Pie-in-the-sky builds

[markc74]

While I was putting together plans for my Invaders cab (starting next month!) I messed around with a few ideas. One that I quite liked used LCD’s for both the main screen (20” 4:3) and dynamic marquee (20” widescreen).



This came about, partly because I saw the Polycade kickstarter:
(https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/783911081/the-polycade-retro-arcade-of-the-future)



And I thought I could probably design something more interesting, but also because I saw the following Atari concept art (courtesy of Arcade Blogger) and liked the idea of a row of them: (https://arcadeblogger.com/2016/02/13/atari-arcade-concept-art-a-glimpe-of-the-future/)



The idea would be that it could be wall mounted. If I was to make it I would make the front face by kerfing MDF. Potentially the whole face would be hinged from the top so you could lift it up to do maintenance. Speakers would either be squeezed in besides the marquee, or face out of the bottom of the cab. Either way I don't think there’s too much intrinsically wrong with the design - I just prefer CRTs in my cabs while I can get them!

Here’s a few of them set up to play different types of games: 270 driving games / trackball spinner vertical games / single player horizontal games / 2 player games / 4-8 way vertical classics / 360 driving.



So - if anyone’s interested I have the 3d files I could share. I haven’t went too much into detail as I’ve got other things on the go but thought it might be of interest to someone.

Anyone else have some off-the-wall (ho ho) ideas that they’ve had floating around?

[JDFan]

Anyone else have some off-the-wall (ho ho) ideas that they’ve had floating around?

2084 did several wall mounted units a while back --- http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php/topic,141265.msg1461909.html#msg1461909

[markc74]

I'd originally planned to do something similar even further back than that! 

http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php/topic,86474.0/.html

Edited to say how good i think 2084s builds were. 

[Laythe]

That's a neat idea!

So, what sort of sorcery is going on with that marquee panel?

Is it a 20" widescreen, oriented horizontally in landscape, descending down about halfway behind the main screen, with a faked fascia framing it down to equal the same revealed width as the 20" 4:3 below it?  (I'd have thought a 20" widescreen would be wider than a 20" 4:3, otherwise.)


I like it.  I'm also a fan of 2084's builds.

It's the opposite depth stacking order of Mimic, which tucks the main panel behind the marquee panel, so I don't think you could do the square reveal of the main panel for dynamic bezels on these...   wait, no, you could!  If you mounted a larger 4:3 in portrait for the main panel, and used the top 3:3s region of it as a square, you could still poke the marquee out the top from behind it like you did here and hide the unused main panel portion at the bottom behind the control panels.    One machine for horizontal and vertical games, no rotation necessary, dynamic marquees and dynamic bezels.   

[markc74]

So, what sort of sorcery is going on with that marquee panel?

No sorcery - marquee would be a 20" widescreen (approx 46x26cm) viewable (42x14) the rest hidden by the bezel.

The main screen would be a 20" 4:3 monitor (approx 42x31cm) orientated either vertically or horizontally. Here's a better pic with the monitors shown with the main display being vertical.



Massive disclaimer though - I was just shooting out ideas. There may be something massively wrong with it but I thought it could work out pretty nicely if you wanted a few of them with minimal cost and hassle