Its ALIVE!!

[Will]

Well after alot of time spent in the garage my first "test" control panel is done and everything works except one button(bad microswitch?).It was great to finally test out my various controls and button placement.A lot of things I thought were perfect are not and need to be changed like my idea to do ergonomic buttons with the middle button placed a little higher than the other two buttons is kind of dumb,my other dumb idea was trying to connect my p360 joysticks with woodscrews after a heavy testing session of Smash TV and Robotron my second player joystick ripped out of the wood.

The p360 joysticks are great and even in 8 way mode they work great for 4 way games.There smooth as butter and seem to be worth the extra dollars.The tornado spinner from slikstik is great and playing tempest and cameltry were alot of fun.Happ trackball is great and feels better than any trackball I remember from the arcade.My j-stick 4 way is giving me alot of problems and I have to email andy to see if i have it together wrong because it feels clunky.

The warm fuzzy nostalgic and proud feeling i had last night playing Rastan on controls that I made myself and designed myself was amazing,pulling off dragon punches with ease and perfect golds in 720 made me realize I have my own little timeportal sitting at home.I plan on updating my thread in the project announcement section with pics and I apologize for not posting any pics today but Im sitting here at work and wanted to share my first cp playing/testing experience.

I plan on testing a bit more and taking notes of what needs to be changed and than its final cp building time.Guess its about time to beg SNAAKE to do some art for me:)-Will

[DreamWeb]

I went for the ergonomic button setup as well....  But my CP isn't ocmplete yet so I haven't had the chance to try it out.

Why didn't you like it?

d.

[Mojo2000]

I am planning my 6-button layout to include middle buttons just a little further forward than the others, maybe 1 cm or so. Why have you decided this is "dumb"?

Thanks for sharing your triumphs and tragedies.

[Xiaou2]

 When you place your hands over your keyboard to type... where are your fingers?  All straight in a row.
 
  Your longer middle finger is actually more comfortable being a bit bent and retracted (relaxed)... and its position actually is more advantageous to faster presses in this way.

  In the heat of battle... you will acidentally press the edge of the middle finger button on accident, because your brain thinks it should be in a row lined up with the others.

  Good to hear your progress and joys Will  : )

  Give cosmic chasm, star trek, supersprint, turbo, Tac Scan, Tron, Discs of Tron, Major Havoc, Pole Postion, - with your new spinner : )

 Ohh, and if you like Robotron... try Rescue. 

[Will]

Maybe dumb was a little harsh,but really comes down to this It just doesn't feel normal.For example, I tried some vs. Super Mario Bros. and when your holding down the run button and reach for jump with your middle finger it seems out of place.I will probably play it some more like this just to be sure but I'm almost positive that I will go back to old reliable ,plain old military straight line style.

The tornado spinner is great but not sure if this is really a negative but it spins to long.If its moving the trackball does not function .So if you don't stop it after a good spin you will be wondering why the hell the trackball is not working.These are both hooked up via usb.

I have noticed and come to grips with the fact that some games no matter how much you try you will have some games that are really tough to get the controls perfect.For example tron a game I thought that I could pull off playing it without a trigger stick,I was wrong. When you have one hand on the p360 and the other on the spinner and the third hand you don't have reaching for the fire button you have issues.I guess that my only choice is to save space for a trigger joystick to be added later.My attempts to buy one off ebay have not gone well do to price.The other issue i have is that I want a spinner with up/down functionality.Playing disc of tron without this function bugs me,I will probably ebay the tornado spinner when oscar releases the up/down version I will probably buy that.My final complaint is 720 ,as much as i like playing it with a spinner or the trackball I still want to add the real thing.I have not had any luck finding a joystick by itself.

Thanks you for all the kind words and thanks alot xiaou2 for the spinner recommendations although Ive played most of those, but Ive never tried rescue so I will try that one.I should have pics up in the next couple of days.

[Xiaou2]

 There is a temporary solution to not having a trigger stick.   You could make a foot button.   However.. since your feet arnt nearly as fast and dexterious... it wont be quite as good as a real trigger stick.

[RayB]

... or a pelvis button.
 

[Will]

a couple of wise guys,I see. 

[Mojo2000]

When you place your hands over your keyboard to type... where are your fingers?  All straight in a row.

Actually, my fingers are on the same horizontal plane on my computer keyboard; HOWEVER, on the Z plane (fore/aft), my index fingers are slightly behind compared to my 3 and 4. This also applies to the way I play piano.