We're now up to 60 cores released for the Pocket from 9 different developers. The most visible front-facing part of these cores is the Platform information and image. This includes how cores are sorted in the openFPGA menu, the titles of the core in the menu, and the image that appears when selected.
Some core information is slightly inconsistent with others, so I've been rewriting Platform information on my own and making new images as well. I made in initial release back in November covering some cores to make them consistent with others. But now I've finished making a complete image set that covers all currently released cores.
https://github.com/dyreschlock/pocket-platform-images
For each of the Arcade core, I've tried to make an image like the original marquee for the Arcade cabinet. Usually these images are available, and it only takes 5 minutes to make the image. But, for some Arcade games, those images can be hard to find in good quality. Often too, if I do get a good image, the original artwork looks lame.
Recently, I've been recreating many of these images using key art from officially marketing at the time. I put the image on the canvas and try to make it fit. Often I need to blend things around, move the title and other things in the background for a good composition. Now, I tend to spend around an hour of two making an image.
Additionally, there are some Arcade cores that can run multiple noteworthy games since manufacturers often reused their boards for other games. Later still, some game companies made board that would specifically run multiple games. Images for those cores are different than just a simple marquee.
You can view them all here:
https://github.com/dyreschlock/pocket-platform-images/../image_overview_arcade.md
Below are some of my favorites that I spent some time on:
People had like my images, but some people complained that my image set wasn't complete. Thus, I created a "Home" image set to complement my Arcade images. Home would include cores for Consoles, Handhelds, and Computers. Technically, handhelds aren't specifically made for the home, but I think this monicker is pretty descriptive.
I really liked Terminator2k2's Image set which just had the logos of the systems, but I needed to do something else to distinguish my set. I got the idea when I started looking at old ads for consoles that showed off their game libraries. Also on Twitter, many people like to post a smattering or a pile of game boxes when they have a large haul from a shopping spree. I thought that I should try and do that. Games are the most important thing for any console or handheld after all. They should be displayed front and center.
I already had a bunch of box art downloaded thanks to my Pocket Utils project, so I made a collage of them in photoshop, added some perspective, shrunk down to the correct size, and color-corrected some things to make it look alright in grayscale.
Overall, I think they turned out pretty good. I think it gives a great sense of the number of options you have available for each platform. They may be a bit overwhelming and gaudy though since the Analogue Pocket prides itself on minimalism.
You can view them all here:
https://github.com/dyreschlock/pocket-platform-images/../image_overview_home.md
There is still lots to look forward for the Analogue Pocket in the future. The MiSTer is another FPGA device that has been around much longer than the Analogue Pocket, and there are hundreds of cores that have been created. All cores available for the Analogue Pocket today are ports of these cores. Because of this, it's easy to see a roadmap for future cores to be released on the Pocket. In particular, core developers Jotego and Open Gateware (aka Boogerman) have a wealth of cores they plan to bring to the Pocket.
I've worked ahead quite a bit so when new cores are released, I don't have to spend that afternoon making the image. It's already done, and I can quickly make a new release of Platform Images.
Here are some images for possible future cores:
You can view all of these images here:
https://github.com/dyreschlock/pocket-platform-images/../_unreleased
As these cores get released, these images are moved into their released folders, so hopefully this category will be zero someday.