Multigame Test Bed

[Scottacus]

I am interested in building a cab for a 60:1 board so I put together this test bed to check out the ergonomics of the CP layout, monitor angle, monitor height and cp height.  The control panel has a double thickness of .025 aluminum epoxied to the top of a 3mm board that is used to support the trackball so that the trackball bezel sits slightly proud to the aluminum.  The joystick is one of those top switchable (4 way to 8 way) magnetic types.  I want the CP to sit inside of the cab with the speakers over the top of the player like on my Gorf game.





My questions are:

1) What kind of covering can you put over the top of the CP that will not have a lot of thickness and will take the abuse that an arcade game is subjected to?

2) The width and depth of the the CP are the same as my Gorf game.  That game doesn't have firing buttons (built into the joy stick) and it feels like the buttons on this CP are too close to the front edge because there is nowhere to rest the palm of your hand.  How much CP should be present in front of firing buttons?  I can always cut a rabbet into the front of the CP and extend it forward.

3) I'm afraid that free play on the 60 in 1 board will be a little confusing for folks who just wander up to the game and try to play it.  In free play you need to his the one player start button, select your game and hit the one player button again.  I set the yellow button up to be a "coin up" button and I hoped that I could get by with just two "fire" buttons.  It looks to me that only Gunsmoke (if that's the name of the game?) required three fire buttons.  Can anyone who uses this board confirm that?

[SavannahLion]

It's mostly a matter of preference. Wood CPs tend to get an acrylic sheet over it. Metal tend to have just straight up vinyl stuck it. IIRC GORF art was screen printed on the metal CP. I tend to gravitate towards non-traditional cabs myself.

The size, shape and layout of a CP is also a matter of personal peference, I probably would have looked at cabs with the same configuration instead of trying to extend GORFs layout to get an idea of what works. To that end, try extending the edges with cardboard to get a feel of what you like. You already stated what you didn't like so extend it in that direction to see what you like.

Can't help you on that last one.

[Scottacus]

The size and angle of the board matches that of the Gorf game because that is the only reference I have handy and I really like that machine's size (well, maybe a little taller would be good).  The more I play the test bed the more I wonder if I should just move the 2 fire buttons up and offset them in a more ergonomic configuration.  I have seen a lot of games on this forum arc the buttons in a way that mimics the natural position of the hand.

A couple of questions:

How durable are the vinyl overlays?   
How thick is the acrylic typically?

[mgb]

The vinyl overlays from gameongrafix are extremely durable and will hold up to public use.
Yes, Gunsmoke is the only game requiring 3 buttons.

[Scottacus]

Thanks MGB, I haven't taken the time to play all of the games on the board so your comment helps a lot.  I called Brad (Lucian045) yesterday to talk about overlays and I think I'm going to go with a polycarbonate over vinyl for the CP.

[mgb]

You won't regret going with the polycarbonite. Its very tough

[lilshawn]

seconded.

Polycarbonate (AKA Lexan) is a little touch to work with, but yields a very tough and somewhat scratch resistant overlay. it's more expensive, but worth it if your unit is going to be more than a show piece.

Plain old plexiglas looks great, is cheap, and easy to work with but scratches like a mofo.

[mgb]

Wait,
so are you going with vinyl and then polycarbonite sheet over it or are you going with polycarbonite impregnated vinyl like they sell at gameongrafix.

[Scottacus]

Brad said that the vinyl has a polcarbonite laminate bonded to the top of it and it has adhesive on the back.  My understanding is that it is an all in one.  BTW where did you find the very nice font for the Verticle Retrace?

[mgb]

Ok, cool.

I don't remember the exact font but I believe someone had asked in my project build thread so it should say in there.

[Scottacus]

I found the fonts in your post

@lamprey
 - "Vertical" is in Concielian Break font
 - "Retrace" is in Planet S font
I got the fonts from 1001freefonts.com

Did you add the highlights around the letters using adobe illustrator?

[mgb]

yeah, that's it.

Actually I did all my artwork for VR on Paintshop Pro X.
I only recently finally got Photoshop and Illustrator.
I recently worked with illustrator and it is cool.

For the VR text I first did "Vertical" with a gradient at semi transparent so its somewhat glass like ( it shows where it overlaps "Retrace".
For the glow around the words, I bassically used the selection tool on the words and saved to alpha channel then brought it in on a new layer, exanded it and filled it with a gradient then gausion blurred it among other tgings I don't quite remember.

I love Paintshop Pro. I the X4 version now and even though I have Photoshop, I resort back to PSP cause I'm familiar with it.