Main > Project Announcements
Multi-Williams / Mame Project
leapinlew:
--- Quote from: taylormadelv on February 13, 2011, 01:59:30 pm ---I find it interesting how much attention is being paid to the reverse controls on this MW project and not a single word about the hyperspace button placement. I have never played a Multi Williams but from what I have read/seen, there are serious compromises in the controls when it comes to playing Stargate or (Defender). Having an 8 way instead of a 2 way joystick and the hyperspace button being in a totally different spot than an original Stargate makes the game play very different. The MW artwork takes precendence over the controls. The only way to play Stargate properly is on a dedicated Stargate cabinet IMO.
--- End quote ---
Does anyone use the hyperspace (aka maybe you'll die, maybe you'll live) button? Hyperspace isn't a regularly used button. The 8 way isn't the only compromise with the joystick. Defender had a small shaft and the joystick was much lower to the control panel than Robotron.
I think for a casual player, a multiwilliams machine makes a lot of sense.
quanlee:
--- Quote from: taylormadelv on February 13, 2011, 01:59:30 pm ---I find it interesting how much attention is being paid to the reverse controls on this MW project and not a single word about the hyperspace button placement. I have never played a Multi Williams but from what I have read/seen, there are serious compromises in the controls when it comes to playing Stargate or (Defender). Having an 8 way instead of a 2 way joystick and the hyperspace button being in a totally different spot than an original Stargate makes the game play very different. The MW artwork takes precendence over the controls. The only way to play Stargate properly is on a dedicated Stargate cabinet IMO.
--- End quote ---
From my experience, and my own preference most people who play Stargate don't use the hyperspace button. It's a crap shoot, you hit it and you roll the dice whether you re-appear in a good spot or die. In Defender, I think the hyperspace button takes you to a humanoid being captured, so it's a little more useful. As for the location, I don't think it's as critical as the reverse button.... why? You have to hit the reverse button with your thumb while controlling the ship up/down with the left stick. You have to be able to reach it while holding the stick. Most of the CP layouts I have seen, it's too far away for that.
I tried playing Stargate with my prototype CP and it was decent. The 8 way stick doesn't seem to be an issue, yeah you tend to move the stick to the right or left at times, but it doesn't move the ship, if you put it in the right upper corner, it still goes up. So... I don't think the 2 way / 8 way stick is an issue. The bigger issue with the stick I think is the height. My first prototype had long shaft bat type sticks, and those were tough to use for Defender and Stargate. My new JLF's from Paradise (plug) have ball ends, and don't stick up so high, so they are closer to the original Stargate / Defender feel.
I might take a look at the hyperspace button though, but my concern at the moment is that it might be too close to the front of the CP, and be tough to get a button in that space, with the wood from the front and corner being in the way.
quanlee:
--- Quote from: leapinlew on February 13, 2011, 03:26:03 pm ---
--- Quote from: taylormadelv on February 13, 2011, 01:59:30 pm ---I find it interesting how much attention is being paid to the reverse controls on this MW project and not a single word about the hyperspace button placement. I have never played a Multi Williams but from what I have read/seen, there are serious compromises in the controls when it comes to playing Stargate or (Defender). Having an 8 way instead of a 2 way joystick and the hyperspace button being in a totally different spot than an original Stargate makes the game play very different. The MW artwork takes precendence over the controls. The only way to play Stargate properly is on a dedicated Stargate cabinet IMO.
--- End quote ---
Does anyone use the hyperspace (aka maybe you'll die, maybe you'll live) button? Hyperspace isn't a regularly used button. The 8 way isn't the only compromise with the joystick. Defender had a small shaft and the joystick was much lower to the control panel than Robotron.
I think for a casual player, a multiwilliams machine makes a lot of sense.
--- End quote ---
My JLF sticks are pretty short... 8) I think they are pretty close to the original height, but maybe a little taller so you won't wear the skin on your knuckles down.
Does anyone remember "defender finger?", that blister / abrasion that you would get on your middle finger knuckle from moving the joystick up and down, since the stick was so short? I have a scar on my finger from that... I played a lot of Stargate when I was about 13. I could walk into Pinball Pete's (local arcade in Lansing, Michigan) and play for 30-40 minutes on a single quarter, but like to also start out with 2 quarters... more ships and bombs.
quanlee:
I created another prototype control panel, fixing some issues I had with my first attempt. Major change was I used my new JLF sticks from Paradise (plug) instead of the old bat style sticks.
Those JLF sticks had a different type of wiring harness with a single ground wire, so my quick connectors I had been using (2 wires per joystick side) was not going to work. The joystick came with a nice connector with 5 wires (left, right, up, down and ground). So... I soldered each of the four directional wires, and the ground to their respective wires going into the USB quick connect. That resulted in a wire harness with my USB pin connector on one side, and my JLF joystick connector on the other side.
Here's a pic of the CP all wired up.
and... now set in my cabinet temporarily for some testing. The testing I did went very well. I had to change the direction of the left stick, since it was rotated to leave room for the reverse button, that required some re-programming in the mame interface. Once that was all done the games I tried were great. I played all of the MW games, including Stargate and Defender. The reverse button worked great, felt like it was right where it was supposed to be. The thrust and fire seemed a bit too far away to the right, but I got used to it very quickly.
I noticed one problem, the fire and thrust buttons (rigt most buttons) are too close to each other. My next revision will have them another 1/8" apart, I'll just do that on the final. I'm also going to take a closer look at the hyperspace button, make sure it's not too close to the front of the CP. I'm glad I've spent some extra time on these prototypes, so I don't run into a major blunder after ordering/printing the CPO and drilling holes in my nice cleaned up CP.
Next steps: finalize my control panel layout, either print or order my control panel overlay, fill holes in my control panel. Remove the LCD monitor outer shell and figure out a nice way to mount the LCD monitor inside the cabinet.
quanlee:
I received my cabinet graphics from (starts with S, ends with S and rymes with naples). They turned out great, and the price was right. The colors are amazing. I'm going to have the CPO lamintated before I put it on. The samples of lamination I have seen were perfect. I'm sandwiching the bezel and marquee between sheets of glass cut to size.
Here are the individual sheets
Here's the marquee installed, no light yet.
Here's the bezel and marquee.
Having second thoughts about leaving the brown sides with Joust stencil... a nice black paint would do it some good.