Fun with backgrounds

HyperSpin offer up many options for how it interacts with backgrounds.  The background is the bottom most layer of artwork.  When you move from one theme to the next the background obviously has to change. HyperSpin makes changing backgrounds fun by using some really cool transition effects.

For optimization purposes backgrounds are divided up into several types.

Level 1 Backgrounds - These are some simple common low cpu transitions like fade and wipe. Only a few transitions are part of Level 1.

Level 2 Backgrounds - The majority of transitions are in this level and are slightly more intense than Level 1. Good for moderate cpu usage.

Level 3 Backgrounds - Contain several more transitions that include blur effects.  Requires a better cpu to run these. 

Level 4 Backgrounds - Warning, only activate these if you have a really good computer. These includes some advanced transitions.

Transitions are basically interesting effects that are applied to the incoming background image.  We do things like chop the image up into lots of pieces and animated those individual pieces in until the whole image is revealed.  Transitions can also be something simple such as the background image simpy moving in from one of the sides of the screen and into position.  All transitions are random and are not chosen by the theme creator, this adds more excitement to HS because you never know what to expect, especially that HS includes well over 300 variations of many transition styles.

Here is an example of a transition.  The first image shows the new background coming in as some bouncy stripes.  The second image reveals the final background.

Another type of transition we offer is whats called an interstitial background.  When moving from one theme to the next you have an option to see an extra background between themes.  You will move from one theme to the next, then an interstitial background will load very quickly, then your new themes background will follow with its transition.  The interstitial backgrounds add an extra layer of fun between themes.  Interstitial backgrounds can be any image you want.  If you make a folder of these images they will be randomly chosen to display between themes.  Also each sub-menu can have its own folder of interstitial backgrounds. This way you can have only backgrounds that are related to the system you choose.

Below is an example of an interstitial background.

Lastly the coolest type of transtion you can activate are special backgrounds or also referred to as video transitions.  Video transitions make use of the not well known feature of the flv video format which is the support of an alpha channel.  Most of the time when you visit a website that has video its usually just a square shaped video.  But flv video can have a transparent channel so that the video can have any shape.  We take advantage of this feature directly in HyperSpin and came up with the idea of making video transitions for themes.  When moving to a new game a video transitions will start to play a cool video clip.   This video clip can be many things such as a HyperSpin logo,some neat particle effects or a fun 3D animation.  HyperSpin includes several of these transitions with the installation.

Here is an example of an HS Logo transition:

All video transitions are located in the \Media\Frontend\Video\Transitions  folder.  Video transitions are universal across all systems.  However we do offer you the option to have whats called override transitions.  For example if someone makes a cool video transition that goes really well with a certain game or is made just for a specific game, then you can have only that transtion apply to that game all the time.  Just rename the video flv file to the romname for the game you want to see the transition appear on, then place the video in the system specific override folder. 

i.e  \Media\MAME\Video\Override Transitions

Any type of background effect can be turned off or on, use the optimizer tab in HyperHQ to easily control these effects.