Author Topic: Should I put a pause button on my CP? (Read 3044 times)

subzero23 · « **on:** December 23, 2004, 07:33:43 pm »

The theme of my machine is like a multi-cade where people (pretending it's a public place but just in my gameroom really) could walk upto it and choose a game from a menu, start a game, insert a coin and play... but should they be able to pause? Or should *I* be able to pause? I was thinking this, on my 4 player CP (which also has a ms pacman joystick), at the top I'd have three system buttons

Green-Yellow-Red
and on the instruction card denote green as "Enter game" Yellow as "Pause game" and Red as "Exit game"
which is cool cuz it's like a traffic light and works well imo.

versapak · « **Reply #1 on:** December 23, 2004, 07:48:30 pm »

I wouldn't put a button specifically for pause, but I would make it an easy to perform (but not so easy as to happen all the time by accident) button comb.

oceanman93 · « **Reply #2 on:** December 23, 2004, 07:58:34 pm »

I am putting a pause button in my design since you never know when that cellphone might ring. That was never a problem back when I was in the arcade in 1981 even though I got a pager in 1985 (a very annoying addition). Plus, if the doorbell rings when I am having a high score game, I would hate to think I would ignore my friends.

SeaMonkey · « **Reply #3 on:** December 24, 2004, 03:19:22 pm »

I wouldn't put it on the cp, mine are on the side. next to the the right pinball flipper button. If you have an overhang on your cp you could put it on the bottom.

JustMichael · « **Reply #4 on:** December 24, 2004, 03:27:38 pm »

I have a pause button but it isn't on the control panel. It is above the control panel.

krick · « **Reply #5 on:** December 26, 2004, 11:35:36 am »

The standard I-Pac setup includes pause. Just hold down player 1 start button and pull down on the joystick once. To unpause, hold the button and pull down again.

JCKnife · « **Reply #6 on:** December 26, 2004, 10:58:42 pm »

But the ipac shift option doesn't give player 2 any way to pause. I'm putting a pause button on mine.

thrash242 · « **Reply #7 on:** December 26, 2004, 11:50:09 pm »

Quote from: JCKnife on December 26, 2004, 10:58:42 pm

But the ipac shift option doesn't give player 2 any way to pause. I'm putting a pause button on mine.

Well, I'm having two dedicated shift buttons on either side of the control box and duplicating the shift fuctions for both players for this very reason.

eyal8r · « **Reply #8 on:** December 27, 2004, 12:15:26 am »

My pause and escape buttons are on the bottom of the CP. No one knows they're there, but, still within easy reach for when needed....

GGKoul · « **Reply #9 on:** December 27, 2004, 01:02:11 am »

Not needed.

Mugzilla · « **Reply #10 on:** December 27, 2004, 03:33:13 am »

Quote from: JCKnife on December 26, 2004, 10:58:42 pm

But the ipac shift option doesn't give player 2 any way to pause. I'm putting a pause button on mine.

So change the "shifted" button to a button that is centrally located on the CP. CPs with less "Command" buttons are always better.

Why clutter up your artwork? Another thing is, it can be very advantageous to NOT allow anyone to know the command buttons. Imagine you have friends, and a bunch of them are over playing games. Do you want to have others going though your computer, looking for games?

danny_galaga · « **Reply #11 on:** December 27, 2004, 07:43:47 am »

Quote from: JCKnife on December 26, 2004, 10:58:42 pm

But the ipac shift option doesn't give player 2 any way to pause. I'm putting a pause button on mine.

screw player two!! hehe

unclet · « **Reply #12 on:** December 27, 2004, 08:52:36 am »

I have a pause button on mine ..... I like it a lot. I have two kids who need stuff a lot .... so pausing is a necessity for me. Making it easy was key for me as well as friends who play. Friends and family tend not to remember how to perform shift key operations for pausing and other similiar options like that. I always add individual buttons.

eyal8r · « **Reply #13 on:** December 27, 2004, 12:54:50 pm »

I used a dedicated pause/escape button on my CP- but I mounted it underneath the CP itself. The part of the CP that overhangs and sticks out towards the players, I moounted buttons underneath that- so no one knows they're there, but, are easily accessed for either player to hit. I mounted the escape button off to the left side so it wouldn't be mistaken in a heated game... Keeps your CP clean and free of buttons, yet, still gives you full control of having them...
D

SirPoonga · « **Reply #14 on:** December 27, 2004, 01:23:05 pm »

I have a dedicated pause button. It's nice to have, especially when someone else needs to pause. You can get away with a button combo to do pause though since you have an instruciton card.

subzero23 · « **Reply #15 on:** December 28, 2004, 01:46:13 am »

I won't be using any shift buttons whatsoever
So I guess a pause button would be good practically and I shouldn't really worry about authenticity since it's a home cabinet and is gonna have 5 joysticks and Tb

rdagger · « **Reply #16 on:** December 28, 2004, 02:47:15 am »

I have a dedicated pause and a coin insert button (all slots). Shifting is fine for escape, tab and enter because there is no hurry. However, if you need to pause in the middle of a game or you need a credit quick to continue a game, it convenient to have fast access. I placed the buttons on the CP, but I used flush mount buttons so they are not as pronounced.

paigeoliver · « **Reply #17 on:** December 28, 2004, 06:20:18 am »

Someone else built the control panel box for my latest cab, and it had 2 flipper buttons on either side. Since I'm not running pinmame and none of the video pinball games in Mame use more than one flipper per side I decided to use one of them for pause.

Chris · « **Reply #18 on:** December 28, 2004, 06:20:38 pm »

I have a dedicated Pause, and it gets used a ton. In fact, it's almost my generic "command button", because with various shifts I also use it to access the config menu, save state, and load state. It's mapped to P, so it also pauses in many PC games.

The only other "command" buttons on my CP are Exit and a dedicated Shift button. (The Shift button changes game lists in the front end.) Coins are handled through the coin door, either by inserting a coin or pressing in the coin return buttons.

--Chris

j123vt_99 · « **Reply #19 on:** February 22, 2005, 10:49:47 am »

what button (color/text) do you use for pause? yellow sounds like a good idea

dmsuchy · « **Reply #20 on:** February 22, 2005, 10:56:58 am »

Hell yeah, mine is to the right of my player 2 button and it comes in handy when I have to answer the phone, get anothr beer, let the dog out ect.. Trust me it IS a necessity.

walls83 · « **Reply #21 on:** February 22, 2005, 10:59:53 am »

I have a pause button on my CP. and I love it. It comes in so handy.

quarterback · « **Reply #22 on:** February 22, 2005, 11:00:32 am »

Quote from: j123vt_99 on February 22, 2005, 10:49:47 am

what button (color/text) do you use for pause? yellow sounds like a good idea

I've got a dedicated pause button as well.

mahuti · « **Reply #23 on:** February 22, 2005, 11:02:44 am »

I got 3 of those for my defender coin door (there are 3 diagnostic switches on the williams door that I replaced)

quarterback · « **Reply #24 on:** February 22, 2005, 11:08:38 am »

Quote from: mahuti on February 22, 2005, 11:02:44 am

I got 3 of those for my defender coin door (there are 3 diagnostic switches on the williams door that I replaced)

I like them because they're tiny, they don't look like arcade buttons and they're cheap.

I'm just not a real fan of full sized Happs buttons on a CP being used for admin functions. They look like they want to be pushed over and over and over again like "fire" or "jump", but I could live with something like these on my CP without much issue at all.
YMMV of course.

clanggedin · « **Reply #25 on:** February 22, 2005, 11:31:06 am »

A pause button is an absolute necessity these days with cell phones, crying children, etc.. I come in handy when I have to go do something for the Mrs. and I'm in the middle of a good game of Gyruss or Centipede.

A pause button sould be easily accessed and there's no better place than on the CP.

JB · « **Reply #26 on:** February 22, 2005, 12:01:49 pm »

I had an idea. Dunno how workable it would be.
Use a vibration switch and mount it under the panel so slapping the CP would pause it.

j123vt_99 · « **Reply #27 on:** February 22, 2005, 12:04:22 pm »

like a pinball "tilt" function?

GGKoul · « **Reply #28 on:** February 22, 2005, 12:13:50 pm »

Quote from: j123vt_99 on February 22, 2005, 10:49:47 am

what button (color/text) do you use for pause? yellow sounds like a good idea

Mine is a Black/Orange button.

LPZ · « **Reply #29 on:** February 22, 2005, 12:20:59 pm »

I also have a dedicated pause button on my cab mounted below the cp. Nothing worse then when you have to fill your beer up in the middle of your game!

Sasquatch! · « **Reply #30 on:** February 22, 2005, 12:28:24 pm »

I have one, and I think it's a good idea.

SirPoonga · « **Reply #31 on:** February 22, 2005, 01:18:15 pm »

Quote from: clanggedin on February 22, 2005, 11:31:06 am

A pause button is an absolute necessity these days with cell phones, crying children, etc.. I come in handy when I have to go do something for the Mrs. and I'm in the middle of a good game of Gyruss or Centipede.

A pause button sould be easily accessed and there's no better place than on the CP.

For home use this is a good idea. In the arcade the shop owner wouldn't want you to pause even if it was available, it wouldn't make as much money then.

Lilwolf · « **Reply #32 on:** February 22, 2005, 01:29:58 pm »

Dedicated pause is a GOOD thing!

also

Dedicated F10 (and change mame to have showfps to F10 also) for a quick speedup is also GREAT! I do want to hack mame to change to frameskip 12 when I press it and back to frameskip 0 the next time.

Probably 2 of my favorite buttons... Behind... coin player 1, start player 1, heck joystick player 1 and a few player 1 buttons.

Pete Harcoff · « **Reply #33 on:** February 22, 2005, 01:37:34 pm »

Most definitely. I stuck a couple pause buttons on my 2 player CP and they've proved extremely useful.

SirPoonga · « **Reply #34 on:** February 22, 2005, 01:44:45 pm »

The only two dedicated buttons I have are pause and exit. And my pause button is my shift button too.

mahuti · « **Reply #35 on:** February 22, 2005, 02:08:30 pm »

I don't actually use a pause button... I have a shifted pause button which I never have trouble remembering, but I don't share with guests.

It's funny, a friend of mine stayed at my house for a few months, and played the arcade machine all the time. One day he saw me walk away from it with it paused, come back to it and start playing again. He was dumbstruck... he never knew there was a pause button... was disgusted at how many games he'd blown going to do other things. Man did I laugh at him.

SirPoonga · « **Reply #36 on:** February 22, 2005, 02:36:45 pm »

See, I'm not cruel to friends like that

mjrsting · « **Reply #37 on:** February 22, 2005, 02:44:04 pm »

I added a dedicated one to mine and love...so does my eight y/o boy! He has just as much fun playing the classics as he does the PS2. :-)

sting

JB · « **Reply #38 on:** February 22, 2005, 05:54:34 pm »

Quote from: j123vt_99 on February 22, 2005, 12:04:22 pm

like a pinball "tilt" function?

Yeah. But more sensitive, so you don't have to really manhandle the machine to set it off. Just smack your palm down on the panel.


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