CP Layout - any thoughts?

[MNW]

OK - took the feedback from my previous post and put this CP Layout together (thanks to everyone for their thoughts).  I think it is pretty standard, and one of my goals is to keep the CP a reasonable size.

Any thoughts or suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

[markronz]

Seems pretty decent.  I see from your button placement that you're fighting the old symmetry bug that I always fight with.   If you're slanting the buttons in different directions simply for looks, I'm not sure it's worth it.   If you play in player 1's spot, and then friends come over and you are suddenly playing player 2's spot, the different button placement might be a little confusing.   Well, not confusing, but it would be a slight adjustment.   For myself, I would want both sides to be identical placements, so that it's the same experience no matter which spot you're playing it.  But again, that's your call.

And like we talked about, those two buttons above the trackball might be ok, you know, provided they are not an Exit or Reset button which you might accidentally hit in Golden Tee or the like.

And about the size, as much as I can stare at your layout and think it looks fine, the only way you will know if it's comfortable is to make a test control panel.  You can use cardboard or whatever you need to do.  Then have two people stand up by it and see if you can both comfortably stand by each other and reach the controls and all that.

FWIW, this is what my control panel ended up looking like

[MNW]

Oops, I put this layout together at work (damn you arcadecontrols.com!), and made a last minute adjustment, but forgot to switch the buttons on the right hand side.  Thanks for the catch.  Here is what I meant to post.

I also moved the spinner over to the left to try to minimize the interference with the Track Ball.  My thoughts on this are that the buttons by the spinner wouldn't be active when using the Track Ball, so any accidental contact with those buttons shouldn't cause problems.

[markronz]

Looks ok to me then!  Just test er out and see if you like the size.

[VanillaGorilla]

What if you did something like this? You could eliminate 2 buttons, because now the spinner and p1 joy could share buttons. It also clears away the area above the trackball, so you wont smash your fingers on the spinner, or the screen, with more follow-through clearance. It sucks reaching over everything to use the spinner, your arms will drag and catch the controls behind it, its just not comfortable. You wont have perfect symmetry in your layout, visually speaking, but ergonomically I think this would be superior without sacrificing much aesthetic.

[MNW]

Thanks VanillaGorilla.  I need to get this thing off paper and into a prototype to see how it feels.

[Xiaou2]

Ive posted this before... similar to VG's example, but at a slight diagonal to the stick.

 IE: Put the spinner northwest of the stick.  This makes it close enough to reach,
but not interfering with your wrist hitting the spinner in normal stick operation.

 If you need to use the stick and spinner, you will have to use player 2s stick, which isnt that bad really.

................................
.  SP..........................
................................
.........JOY......X..X..X...
...................X..X..X....
.................x..............

 The biggest problem however, is the trackball being so close to the left stick.  With a heavy spin, you will probable smash your hand into it.   You need like like a foot diameter circle of clearance for a trackball.  (unless your just using it as a mouse pointer)

Edit:

 If you want to get extreme, theres a few ways you could maintain the small footprint, yet get good trackball action.

1) Flip up Trackball.  Flips up and out of the CP, hanging over the CP edge.
2) Pull out Trackball.  On locking slides, section pulls out and hangs over the edge of the CP.
3) Pick up the CP, rotate it Horizontally, and use the Trackball located on the opposite side of the CP.
4) Pivot the CP on an vertical axis, and put the TB on the bottom of the CP.
5) Pull out locking Slide Drawer under the CP, loaded with TB's & a few buttons.
6) Front mount TB, hinged, that folds up level with the CP. (locking it securely would be the hardest part)
7) Expanding CP. TB stays in place, but both CP sides slide away from it on rails, giving room.