Anyone working on any artwork?

General Development
#1

Hi,

If I were a software developer I like to think I’d be attempting to port VICE x64 or FUSE to libretro right now. Sadly, the most complex piece of code I ever produced had “20 GOTO 10” in it so I’m looking for other ways to get involved.

There are some nice overlays already and no scope for GUI enhancements, but I was wondering if a new icon might be required (particularly for iOS and Android). I was thinking something like this:

[attachment=0:2aknse63]RetroArch Icon.png[/attachment:2aknse63]

This is only a quick-and-dirty attempt and I admit I struggled for inspiration here. I think the artwork should emphasise the capability of shaders in RetroArch, which is why I think the current Space Invader with rounded pixels motif works well.

I have done a few bits and pieces for free software projects in the past and would gladly devote some time to pretty-up anything that might need it (icons, overlays, web pages and such). I would upload any SVG or XCF files I produce to github. Any suggestions / requests would be welcome!

#2

That looks nice! :slight_smile:

We could use a nice badge that says “Powered by libretro” with the invader on it for people who make derivative works to stamp onto their websites or whatever. It would need to scale cleanly down to pretty small, so it’s not too obtrusive.

#3

Looks good so far, I think. :slight_smile: Giving it a background like that might make it more visible against dark backgrounds.

Coincidentally, I found myself thinking the same thing today. I noticed the image used on the OUYA store, and I was wondering if something colorful would be more eye-catching than the plain gray background.

I made a quick test image to show an example. It’s been cropped to match the OUYA store size, but the original has wider margins so that slightly different aspect ratios are possible. It’s too emulator-centric at the moment, so it needs some game icons and such to represent other cores as well.

Any other comments/ideas/criticisms? If it works, I can clean up the lines and color it properly. I think it’ll read better once I get rid of the pencil lines.

#4

Easily done. I’ll see what I can come up with.

I like it, looking forward to seeing a bigger version. :lol:

I’m not sure how to put the flexibility of the libretro concept forward graphically, hence my leaning towards shaders as the unique selling point (one of the others of course being there is no selling involved). Part of me wants a banner, icon or any other graphic to look like an old TV with loads of noise, scanlines and colour bleed but somehow look sleek and more visually appealing than the similar paid apps alongside it.

There are a few ideas coming together; do you guys think setting up a github repo is the best way to collaborate on this? As I’m a Linux user I use GIMP, Inkscape, Blender and nothing else. Hopefully this won’t cause issues for anyone.

#5

How’s this?

[attachment=0:3hx816no]Powered by Libretro.png[/attachment:3hx816no]

#6

Looks good, but I think it could be a little less worn in the middle.

Here’s some more color testing. I added some other core representations so it has a bit more variety to it.

#7

I think that looks great. Do you have an even higher-resolution version available?

I’d certainly like to use it for our next app store entry.

#8

Glad to hear you like it. :smiley:

The original resolution is fairly large, but first I’d like to replace the pencil layer with something cleaner so that it’ll look better up close. If I don’t update it in due time, you can give me a prod shortly before the release and I’ll see if I can finish it then, otherwise you can have the full-size rough version.

#9

Probably not a big deal but I like the way that the image tells you everything you need to know about what Retroarch is and does. However if I was going to change anything it would have the segacd and 32x added. The reason I think this is because no other app on android can currently play 32x games and is is the best for sega cd emualtion too.

As I said though it isn’t a big deal and adding them might make it look too cluttered.

#10

Not a bad idea. I’m thinking about reserving the space on the right for the Nintendo 64 when the time comes, but I would like to replace the Atari 2600 with something more interesting (I’ll leave the controller, which is iconic enough). Possible candidates are the WonderSwan, Atari Lynx and Sega CD 2 along with 32x. I might be able to fit the CD underneath the Genesis and reduce clutter that way. I’ll have to experiment a little.

#11

I tried to squeeze a Sega CD 2 in there without much success. I’ll have to get rid of the WonderSwan to make that work. The lines are cleaner now, but the image won’t read as well when scaled down really small, so I’ll probably have to make a version with thicker lines for that. The full size is five times larger than this one.

731×411

Any other requests/comments?

#12

Not trying to hijack the thread or anything.

I use these for XBMC on my HTPC and my dock in my desktop

HTPC

DOCK

#13

Only requests I have is that the PlayStation logo on the PS1 gets removed. The PS1 is iconic enough without the logo and for the relaunch we will try to avoid having any copyrightable stuff in our screenshots. Even though I’m still not sure what we were pulled over, for the relaunch I’m trying to give the people who pulled our app once as little ammunition as possible to do it again.

That is probably the only copyright-pandering change you’ll have to make as the rest seems innocuous enough.

#14

Remove the word “free” it looks a bit cheesy.

#15

731×411

Made outlines darker and cleaned up a bit so that it reads better when scaled down. It’s also a little tidier without the added text.

I hope blobs are OK as far as logos go. Have you considered the RetroArch logo itself, though? I’m mentioning it since I found a DMCA which was issued over those sprites in the recent past (link).

#16

We don’t really know if it was a DMCA takedown - with no confirmation from Google, it might as well have been those GPL zealots that wanted it gone because it came with non-GPL cores.

Anyway, regarding the Space Invaders icon - if you can come up with an original take on the invader that fits well with the RetroArch font (just a Sonic 2 font BTW) then go for it. I have to say though I will be super picky when it comes to the icon for the logo - so hopefully it isn’t something I will have to reject. It should look fairly plain but not too much like the original to avoid any IP/copyright issues.

#17

That’s a bit too vague for me to put much time into attempting, but here’s a quick thing I whipped up in Inkscape. It’s similar, but not an exact copy, at least. If anyone wants to modify it, I’ve provided the SVG file as well.

.svg

Edit: Fixed some slight asymmetry and updated the SVG file

#18

I like that one. Definitely still recognizable, but hopefully “legally distinct” :stuck_out_tongue: