Finally took it to a party. It got played and people liked it, but not loved it so I guess it
IS more of a novelty thing. I spent so much time hacking the gun that I became a bit immune to the funny bits myself, I guess a bit like how a play tester gets bored of the game they are testing. Next time will be at my place and the crowd will be more likely to get into it I think.
I did jazz up the zapper a bit though, so you can actually spin the cylinder instead of pressing a button (",) Took me a bit of searching but I found a toy revolver that is 1:1 scale and worked much like the real deal. You break it open, load up the bullets, hammer hits bullets and trigger rotates cylinder etc. Basically I ended up taking the photo diode complete on its PCB out of an aftermarket zapper and gluing that onto the drilled end of a Sharpie barrel cut to size. On top of the diode I also glued a magnetic reed switch so that I had one unit that looks a bit like some kinda home made detonator
. That whole unit sits in the barrel. The magnet for the reed switch sits in one of the cylinders. A microswitch is activated by the trigger. I also incorporated an aftermarket NES controller.
I replaced all cables with 9 strand cable. I would have loved to make it uniform but I had a strict schedule so the light gun sports a sega mega drive extension cable, with plugs reused to make a half-arsed break away and the aftermarket NES controller was rewired with a PS extension cable. From the gamepad, I have extended wiring from the B button. This goes all the way through that junction box and up to the reed switch. Therfore when you spin the barrel it is akin to hitting B button. The whirring sounds in the game won't match the rate the cylinder spins of course, but is still a lot more realistic than just hitting a button. Both A and B 'spin' the cylinder in this game (fast and slow spin). However all B is used for other than 'spin' is to go back when entering initials, and therefore for the most part it doesn't matter if the B button is being pressed or not when doing anything else.
So in the end it doesn't matter so much that the gane is well received or not at parties (although everyone loved the gun!). I had fun making a new gun for it and that's a big part of the hobby for me. Makin' stuff (",)