Lunacade Controls and Artwork

[nathan118]

Well, I'm a noob building my first arcade cabinet, and was hoping to get some feedback on my control panel layout.

Some stuff you can't tell from the picture....it's 48" wide, 16" deep. The red joystick is a dedicated 4-way. I didn't include a spinner, just cuz I don't have a desire to play any spinner required games. I set the trackball up and off-center so that players 1 and 2 could move more to the center and give the outside players more room. I think the trackball and 4-way stick both have pretty good access points (ie. no joysticks in way of your arm). I want to add some "admin" buttons to the top, just haven't figured out what the most important ones are yet.

Any suggestions? Thanks guys.

[javeryh]

Looks good to me but I prefer the action buttons to be all in a row - to each his own I guess.  Looks like it is going to be sweet when its done...

[Gunstar Hero]

Looks awesome. I wish my cab had that kind of CP room. Sigh... well, someday!

Anyways, I'd center the trackball and drop the extra 4 way for a spinner, make one of your other sticks switchable. I kinda dig the "curved" 6 button layouts, you might consider adding "NeoGeo" button 7's as well.

[BarontheFirst]

I like it but do you ever plan to use a coin door? I am only asking because of the placement. I had coin buttons then decided to go for the coin door and made the coin buttons pause buttons. I placed them on the front panel of the CP to kind of make this change easier from the start. However if you never plan to use a coin door your lay out looks great! Do you plan on side pinball buttons?

3 buttons I found important

Start
Esc
Pause

other you might consider,

Maybe a few F keys
The ~ key all up to you.

[pointdablame]

I would get rid of the dedicated 4way, get a 4/8way joystick, and put in a spinner... but that's just me.

How are you going to play Tempest without a spinner?  And if you don't want to play Tempest... well... I don't wish to talk to you

Otherwise, you CP looks very good.

[nathan118]

Thanks for the suggestions everybody.

I know it's shocking....but i've never even played Tempest. Maybe since I'm only 23, but the real cool arcade stuff for me is street fighter, tmnt, and sunset riders. I've got tempest on my machine though, so I'll have to check it out.

My only issues with a dedicated 4/8 way stick is that I don't want to have to reach under the panel, and it seems there are few that can be changed without doing that. Along with this, I don't want that joystick to look different than the other 3. However I have seen that you can change the actual stick. If all 4 can look the same, but one can be a 4/8 way, I'm all for it. I'm just afraid I'll lose some function/looks to get it. And again, currently I'm not planning on getting a spinner.

I've considered pinball buttons on the side, but it's going to be a long control panel, so I'll probably just map a couple regular buttons to it.

As for a coin door, I'm not planning on having one. I don't mind if it doesn't look super authentic, but if I ever change my mind, that's easily changed.

Ok, off to check out the rage that is "tempest."

[Buddabing]

I like the trackball offset the way it is. I'd add a third button to the left of the trackball for Missile Command.

I second the "change a joystick to 4/8 way switchable and add a spinner" motion. Get one of the switchable sticks that you don't have to dig under the panel to switch. It might be best for your switchable joystick to look a little different so that your guests know which stick is player one and so they don't try switching the other three sticks.

I would also add one button for pause, which can also be a "shift" button for admin functions.

I am old school so I love the older games, ie Missile Command, Tempest, etc.

[pointdablame]

Thanks for the suggestions everybody.

I know it's shocking....but i've never even played Tempest. Maybe since I'm only 23, but the real cool arcade stuff for me is street fighter, tmnt, and sunset riders.

Well I'm only 20 so...  I do know what you mean though.  I still think a spinner is worth it though, as it can also double as a decent 360 wheel, so you can play a lot of racing games.  Its not authentic of course, but its much better than a joy and buttons.

The only 4/8way joysticks I know of are the Tstick and the OmniStick, and both of those have versions that switch from the top.  No need to get under the panel at all.

[Nefesis]

not that i mean to hack the thread (well, ok i do  ) but does anyone think having three buttons is enough for the main classsics ( mainly pacman series, indiana jones, metal slug) or do i need four. as i discover more neogeo games i might play more of those, so should i go with four or three?

[FractalWalk]

does anyone think having three buttons is enough for the main classsics ( mainly pacman series, indiana jones, metal slug) or do i need four.

I always find it amusing how different people define classics. I wouldn't call a game that came out in the latter half of the 90's as classic, but then again I'm 40.

With my definition of classic, 3 buttons is more than enough. In fact, 1 button may be enough  

[nathan118]

Well all my buttons, joysticks, and trackball are finally here, so I'm getting really serious about my control panel. It's similar to the old one, but a little smarter design. The inner "box" is the CP base, while the outer box is the CP top. The top is 48" wide, 20" deep. One problem on my old design was how close the joysticks/buttons were to the front edge and your hand would be resting on the edge. Yuck. I sat down at the table and found a good distance to be about 7" from the edge, so that's how far all 4 setups are from their edges in the front. All the buttons are 1.5" apart. The 5 buttons at the top are admin buttons (which I need to sit down and decide what they should be so I can do my artwork). The three buttons off to the left are left/middle/right for the trackball. The two button pairings are coin/start for each player. The red joystick is a dedicated 4 way galaga/pacman replica. I'm using happ competitions for my 8-ways.

So any suggestions? Trying to nail this down before I start on my artwork. You guys rock!

[nathan118]

Well, since my boring CP above didn't get much response, here's some work in progress. I'm still labeling everything. I created the whole thing in photoshop using lots of online tutorials. As you can tell I'm doing a space theme.

[nathan118]

And without the visio design.

And already I've realized it'd make more sense to put the labels above the buttons. Then if your hand is on the button you won't be covering it.  

[Chris]

Heh... looks like we have similar tastes in art...

[nathan118]

Nice Chris. I was just thinking the dark side of the planet in my lower right corner is kind of bland. I saw you've got the MAME logo on yours, could be a good "filler" graphic.

[Chris]

Nice Chris. I was just thinking the dark side of the planet in my lower right corner is kind of bland. I saw you've got the MAME logo on yours, could be a good "filler" graphic.

How about nightside lights?  Look at one of the nighttime photos of Earth from one of the space sites....

[darktemp]

If it's space you want check out deviantart.com under digital art.  Some amazing work on there.

[rsoandrew]

My suggestion, put in a spiner or you'll regret it.

I never played any trackball games so I didn't put a trackball in my CP. Now I've found a couple of games from the ROM set that I really want to play. They require a trackball. Now I have to redesign the entire CP so I can play all the games.  

[nathan118]

I tried out tempest....and it was cool I guess,  but not sure it's worth an extra $70 or so. Other than tempest and arkanoid....what exactly would I be missing out on?

I'm mainly building this thing for some fighters and cool 4 player games like sunset riders and TMNT. I dig some of the old school games, but most of them are 4-way stick games, not spinners. I want the trackball because bowling games rule mainly.

Thanks for the feedback guys.

[nathan118]

As I attempt to layout the button "labeling" I've got a question.

Most people "number" their buttons like this

123
XXX
XXX
456

But what about my player 3 and 4? I assume it should be just like above but minus the far right:

12
XX
XX
45

So maybe my question is, does MAME setup 4 player games to NOT use button 3? Of is that just something I'll have to go in and map out? The only other obvious layout is:

12
XX
XX
34

But then the layout is totally different than player 1 and 2. Thanks again, can't wait til I know as much as all of you.

[warreng]

If it's space you want check out deviantart.com under digital art.  Some amazing work on there.

Also look at digitalblasphemy.com for some truly incredible artwork.

-warren

[nathan118]

I agree, both the sites listed have some awesome artwork...but I still can't use it. Even the largest backgrounds look tiny on a 4 ft wide/200 dpi image. And it's fun to make it completely original.

[nathan118]

Well, I'll post what I discovered to help out some other people that may have this problem some day.

I decided to go with these layouts:

For players 1 and 2:

125
XXX
XXX
346

Players 3 and 4:

12
XX
XX
34

Ultimately I'm gonna have to change some settings for certain games though. The reason I did this is so player 1 and 2's four most left buttons will be the exact same as player 3 and 4. It'd be lame if the turbo button in nba jam was on the top right for players 1 and 2, but bottom left for players 3 and 4. However, this still leaves me with another problem. With this layout a Fierce punch in SFII won't be on the top right, it will be on the lower left where weak kick should be.

Oh well, looks like i'll have to do some special setup no matter what. Is there anything I'm overlooking? Main reason I needed to figure this out is so i can label my control panel. Any help is still appreciated.

[nathan118]

Ok, here's pics of my finished artwork. I decided to go with a normal button setup and add a 7th neo geo button.

There's a starfield where all the black is, but that disappeared with the resize. I might add a couple bright stars on the right of the marquee below, but otherwise I think I'm done.
 

[nathan118]

the panel

[nathan118]

with visio for cutting.

[nathan118]

Since I can't change my earlier picture...here's another. I promise, it's the last one.

[Lilwolf]

Sounds like I might have come in too late... but...

Your trackball might be near useless for some (some) games.  With the joysticks infront of it, you will not be able to give it a good wack without hitting the joysticks.

I don't know of a better place to put it... But its something to think about.

Spinners you don't need an area around it... But trackballs you do.  And you also want enought area for your arm.

Anyway, something to think about.

Then next thing.  You might consider buying a super cheap partical board and build up your control panel and try it.  I have redone about 5 of my control panels.  Even the basic 2player streetfighter setup has been changed a few times.  So a $3 board and a little extra time can tell if you LIKE you control panel.  You might really find that you want to just change a few things.

But other then that... I like it.  Definately has the Frankenpanel going for it... but thats not always a bad thing if everything is setup properly.

[nathan118]

Well, not sure it's reached frankenpanel status. If I had a spinner, a flightstick in addition to what I do have...then I might agree.

As for the trackball, we basically decided you should be standing just to the left of center playing trackball games so your arm is straight going into the trackball. You're not going to have your arm way off to the side running into the 2-player joystick. Not sure you can tell, but the trackball is slightly off center for accessability reasons. So anyways, I guess it's good for now.

[NoOne=NBA=]

I tried out tempest....and it was cool I guess,  but not sure it's worth an extra $70 or so. Other than tempest and arkanoid....what exactly would I be missing out on?

ALL the 360 driving games, Blasteroids, Major Havoc, Star Trek, Omega Race, Tron/Discs of Tron, Cameltry (similar to Marble Madness, except that you move the MAZE around with the spinner, not the ball), alot of paddle/ball bouncing games.

I want the trackball because bowling games rule mainly.

Are you going to have enough room at the top for you to really roll the ball properly, without smashing your hand into the monitor bezel?

[Wizard of DelRay]

Weird.  I checked out this thread cause I thought it had something to do with this.

[nathan118]

ALL the 360 driving games, Blasteroids, Major Havoc, Star Trek, Omega Race, Tron/Discs of Tron, Cameltry (similar to Marble Madness, except that you move the MAZE around with the spinner, not the ball), alot of paddle/ball bouncing games.

I guess since I've never even hard of any of those games (minus tron) that I'll live without a spinner. As for smashing my hand into the bezel....I measure 9.5" from front of the ball to the plexi....which in my simulated tests seems to be enough, just no extremely long follow throughs. Then again, that aspect of my panel is no different than 90% of the 4 player + trackball panels around.

[Jeehemdee]

Weird.  I checked out this thread cause I thought it had something to do with this.

Yes....me too ;-)