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Brainstorming a rotating control panel
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Xiaou2:
Well, Im going to Disagree.

 Modular is a pain in the butt.   It can be far more work to build all the Sub control panels.   It can be more expensive as well.

 Its also going to slow your gaming down to a crawl.   Every time you decide you want to play something different... you will have to run to the storage closet, pull out a CP, lug it to the machine.  Swap it out.  Then lug the other panel back into storage.   You take up the same if not More space as well... with your storage closet.

 
 I think the spinner wings is a good idea actually, if done in a way that allows good controller access & comfort.   The wings can allow more CP option, without taking up valued space on the CP... thus allowing more possible combinations without comfort issues.

 What it looks like, thats a completely different ballgame.   But for someone who is passionate about these games... looks are often a far seat back in priority.


 I had decided that I would rather have a Horizontally rotating CP... like a giant lazy suzan.   Similar to Unclets cab.    But larger, and more feature packed.   Couch like seating for multiple players, and better driving game comfort.   A 2nd couch bench behind the main seating, raised up a bit... like stadium seating,  for any other players / spectators.   The entire thing would be placed into a giant enclosed box..  like a mini-theater..  or environmental cab.   Which can of course, be used for movies too..  with high quality surround sound system & speakers.

 
 My first Rotator, was a  6 sided vertical proto.   It was decent, and allowed many combinations... but when I found out the magic of true leafswitch controls.. as well as games it wouldnt play..   and that it wouldnt be as comfy as a sitdown... I decided to scrap it and redesign.


 Also note, that Id still choose several dedicated full size control panels to swap... rather than a full set of Loose controllers that need individual swapping.   They will look better, be more comfortable, and be less prone to damage.  It will also take less fuss to deal with the swaps.


- Edit -

 By the way, I had thought of Modular like 15+ yrs ago..  well before anyone posted any such designs.   I thought I had a sure fire winner at the time... but in a few more days in thought about it... I came to the realizations that it just wasnt what I really wanted to do... for all the reasons listed.   Thus the vertical rotator was born.  The first of its kind, and the only vertical rotator I know of, with 6 sides.  Ugly, but workable.   3 sides wasnt enough..  5 was considered..  but 6 was an easier shape to deal with.

 There really are no perfect solutions.  Only solutions that you can or cant live without.  Can / Cant afford.  etc.



 
Paul Olson:

--- Quote from: Batchman on February 01, 2014, 12:24:41 pm ---Some very good things to think about.

Many of you say to concentrate a lot more on what I am really interested in, rather than on being able to play everything ... largely that has been what I have been doing. I never played more than a single one of the street fighter-type games, but the one fighting game I have played is the one that makes me more interested in allowing for four players, since X-Men is one of my all-time favorite games. I also loved Gauntlet. I have long wanted to play Marble Madness properly with two track balls. And the four spinners are because I have always thought Warlords was one of the wildest, funnest games imaginable, even if the graphics were as low end as low end could be.

But being terribly honest with myself, I do not have all that many friends, I do not do a lot of partying, and while I would love to have the ability to play four player on these games, I would probably have far less opportunities than most of you (who already say the four player is almost never used) to have more than two players playing at a time.

There seems to be a bit of a consensus building here that modular would be a bit easier and a bit cheaper than rotating, and (contrary to my first thoughts on it) perhaps more elegant, as well. Is this truly the general consensus?

I'll admit that, especially as a first cabinet, less expensive and less complicated could surely be a good thing. I guess I really do have more thinking to do.

And just as an aside, I have seen the heavy use of both the dual six button and the dual eight button layouts ... how many games (and which ones) actually make use of eight buttons? It seems almost insane! (Yeah, I'm really one to talk, eh?)

But again, thank you all for being willing to brainstorm with me! I really appreciate it!

--- End quote ---

I would not say modular is at all the cheapest or most elegant, but it is definitely the most flexible. I was always drawn the the games with unique controllers when I was in the arcades, so modular was necessary for me. I want to be able to play all of those games. I don't really need to swap between the different panels with zero effort so I can swap them multiple times in a playing session. I don't think I have ever swapped panels more than twice in a day while playing (during testing, it happens a lot). Modular gives you the ability to use whatever controller you want, but there is work involved in changing the panels. I have up to 7 panels that can be used in a layout on mine, so that would be unplugging and removing up to 7 panels and installing up to 7 new panels and plugging them in. In that case, it will probably take a couple of minutes to do that. That has never bothered me, but seems to be a problem for some people. Rotating is cool, but you are severely limited in the size of controllers you can use.  Some of the controllers you may want to use are huge! You are not going to put a Spy Hunter controller on a rotating panel. It is just too big. A Tron stick would be difficult as well. From bottom of the switches to top of the handle, the Tron stick is 12" tall. That would mean you would need at least 24" of rotation diameter to make that work. The horizontal rotation idea solves that problem, but is also limited in scope, and the size of the cabinet could get huge.

I am trying to limit my storage to a closet, which is ridiculous, but I have a closet I can use for it. My actual cabinet is only 40" wide by 30" deep, and the TVs are mounted on the wall behind it. That was about as much space as I can use for it in my office, so that was the limit. I am testing some of the panels today, and there are definitely some fit and finish issues to work out. I hired a cabinet guy to build this, and he is not really accurate enough for this type of work. That is causing a lot of alignment issues that need to be worked out. When I built the original control panel, I was able to take the time to make sure everything was cut exactly to size, so I avoided this problem. Even with the fit problems, it is still fairly easy to get a panel installed and start playing a game. I just finished playing a couple of games of Roadblasters, and it was a lot of fun.

Honestly, the best way to go would be to build a machine that will play 90% of the games, then buy the actual games that use the unique controllers. I probably have $80 into that Roadblasters panel, and that doesn't include the pedals since they are permanently attached. I owned a Roadblasters, and I think I only paid $150 for it lol. This is more convenient for me though, so I chose this route.

Here is a pic. The filler panels aren't installed because I don't have the right size ones yet for this layout. I am waiting till the last panel is finished before I order those to try to figure out exactly how few of them I can get away with making. I think I might go out to the garage and finish putting the Enduro Racer panel together now. I haven't played that one since the 80s. lol If I was limited to just a few controller layouts, neither of these two games would make the cut, but I being able to add however many I want to, they are certainly nice additions.



Xiaou2:
Heh,

 My proto 6 sided beast, had a Spy Hunter yoke, Starwars Yoke, Two trigger sticks... and more.  But it was quite ugly.   And is still was limited in certain ways, partially due to poor designing, and part due to changing my opinions on certain things.

 A hybrid could also allow both rotation and a modular panel.   And you also have options with swapable sections, if you build it a certain way.

 But as Ive said, I think the Horizontal rotation, is much better.  Im gettin older, so will leave standing up for work... and sitting down for gaming.  heh

 Depending on the diameter, you can have quite a lot of controllers on a circular CP.

SavannahLion:
I thought about what you said and while, in theory, it would work. However, again in theory, it would take up an enormous amount of space. At the point you start talking about having couch-like seating, multiple players and seating for spectators all inside of a theater-like box with full surround sound, you might as well drop the lazy susan and install multiple screens so your party can enjoy all of the controls all of the time. Like a Sprint 8 or Tank 8 with a flat panel for each side.
michelevit:
With all that effort to incorporate all those controls in one cabinet, it would be easier and possibly cheaper to build the following 5.

a cab with a 2 person streetfighter layout (two 8 way sticks allow for robotron, crazy climber, karate champ and other 2 stick games)
a cab with a steering wheel (pole position and other driving games.
a cab with spinner (tempest, arkanoid)
a cab with a dedicated 4 way joystick (dk, pacman etc)
a cab with a trackball (centipede, marble madness, missile command)

These rotating or modular cabs are never half as nice as a dedicated design.
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