Brainstorming scaled back frankenpanel

[Batchman]

So over the years, I've toyed with ideas for massive frankenpanels, rotating panels, modular panels ... all of them have been too much to even consider going further on with.

So I've scaled down and scaled down and scaled down again.

This time I am considering a staggered layout including 2 8-way sticks, 1 4-way stick (hopefully rotatable 45 degree for games like Congo Bongo and Q*bert), track ball, tron stick, and spinner. The overall concept I'm going on is a control panel on one of the first two pages of the control panels thread that had all but the Tron controls, and staggering the layout slightly to make adding the new controls slightly more space-friendly.

I'm looking at something roughly like this:


-------------------------------------------------------------------
|           SP                                               ST                 |
|                                4W   B  B                                     |
|                                                                                  |
|              8W   B  B  B             8W   B  B  B                    |
\                      B  B  B                    B  B  B                  /
  \                                   T                                        /
    \                         B    TBT    B                              /
      \                               T                                    /
        \_____________________________________/                 


Figured I'd ask for any thoughts on the rough layout, to see if I'm still a complete idiot, or if my thought processes are becoming slightly more reasonable.

(What can I say ... Tron was always one of my favorite games, and the spinner will likely allow for a lot of paddle-style games)

Any thoughts? Any of the controller experts willing to turn my rough 'sketch' into a full-blown properly sized layout?

Or do I just deserve nothing more than a  ? I know that's at least possible! (At least the 'drawing' came through all right!)

[harveybirdman]

4way to 8 way switchable has come a long way man. I'd try to combine that support or get U360's so they can do it all including qbert.

Tron should stay in a Tron cabinet but  if you add it I'd put it so that you don't have to reach over so many controls.

Good luck with your build.

[Batchman]

Are you referring to the Ultra Stick 360? They have honestly reached the point where they can do at least near perfect 4 way? If so, might indeed be well worth considering ... and would remove a stick and a couple of buttons from the layout. Last I had looked (several years ago) rumor was you still needed a dedicated 4-way, but I'm more than willing to listen to advice if times they have a-changed.

On the not reaching over other controls, don't think it would matter on the stick, since it's so high in the air, anyway, but yes, it might be something to think about on the spinner.

Then there are the six buttons for player one and player two, which I have included in my thoughts because everybody always seems to include them, even though no game I've ever played would ever use them. Stuff to think about ... stuff to think about!

[harveybirdman]

There is also the servostick and Omni2 I'm you want mechanical restriction for your 4way, you just loose qbert that way....

But I have a board for sale if you want to build a Qbert down the line.