing for you to be aware in case you want to change it in the future, the PAL SNES image is not entirely aligned to the video.

Mega-cd needs a PAL version;)

A last big one for me and I think a couple of people would love it as well is to have the box and cart front showing on the left side on the game wheel view with a nice animation, I spent countless hours getting high quality images and would love to see them more

 

Edit: sorted the favourites thing as it is a custom playlist you have to point out the content I.e. logo, device, video within Launchbox directly when editing it.

Last minute suggestion now 😜, having an extra playlist in the Platform categories for completed and never played games would be awesome, but that would need a device images and video created for each.

 

Edited November 1, 2022 by Kefka2b

[Nanotik]

I have spent dozens and dozens of hours on my Launchbox because of your amazing Colorful theme. I'm not sure if I thank you or scold you for that viking. 😇
I even started to custom my retoarch to match your theme using the Mega Bezel Reflection Shader.

I hope we will get our hands on your Startup and Pause themes to finally a taste of the whole Colorful experience.
Thanks to everyone involed in this project! 

[viking]

Wow, nice bezel !!!

[viking]

OK guys. It's time to show you some of my concept for the v.3 theme ! 

But first, a quick review of the current version:

• Too much animation! It's too slow, not very reactive and finally, we don't take take time for play videos. For this v.3, I want to simplify all that. Animations: yes. But under 1sec maximum.
• Trying to join the theme color with the video color is too painful. So I changed the design to avoid that. So, if there is a slight variation between the 2 colors, it will be invisible. Or at least not annoying.
• I am annoyed by the limit of PlatformView. Only 4 today and all with wheels. Ideally, we should have the same number and diversity as for GamesView. (box, wall, coverflow, 3D)
  I already asked to @faeran who is passing on to @Jason Carr and the team. But his is a limit I have to deal with for today. 
• Having a light and dark version is painful to maintain. If the limit of the point above is lifted, we can have only one Colorful theme. Which includes both light and dark views.
• Some v.2 designs have already aged I think. 

There may be other things to say! Do not hesitate to tell me in comments

 

OK, now let's talk about v.3
I would like to address each of the following points.
Originally, I design this theme for TV. Since then, I have an Odin and I really like to stream all my content on a handheld, including BigBox. So I'll include this aspect in my design.
The first thing is the footer bar, inspired from Retroarch. I really like its simplicity and elegance.
So you're going to see a lot of concept. For now, these are only photoshop mockups. There are too many of them. Not all of them will be developed and I'm not even sure if some ideas are possible in code.
In any case, I have to wait for the v.2.5 of the Community theme Creator by @y2guru to hope complete all that ^^

I will try to explain the concept of each of these views.
For today, I will only present you PlatformViews.
And remember: nothing here is fixed yet. It can change!
Let's go !

 

PlatformWheel1FiltersView :

A legacy colorful view.
I really like the original view, but it's a pain in the b... to adjust colors between video and theme. Here, the video is alone: no more problem!
The selection wheel will be in the same spirit as the current one, but much simpler and with a faster animation.

 

PlatformWheel2FiltersView :

Same type of design as #01, but without details.
The wheel is permanently displayed. I don't know if it's possible, but I would like to place the wheel straight, but with an angle, following the structure line. Not rounded.

 

PlatformWheel3FiltersView :

Legacy colorful view again. Identical to the original, but slightly modernized.
The selection wheel will be in the same spirit as the current one, but much simpler and with a faster animation.

 

PlatformWheel4FiltersView :

The same, but in dark version.
Possible to merge the 2 versions (light & dark), if we can inclued more than 4 PlatformView. ( @Jason Carr )

 

PlatformWheel5FiltersView :

OK, let's start the new concepts for Colorful!
The idea here is to use the power of custom wheels. Thx @y2guru !
Here, the "Nintendo NES" block is selected. The other blocks are not.
Finally, there is "only" the wheel displayed on the screen (or almost)
Here, it is not the video that is displayed, but the PNG set.
Here in dark.

 

PlatformWheel6FiltersView :

Same, but here in light.

 

PlatformWheel7FiltersView :

Here, it is not the video that is displayed, but the PNG set.
This gives much more freedom with the transparent background.
I'm not so sure about this view. Probably too loaded for the Colorful dna.
I still have some work to do on this view! 

 

PlatformWheel8FiltersView :

Again the PNG set and again a giant wheel. In this example too, it is the NES that is selected.

 

PlatformWheel9FiltersView :

I really really REALLY like this one. Really in the Colorful spirit and much more modern. Again, no video, but the PNG set.
Vertical wheel. There is only the Hardware PNG in the wheel and you can only see the selected item. 
The counter at the bottom right allows you to find your way through the navigation. The background makes a color fade between each selected platform. 

 

PlatformWheel10FiltersView :

Another test, always with the PNG. 
A kind of great general mix.
Here, the wheel is on the left. Long colored rectangle for the selected item. A small grey for the unselected ones. That's all ^^
Random GamePlay image, desaturated, masked and with little opacity.
All "platform color" fade between each selection.
I don't know if this view is possible. The wheel should work differently here. The selected item should not stay in the center, but go up and down. It is the total list that is fixed.

 

 

 

That's it for today. 
This gives you an idea of the direction the theme will take in its next version.
It doesn't look like much, but it's a lot of work!!
I hope you like it!

 

What are your favorites?
Do you have any suggestions? Any ideas?

Thank you for reading this to the end 

 

Edited November 18, 2022 by viking

[Klopjero]

@vikingthese look promising.. 

[kobaturtle]

Wow! I can't wait to see this in action! Focus on snappier animation is promising! Favorite views so far are Wheel1, 8 and 9. It should make colors shine even more!

Looking forward for game views! Thanks Viking!

 

 

[OdinsPlayground]

Great! My preferences and comments:

PlatformWheel3FiltersView
- The classic and clean look. 
- Wouldn't mind to see further simplification though. 
(Thoughts: Remove thin white line over control inputs. A version without description and bigger platform name? Simplify the Game / Player box. Is it also necessary to say "Press A"? Just thinking of ways it could be a bit more cleaner and minimal)

PlatformWheel9FiltersView.
- I like the big and bold expression.
- Would love this with video support. Have the platform name fade out and video start when left selected. 
(Or basically it's just the video fading in over the PNG + Text under it)

[clockw3rk]

@viking Platform wheels #9 and #2 are absolutely gorgeous. The more minimal, and the less clutter, the easer it is for a non-technical user to walk up and make sense of it. It may be completely irrelevant for this group, but I do find Bigbox performance to be a major concern, since most users still cannot keep their Bigbox instance running longer than a day without it stuttering, or being unresponsive. I haven't tested if that issue is related to themes themselves, but I think it's a huge barrier to adoption. 

Edited November 21, 2022 by clockw3rk

[viking]

On 11/18/2022 at 8:02 PM, Klopjero said:

@vikingthese look promising.. 

Thx! =)

On 11/19/2022 at 5:23 AM, kobaturtle said:

Wow! I can't wait to see this in action! Focus on snappier animation is promising! Favorite views so far are Wheel1, 8 and 9. It should make colors shine even more!

Looking forward for game views! Thanks Viking!

 

 

Thx! 

23 hours ago, OdinsPlayground said:

Great! My preferences and comments:

PlatformWheel3FiltersView
- The classic and clean look. 
- Wouldn't mind to see further simplification though. 
(Thoughts: Remove thin white line over control inputs. A version without description and bigger platform name? Simplify the Game / Player box. Is it also necessary to say "Press A"? Just thinking of ways it could be a bit more cleaner and minimal)

PlatformWheel9FiltersView.
- I like the big and bold expression.
- Would love this with video support. Have the platform name fade out and video start when left selected. 
(Or basically it's just the video fading in over the PNG + Text under it)

PlatformWheel3FiltersView : 
I think you are right. I wanted to keep the roots too much. But it's time to modernize it. And on this style of interface, no one reads the summary anyway! ^^

PlatformWheel9FiltersView :
Integrating the video will create too much compromise on this view. I will refine it because I will have to see how this view behaves with short manufacturer names (like SEGA)

16 hours ago, clockw3rk said:

@viking Platform wheels #9 and #2 are absolutely gorgeous. The more minimal, and the less clutter, the easer it is for a non-technical user to walk up and make sense of it. It may be completely irrelevant for this group, but I do find Bigbox performance to be the number one concern outside of theme design, since most users still cannot keep their Bigbox instance running longer than a day without it stuttering, or being unresponsive. I haven't tested if that issue is related to themes themselves, but I think it's a huge barrier to adoption. 

Yes, that's the goal I have in mind for this v.3: to clean up as much as possible while keeping the elegance. 

 

 

Thank you all for your feedback.
I'm going back to work on my concepts =)

[viking]

OK, little update on my concept, based on your feedback.
Only PlatformView again.

Attention, I have deleted one of the previous ones. So new name for the views.

@Jason Carr @faeran @y2guru and all the community : What do you think of all this?
Are there any things that are impossible?

 

PlatformWheel1FiltersView

Video based view.
Just a little bit of cleaning here. 

 

PlatformWheel2FiltersView

Video based view.
Same. Just a little bit of cleaning here.  
I'm not sure this view is very interesting. Its only advantage is the permanently visible wheel. So less animation. So more reactivity.
What do you think about it?

 

PlatformWheel3FiltersView

Video based view.
OK. Here I tried to keep the original spirit, while modernizing and simplifying the view. I like it ! Your opinion?

 

PlatformWheel4FiltersView

Video based view.
The same, in dark version.

 

PlatformWheel5FiltersView

PNG based view.
Just a little cleaning. The idea here is to play on the new possibilities of the wheel. A variant around the navigation "Banner" style.
Maybe it's too heavy. I hope it will stay fluid. 

 

PlatformWheel6FiltersView

PNG based view.
Same in light style. With a random blurry Gameplay image in background. Desaturated and low opacity.

 

PlatformWheel7FiltersView

PNG based view. Or maybe video. (Will depend on the final fluidity)
I like the principle of this one. Banner style too. But it lacks a je ne sais quoi. I still have to work here!

 

PlatformWheel8FiltersView

PNG based view.
Small adjustments on the presentation of PlatfornName + Date + GamesCount.
I really like this one. But I still have to do better on the titles... I'll think about it !

 

PlatformWheel9FiltersView

PNG based view.
I totally redesigned the old view 10.
For the color by platform, the idea is a fade color to color, when we change selection. Fast, like <1sec.
Technically, I don't know which is better:
 - Based on TextPlatformView ?
 - Based on PlatformWheelView + Custom wheel item ?
The idea here is to play with an ultra bold platform list. I hesitate between two versions: 
 - Unselected : bold outline font ?
 - Unselected : bold font ?

 

 

 

Thank you for reading everything!
Your feedback is precious to me! Don't hesitate to give your opinion in detail!

[Rincewind]

All great concepts, the PlatformWheel5Filters View looks fantastic can't wait to see it in BigBox itself. As for PlatformWheel9Fliters View the outline font looks good but maybe just the bold version with a much lighter off white / grey colour.

[Retro808]

All the updates look great. Favs for sure are Wheel5 and Wheel8. 

[OdinsPlayground]

@viking Looking good. Hope you don't mind I meddled a bit with the design.
Please ignore any color / font / traced icons, just did it quite quickly. 

PlatformWheel3FiltersView
- I think it would look cleaner if the text and info box is inside the left bar, instead of overlapping the video / image. 
- I did a simplification exercise below, of how to make the info box more minimal. 
- Personally I think A-1, A-5 or A-6 looks the cleanest. 

A-1

 

A-2

 

A-3

 

A-4

 

A-5

 

A-6

 

 

PlatformWheel8FiltersView
- Tested this one with a bit different type layout and sane PNG layout as the videos. If they used the same layout as the videos, it would be easy to just have the colorful videos fade in on top(naturally the logo behind would disappear then, but that's fine)?
- Also did a test with logo behind the PNG instead of just text. 

 

B-1

 

B-2

 

B-3

 

B-4

 

B-5

 

[skizzosjt]

man I guess I'm in the camp of if it aint broke don't fix it. I like the animations of the current version lol!

OdinsPlayground has a nice revision though. I like A-6 the best!

Otherwise, #6 and #7 from the original Viking post

[clockw3rk]

On 11/18/2022 at 8:07 AM, viking said:

My favorites with a few more notes! 

 

On 11/18/2022 at 8:07 AM, viking said:

PlatformWheel2FiltersView

This is great. I would recommend some sort of arrows or signifier to move up and down. I like the singular use of the background color so there can be no color discrepancies. 

 

 

 

PlatformWheel9FiltersView

This is my favorite by far. I really wouldn't mess with this one too much. Simple, clear, with arrows to tell the user that they can scroll, and a single use of the background color so there can be no color discrepancies. 

 

 

PlatformWheel10FiltersView

This is excellent too, and I think it's better than the newer revision you posted. The grayed out background image looks amazing next to the flat background color. I might remove the tick lines next to the system name because its a little too busy. Could use a flat line, or no line at all. Might need to add an arrow signifier for up and down option. You would just need to be wary of the blue game count box continually not matching the other blue background color. Could change it to a black "play now" button like wheel 9?