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Author Topic: Vindic8r's MOTUMAME  (Read 11285 times)

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vindic8r

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    • MOTUMAME: A Masters of the Universe Arcade Cabinet
Vindic8r's MOTUMAME
« on: May 21, 2012, 11:18:29 am »
I've been working on this, my first cabinet, for a couple of months now. But due to the birth of my daughter, things have slowed/stalled a bit. Still, I'm proud of where this project is headed and am excited to share the progress made with y'all.

Specs
  • Donor cabinet: 1994 Williams Universal 40008 (same cabinet as MK I and Total Carnage)
  • Monitor: Wells-Gardner U2000 25"
  • PC: HP xw4300 Tower, Pentium D Single-Core, 2 GB RAM, Win XP, PCIe Arcade VGA
  • Controls: Quad player panel, 2 Ultrastik 360's, a Groovy TB-3" trackball, Turbotwist 2 spinner, 2 8-way sticks and 37 buttons (from twistedquarter). Each player will be themed to match a MOTU character (He-Man, Skeletor, Man-at-Arms, Evil-Lyn, probably)
  • Theme: Masters of the Universe
  • FE: Hyperspin

Imagine if you will, that the Masters of the Universe franchise had its own arcade game, circa 1983. It's really amazing that it didn't actually, when you think about it. There were games made for the Atari 2600, Intellivision, Commodore 64, Amstrad and a bunch of other home computers of the era, but nothing for the arcade. It's a shame.

So I'm designing this cabinet's artwork as if it was created in the early 80's - the game that was never made but should have been.

When done, the cabinet will include every MOTU video game made during the period of the original series (early-mid '80s):
  • The Power of He-Man - Intellivision
  • MOTU: The Arcade Game - C64 (an action-platformer AKA The Ilearth Stone)
  • MOTU: The Super Adventure - C64 (a graphic adventure AKA Terraquake)
  • MOTU: The Movie - C64

Here's a recent shot of the cabinet, just after we got the old transformer wired up to the monitor for the first time. Note that the marquee is a placeholder. The actual marquee design is still being created and will likely be some derivation of the MOTU logo.


And here's an idea of what the cabinet side-art will look like. He-Man will be on one side, Skeletor on the other. The final direction will end up being something like a combination of these two, I think:
Vector Lines Treatment


Grayskull Landscape Treatment


More designs and updates coming soon.

lordnacho

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Re: Vindic8r's MOTUMAME
« Reply #1 on: May 21, 2012, 11:51:53 am »
Cool idea.  And weird timing, I was just looking on ebay yesterday for some He-man toys for my 3 year old.  After he popped the head off a Thor one(they just don't make them like they used to).  Lots of interesting characters, so I'd really like to see more though than just He-man and Skeletor on the sides.  But then it may be cluttered. 

Vidiot

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Re: Vindic8r's MOTUMAME
« Reply #2 on: May 21, 2012, 12:06:53 pm »
Yeah, this is a cool idea. I really love the way that bezel fits. Looks great. I'm looking forward to seeing what you come up with.


drventure

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Re: Vindic8r's MOTUMAME
« Reply #3 on: May 21, 2012, 12:28:37 pm »
Nice job, and great idea.

I used to have one of those voice altering Castle Greyskulls, a long time ago..... Good times  :)

Yeah8a8y

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Re: Vindic8r's MOTUMAME
« Reply #4 on: May 21, 2012, 04:18:32 pm »
Nice job, and great idea.

I used to have one of those voice altering Castle Greyskulls, a long time ago..... Good times  :)

Wasn't it Snake Mountain that had the voice changer?

TopJimmyCooks

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Re: Vindic8r's MOTUMAME
« Reply #5 on: May 21, 2012, 04:31:01 pm »
When I saw MOTU I thought you were going to include a midi sequencer in the cab.  (ref. Mark of the Unicorn electronic music equipment http://www.motu.com/)

vindic8r

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    • MOTUMAME: A Masters of the Universe Arcade Cabinet
Re: Vindic8r's MOTUMAME
« Reply #6 on: May 21, 2012, 04:47:30 pm »
Wasn't it Snake Mountain that had the voice changer?

Yep. It totally was. Little snake head with a mic in it. I was pissed that it didn't make me sound like Skeletor. Product defect!

When I saw MOTU I thought you were going to include a midi sequencer in the cab.  (ref. Mark of the Unicorn electronic music equipment http://www.motu.com/)

Nope, but there's an idea. Part arcade, part not-so-portable music studio, with crappy speakers.  ;)

drventure

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Re: Vindic8r's MOTUMAME
« Reply #7 on: May 21, 2012, 04:54:08 pm »
Probably  :-[

Hell, that was.... um..... a LONG time ago. I'm surprised I even remembered it was Masters of the Universe.

 :)

yotsuya

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Re: Vindic8r's MOTUMAME
« Reply #8 on: May 21, 2012, 06:19:07 pm »
It's all about Orko, bitches!
***Build what you dig, bro. Build what you dig.***

NiN^_^NiN

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Re: Vindic8r's MOTUMAME
« Reply #9 on: May 21, 2012, 07:07:39 pm »
Very nice start I will be keeping an eye on this one I use to love watching he-man as a kid I still have the he-man kids sword laying around still works too  ;D

I like the artwork with the landscape better  :)

harveybirdman

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Re: Vindic8r's MOTUMAME
« Reply #10 on: May 21, 2012, 07:24:16 pm »
it was a wolf's head, but whatever....

Another vote for adding Man E Faces, Beastman, Whiplash, Stratoss, and Trapjaw....



vindic8r

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    • MOTUMAME: A Masters of the Universe Arcade Cabinet
Re: Vindic8r's MOTUMAME
« Reply #11 on: May 22, 2012, 11:57:22 pm »
Thanks for the encouraging words, all!

Here's the control panel design I've pretty much landed on, after much debate.

I was originally going to have North Coast cut it for me, hence the shape, but now I think I have a local contact that can help me do it instead, and so I'm not bound to the North Coast CP shape. Should I change it? This thing is a beast at 48" wide (the cabinet is only 26.5" wide), and will probably look a bit overly large once mounted.

Would a 90 degree rotation on P3-P4, Simpsons-style, be a better choice? I wonder if ButterGuns had it right with his Blue Gene CP?

Why is this such an agonizing decision??! CURSE YOU, CONTROL PANEL, AND ALL YOUR INFINITE POSSIBILITIES!

BurgerKingDiamond

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Re: Vindic8r's MOTUMAME
« Reply #12 on: May 23, 2012, 10:15:53 am »
FrAnkenPanEL
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BadMouth

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Re: Vindic8r's MOTUMAME
« Reply #13 on: May 23, 2012, 10:42:25 am »
Get some cheap material ($7 project board) and do some mockups to see how they feel.

I wouldn't put the power button on the CP.  If there is a button, guests and kids will press it no matter what it is labelled or what they are told.
I'd put it on the top or the back of the cab.

You might need some more space between the joysticks and start/coin buttons.

I don't think it qualifies as a frankenpanel.  You'd have to add a 4-way joystick and a trigger stick if you want that title.

yotsuya

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Re: Vindic8r's MOTUMAME
« Reply #14 on: May 23, 2012, 11:01:38 am »
I don't think it's a frankenpanel either, but it does look like a ton of buttons centered around the joystick. I realize those are probably credit and start, but I've never been a fan of having them so close to the joystick (personally, I'm not a fan of admin buttons anyway, but that's a different story  :laugh:). Also, why three buttons next to the spinner?

Other than that, I think it looks good.
***Build what you dig, bro. Build what you dig.***

harveybirdman

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Re: Vindic8r's MOTUMAME
« Reply #15 on: May 23, 2012, 11:51:48 am »
If it were me I'd make the thing less deep, move the trackball between P1 and P2 and use P1 buttons for the Trackball.  I'd center the spinner, ditch all but maybe one or two admin buttons (just hide a keyboard via slideout), and I'd cluster P1 and P3 start and coin buttons one one side and cluster P2 and P4 buttons on the other.

BadMouth

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Re: Vindic8r's MOTUMAME
« Reply #16 on: May 23, 2012, 12:22:19 pm »
I'd center the spinner

Spinner in line with the trackball = bad idea

It would be a good idea to get the trackball more to the front so you don't stub your fingers on the monitor bezel.
For reference, the x-arcade tankstick is 28" wide (IIRC) and squeezes the trackball between two players comfortably.

It's your build though.  Take what you think are good ideas from the peanut gallery and throw back the rest.  ;)

harveybirdman

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Re: Vindic8r's MOTUMAME
« Reply #17 on: May 23, 2012, 06:51:08 pm »
Yep on second thought Badmouth is right.

what about something like this? And another comment from the peanut gallery, I'd consider making player's 3 and 4 mechanical rotaries... but that's just me.



panel by harveybirdman1, on Flickr
« Last Edit: May 23, 2012, 06:52:49 pm by harveybirdman »

Nephasth

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Re: Vindic8r's MOTUMAME
« Reply #18 on: May 23, 2012, 07:11:17 pm »
How about just a 2 player CP?

AGarv

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Re: Vindic8r's MOTUMAME
« Reply #19 on: May 23, 2012, 07:51:25 pm »
Cool artwork so far - what about having your current heman on one side panel, skeletor for the other side panel, and artwork with them clashing or facing off on the control panel?  Could even have a red/gold theme for player 1 and a blue/purple theme for player 2!  Heck player 3 could have a master-at-arms (or battlecat, teela etc.,) underlay and player 4 could be beastman, merman, etc.!

vindic8r

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    • MOTUMAME: A Masters of the Universe Arcade Cabinet
Re: Vindic8r's MOTUMAME
« Reply #20 on: October 09, 2012, 06:41:02 pm »
The past few months have been slow-going, but I've made some notable headway since the last update.
  • The control panel box is built (with some help from Scott over at Scott’s Arcade), now all it needs is some controls!
  • My customized Hyperspin interface is built and completely functional. I’m really proud of how this turned out. I think I might make a little demo video to show it off. MOTUMAME currently has just shy of 7000 working games available to play, including over 2500 arcade games and console games across 19 console/vintage computer platforms.
  • The side art is done!
  • The marquee is nearly done as well (photo coming soon)
  • Last but not least for the artwork is the control panel overlay - which will feature 4 TBA notable MOTU stars. Work on that will be kicking off soon.

vindic8r

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Re: Vindic8r's MOTUMAME
« Reply #21 on: March 09, 2013, 01:51:56 pm »
Man, its been a while. But there has been progress!

Artwork is nearly finalized, I'm just making some final tweaks to the CP design and side art before sending to print. The marquee is done.

Here's a look at the marquee:


And the CP:


Once the final tweaks are ready on these, they're off to print. In the meanwhile, I'm prepping the side of the cab, sanding it and filling in a small seam I had to make when I brought the cab into my basement. Also adding a power button to the back of the CP box, wired to the power strip inside that the PC, WG U2000 and marquee light are hooked up to.

Thoughts?

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Re: Vindic8r's MOTUMAME
« Reply #22 on: March 09, 2013, 02:16:13 pm »
artwork is awesome.

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Re: Vindic8r's MOTUMAME
« Reply #23 on: March 09, 2013, 02:34:22 pm »
You absolutely nailed it with that artwork.  Good stuff!

What are the extra buttons above He-Man for?

So once again, we find that evil of the past seeps into the present like salad dressing through cheap wax paper, mixing memory and desire.

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Re: Vindic8r's MOTUMAME
« Reply #24 on: March 09, 2013, 06:16:09 pm »
Artwork looks fantastic, marquee looks like it's from a proper game! Not a fan of the frankenpanel though... I would have just kept it as a nice 2 or 4 player without admin buttons/spinner etc.

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Re: Vindic8r's MOTUMAME
« Reply #25 on: March 09, 2013, 06:40:12 pm »
What Baker said. TMB (Too many buttons). It's a great CPO design and it's really a shame that you're going to cover it up with gratuitous pushbuttons.

My advice:
1) Get rid of those four buttons by He-Man (if one's a spinner, it does not need it's own dedicated buttons.)
2) Put the coin buttons somewhere off the panel. Use the coin door (rig the rejects) or something else.
3) You don't need a dedicated "Shift" button. Any other button can act as a shift (usually START) without affecting it's normal duty.
4) Get INFO/CONFIG off. You DO NOT want guests starting to mess with your configurations. And do you think anyone ever sits there and reads the game info when they could be playing?
5) SAVE/LOAD - You don't need that there. Another button for guests to screw with you files. If you really want to have that ability, make it a "Shifted" function (read: hidden) for only you.
6) PAUSE/EXIT: Actually making that one button is not a bad idea. But it's precariously close to the start buttons.

Notice I said guests a lot. That's the thing - if you're making a four-player panel, you'll want three other people who will want to play and not get confused by a large gaggle of buttons. Simplify.

emphatic

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Re: Vindic8r's MOTUMAME
« Reply #26 on: March 10, 2013, 06:52:55 pm »
That is a classy piece of artwork! :cheers:

vindic8r

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Re: Vindic8r's MOTUMAME
« Reply #27 on: March 14, 2013, 10:09:54 am »
Thanks for the kudos, guys. Much appreciate it!  :D

And DaveMMR, thanks for the detailed feedback. Good points, all. This thing did turn a bit button-heavy, but there was method to my madness.

1) Get rid of those four buttons by He-Man (if one's a spinner, it does not need it's own dedicated buttons.)
2) Put the coin buttons somewhere off the panel. Use the coin door (rig the rejects) or something else.
3) You don't need a dedicated "Shift" button. Any other button can act as a shift (usually START) without affecting it's normal duty.
4) Get INFO/CONFIG off. You DO NOT want guests starting to mess with your configurations. And do you think anyone ever sits there and reads the game info when they could be playing?
5) SAVE/LOAD - You don't need that there. Another button for guests to screw with you files. If you really want to have that ability, make it a "Shifted" function (read: hidden) for only you.
6) PAUSE/EXIT: Actually making that one button is not a bad idea. But it's precariously close to the start buttons.

1) So the circle slightly lowered is the spinner, with the three buttons next to it representing mouse buttons. Originally, I had intended to map mouse buttons to the first three buttons next to P1/He-Man, but I didn't think I could have buttons share duties as keymaps and mouse buttons via iPac. But if that's wrong, I'll totally whack them. They're totally an eyesore, but one I thought I needed to deal with.

2) Yeah, I am planning to rig the coin door to actually add credits for P1 and P2 via physical token drop and/or reject buttons. But with only two coin drops, I was worried that would be confusing for P3 and P4, who would still need buttons. So I just went for consistency and added the buttons for all.

3) Brilliant! I had no idea that was the case. I'll probably drop that one.

4) I hear you, but I've worked REALLY hard to get CPWizard up and running (although I am currently seeing a MAME crash when I exit the CPW menu - hoping that HeadKaze may respond to me at some point on it). I love that you can read the history.dat and see the special move list for fighters, not to mention cabinet artwork. While CONFIG will be a secret (I'll still map it via shift, but not label it), I think I'll keep INFO exposed.

5) Yep, good call. I think I may try to figure out a way to make these shifted functions.

6) Noted. I'm going to be reconfiguring things a bit now, so I might move this out a bit on its own.

Yvan256

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Re: Vindic8r's MOTUMAME
« Reply #28 on: March 14, 2013, 11:12:55 am »
2) Yeah, I am planning to rig the coin door to actually add credits for P1 and P2 via physical token drop and/or reject buttons. But with only two coin drops, I was worried that would be confusing for P3 and P4, who would still need buttons. So I just went for consistency and added the buttons for all.

Multi-Player Over/Under Door. If the price is too high, you could always use four of these instead.

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Re: Vindic8r's MOTUMAME
« Reply #29 on: March 26, 2013, 01:25:36 pm »
I'm late to the party here, but one more suggestion. 

You might not even need to put p3 and p4 start buttons on there.  Most of your 4 player games don't have start buttons, you press any button after coinup to start. 

The only ones I can think of is the D&D games. 



Also even though that cab is a little ugly, note how sparse and as a result, how clean that machine's control panel looks.  Buttons are our enemy when it comes to making things look nice, not our friends. 

vindic8r

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Re: Vindic8r's MOTUMAME
« Reply #30 on: March 26, 2013, 10:44:11 pm »
Thanks for the input, Howard et. al.. And I totally see where you're coming from. There is elegance in simplicity. I followed your advice and removed the admin buttons entirely, along with the mouse buttons to the right of the spinner (they'll be dual-wired to the 1st 3 P1 buttons). Admin functions will be shift controlled into some of the player start/coin buttons, with the shift button itself being unlabeled and hidden at P1 Credit.

I like the consistency in the coin and start buttons across all 4 players, even though they're unnecessary for the most part. And they gave me a place to hide some admin functions, which is a plus.

This version is final and being printed as I type this. I'll finally have it in my hands next week and the CP building will at last continue! With any luck, MOTUMAME will be alive by my birthday at the end of May.

Fingers crossed!

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Re: Vindic8r's MOTUMAME
« Reply #31 on: March 27, 2013, 12:49:05 am »
That art is very very nice. I love how the colours match up with the characters. Good job on reducing the button count. I am very interested in seeing the front end that you mentioned earlier, as well as other little things that you can't see in pictures, such as the windows start sound (which wuold be awesome if you could grab a digital sample of Prince Adam yelling, BY THE POWER OF GREYSKULL!!!)