SITE UPDATE - February 26, 2018

In-Game Artwork: 35 new games; 1 game updated artwork; update to page layout

Now that the site is back up and running, it is time to get to the next step in the plan: moving all of the existing MESS Artwork to this page.

We are going to do it in phases. The current MESS artwork page has about 100 files that would be considered current artwork. On top of that, there is all the handheld artwork that the team over at Bannister's forums has been working on, plus some recent stuff posted at the Artwork forums. If we released all that in one shot, we probably would not break MAMEWorld, but I would rather not take the chance.

In addition, much of the current MESS artwork needs work before it is moved over here. There are certain standards that I try and maintain here (which I should probably actually put in writing... coming soon). With that said, I am going through each file, doing what needs to be done, and then I need to run each of those systems in MAME, to ensure the artwork file actually works and to take a preview screenshot. To do that, I need to understand how to start each system in MAME, load software, etc.

Prior to this week, my experience with non-arcade systems in MAME has been almost none... and in retrospect, I have been missing out. There are SO many different systems that are in MAME now, it truly is amazing. I feel like I have been learning a little bit of computer history as I have been working on everything these past few days. The interface for computer and other systems, which intimidated me in the past, is actually quite intuitive to use, once you have run thirty different systems on it, some of them requiring software to be loaded. Do it over and over enough, and it really is as simple as "regular" MAME.

At first, I was simply going in alphabetical order, but that got boring, so I ended up skipping around using one criteria, then another, then another, and by yesterday, I had 34 new files to add. For historical purposes, I have put a somewhat copy of the current MESS artwork page here, minus any artwork that was marked as updated in 2017. Those were the biggest files, and have already been moved to the current artwork page.

When all is said and done, just like the previous iteration of the old MAME artwork page, there may be a few files from the current MESS page that will not be added to the current artwork page. I am thoroughly trying to find replacement images for each file that needs it, and I have not fallen short yet; we will see how things progress in the next few weeks. With that, here is what we have for today:

• Added the artwork for Speak & Spell, Speak & Math, Speak & Read, and Wiz-A-Tron. Scans were by Lord Nightmare, and artwork cleanup was done by Comboman. I fixed the crooked E and O keys in snspell, as those were setting me off every time I looked at the file.


• Added Simon, again thanks to Lord Nightmare and Comboman. I tweaked things in the LAY file for this one, so that the actual area of each lamp is the clickable part of the artwork; no more, no less.


• Added the artwork for Milton Bradley Dark Tower, completed by The Flying Ape.


• Added the version of Amstrad NC100 completed by Retro27.


• Added the files for 4004clk, 990189, a500n, aim65, and ccmk2 as they were, with very minor changes to the LAY files (simply to standardize how everything else is on this site).


• Added Alien Chase, thanks to AntoPisa.


• Added alnattck, apple2e, a1000n, c64p, c128; replaced previous pictures to improve perspective.


• Added bbcb and bbcm; replaced the Cub monitor in both of those with a better picture. Also added bbcmc, which would have used the same monitor. Looks like I have a mistake in the LAY file for two of those, though, so they will be updated again next release.


• Added kim1 and junior; replaced both with an improved pic; fixed the LAY file for kim1 so that clickable artwork works again.


• Added ccmk2 and ssystem3; replaced pics in both files with improved versions.


• Added dmv; cleaned up the pic a bit more; reworked the LAY file to use the Group function for the Status Lamps and Diagnostic LEDs.


• Added avigo and palmiii; replaced pics in both files with improved versions; added an overlay to avigo to better match the actual screen color.


• Added svision; added an alternate version of the hardware, and added an overlay to better match the actual screen color.


• Added mpf1 and mpf1b; replaced pics in both files with improved version; replaced chip on mpf1b to differentiate it from mpf1.


• Added mpf1p; replaced the pic to show correct version of the hardware; fixed the LAY file to show correct LEDs and clickable buttons (though this driver is currently not working).


• Added the larger version of gamepock; cleaned the pic up some; fixed the LAY file, so that screen ratio was correct; added an overlay to better match the actual screen color.


• Updated sc2drwho; I forget why I was looking at this, but I noticed something in it that needed fixing and fixed it.


• Added 005, simply because it is the first file in MAME's game listing; I did this before I started working on the code for the new page, and wanted to ensure things worked correctly. File currently has a generic bezel similar in dimension to the actual one, which I don't have a scan of. I am working on the actual marquee, which will be added at a later date.


• Added Adventure Vision; I could not help myself adding at least one new thing that did not exist yet.

Finally... added a column to the page to add detail for Clickable artwork, as that is an important feature in many non-arcade systems in MAME.

Next update: Part II of moving over MESS Artwork.