Julien Pierret
Active experiment

Arcade Frontend and Game Metadata

A graphical emulator frontend with HyperSpin theme support and a data pipeline for cleaning and organizing Super Nintendo metadata.

2024–present · Designer and developer
EmulationGamingData Engineering
View source
Arcade Frontend interface
Contribution boundary

This is a personal project. HyperSpin themes and game metadata originate from their respective ecosystems; the frontend and normalization workflow are my implementation.

The problem

Emulation libraries combine structured metadata, inconsistent naming, screenshots, videos, themes, and per-system conventions. A useful frontend has to make all of those sources feel like one product.

What I built

The project combines a .NET graphical frontend with HyperSpin theme support and a metadata pipeline for Super Nintendo titles. The data work is as important as the interface: names need normalization, duplicate entries need reconciliation, and media needs to map reliably to the right game.

Technical shape

raw metadata + media + themes
              |
              v
       normalization pipeline
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              v
          local database
              |
              v
        graphical frontend

The result is an end-to-end application motivated by something I actually want to use, with UI, media integration, and data quality all influencing the design.