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Author Topic: Arcade Build with LED Marque and OLED and 7Segment Sub-Displays  (Read 3080 times)

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alinke

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Arcade Build with LED Marque and OLED and 7Segment Sub-Displays
« on: January 20, 2020, 12:15:43 am »
Sharing an arcade build I just finished. Key features include an LED marquee that changes to match the game, sub-displays that display game meta-data, and a laser cut speaker grill. Would love any feedback, thanks!


3 Minute Video ==>
Full Build and Parts Used Write-Up ==>https://www.instructables.com/id/Arcade1Up-Mod-With-LED-Marquee-and-Sub-Displays/

Alejo I

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Re: Arcade Build with LED Marque and OLED and 7Segment Sub-Displays
« Reply #1 on: January 20, 2020, 05:02:09 am »
I can't help but think that this is fairly overengineered for my tastes (totally cool anyway, we mostly do this for ourselves) but holy cow, there's so much good stuff in there not to praise it. Lots of well integrated bits and interesting ideas at play.

I absolutely adore the LED marquee, much cooler and well proportioned than most (any?) LCD ones I've seen. I never even considered one until I saw yours. That price, tho.

yotsuya

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Re: Arcade Build with LED Marque and OLED and 7Segment Sub-Displays
« Reply #2 on: January 20, 2020, 08:28:43 am »
I think the led monitor looks cool, but I don’t get why you have a bunch of Microdisplays saying the same thing. Seems extremely redundant and unnecessary.
***Build what you dig, bro. Build what you dig.***

leapinlew

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Re: Arcade Build with LED Marque and OLED and 7Segment Sub-Displays
« Reply #3 on: January 20, 2020, 12:24:59 pm »
Kudos on the marquee, the power button option and the use of displays. The machine has a Borg type quality with lots of bolt on tech.

I think from a usability stance, a power button in the control panel means the machine will be getting shut down on accident in my house. I think the displays are interesting. If you could pipe out the current high score for the game being played and potentially pop up messages like “ACE has had the high score in Gorf for 4 weeks!” Or other taunt style messages, that would be cool.

All in all, good job! This really belongs in project announcement since these updates could be on any arcade.

yotsuya

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Re: Arcade Build with LED Marque and OLED and 7Segment Sub-Displays
« Reply #4 on: January 20, 2020, 12:39:48 pm »
I wouldn’t mind hearing your thought process on the displays on the front panel, especially since they mirror what’s bolted onto the control panel. Do you have further plans for them?
***Build what you dig, bro. Build what you dig.***

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Re: Arcade Build with LED Marque and OLED and 7Segment Sub-Displays
« Reply #5 on: January 20, 2020, 01:56:05 pm »
Ok I'll try not to be too critical but I'm not sure how I can do that and give any actual feedback.  I see a lot of great ideas, the problem is they shouldn't all be used on the same cab.  You've also forgotten the main purpose of an arcade cab... to play games.  I say that because the buttons you've replaced the originals with aren't really supposed to be used in an application with a lot of quick repeated presses... they are designed for slot machines and redemption games.  The stock a1up buttons are actually a better choice for fighters.  You've got a lot of stuff bolted on that, while as a stand alone item is pretty cool, detracts from the beauty of the mk 2 art, imho some of the best art ever to be on a cabinet and more importantly, detracts from gameplay.  I'm not just talking about the displays... you've inexplicably got spiderweb speaker covers, a motif that isn't shared by mk2 art, that are a bright red instead of the proper satin black... again, it's supposed to be satin black to keep the focus on the gameplay.    Do you have a copy of Saint's book?  Get a copy... it has some tips on overall layout that might help next time.  The actual elements and their fit and finish are great though...… just remember, less is more. 

yotsuya

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Re: Arcade Build with LED Marque and OLED and 7Segment Sub-Displays
« Reply #6 on: January 20, 2020, 02:35:59 pm »
Howard brings up some good points on design, and I’ll elaborate more since you asked...

* you have lit logo buttons for coin, PI and PII, indicating what they are for... and then you have a label with the same exact thing right next to them... why? Wouldn’t the lit button suffice?

* you have a 7 segment display showing the year the game was released.... and the same year displayed prominent on the mini metadata screen. Why? Would once suffice?

* speaking of “once”, you have the same information on BOTH 7 segment screens and on the THREE metadata screens? That’s 7 places to read the same bits of info. Why?

* you have TWO of the screens showing the same exact location like 4 inches apart from each other. Why?

* you have three panels of information repeating stuff that could be read on the control panel on the FRONT, in the spot where people normally stand. And on these toy cabs, even on a riser you’d have to bend down to read those little screens. Why?

* you misspelled “Bass”

Now, again, I think you did a nice job with the LED marquee. It looks better than some marquees I’ve seen on full size cabs. But I’m just curious about the reasoning behind your other choices. Again, you welcomed opinions, so these are not meant as straight criticisms, just trying to figure out your design choices.
***Build what you dig, bro. Build what you dig.***

leapinlew

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Re: Arcade Build with LED Marque and OLED and 7Segment Sub-Displays
« Reply #7 on: January 20, 2020, 03:12:50 pm »
All good points and feedback.

To me, I saw this cabinet as a "because I can" proof of concept more than anything. If you watched the video he says "because I could" so I think that'll answer some of your questions. I think if we could re-imagine some uses, I could see things like game instructions, fighter moves, etc being fed into ancillary screens and being useful. I think a display using information from a single source across all the arcades could be kind of fun, think "There is a kill screen coming up" or "User ACE has more high scores than anyone else". 

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Re: Arcade Build with LED Marque and OLED and 7Segment Sub-Displays
« Reply #8 on: January 21, 2020, 01:40:09 am »
I wouldn’t mind hearing your thought process on the displays on the front panel, especially since they mirror what’s bolted onto the control panel. Do you have further plans for them?

Great question, this build was a proof of concept basically, still figuring out what makes the most sense to display where. Right now the displays are mirrored as you mentioned but I do have the ability to address each display independently and display something different. A number of folks have suggested showing high scores which I think is a great idea and from the little research I've done , looks like there is an add-on called HiToText which will put high scores in a text file. Should be straight forward to read those then from my code and display, that's my current next step. Open to other ideas though, thanks for the feedback.

alinke

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Re: Arcade Build with LED Marque and OLED and 7Segment Sub-Displays
« Reply #9 on: January 21, 2020, 01:47:16 am »
All good points and feedback.

To me, I saw this cabinet as a "because I can" proof of concept more than anything. If you watched the video he says "because I could" so I think that'll answer some of your questions. I think if we could re-imagine some uses, I could see things like game instructions, fighter moves, etc being fed into ancillary screens and being useful. I think a display using information from a single source across all the arcades could be kind of fun, think "There is a kill screen coming up" or "User ACE has more high scores than anyone else".

Yep exactly, it's a proof of concept at this point, still experimenting on what makes sense to display and where. Going to work on high scores next , love any other use cases though, thanks for the feedback!

alinke

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Re: Arcade Build with LED Marque and OLED and 7Segment Sub-Displays
« Reply #10 on: January 21, 2020, 01:51:25 am »
I think the led monitor looks cool, but I don’t get why you have a bunch of Microdisplays saying the same thing. Seems extremely redundant and unnecessary.

yes agreed, now that I've got the hardware up and running, now working to see what makes the most sense to display where. It may very well turn out that having multiple displays is overkill, appreciate the feedback

alinke

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Re: Arcade Build with LED Marque and OLED and 7Segment Sub-Displays
« Reply #11 on: January 21, 2020, 01:53:53 am »
Ok I'll try not to be too critical but I'm not sure how I can do that and give any actual feedback.  I see a lot of great ideas, the problem is they shouldn't all be used on the same cab.  You've also forgotten the main purpose of an arcade cab... to play games.  I say that because the buttons you've replaced the originals with aren't really supposed to be used in an application with a lot of quick repeated presses... they are designed for slot machines and redemption games.  The stock a1up buttons are actually a better choice for fighters.  You've got a lot of stuff bolted on that, while as a stand alone item is pretty cool, detracts from the beauty of the mk 2 art, imho some of the best art ever to be on a cabinet and more importantly, detracts from gameplay.  I'm not just talking about the displays... you've inexplicably got spiderweb speaker covers, a motif that isn't shared by mk2 art, that are a bright red instead of the proper satin black... again, it's supposed to be satin black to keep the focus on the gameplay.    Do you have a copy of Saint's book?  Get a copy... it has some tips on overall layout that might help next time.  The actual elements and their fit and finish are great though...… just remember, less is more.

great feedback, thanks for that

alinke

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Re: Arcade Build with LED Marque and OLED and 7Segment Sub-Displays
« Reply #12 on: January 21, 2020, 02:04:55 am »
Howard brings up some good points on design, and I’ll elaborate more since you asked...

* you have lit logo buttons for coin, PI and PII, indicating what they are for... and then you have a label with the same exact thing right next to them... why? Wouldn’t the lit button suffice?

* you have a 7 segment display showing the year the game was released.... and the same year displayed prominent on the mini metadata screen. Why? Would once suffice?

* speaking of “once”, you have the same information on BOTH 7 segment screens and on the THREE metadata screens? That’s 7 places to read the same bits of info. Why?

* you have TWO of the screens showing the same exact location like 4 inches apart from each other. Why?

* you have three panels of information repeating stuff that could be read on the control panel on the FRONT, in the spot where people normally stand. And on these toy cabs, even on a riser you’d have to bend down to read those little screens. Why?

* you misspelled “Bass”

Now, again, I think you did a nice job with the LED marquee. It looks better than some marquees I’ve seen on full size cabs. But I’m just curious about the reasoning behind your other choices. Again, you welcomed opinions, so these are not meant as straight criticisms, just trying to figure out your design choices.

I really appreciate the honest and direct feedback and I think your design points are spot on. My thought process on this build was to get the tech working and proven out, basically a technology proof of concept. Next step is to find the right use cases for the displays. Thanks for taking the time.

alinke

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Re: Arcade Build with LED Marque and OLED and 7Segment Sub-Displays
« Reply #13 on: January 21, 2020, 02:25:51 am »
I can't help but think that this is fairly overengineered for my tastes (totally cool anyway, we mostly do this for ourselves) but holy cow, there's so much good stuff in there not to praise it. Lots of well integrated bits and interesting ideas at play.

I absolutely adore the LED marquee, much cooler and well proportioned than most (any?) LCD ones I've seen. I never even considered one until I saw yours. That price, tho.

thanks, yes the LED marquee is definitely the center piece. Just in case it wasn't clear, I created this LED marquee and the software and sell them. As you mentioned, the sizes have been good fits as I use existing LED panels from the sign industry, have them in 5 different sizes and so far have been able to find nice fits for all my customer's cabs. I appreciate the feedback on the price, it's a low volume/niche product at this point so manufacturing costs are high. I'd be happy though to cut you a deal and anyone else on this thread just so long as you'd be willing to post a few pics of your finished cab. Also, I've been working with a few others customizing the mount design to fit specific cabs to make the mount and install really easy. Just shoot me a note al [at] ledpixelart.com if interest. And thanks again for the feedback

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Re: Arcade Build with LED Marque and OLED and 7Segment Sub-Displays
« Reply #14 on: January 21, 2020, 02:48:02 am »
I think the 7-segment would look nice in place of the Arcade1up logo, if that will magic-eraser off easily enough. The rest, as proof of concept, is fine, since it shows talent/ideas. I'm just not sure what the displays bring to the table.

yotsuya

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Re: Arcade Build with LED Marque and OLED and 7Segment Sub-Displays
« Reply #15 on: January 21, 2020, 07:24:06 am »
I appreciate your responses. I was truly curious about your design process. Glad to see it’s still a work in progress.

I think the marquee looks great, but at this point, I don’t think the displays bring anything useful to the table. I’d lose all the front mounted ones and see if you can do anything with the panel mounts.

Good luck! Interested to see how your project evolves!
***Build what you dig, bro. Build what you dig.***

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Re: Arcade Build with LED Marque and OLED and 7Segment Sub-Displays
« Reply #16 on: January 24, 2020, 01:30:00 pm »
I use my second screen to display the button layout and the marquee.  My advice would be to turn the small display into portrait mode and use it to display the button layout like those that came with neogeo games.

For my cabinet i use custom made layouts, but that takes a lot of time.