LJX UI Ideas

[Tinnus]

That's it! I can't have any good ideas for the launcher/in-game UI in LJX and I decided I'd rather look at what the community wants so I don't do something bad and have to start over ;D

So the idea is basically that: give me ideas, preferable picture mock-ups I know some of you are good with imaging programs, so just give me some pictures of the screens like ROM list, config screen and etc. Keep in mind I need a UI for the Launcher AND In-Game. Part of an "idea" consists in deciding whether those should be the same thing, or different, or maybe we don't have any in-game UI at all (??) or the in-game UI is a trimmed-down version of the Launcher UI, or maybe the In-game UI is just the game config screen + return to launcher...

*** IMPORTANT ***

Not all target devices for LJX have a touch screen or mouse. So the UI should be usable with buttons (think GP2X or PSP) and with a touchscreen or mouse (think PalmOS or Pandora or PC). I'd VERY MUCH rather not have two different interfaces for touch and non-touch functionality, so the ideal UI can use both. Also because sometimes you're just not in the mood to get a stylus and tap stuff around. Ideas that only work with a touchscreen in mind will be considered severely less

You can just add bogus text for e.g the options since the configurations themselves aren't fixed in stone yet, the most important thing is how the whole stuff structures. My basic setup currently is that: (just ideas, nothing done)

Intro(maybe)->System list(maybe, possibly only the 1st time?)->Rom List

Rom List has:
- Actual list
- Launch (new game)
- Load (saved state)
- Game. config. (maybe could go after you select a game?)
- possibly a command "make settings default" for the system
- Emu. config (glocal emulated system config)
- Global framework config. (possibly also in system list)
- System selector (so you dont have to go back)

Then Launch->Game

Game can access the In-Game UI that's basically the game. config. screen + "exit/launcher"


So, give me teh id4as. I'll then look at everything and come to my final conclusions. Keep in mind I'll use them as HEAVY inspirations since I suck bad at graphics design, heh. Might even (and probably will) use the same art for icons and stuff so preferably state the source of your icons/art where applicable. Oh, and any art must be compatible with the GPL.

Oh, and no MS-Paint mockups please If you just want to show a quick small idea, it's fine to say it in text

Just keep the ideas coming; meanwhile I'll be a little busy working on psx4all, but just between you (all) and me, I've been working little things in LJX here and there (video modes, autofire, etc)

[countbuggula]

<Pssst> Nobody give him any ideas so he can work on psx4all without being inturrupted with LJX! </psst>

[Tinnus]

Note that I didn't say I was working on the Palm version specifically

[natepless]

Oh darn Ill have to put photoshop back on my computer now!

[icefire]

My LJX UI is back !

I redid the tabs, so you have like a bar, but it shows what you are in. Unused ones should be hidden.

The center button launches, the side buttons are self-explanitory :-).

No idea what the rocket it (probably not GPL, need a new one), and the wallpaper must be changeable because the PSP wallpaper is
most likely NOT GPL








EDIT: This WILL work on square screens, just squish it in a bit. for portrait, you could just flip to landscape for the launcher.

[samphex]

Just an idea here. When a person clicks on the console list, I was thinking it can be a a side scroll screen like Metaview's 2cool4u contacts list except it is horizontal not vertical(vertical would be cool as well though).

[_Em]

I've got a good suggestion shamelessly pulled from PalmMAME: have a rating system (bronze, silver and gold stars, as well as a not working icon and a not rated option If the ratings could be stored in a separate file, people could trade ratings files even

[niccoism]

honestly I think the old ui is fine. I like having simpler ones because performance is very important to me. icefire's is nice too. But having a graphic intensive ui or one that plays an intro movie is not preferable. Speed and getting straight to gaming is what ljx should be all about! :]

btw: will a cheat option (like gameshark) be included in LJX? and approx. how long until the release? sorry for the second question, but I check this site like everyday for updates (I also use LJP everyday in class), and I would just like a rough estimation on the next release (like in a month or a year).

[Tinnus]

I forgot to say something VERY important. THe launcher must be usable by navigating with a touchscreen and with keys. Several of the target devices have no touchscreen or mouse support whatsoever. Maybe that's ctually the hardest part

niccoism: Game Genie and the like will probably be supported at some time. I have no idea when a release is going to happen, but an official full release is not going to happen soon, although I post some updates now and then along with some beta stuff (like the PC NES module and Pam NES and SMS modules a while back). Sorry, I know it should happen sooner and it's not that big of a deal, but I work on this n my spare time and it's a huge undertaking due to the wide range of target and emulated systems. It would be far easier if the task was to adapt one emulator to a particular host system On the other hand, with the framework completed, it's really easy to add a new emulator or host system to LJX as has been proven by the Palm port (which I did in 2 hours after figuring out the build environment) and the revamped NGP module (redone with fresh updated NeoPop code). When I plugged both of those in, all the common features just worked at once, for example all display modes and emulators work in PalmOS, and all screen modes, frameskip, sound, etc works in NGP for all host systems (well, they should, I didn't really test on anything else but PC; ut it has no reason to work different )

[niccoism]

wow thanks a lot guys. that was a quick reply. i guess i'll just check every month now instead. once again, thanks for the info.

[_Em]

Tinnus, I might be in the minority, but I'm for having game genie support via the ROM over via software; this would mean you'd have to support a check for the romfile, but it should be very easy to implement as all the other UI is in-game emulation.

This is sort of a "lack of UI" suggestion, I guess

Here's a question: Do all of the target devices have a "focus follows keys" feature like Palm's 5-way? I'm talking the non-touch screen/mouse devices.