First time project, control panel layout feedback

[epetti]

I'm working on an arcade cabinet, and am working on the control panel layout.  It's intended as a four person panel for a variety of games.  I've attached the layout I have so far, obviously based on several common layouts.  A few differences from the most common 4 player setups I've seen:

- Having a flight stick
- Having the spinner to the front between player 1 and 3
- Three buttons for 3rd and 4th player, 6 for 1st and 2nd (vs. 7)
- No dedicated separate 4-way joystick.  I'm planning on having the player 1 joystick toggle-able between 4 and 8 way using one of the various joystick options out there that support it either through software or adjustable restricter plates.

I'm also debating the layout of the 6 buttons for player 1 and 2.  I've seen six buttons in a grid pattern, the stagger that I currently have in my layout, or a stagger where the last two buttons line up exactly with the first two (up/down/up), which I'm leaning toward.

So, I'm just opening it up to all the experienced people out there before I start drilling holes.  Thoughts?  Any disastrous mistakes here that I'd regret later?

Thanks for the feedback.

[PL1]

Welcome aboard, Epetti.

Obligatory first question: Are you SURE you're going to use more than 2 player positions? (Lots of people who build a 4-player panel realize several years later that they almost never used P3/P4 and could have used Neutrik USB Feedthrus/USB gamepads for those rare occasions. YMMV.)

Have you sorted out which emulators (MAME, Visual Pinball, etc.) and front end software (MALA, Hyperspin, etc.) you want to use?

What admin buttons do you need for the emulators/front end?

What are the 4 buttons above the trackball?

Have you decided between Lono2 and I-Pac4? (assuming you're still wanting 4-player panel) Deconflicted the keymap?

Will you be trimming the front corners or leaving it a big rectangle?

What genre of games do you prefer? (May help you decide which sticks to use.)

Have you visited Slagcoin to find the layout you like best?  Definitely try layouts on cardboard mockup before the sawdust flies.

Plan it through  before you order anything  or dril any holes.


Scott

[epetti]

Thanks.  I got the Project Arcade book, and then decided to tackle the project backwards from the book, with the part that I'm most familiar with.  So I've already completed all the computer and software work.

I'm using mostly MAME, some PC and DOSBox games, and a couple other emulators (TI-99/4A among others).

Using Hyperspin as the Frontend.

Yes, I'm sure I am going to use more than 2 player positions.  It's a small percentage of the games -- maybe 10% or a little less, but ones that I really would like to play as four player.

I was leaning toward I-pac4, and have already mapped all games out to work with the same set of keys.

I'm planning on trimming the front corners (I think it's faintly represented in my image with dotted lines).

Most of the games I prefer are the classics from the 80's -- most of my games range from 1981-1987.  But the genre ranges quite a bit in there.  However, I have very few fighting games.

Had not heard of Slagcoin.  Just visited it and it's a hugely helpful site.  Thanks!

[epetti]

Thanks to the Slagcoin web site I made some adjustments, primarily in the spacing of all of my buttons, moving them closer together and staggering them a little differently.  Also broadened my joystick horizons.  One company that he didn't mention at all was Ultimarc. There were a couple joysticks they made that interested me for their flexibility, including the MagStik Plus and Ultrastik 360.  What is there general reputation for quality?

Answering a few questions I noticed I missed:

- The four buttons above the trackball are intended for roughly for Left Mouse, Right Mouse, and then an Enter and Pause button, which might be needed in some computer games.

- The four in the top center would be general utility and setup buttons like Exit Game, Reset Game, Setup, and Shutdown.  Don't know if that's all overkill or not, but I figured it would be safer to have a few general configurable buttons if I needed them to reduce any need for keyboard access.

[stan2323]

Welcome aboard, Epetti.

Obligatory first question: Are you SURE you're going to use more than 2 player positions? (Lots of people who build a 4-player panel realize several years later that they almost never used P3/P4 and could have used Neutrik USB Feedthrus/USB gamepads for those rare occasions. YMMV.)

I thought long and hard on this and went with a 2 player layout. Turns out one of my son's favorite games is Rampage with 2 of his friends. So one person has to use the Tron stick with the trigger button and thumb button for punch and jump. Not ideal. I wish I had went with 3 or 4 player. I will next time

Stan

[epetti]

Made some tweaks based on the feedback here and reading a bit more:

- Removed the flightstick.  My Player 1 joystick will be an Ultimarc UltraStik 360, which should cover all my needs there.
- With the flightstick gone, I could move forward all my start and coin buttons, thus actually allowing me to shrink the width of the whole panel.
- Moved button spacing closer together.
- Switched green and yellow -- noticed this matched Gauntlet color order better.

New image attached.

[thatpurplestuff]

I think it's fairly easy to wire buttons to do more than one thing, so I would suggest mapping any mouse buttons to the 1p set of buttons so you can just use the 1p 1 & 2 buttons to click through menus.

You may want to reconsider the number of admin buttons as well... my first cab had a ton and they ended up being wasted space.  I find that I really only need a setup and exit button... you mentioned needing an enter button for some pc games but either way I strongly suggest not having a shutdown button on your control panel since you don't want to be trying to access a menu and shut your machine down by accident.  If you insist on having a shutdown button I would stick it somewhere that stands no chance of being accidentally pressed (underneath perhaps?).

The other thing would be flush-mounting the trackball as opposed to using the traditional faceplate... in reality it won't give you any more space but visually it will look a bit less cluttered.

Good luck and have fun!

[epetti]

Thanks for the advice on multiple mappings.  Does that run into issues of accidentally double-firing or sending double signals that could confuse certain emulators?  For instance, if 1P Fire button maps to Ctrl and Left Mouse, and both Ctrl and Left Mouse in MAME are equivalent to fire.  Could you be getting too many signals sent?  That's the main reason I separated them.

I wasn't too concerned about wasted space since I have the space to waste anyway -- I don't have plans to put anything else in that section so may as well have a spare button just in case I need it for something.  And actually, given some of the other emulators, I have found that Save and Load are two that I might want dedicated buttons for.  Especially those emulators that don't have automatic save states, and those games that support Quick Save and Quick Load.

So right now I'm thinking for admin:

Exit Game
Pause
Save
Load
Setup (useful to get to whatever configuration I need without needing to pull out a keyboard)
Enter

[shponglefan]

I find some people get really weird about admin buttons (it's almost a religious topic).

That said, I found I liked having Esc (exit), Tab (setup), Enter and Pause.  In fact, on my 2P control panel I had two seperate pause buttons, each within reach of each player.

Haven't used Save/Load buttons, but if you do opt for them, don't put both of them right next to each other.  You don't want to accidently hit save when you mean to hit load.