My 4 player CPO

[strith]

This is just a start of my 4 player CPO... give any opinions

[quarterstringer]

Nice, I like the TMNT graphics. I would get rid of the left. middle and right text. Most people know left from right  

[GreenKnight37]

You might want to consider moving Raph and Don down a  little bit more, as the buttons will eventually cut into the image.  On Raph for example, you'll lose some of the hand and most of the bandana(I guess thats what you'd call it).

And are you going for just a clean black CP?  You could throw in some background image perhaps.  I'm a big fan of the turtles, but right now its just a bit on the bland side with only them featured.   But then again, if you want a clean black look, it might work really well for your cab!  All depends on what you want.

[Witchboard]

You mean Mike and Don?  I agree, you'll be losing some when you install your buttons.  Also, don't forget to fix the color on Mikes button outline.  It's orange below and not above.  I also agree on a background image.  The black looks nice and clean, but if you can find some hi-res scans somewhere you could make it look less empty.

Edit:  Looks like Raph may lose a knee with the buttons as well.

Edit: Ah.. nevermind about the color fix.  I just noticed that's the way it's supposed to be.

[GGKoul]

You may want to add a Coin button as well for each player.

[strith]

I have a coin door.. I'm not adding buttons..
I want this machine to look like a real machine.

I was planning on adding something to the background.

I was thinking about fighting game characters..
ie: mortal kombat, killer instinct, street fight, capcom.

and some company logos.. atari., midway, nintendo..

I'm just not sure on the layout..

should I b unch the characters together in the middle or 2 groups facing each other like a face off..

[walls83]

My only advice is maybe a Pause, Exit, and start buttons

[strith]

All those buttons are going to be inside the machine beyond the coin door.. and the extra buttons will be inside...

[AGGIEZ]

All those buttons are going to be inside the machine beyond the coin door.. and the extra buttons will be inside...

You're going to have to reach inside the coin door to hit Pause, Start and Exit?  You may want to re-think that if that's the case. I have friends that come over and go through 50 games a minute just seeing what I have on the machine. Kids also have short attention spans and may be flipping through different games. Not sure you want people putting their hands and arms into your machine...

[Felsir]

I have a coin door.. I'm not adding buttons..
I want this machine to look like a real machine.

I was planning on adding something to the background.

I was thinking about fighting game characters..
ie: mortal kombat, killer instinct, street fight, capcom.

My advise: stick to one theme.

and some company logos.. atari., midway, nintendo..

I'm just not sure on the layout..

should I b unch the characters together in the middle or 2 groups facing each other like a face off..

Mixing all kinds of characters and styles usually doesn't do a panel any good. The thing they say about "frankenpanels" IMHO also goes with graphics. Slapping all kinds of logo's and graphics on one piece can ruin a good idea.

The exception to this rule is cross-over themes like Capcom vs SNK, keep in mind though that the characters in these games are in the same visual style. If they put another title on the game an untrained eye probable couldn't tell which character originally is from which game.

I like the Turtles CPO, I would add turtles related graphics.

[GreenKnight37]

Ooops...I did mean Mike and Don in my earlier post.  I even used the Back button to make sure I was referring to the correct graphics, but I guess my brain was playing tricks on me

I would have to second the idea of sticking to a single theme, ie, just Turtles images.  If you go to http://www.ninjaturtles.com and enter the art gallery, you'll find a bunch of graphics.  Once I make the move to build my own cabinet, I'm going to vectorize a bunch of the images and use them.

But you could always use those additional images for Sideart.  Theres some very good group images, and then you've got Foot soldiers, Shredder, the TMNT Logo, etc.  So you can really mix and match and create a very cool Turtles themed cabinet if you'd like.  

But I'd try to stick with one main theme.  Or at most, do the control panel with one set of character images, and the cabinet sides with different images.

And for a Start, Pause, Player buttons...I'd really push that you add them to the control panel.  They'll come in handy up there, and its going to be far more convenient to quickly reach up then have to open up the coin door and hit buttons.  

If you dont want them on the top of the control panel, you could always put them in a different location.  Maybe on the front edge, off on the sides like you would for pinball buttons.   You can be creative...but I would still push you towards thinking about just putting the buttons on the top of the CP.  If you check out the pictures of other cabinets, 99% of them all have the start buttons on the top and easily accesible, just because it works so well.  So think about that before you complete the final design.

[strith]

If I put buttons on the top on the control panel they will be tiny push buttons from radio shack. I don't what buttons to cluter the control panel. I think I might stick with the ninja turtle theme. I just need to spend a bunch of time vectoring my images...

[exibar]

You could use the Atari Cone start buttons for pause start and exit.  If you use an i-pac, you really only need to make Pause easily available I would say....  

  Mike B

[mahuti]

Who are you people with the "admin buttons on the panel" thing?

Seriously, you don't need any admin buttons on the panel. If you use something like the iPac with a shift function, it won't take more than a few days with a cheat sheet to remember the admin functions.

I use.

1+2 = esc
1+down = pause
1+left = tab
1+right = enter / coin 1 input
1+up = volume control

I don't really want my guests to know about any of that stuff, and I certainly wouldn't use admin buttons on the panel if I had them. Don't use admin buttons on the outside of the cab.

Ever.

Anybody.

 

[walls83]

I use admin buttons for that exact reason "Friends coming over".  Hand holding the arcade machine gets old after about 15 mins.  You know having a party and all I hear is "How do I start this", "How do I quit I want to play another game".  That gets old real real quick.  So I have 3 Admin buttons : START, QUIT, and PAUSE clearly labeled.  And that means more beer drinking for me and less ARCADE machine handholding.  

[mahuti]

I have a very small set of instructions, and I don't tell people ANYTHING. They get it.

Pretty much all people need is to know "start" and "escape" They don't get to know anything else at my place.

Other guests can guide them through the process if they're that dense.

[whammoed]

Cool but lose the "MAME" part.  I love mame of course but for some reason I don't like seeing it in the artwork.
As far as admin buttons go I like to have a dedicated pause and exit (esc) button and for start i use the player 1 start button.  I use shift functions for true admin functions such as tab or F2 and such.  I don't like using a shift function for anything that a guest would use.  I think it takes away from the "real" arcade feel.  (yeah i know real arcade games don't have a pause button, but it sure is nice)  Of course thats just me...you can argue otherwise for example to continue a game in arkanoid you hold down the fire button and hit start, but that is the exception to the rule and also I didn't do it right the first time.

[DougHillman]

Who are you people with the "admin buttons on the panel" thing?

Seriously, you don't need any admin buttons on the panel. If you use something like the iPac with a shift function, it won't take more than a few days with a cheat sheet to remember the admin functions.

I use.

1+2 = esc
1+down = pause
1+left = tab
1+right = enter / coin 1 input
1+up = volume control

I don't really want my guests to know about any of that stuff, and I certainly wouldn't use admin buttons on the panel if I had them. Don't use admin buttons on the outside of the cab.

Ever.

Anybody.

 

No thanks, I'll keep on using them.   Enter, Esc, and Pause go on all my cabs.   Much more user friendly than "P1 Start & P1 Stick Left" or whatever.  

Tab, F2 & such are accessed with shifted keys so that prying hands won't likely get to them, but the coupla simple ones always go on there.

[GGKoul]

I have a coin door.. I'm not adding buttons..
I want this machine to look like a real machine.

Do you have a 4 coin slot?  As each player will need their own coin slot.

[GGKoul]

1+2 = esc

I love this one especially after playing Metal Slug for a couple of hours and both players hit the start buttons at the sametime...

[walls83]

1+2 = esc

I love this one especially after playing Metal Slug for a couple of hours and both players hit the start buttons at the sametime...

Ah man I freaking hate that, a buddy and me were playing Total Carnage for like 2 hours then BLAM game exits.  We both hit the 1 and 2 player buttons.  Is there a fix for this to change the keys?

[DougHillman]

1+2 = esc

I love this one especially after playing Metal Slug for a couple of hours and both players hit the start buttons at the sametime...

Ah man I freaking hate that, a buddy and me were playing Total Carnage for like 2 hours then BLAM game exits.  We both hit the 1 and 2 player buttons.  Is there a fix for this to change the keys?

Yeah, just reprogram the I-Pac.

[subzero23]

Is it possible to change the shift button to something else?

[mahuti]

1+2 = esc

I love this one especially after playing Metal Slug for a couple of hours and both players hit the start buttons at the sametime...

Which might be a problem if my cab was set up for 2 player simultaneous.

[GGKoul]

1+2 = esc

I love this one especially after playing Metal Slug for a couple of hours and both players hit the start buttons at the sametime...

Ah man I freaking hate that, a buddy and me were playing Total Carnage for like 2 hours then BLAM game exits.