Another newbie control panel review question :)

[BorgDog]

I'm in the way early planning stages of making a mame bartop to go next to my desktop mini-pin I'm mostly finished with.  This project will one day be titled Dan's Misspent Youth Arcade, or the short version M.Y. Arcade.  Being a teenager in the late 70s, and living in a small rural town I had a limited selection of game exposure being mostly at the mercy of the small arcade in the bowling alley, and I am planning this cabinet to play those games I most fondly remember stuffing quarters into.  Far and away the two biggest eaters of my meager money supply were Asteroids and Space Invaders.  Just those 2 brings me to my other dilemma, vertical or horizontal     After those came Space Zap, Missile Command, Defender, Frogger, Galaxian, Centipede, Zaxxon, Pacman and Donkey Kong.  So again a mix of vertical and horizontal.  Of course it will likely run a bunch more mame games, but getting those on will be my goal.

So as I see it I need a 4-way joystick, a trackball, and a bunch of buttons. This again is going to be a bartop, and will be built around a 17" LCD monitor I have available.  I've spent a lot of time looking through builds here and have browsed the entire control panel sticky, but have not seen exactly what I am looking for.  So I've come up with my own mock up and am looking for input from those that have built before.  I do not have the parts yet or I would be making mockups and trying it out, and will do so once I get closer (probably not until next spring for actual build, home remodeling projects first), but am looking for general reasonableness of the design.

What do you all think?  I did not label them, but you can see the obvious Asteroids layout.


Thanks in advance.
Dan

Here is a pic of my mini-pin cab, not quite complete. 

[PL1]

Welcome aboard, BorgDog and nice looking VPin.   

Good news: You have a good (and limited) game list so far.

Bad news: With a mix of horizontal and vertical games, you will need to choose between options like these:
  * Rotating monitor (lazy susan or swappable like Le Chuck's Darkade)
  * Black bars on all games in one orientation (or the other)
  * Build one vertical and one horizontal bartop   

You also have a mix of 4-way and 8-way joystick games -- you may want to make a list of all the games, monitor orientation, and the required controls to see how you can group them. (i.e. see if most of your vertical games use a 4-way stick and a few buttons)

If you haven't read the FAQ yet, check out the "What kind of build meets my needs?" entry here.

Looks like the trackball is too close to both the edge and the nearest button. 

Pretty sure it will take up more room than that under the CP. (Depending on the model/size)


Scott

[IAmDotorg]

  * Build one vertical and one horizontal bartop   

Or forget the bartop and do a "4 player" cocktail like I did. Only its really two player if you're playing horizontal games (by sitting on the long side) or one/two for vertical games (depending if the game supported cocktail mode).   That way I just move my chair if I'm playing vertical/horizontal.

Takes up more room, but bigger is better, right? 

[BorgDog]

You also have a mix of 4-way and 8-way joystick games ....

Looks like the trackball is too close to both the edge and the nearest button. 

Pretty sure it will take up more room than that under the CP. (Depending on the model/size)

8-way?  Oh,  I keep forgetting Zaxxon is 8-way, I think that's the only one.  It wouldn't hurt me too much to lose that, never was very good at it.  I already threw out Battlezone and Crazy Climber as I really don't want to cram another joystick in too, although it would be easier than the trackball,  but I'd rather have Missile Command and Centipede.

You are likely right on the trackball, I actually have this in sketchup and pulled the trackball from the Benderama model, but I probably have it rotated wrong.  I'll play with it a bit, but should be able to make it all fit.

Or forget the bartop and do a "4 player" cocktail like I did. Only its really two player if you're playing horizontal games (by sitting on the long side) or one/two for vertical games (depending if the game supported cocktail mode).   That way I just move my chair if I'm playing vertical/horizontal.

Takes up more room, but bigger is better, right? 

Definitely no room for a cocktail, I'm sure I could find room for another bartop, but one at a time 

[PL1]

You are likely right on the trackball, I actually have this in sketchup and pulled the trackball from the Benderama model, but I probably have it rotated wrong.  I'll play with it a bit, but should be able to make it all fit.

You will need 5.8" horizontal clearance for a UTrak like the one used in Benderama.




Scott

[BorgDog]

Thanks for the info, I'll play with the arrangement tonight.

Looks like I'm pretty evenly divided between vertical and horizontal.  I may have to play some both ways to see which bothers me more before deciding.  I'd like to keep the whole thing as small as possible as it will travel back and forth from home to cabin fairly regularly.  Maybe even foldable. 

[BorgDog]

So I got parts in from all over, and have revised my layout.  My question at the moment is in regards to admin buttons.  I was just going to go with Coin, Start1/select/, and Exit/Esc, but decided to add in a Player2 start as well just in case I find a friend and want to do some 2 player pac-man or donkey kong or etc.  I plan on using Mala as a FE and already have my setup running on my regular laptop.

Below is my current layout, expanded width a little bit due to change in overall design, but also helps get the Asteroids buttons at the correct spacing.  I'm wondering if the admin buttons in those locations will cause me problems.  I'm mostly worried about X (exit) being accidently hit in a game, although the buttons I will be using take a pretty good press not just a brush.  Thoughts/suggestions/rants/raves/critiques? 

Thanks