Updated version here:
http://luigihann.googlepages.com/pacman.rarI changed a few things besides the life bar. Playing around with the "approach circle" is fun, but the result is always too distracting to actually use, so I left it with the default one.
Fraeon, I kind of agree with you. I added a black border to Pac-man, which helps him fit in better with the style of the skin. The reason I don't make him more pixelly is mostly because the original arcade animation of him "munching" is only 3 frames, and I couldn't add frames in any non-awkward way. Plus, with the rotation, it'd look a bit off anyway. Still, rest assured that I did think about it.
The italics and shading are just intended to give it more of a psuedo-retro feel, rather than an actual representation of game sprites. Because 80's gaming was all about imagining that games looked better than they did.
Peppy, can I make a couple requests about the slider? Hopefully these aren't too complex, and if they are, feel free to ignore them.
A) I don't care about texture or graphics or anything, but it'd be nice if I could choose the color of the fill and the border, perhaps in the ini, with the option of using the combo color or not. That could hypothetically get a little complex, I don't know much about how it's done, but it'd be nice.
B) Right now, you've probably noticed, if Pac-man hits a reverse arrow he starts backing up. It'd be nice if the graphic flipped around so he always faces forward
Other than those two things, this skinning engine is fantastic for surreal things like this. I think I will make some kind of Pac-Man song beatmap now.