Hi all,

I would like to give you all a preview of the new bluemsx launcher i'm developing. It's currently called "msx center" but i'm looking for a good name so any suggestion is welcome.

Also i would like to know if anyone has any interresting features he or she would like to see added.

it currently supports launching games with blueMSX.

Here are a few screenshots,

Startup


Main game list


Select rom file for game (if there are multiple)


Select machine to run on



Please let me know what you think.

-Gaze

1) does the bluemsx output run inside this launcher? or do you get a seperate window?

2) how's the hotkey-support?

that pawn is too MSN messenger to me

for the rest it looks pretty cool... maybe it's an idea to make such a launcher more compatible with other emulators as well?

yes, keep them coming all those suggestions.

the emulator is started separate from the launcher, so it could be easilly adapted to server other emulators as long it has parameters.
What do you mean with hotkey support?, it's currently keyboard only so no mouse is required. when selecting a game you can use the keyboard to jump to games starting with the letters a to z

i know the pawn is messenger like, but as i'm no graphic wiz, i just used images that i found on the internet, so if anyone is willing to help with the images, please let me know.

One idea is to make the machine dialog easier to use by having the generic machines grouped together (MSX, MSX2, MSX2+, MSX TR). Most gamers don't need to select specific machines.

Another feature that would be nice is to have the ability to load saved states through the front end.

It would be great too if the interface could be navigagted using the joystick.

I agree with BiFi get rid of the pawn, why not bring the penguin back? A similar interface as Konami's "Games Master" with the penguin pointing?

Names, well if it is only going to work with BlueMSX you could call it "Blue Centre" or maybe "BlueMSX Centre"

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the emulator is started separate from the launcher, so it could be easilly adapted to server other emulators as long it has parameters.

I'd prefer a single window tho (like blue/nl)..

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What do you mean with hotkey support?, it's currently keyboard only so no mouse is required. when selecting a game you can use the keyboard to jump to games starting with the letters a to z

Ah, but that's a fixed-list with games? Or can you just add .roms, .dsks to that list with common load-dialogs?

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i know the pawn is messenger like, but as i'm no graphic wiz, i just used images that i found on the internet, so if anyone is willing to help with the images, please let me know.

Also think of a complete minimalistic-style launcher, most of your screens is currently smooth blue, all the info together would fit a more compact window.

the list you see it the rom list from the xml databases that are deployed with bluemsx, also the program can enumerate all files on the computer to find disks, roms and cas files. All files that have been found are drawn in white, all files that are in the database that aren't found are gray, all files that are found but not in the database are also white.
it's easy to select different files because you can select by system (msx/sega/coleco/svi/all), by media (disk/rom/tape/all) and by (found/not found/all)

wolf_: what do you exactly mean by a minimalistic launcher and a more compact window?, the program is designed to run fullscreen.
djh: the penguin is good, i just need some nice pictures of the penguin for the different elements in the program, can you draw these?

What I mean is: (but that all accounts just for *my* case)

I rarely or never use an emu fullscreen. I usually have some stuff in the backgrounds like IRC to keep an eye ion, some fora, MSN sometimes, winamp .. etc. I wouldn't want to use a fullscreen launcher (if it stays on screen) for those reasons. That's why I prefer emulators with built-in launcher, or launchers with built-in emulators. And if there *must* be a seperate launcher, then as small as possible, winamp-size, so I can tuck it away in some corner.

Otoh, I might be the wrong person to ask things to anyway, since I'd prolly keep using NLMSX and BlueMSX, both all-in-one emulators that don't *really* need a launcher.

If your aim is to make a user-friendly, n00b-proof launcher for real beginners/n00bs, just select a game and run, then it's allright. Tho current emulators aren't that hacky, but if that's really your main goal then I'd skip all the different msx configs, and just use a few models, MSX1, MSX2, MSX2+, turbo R. All fully installed with all kinda extensions so that everything always runs for novice users.

It looks very slick, but yeah, ditch the messenger pawn :-)

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djh: the penguin is good, i just need some nice pictures of the penguin for the different elements in the program, can you draw these?

Sorry - i am no artist!