Pac-Man - pacman(RetroBorg_09-13-08)

[RetroBorg]

Pac-Man

http://img185.imageshack.us/img185/8495/pacman640x480ru0.jpg

Very simple theme, black background like game, big video, no border, just Pac-Man been chased back and forth by the four ghosts and cherry rain floats.

[EvilDindon]

I was thinking about exactly the same configuration for this theme !

Great work as usual.

[mildanti]

u were the perfect guy to do it

[RetroBorg]

Thanks guys.

I don't think everyone will like mine though, I think we might see a few different Pac-Man themes, Derkrug has a couple in the works and I'm sure someone will make one more like Dazz's awesome Ms Pac-Man theme.

I think there will be plenty of Pac-Man themes which will be good.

[bent98]

I love it. Question can you add more then just cherry? Like bell and car key?

I think it would look cool if we had all of them.


Also does this mean you are going to do Pacman Plus and JR Pacman? :)

[RetroBorg]

I love it. Question can you add more then just cherry? Like bell and car key?

I think it would look cool if we had all of them.

Yeah I got room for one more artwork layer. I thought about another item but I'm not too sure.

Now that the chase animation is fixed I might play around with Pac-Man chasing them back when they turn blue. It just depends whether there's enough time for one animation chase to finish before the next begins. I'll check it out.

Also should I leave it as the sound from the video or should I be playing Pac-Man fever song?


Also does this mean you are going to do Pacman Plus and JR Pacman? :)

It doesn't mean that, but I just might if someone else doesn't do one first. :)

[bent98]

PAcman Fever

If you need mp3 i got it.

[RetroBorg]

Okay I added artwork for when the ghosts turn blue and Pac-Man chases them.

It took me a while to get the timing right so Pac-Man gets chased then Pac-Man chases but I did it. :)

http://img357.imageshack.us/img357/5995/pacman02640x480zv1.jpg


Unfortunately there is still a bug (though not as bad as original bug) for chase animation from right.

The first time Pac-Man chases the ghosts is from right to left and the artwork is okay, the ghosts on left and Pac-Man on right, then next time when they come from the right the artwork is meant to flipped horizontally so Pac-Man is now on left and ghosts on right, but this doesn't happen and after this it continues to flip horizontally so it is actually wrong everytime.

I have kind of combatted the problem and flipped the artwork so it is wrong the first time and correct everytime afterwards.

This is a hard problem to explain and I hope I have made sense.

Hopefully Bill can have a look at this and fix it at the next release.

[RetroBorg]

PAcman Fever

If you need mp3 i got it.

Hey thanks for the offer but I already got it. :)

[tk375]

I was just talking about a Pacman theme and here it is! you met and exceeded my expectations my friend! Would you do Commando's next? I know with that quality of Theme then Commando is going to be great!

Thanks a lot!

TK375

[Thebutcherjb]

Best pacman theme out of the rest

[kingb33]

Okay I added artwork for when the ghosts turn blue and Pac-Man chases them.

It took me a while to get the timing right so Pac-Man gets chased then Pac-Man chases but I did it. :)

http://img357.imageshack.us/img357/5995/pacman02640x480zv1.jpg


Unfortunately there is still a bug (though not as bad as original bug) for chase animation from right.

The first time Pac-Man chases the ghosts is from right to left and the artwork is okay, the ghosts on left and Pac-Man on right, then next time when they come from the right the artwork is meant to flipped horizontally so Pac-Man is now on left and ghosts on right, but this doesn't happen and after this it continues to flip horizontally so it is actually wrong everytime.

I have kind of combatted the problem and flipped the artwork so it is wrong the first time and correct everytime afterwards.

This is a hard problem to explain and I hope I have made sense.

Hopefully Bill can have a look at this and fix it at the next release.


yes i noticed this too in the new HS release...there is a problem with the "chase" option i think ....where it flips opposite...i noticed it on the Donkey Kong JR theme as well....

[RetroBorg]

I was just talking about a Pacman theme and here it is! you met and exceeded my expectations my friend! Would you do Commando's next? I know with that quality of Theme then Commando is going to be great!

Thanks a lot!

TK375

Thanks for the compliments.

I'll put Commando on my list of things to do, can't guarentee anything though, I'll have a look around for some good artwork.

[RetroBorg]

Local Arcade Art Library (http://www.localarcade.com/arcade_art/index.php) site is back up now and noticed that when the ghosts turn blue there mouth changes from that angry look to scared look.

http://www.localarcade.com/arcade_art/data/thumbnails/20/Mini_Pac-man_and_Blue_Ghost.jpg

I'll have to swap over my blue ghosts to that picture.

Anyone with opinions of whether I should have the Pac-Man Fever song playing or just video sounds?

Should I just include the song anyway and people can remove it if they don't like it?

[bent98]

Pac man fever!

[tk375]

Yes, Blue Ghosts look a lot better, I really thank you for doing Commando for Me... sorry I meant to say us.

have a great day!

[Aabra]

Awesome job Retroborg - now hurry up and upload it. It's about time I had a Pac-man theme! :)

[RetroBorg]

Okay I've made some changes:

Changed blue ghosts to the scared ones.

Added Pac-Man Fever song (you can always remove it from the sounds folder if you don't want it, I think I prefer it without).

Colour matched all the ghosts so they are exactly the same as in the game.

http://img299.imageshack.us/img299/1251/pacman640x480lf2.jpg

http://img88.imageshack.us/img88/3368/pacman02640x480qd7.jpg

[RetroBorg]

Just noticed my Pac-Man is slightly different in each picture, in the first pic, Pac-Man is a bit fatter and maybe colours slightly different.

I guess I'll need to fix that before I upload.

[RetroBorg]

I changed fat pacman for skinnier pacman with eyes warily watching those nasty ghosts:

http://img363.imageshack.us/img363/2611/pacman640x480al1.jpg

Anybody see any issues before I upload?

[Dazz]

Looks good, but I think we need to start thinking about what alpha wheels are going to look like when creating themes. On this theme if you use an alpha (fading) wheel then you are going to have a big black area on the left. I know that we have all gotten use to having the wheel images and working around/incorporating them into theme designs, but I think once you go with an alpha or vertical wheel you will never go back to the old wheel. I personally use vertical with a .15 fade. Themes look real good and you can barely see the wheel behind.

[RetroBorg]

Looks good, but I think we need to start thinking about what alpha wheels are going to look like when creating themes. On this theme if you use an alpha (fading) wheel then you are going to have a big black area on the left. I know that we have all gotten use to having the wheel images and working around/incorporating them into theme designs, but I think once you go with an alpha or vertical wheel you will never go back to the old wheel. I personally use vertical with a .15 fade. Themes look real good and you can barely see the wheel behind.

I have to admit I had no idea what you were talking about at first Dazz, I thought an alpha wheel was some new wheel that had the letters A-Z on it but after doing a search on the forum I played around with my settings and adjusted the alpha levels and tried vertical etc. Now I know what you're talking about and can see what you mean about the blank spot on the right, you just have to look at my Fast Freddie theme to see that problem.

The big problem facing people making themes is there is no way to tell if someone is going to want to show the wheel and what sort of wheel will they choose?

I myself after trying those options will go with the current wheel with Alpha at 0, I really don't like the vertical wheel at all.

So what do I do now?

Do I just make the theme for how I like my HyperSpin to look?

Or do I make a few versions to try and cater for everybody?

[Dazz]

Just post it how you designed it. If anyone that is using alpha/vertical wheel options they can make the necessary modifications if they want to.

[RetroBorg]

I ended up doing two versions:

Wheel Version - Get it here: http://www.hyperspin-fe.com/forum/downloads.php?do=file&id=390

http://www.hyperspin-fe.com/forum/downloads/pac-man-640x480_698.jpg

No Wheel Version - Get it here: http://www.hyperspin-fe.com/forum/downloads.php?do=file&id=391

http://www.hyperspin-fe.com/forum/downloads/pac-man-02-640x480_B45.jpg

Enjoy! :)

[The Loafer]

I am not trying to be a negative nanny here and am just expressing an opinion. But I don't know if it's a good idea to start having 2 versions of each theme released because of the new "hide the wheel" feature. This could prove confusing to many of our members. Wouldn't it be a better idea to release the one theme, but have two different (game).xml file? I'm assuming perhaps incorrectly that this is where the differences are in the themes, vis a vis location of artwork, etc?

[RetroBorg]

Wouldn't it be a better idea to release the one theme, but have two different (game).xml file? I'm assuming perhaps incorrectly that this is where the differences are in the themes, vis a vis location of artwork, etc?

Doh! I didn't think of that, that's much easier, the whole thing was a such pain in the ass too. I doubt whether I'll do the two version of one theme thing again anyway, I should have just done what Dazz recommended.

Thanks for your logical suggestion Loafer.

[The Loafer]

Not a problem, glad to help. This theme looks great btw. Not sure if this is the proper description but I just feel it seems very "respectful" to the Pacman game. Weird, eh?

[RetroBorg]

Not sure if this is the proper description but I just feel it seems very "respectful" to the Pacman game. Weird, eh?

If you look at nearly all my themes, I like to make the artwork do what happens in the game, so with this one it had to be pacman being chased by ghosts etc.

The other thing about Pac-Man, I can still remember when I first saw the game and I thought how cool the graphics were, but really the graphics are really simple they just stood out so well on the black background and that's what I tried to do with this theme.

Glad you enjoyed it, by the way which version are you using?

[joebells]

maybe, and this is a big maybe and definitely I don't want a lot of time wasted on, but maybe both setups could be listed in the xml and hyperspin could load one or the other depending on wether the wheel is faded or not? If there isn't multiple layouts in the xml then it would just use the one that is listed.

Just an idea, then maybe widescreen could even be defined :D and chosen if people were running at a widescreen resolution

[The Loafer]

Retroberg: Neither yet, I'm at work and just saw the two pics. I would use the one with the wheel myself, as I like it appearing. I think I'm in a minority on that one. I actually haven't had a chance to even try the newer Hyperspin, so have yet to try out the wheel fade option.

[EvilDindon]

Hi RB,

I just installed your theme, and it doesn't show the video ?

EDIT : I just checked circo's videos (dl from the torrent): pacman.flv isn't in the list.
So I renamed puckman.flv to pacman.flv and now it's ok.

PS : I noticed that the cherry artwork has an imperfection (a white pixel in the middle). It's really the first time I see that in your themes. So you are human and you're making mistakes sometimes ? I thought you were a theme-making cyborg, caus' all of your themes are so prefessionals and so perfect !

[RetroBorg]

Hi RB,

I just installed your theme, and it doesn't show the video ?

EDIT : I just checked circo's videos (dl from the torrent): pacman.flv isn't in the list.
So I renamed puckman.flv to pacman.flv and now it's ok.

Yeah I forgot to mention about the video, thanks.



PS : I noticed that the cherry artwork has an imperfection (a white pixel in the middle). It's really the first time I see that in your themes. So you are human and you're making mistakes sometimes ? I thought you were a theme-making cyborg, caus' all of your themes are so prefessionals and so perfect !

What white pixel? :flute:

Yes EvilDindon I make plenty of mistakes, it did get through my quality control testing, now I can no longer enjoy my theme because all I see is that damm white pixel. :banghead:

Thanks for letting me know. :)

Okay for you guys that have downloaded the file, attached below is one without the white pixel:

You put it here: \HyperSpin\Media\MAME\Images\Artwork4

Can anyone instruct me on how to edit my zip file so I can rectify the problem for future downlowds.

Cheers.

Theme-making Cyborg

[Visitor Q]

I did not read all the posts but there is no pacman.flv file. I had to rename my puckman to pacman for the video to work in this theme. Is that a result of the flv being named wrong or something in the theme?

[The Loafer]

Pacman is a alternate/clone of Puckman and emumovies do movies of only the original game. Your renaming of the puckman flv is exactly what you gotta do :).

[Visitor Q]

Yup, thats what I did.

[Captain Flint]

Just wanted to let you know this is a great theme!

[RetroBorg]

Thanks Captain Flint, which theme out of the two did you use?