What happened to these forums?

[albert_c]

Here is my take on it...

1. HyperLaunch scripts got stable, then decoupled into RocketLauncher
2. 3rd party apps fixed bugs, added stability and features
3. Tutorials were made and posted to Youtube, removing mistique
4. People without scruples that profitted off the work of others removed motivated artists from the scene
5. Bad Boy Bill went into hiatus along with development
6. And HyperSpin is no longer the only game in town with such a nice UI

Number 4 really bugs me. But yeah, let's not go there. Anyways, enjoy it for what it is.

[Trnzaddict]

I drop in myself only a couple times a week now.

I think the two main reasons things seem different around here are:

1: When HL became Rocketlauncher and broke free of ties to HS, this changed a lot of stuff. A lot of people came here to see what kind of goodies the Hyperlaunch team were working on. Now we can go to their site to check on that.

2: Most importantly Bill seems to be on another hiatus and I think because of this random behavior a lot of us that have been on here for years have lost hope for an update to fix a lot of the still long standing bugs with the program.

[Avar]

Often if BBB is quiet it's because he's working on HyperSpin or HyperPin. I wouldn't lose faith over it. Also, despite there being more competitive frontends now, there were always other options which could be configured with attractive AIs. HS still offers pretty much unlimited possibilities, especially now that we're able to build themes in NLEs.

[Tribe Fan]

Are there any tutorials out there explaining how to build themes in NLEs or after effects? I'd love to give it a try.

[Avar]

Are there any tutorials out there explaining how to build themes in NLEs or after effects? I'd love to give it a try.

 

I've made a tutorial explaining how to use NLE created themes which I can link you to if you'd like but I haven't done any yet on NLE editing techniques. I'll do some eventually on some of the more complicated things you can do but there's a lot of good stuff out there for Vegas Pro and Adobe Premiere already as well. They're fairly intuitive. Hell, HyperTheme is like a simplified NLE with fewer options so if you're familiar with HyperTheme you're off to a good start. I use Vegas Pro and James Baker used Premiere so it's ultimately a matter of personal preference for this sort of application.

[Tribe Fan]

It's been so long since I've made a theme. I'd really have to dig back into it. Being able to build them in AE/Premiere would be awesome.

[NewYears1978]

Most of what I would have said has already been said so I won't repeat it. 

 

Several regulars hang in chat though, stop in and chat it up. I am kinda new but I like to hang out, socialize and try to help when I can.

[SkyHighGam3r]

Not even going to lie, these forums validate my entire project.

It's one thing for me to just collect roms, but having something that I can work on with people who share the same interests, and know what I am talking about more than 33% of the time makes me feel not alone.

As an adult, all my friends grew out of this sort of thing, and now have children. So I don't really have anyone to talk to about it, let alone ask for help lol.

So, if nothing else, just being able to speak about it to you guys is worth anything I've witnessed in the last 2 years.

[SIMPLYAUSTIN]

I just liked the pictures people made so not I print them out and cover my walls. Theyr pretty

[damageinc86]

Yeah it's the interaction that really helps bring projects to life.  So the forums might be a little less active than back in the day, but there's new people coming in still, and a solid group of people churning out amazing stuff!  Hyperspin and these forums are the only reason i have had so much fun in the past few years with my retro gaming.  Before this,  I had like 20 mame roms and would play pac-man and dig-dug every few months for fun.  the occasional mario nes game as well.  But there was no "pizazz!", no flash to it.  So it wasn't really fun or, like an "experience".  Half of the fun (and insanity) of this whole retro gaming emulation scene is getting it to work smoothly.  I think these forums do more to bring people together than a lot of places.  It's just fun to hang out and converse about all the different facets to retro gaming emulation.  

[gigapig]

I don't know if anyone feels the same but I do feel a little sad when some members move on and stop posting. You get to consider some as friends and friends with a common interest.

Some very good people have passed through these doors and they are still coming through thankfully.

The talent, passion and dedication is also mind blowing.

THK keeps coming back though

[THK]

THK keeps coming back though

 

I have no social life. That might change within the next year though

[Rincewind]

All I can say is I'm so happy that I found this forum and the youtube videos that the members have made. This is the first website I bring up when I go online and the last before I goto sleep, that speaks volumes too me. This is one of the only place you can mix nostalgia and modern times in one place. Yes if we had updates to the programming that would be cool but it works and that's what matters. 

 

Thank you to all those that are helping this move forwards and have inspired me to setup and build my very own arcade machine. 

[jcm9800]

for me its the same like ricewind says i am happy to be part of this community and i am tired of hearing whats wrong with this community, where is hyperspin 2.0 and so on and on.

why always seeing whats not here or at the moment not here, you should be happy what we have here. iam for my part are really satisfied what we have and all people the are coming to my

home seeing my hyperspin setup are be blown away. what will we have more? you can always in your life search for things that you dont have but you will then never be happy with this what you have.

thanks for all the great guys here the are keeping this side alive and working on it

[dougan78]

I have no social life. That might change within the next year though

What? You converse with these fine people all the time.... who needs real human interaction..you got kick ass marquees, themes, and so much more.. lol. Cheers!

[THK]

What? You converse with these fine people all the time.... who needs real human interaction..you got kick ass marquees, themes, and so much more.. lol. Cheers!

 

Well that's comforting xD

[gigapig]

What? You converse with these fine people all the time.... who needs real human interaction..you got kick ass marquees, themes, and so much more.. lol. Cheers!

 

I heard he's joining the same gym as Sub-Z. 

[THK]

I heard he's joining the same gym as Sub-Z. 

 

You're quite wrong, he's lifting weights, I'm lifting beers

[jcm9800]

lifting beers then weights is much more fun Thk

[dougan78]

I think imho more art work is being produced. More artwork is shared openly and its a busy place. Thats just me though and I started as a noob that never did wood working, electronics stuff, fixed pinball machines or knew a little photoshop, had a rocking dos lan party setup, or a bunch of c64 phreaks or any other multitude of things. So if you cant find something fun on this forums I feel you arent looking!!! I know I am one person but I see amazing stuff here that I cant find anywhere all the time!

Cheers!

[keltoigael]

A lot of old folk are still around. I have a bad habit these days of just skimming a few post and lurk. Pretty much retired from the whole making things for people after I got burned a few times from people but I still enjoy the board with all my old buddies. Still holding out for that Hyperspin 2.0.

[Tomkun]

On a site like this there will always be a certain amount of revolving door members. Ones that join up for a single purpose, get what they want and leave. That's up to them of course, so no point in worrying about it. But the real issue I think is the site losing either old members, or new members with potential.

 

I think a lot of people are looking at it the wrong way. Instead of trying to think of reasons people are leaving, think instead of the lack of reasons to stay.

 

1. Lack of updates. I think that this must be the largest reason for people to leave. Some people have invested a lot of time, and money, in something only to see it fizzle out. Of course people are going to want to switch to a frontend with more active development. Hyperspin is certainly one of, if not the best frontends available, but it will soon be left behind.

 

2. Authoritarianism. Dissent is met with insults, threats of bans, or in some cases actual bans. If someone vents their frustration, sure you can correct them, chastise them if they are out of line, but calling people "liars" or threatening them with a ban because they are not privy to the same information as moderators is not only a dangerous precedent, but I am sure it scares off newcomers.

 

3. Lack of communication. I don't know the reason for BBB's absence. It's probably none of my business and that's fine. But the lack of communication on whether we will ever even get a 2.0 is frustrating.

 

4. Only one developer. Sure there are a lot of people who contribute artwork, databases and the like, but Hyperspin itself has only one developer as far as I am aware. This obviously puts great pressure on the individual so I suppose these 'hiatuses' are inevitable. I don't know the reason for not going open source. I must assume there is a good one, as I can't see a reason why it would hurt development. Fresh blood and all that.

 

4. Self perpetuating decline. As more people leave, and the forums get quieter, then fewer and fewer people are going to find a reason to stay.

 

Having said all that, this is a great community and I'm glad to be a part of it. I just wish I'd joined earlier when I could have got to know all these awesome people who are now MIA.

[SkyHighGam3r]

As someone who is relatively new (from the sound of things. I started my project almost 2 years ago, but am only recently active really) I agree with a lot of what I am seeing here.

I see all this cryptic talk about "2.0" yet have never seen any actual information (Like whatever is supposed to be so great about it) sounds like this is due to Mr. BBB taking his hiatus. Quite honestly, as a result of this sort of thing, the moment I find a frontend that has more features I am going to switch. While I feel some loyalty via gratitude for all the assistance I've gotten here, none of that loyalty is to the program itself. Especially when I am seeing so many more that seem like they are progressing forward at a much more steady pace.

I'll admit the 1.4 update, wherever that came from, was very nice and sped things up. (Honestly too much, my themes were broken because of the speed increase, and I had to redesign the whole damn thing again.)

Even most of the discussions here asking for help seem to pertain more to RocketLauncher or Emulators than they do to the actual Hyperspin program. Which makes sense, given that outside of themes and XMLs, you really can't do anything with Hyperspin lol.

[Styphelus]

Artwork is the reason I come here. That and boredom at work. I actually don't have a lot of free time of my own to work on my Hyperspin setup. 2 years later and it's still a mess. 

 

2.0 exists in beta form. Never seen it myself but I have been told by someone reliable that it exists but has a lot of bugs. This person apparently has a copy of it. Don't think we'll ever see it. Unfortunatelly right now there isn't anything better than Hyperspin, even with it's lack of widescreen support.

 

Gamex was supposed to have a new version about 2 years ago. It never happened and it's not supposed to support wheel art so that's not an option for me.

 

RetroFe seems pro missing but it doesn't support Hyperspin Themes so again, that's not really an option for me.

[SkyHighGam3r]

I hear you about the 2 years thing, though, mine is finally coming together. Thank GOD lol starting to feel like maybe I can go back to actually playing games again.

My needs aren't that great though. For instance, I deleted all my wheel art. With how customized my setup is, it just created more problems than anything, not to mention trying to find wheel-art for some of the systems was just a headache. I also deleted cart/disc art too. I just use the box for the wheel art, have the video play, and then above it you see the game's name sprawled out in text. Might format the text per system, that'd be neat.

I also don't care about widescreen support, and I don't understand why it's so important to people. I mean, yeah it's kinda nice and all, but it's not THAT much better than stretching. I'd rather stretch than 4:3 any day, and I'm not sure why people are so against it, especially to the point that ugly bezels are almost the norm. (Though I did see a nifty dreamcast one that incorporated the VMU, which was clever)

Honestly, as long as I can choose a background and have the box art and videos, I'm good.