New to GameEx Theme creation

[snarls]

Hey, hope you don't mind this lazy post, but I don't feel like trawling through tons of posts to find the answer.

I'd like to create a new 1080 theme for GameEx- while i totally appreciate all the hard work gone into the existing themes, none of the 1080 ones seem to do it for me. I want something elegant and useful created with a designer's eye that is not branded or based on a custom game, something that features big screenshots and logos and is quick to navigate (some of the new themes have flashes or 'please wait' between screens now slowing it all down).

So i'd like to contribute to the community, but want an idea of how fiddly it is to make one (assuming graphics are the easy part). What good links or tutorials exist in theme making so i can spit one out with the aesthetic I prefer? The other issue is my htpc has GameEx on it and it's not the same machine as my graphics design station and I'd rather not install GameEx on my work machine and dont wanna go back and forth 100 times when testing the theme. I dont have a ton of time to spend on this, but am confident I can make a good looking useful theme if it's not a major pain to skin.

any hints for a first time theme maker? Thanks

[Draco1962]

There is no easy answer to your multi-question/statement post, so I will break down some of the points and questions.

some of the new themes have flashes or 'please wait' between screens now slowing it all down.

The please wait images are minimal and are there to inform the user that an action is taking place. They have little to no hit on performance and the images have to be in place regardless (you could create a totally transparent image to replace them is you wish for them not to be seen but allow GameEx to have something by the same name to load).

What good links or tutorials exist in theme making so i can spit one out with the aesthetic I prefer?

There are no real tutorials or links, just the collective experience of those creating. I use the Theme Editor mainly for element placement (Descriptions, Time and Date, Weather, Menu Bar, etc.). The majority of the work is done in my mind and graphic editing software.

The other issue is my htpc has GameEx on it and it's not the same machine as my graphics design station and I'd rather not install GameEx on my work machine and dont wanna go back and forth 100 times when testing the theme. I dont have a ton of time to spend on this, but am confident I can make a good looking useful theme if it's not a major pain to skin.

Can't help you there. If GameEx is on a different machine than the one that you are using to design the graphics the only advice to give is "Get it right the first time!" Otherwise, you will be going back and forth unless you have a small NAS or other centralized location for saving your image files during the process.

any hints for a first time theme maker? Thanks

Hints are as follows:

1. Best start is load up a theme that you like most, study it in the Theme Editor. Familiarize yourself with the elements, how they behave. Make a change and save the theme to see how it works.

2. Don't go in rushed or half-hearted. If you are determined to create your own theme, embrace the joy at the end to carry you through the pain you will endure while learning how to get there. Of course, you will experience some minor joys along the way as you create or learn something new.

3. You obviously know where to go to ask questions. We have a very talented group of users that have been through are experiencing the pains/joys that creating a new theme can give. We are here for you so don't be timid or afraid to ask questions, no matter how silly they may seem to you. Not saying we might not point and laugh from the other side of our monitors but we will still help!

I look forward to seeing what you come up with - that is, if you accept the mission!

[snarls]

Draco, thanks for your response. One more beginning question, why does Theme Editor require a theme to base yours off of? I mean what if I want my layout different? I'm a bit afraid to paint myself into a corner by picking the wrong theme to start with. I come from an interaction design background and would like to mock stuff up in photoshop as an ideal before exporting to a skin.

And is all navigation between screens the same across all themes? i.e. can a screen on one theme dive deeper into the gameex "sitemap" than another, or are there a fixed number of screens that have to have exactly specific buttons and functions on them? thanks

[Adultery]

1) It doesn't matter what theme you use. All you have to load it for is the theme.ini and to be honest, all my themes start with the default one included in GameEx (even though it usually gets a full on skin and elements get moved from top to bottom). It's up to you what you wanna change... The editor is really more for element layout anyway (which is more or less drag and drop).

2)The images it calls at certain times are pretty much the same across all systems, although you can change layouts for emulators (all the menu stuff is all laid out the same though, as in one layout for all the UI stuff, unless and only if you decide to use custom layouts for specific emulators).

[u-man]

you will need patience..... a lot of it. if you dont have a GameEx license, i recommend you to buy one. without, you will hate that nag-screen .

theme-editing / skinning, is what it says, nothing more or less. you cant add new features or stuff like this. you can write a plugin off course.

if you plan something bigger, feel free to ask if its even possible to do it the way you intend. otherwise it can be frustrated and time consuming.

as Draco said, there are a lot of people here, who are willing to help .

as you can work with photoshop, the graphics wont be a big problem. you have a foreground, a background (can be even a video) and one alpha on top of them... start to work

[snarls]

thanks for the tips guys. i do have a license btw - guess I`ll have a play in photoshop and dive in. I'll probably come back with more questions around performance and animations of the skins...

[KRC]

If you need any help sourcing artwork etc. Dont hesitate to ask.

It's worth taking a look at GIMP when theming, that's what I use and I've never run into any problems.

[snarls]

thanks krc. I plan to make all the graphics myself but if you have a link to the vector logos of the consoles etc that could be useful.