Hi Folks,
Newish lurker here and thought I start up a project thread for my 4-player control panel build.
A few weeks back I got an idea to build a Commodore 64 emulator, which then eventually morphed into a Bartop build. But due to current lack of tabletop space to actually put it, it then turned into a control panel build that would be placed on the coffee table to play on the living room TV, and then stored away when not. It's mainly going to be something for me and/or the kids to play so I wanted it to be 4-player so we could all play TMNT, X-Men, Simpsons, etc.. together.
Arcade games, some Atari and C64 games will be the primary focus. NES, SNES and Genesis might be the only other addition for a few games (I know my sister would die to play Toe Jam & Earl on it). RetroPie or Launchbox are my top choices for the UI.
After googling around for ideas I came across this design for a panel:
I loved it. It was Tron themed, 4 players and had what I kinda thought I wanted. But then as I kept reading the internet I eventually stumbled into these forums and got a lot of insight into building a control panel such as the downsides to the shape of this panel, placement of the spinner, etc...
Luckily, I managed to locate on the internet the original photoshop files for the design to modify it up. I could recreate the border for the chopped up bottom so I just got them out all together. I eventually ditched the wing shape of the panel, the flightstick, the spinner, dedicated 4-way joystick. The trackball I'm still on the fence but more than likely it'll be left off too. And yes, my P3 and P4 joysticks will not angled but aligned with the screen
Here's the design I'm currently at:
I'm still debating on the admin buttons and how to best utilize them. Right now I have a pause and exit button, plus 2 blanks in the middle. Thought maybe of making the button next to the exit button a Hotkey so you have to press that one and Exit to actually exit. Even thought about not using any labels at all and just use decals so they can be changed if needed.
I plan to print out a mockup tonight and get all 4 of us on it to see how the control spacing is and see if things need to be wider or not. It's about 46" wide right now, hopefully can keep it under 48". Once I get my button order in from Groovy Game Gear I'll also mockup the button layouts on some scrap cardboard just to make sure it's comfortable and all before committing.
Phase 2 if all goes well and we like playing it enough I might build a pedestal or full size cab and put it in the "playroom". Baby steps though, heh.