Custom "Nasa" Control Panel- Feedback needed

[sundeth]

I will send the art to be cut in the next few days, I'm quite nervous that I may have done something wrong. This will be uv printed on plexi, white will be transparent with leds under the panel. This was inspired by http://www.paradoxarcades.com/nasa, what do you guys think?

[TheGreatRedDragon]

I can't offer an opinion on the functionality of the control layout, but I think aesthetically that is absolutely spectacular!

[nipsmg]

I can offer an opinion on the functionality of the control layout, but I won’t. However… I can’t wait to see this when it’s done.  It’s going to look amazing.

[Mike A]

There is way too much ---steaming pile of meadow muffin--- on that panel.

[vertexguy]

Well it definitely looks like a complex Nasa themed control panel.  Is there an online PHD course to take before you're qualified to play?

In all seriousness though, if it's not too late take a strong look at the outer player controls and read up on some other 4 player project threads.  Your layout there is severely compromised for a good 4 player experience.

[nipsmg]

Ugh ok.  Now that someone else opened the door I guess.

I’d suggest getting some pegboard or thin wood and making a template-/ cut out the holes and mount the controls and test play that.  Try playing some of those inner controls.

I have been there, done that, bought the t-shirt.

My first cab:


I had the ‘old crotchety members be damned, I’m doing it anyways’, and that cab was still pretty early on in this hobby. And I regretted it.

Those inner controls, and even the dedicated 4-way NEVER got used. By anyone. Including me.  (And I don’t mean rarely, I mean literally never).  It is not fun, or comfortable, or even sane to try to play a game while reaching over other controls to do it. Back strain? Yes please. Rest your forearms down?  Oh ---steaming pile of meadow muffin--- I inadvertently hit 10 buttons.  Forearm hitting other joysticks.  It’s super fun to get speared right in the middle of your forearm too.  And a smooth ball doesn’t feel any better.

Those inner controls you will use for like 1% of games. And they clutter your panel.  And the thing you will 100% regret the most and that will turn people off from wanting to play is not having a 4-way in the p1 position.  People will NOT want to reach in for a 4-way, and playing Pac-Man/DK/anything 4-way on an 8 way is not doable.  People get pissed and are like ‘this sucks’ and don’t play.  And most ‘oh cool, an arcade cabinet” players want to play Pac-Man or ms Pac-Man. .

Even If you want to keep all the other stuff, I would HIGHLY, HIGHLY recommend putting a servostik at the p1 position that automatically switches between 4 and 8-way.  And no, an ultrastik 360 with a 4-way map DOES NOT play like a physically restricted stick.  I had one.  Trust me.

—-

Wasn’t going to get into it because the design looks dope and I would like to see it purely for aesthetics, but now that the cat is out of the bag I would feel bad not at least TRYING to convince you to not do it.

As boring as it looks, this has been the most useful, best layout I have ever had.  I have had at least 10x more play on this than on any of my other cabinets:

[sundeth]

I was going with tilted joysticks for players 3 and 4 like @nipsmg, but the art felt wrong, so I changed that, but I'm still not 100% happy with them. I'm using servos for players 1 and 2. The "x precision dial" wil have spinners with steering wheels to make it easier to reach them, but the flight joysticks may not be very well positioned

I'm building a 2 player version on a cardboard box to test, will give more attention to the spinner/flightstick. the flightstick doesn't concern me too much because I got some really cheap chinese ones and they are more for novelty than for long time playing. Players 3 and 4 are a bigger concern, all my friends are...well...large...so space and confort matters, the panel is set to have 1.25meters btw

also, about materials, the idea is to use 2 layers of plexy, 1 with extra holes for the screws and another over it, uv printed, is there any way to make it scratch resistent? I can already see in my head the scratches from my female friends nails  , I'm considering a layer of policarbonate or transparent vynil

[nipsmg]

Before the controller police come and get me.. my P3 and 4 controllers were set up the "wrong" way.   I hope this thread does not become another host to this debate, but the conventional wisdom states that player 3 and 4 controllers, even if the player is at an angle, should be oriented so that "up" points directly at the screen like Player 1 and player 2.  The buttons would be set up at the angle just as you would expect.

You can find multiple instances of this debate in here.. apparently TMNT/Simpsons/other 4-way games were actually configured in this way.  I'm not going to get drawn back into THAT debate however, it's exhausting.

[PL1]

TL;DR summary of that debate:  Green is good.  Red is bad.   




Scott

[vertexguy]

2 layouts I can think of for the absolute most space per player is one of two ways.

1. The panel itself needs to be significantly larger than a normal 48 inch wide range.  Picture more of a wide pedestal 4 player approach.  That way each big player has lots of space and stays oriented straight with the screen and controls.

2.  Look at x-men as an example.  You need your outer players to physically be turned 90 degrees to the screen and more on the side of the cab than the front.  A deeper control panel will help buy more space for them as well.

You could also consider detachable outer player controls.

[Billy_Goatfeet]

Ugh ok.  Now that someone else opened the door I guess.

I’d suggest getting some pegboard or thin wood and making a template-/ cut out the holes and mount the controls and test play that.  Try playing some of those inner controls.

I have been there, done that, bought the t-shirt.

I had the ‘old crotchety members be damned, I’m doing it anyways’, and that cab was still pretty early on in this hobby. And I regretted it.

Those inner controls, and even the dedicated 4-way NEVER got used. By anyone. Including me.  (And I don’t mean rarely, I mean literally never).  It is not fun, or comfortable, or even sane to try to play a game while reaching over other controls to do it. Back strain? Yes please. Rest your forearms down?  Oh ---steaming pile of meadow muffin--- I inadvertently hit 10 buttons.  Forearm hitting other joysticks.  It’s super fun to get speared right in the middle of your forearm too.  And a smooth ball doesn’t feel any better.

Those inner controls you will use for like 1% of games. And they clutter your panel.  And the thing you will 100% regret the most and that will turn people off from wanting to play is not having a 4-way in the p1 position.  People will NOT want to reach in for a 4-way, and playing Pac-Man/DK/anything 4-way on an 8 way is not doable.  People get pissed and are like ‘this sucks’ and don’t play.  And most ‘oh cool, an arcade cabinet” players want to play Pac-Man or ms Pac-Man. .

Even If you want to keep all the other stuff, I would HIGHLY, HIGHLY recommend putting a servostik at the p1 position that automatically switches between 4 and 8-way.  And no, an ultrastik 360 with a 4-way map DOES NOT play like a physically restricted stick.  I had one.  Trust me.

Wasn’t going to get into it because the design looks dope and I would like to see it purely for aesthetics, but now that the cat is out of the bag I would feel bad not at least TRYING to convince you to not do it.

As boring as it looks, this has been the most useful, best layout I have ever had.  I have had at least 10x more play on this than on any of my other cabinets:

  I actually found this advice to be quite compelling.  I am in the process of trying to decide between a 2 vs. 4 player CP and have been reading more and more reasons to avoid the larger 4 player config.  You also backed it up with a pretty sound argument instead of just crapping on it. 

Sorry, not trying to hi-jack the thread.  Looks pretty good though!!  I swear someone made a Nasa themed CP very similar to this that had a bunch of RGB lighting madness to it....


- Steve

[SNAAKE]

very nice