Author Topic: Need a theme idea (Read 4206 times)

cbmeeks · « **on:** May 04, 2005, 02:28:08 pm »

I've got two cabinets. One is an old Twin Eagle that I am going to convert to a MAME/Q*bert cab.

The other is the cabinet fromt the book. I am going to use it for horizontal games only.

What I need is an idea. I don't really like the MAME themes. And I don't like plays on the word "arcade"

What I would like to do is make it look like a dedicated game but have others. I thought about maybe a TMNT because no one has seemed to done that one...that I know of. I just would like to have something other than the usual black cab.

Thanks!

cbmeeks

MrBond · « **Reply #1 on:** May 04, 2005, 02:41:27 pm »

I like the cabinets that immitate other games, but don't duplicate the originals exactly. (For example, 1-ups PAC-MAMEA). My MAME machine is black with light blue t-molding, but I'm going to outfit it with some color and sideart when i have the time and money one day.

jer2665 · « **Reply #2 on:** May 04, 2005, 02:41:45 pm »

There has been a ninja turtles theme, someone with a 4-player cabinet, but I can't exactly remember the persons name.

MrBond · « **Reply #3 on:** May 04, 2005, 02:43:40 pm »

Is there any particular game you like? Maybe you could integrate two game themes and combine the names for the marquee.

Zook · « **Reply #4 on:** May 04, 2005, 02:57:09 pm »

I'd like to see more comic related cabs other than X-Men and the Marvel vs. Capcom type.

dema · « **Reply #5 on:** May 04, 2005, 02:58:09 pm »

How about two penguins smacking each other in the ass with a Pepperidge Farm salami? I'm pretty sure nobody has tackled that theme before.

cbmeeks · « **Reply #6 on:** May 04, 2005, 03:08:56 pm »

Quote from: dema on May 04, 2005, 02:58:09 pm

How about two penguins smacking each other in the ass with a Pepperidge Farm salami? I'm pretty sure nobody has tackled that theme before.

Actually I already have that...but it uses Tennesee Pride Sausage instead. :-P

Thanks for the suggestions (and sarcasm) guys! lol

cbmeeks

Dire Radiant · « **Reply #7 on:** May 04, 2005, 03:43:07 pm »

I say to hell with originality. Some people will tell you that your cab is substandard if it doesn't have original art or whatever. Well they don't have to look at it every day do they? You do. Go with what you think you want and what you think looks best and works best for you.

GGKoul · « **Reply #8 on:** May 04, 2005, 04:01:07 pm »

Quote from: Zook on May 04, 2005, 02:57:09 pm

I'd like to see more comic related cabs other than X-Men and the Marvel vs. Capcom type.

Avery · « **Reply #9 on:** May 04, 2005, 04:01:52 pm »

It's not hard to imagine a really good cab based on any number of traditional PC games, books, movies or TV shows.

dema · « **Reply #10 on:** May 04, 2005, 04:04:35 pm »

My cabinet theme is going to be a giant collage of nostalgic game characters. I also plan to throw in a bunch of other influences and characters onto my cab. I want people to look at the cabinet and remember this character and that character from their past. I was thinking of a particular theme, but I have so many likes that I'd need an entire arcade to accurately represent them all.

IntruderAlert · « **Reply #11 on:** May 04, 2005, 04:29:03 pm »

Well.. considering all of the time you put into your METROID PC game how about a classic METROID theme?

Veinman · « **Reply #12 on:** May 04, 2005, 08:01:16 pm »

If you want to see the TMNT cab, check the project announcements forum for "shell shocked".

Crazy Cooter · « **Reply #13 on:** May 04, 2005, 08:04:20 pm »

Artwork costs money.

namzep · « **Reply #14 on:** May 04, 2005, 08:22:41 pm »

Quote from: Zook on May 04, 2005, 02:57:09 pm

I'd like to see more comic related cabs other than X-Men and the Marvel vs. Capcom type.

Superman
Batman
Punisher
Maybe do the Avengers with an updated look?

Other ideas..

Robocop
Ninja/Karate theme
Darkstalkers
Megaman (anything with an anime look to it)
King of the monsters / Rampage
Bowling or golf theme
Military/camo theme

Just some ideas that I can't say that I've seen

Someone did a Captain America cab awhile back. And, if I'm not mistaken, someone has also done a Superman.

markrvp · « **Reply #15 on:** May 05, 2005, 12:02:45 am »

Quote from: dema on May 04, 2005, 02:58:09 pm

How about two penguins smacking each other in the ass with a Pepperidge Farm salami? I'm pretty sure nobody has tackled that theme before.

Oh God, it hurts! LMAO ROTFL

markrvp · « **Reply #16 on:** May 05, 2005, 12:04:35 am »

Now that I have recovered from Dema's suggestion . . . . .

. . . . look in Project Announcements. There is a beautiful TNMT cab and also a really cool Superman cab based on a Centiped cabinet.

Kremmit · « **Reply #17 on:** May 05, 2005, 12:44:17 am »

I'm a big fan of cabs-that-never-were. Like the guy that did one for The Last Starfighter (only appeared in the movie, but was never made as a real game), or the guy that did Space Paranoids (that's the fictional game in the movie Tron) cab. Somebody mentioned doing a Trogdor cab a while back, too...

paigeoliver · « **Reply #18 on:** May 05, 2005, 01:08:21 am »

Monkey Klaw
You're afraid of the Klaw!!

JonnyBoy · « **Reply #19 on:** May 05, 2005, 07:23:27 am »

An Evil Dead/Army Of Darkness Theme would be totally rad.

Quarters · « **Reply #20 on:** May 05, 2005, 08:44:35 am »

Quote from: Avery on May 04, 2005, 04:01:52 pm

Damn, now I'm thinking about what an arcade game based on Larry Niven's Ringworld books would look like.

Not Niven's ringworld but along those lines. Here is some space colony artwork commissioned by NASA in the mid 70s. I've been toying with the Idea of incorporating it for a while but have too many other projects in the works.

Large image warning http://64.40.104.21/spacecolonies/large/AC75-2621.lrg.jpg

more images here:
http://lifesci3.arc.nasa.gov/SpaceSettlement/70sArt/art.html

Grasshopper · « **Reply #21 on:** May 05, 2005, 03:08:37 pm »

How about a cab based on The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. You could call it "Don't Panic" or something.

Or maybe a cab based on Dr Who. You could call it "The Tardis" because there are more games on the inside than the outside.

Of course if you've never seen these shows you won't have a clue what I'm talking about.

rgecko · « **Reply #22 on:** May 05, 2005, 03:56:24 pm »

Hey,
I'm working on a TMNT one right now, it's in project announcements (shell shocked) but honestly do whatever you think is going to look cool, and that YOU will be happy with. Honestly who cares if someone else has the same thing. To me the biggest reward, has been building this thing and watching it come together. Some people have a knack for building themes that work and I say take advantage of that... All the artwork I have is from all over the place, and took me days to collect and get together. and I went through all kinds of ideas, Star Wars, with a light saber done up with a neon bulb would be cool, X-men with Cyclops' visor light up, Transformers and Thundercats were also on my list, or Silver Hawks.
Ultimately I went with TMNT because one it was a game I really really liked and enjoyed, two it was a 4-player game, and I wanted a 4-player control panel and three, the poster I had to get done up as the artwork I though would look awesome. At the end of the day if you make your cabinet and down the road you find someone has something similar is it going to mean you

Timstuff · « **Reply #23 on:** May 05, 2005, 04:21:22 pm »

Quote from: cbmeeks on May 04, 2005, 02:28:08 pm

I've got two cabinets. One is an old Twin Eagle that I am going to convert to a MAME/Q*bert cab.

The other is the cabinet fromt the book. I am going to use it for horizontal games only.

What I need is an idea. I don't really like the MAME themes. And I don't like plays on the word "arcade"

What I would like to do is make it look like a dedicated game but have others. I thought about maybe a TMNT because no one has seemed to done that one...that I know of. I just would like to have something other than the usual black cab.

Thanks!

cbmeeks

I was in a similar boat as you. I didn't want to have some canned "arcade" title like "Multicade" or "Supercade", and I didn't want it to just say "Mame" either. This being my first cabinet, I didn't want to go with a single theme for a game, because I figured I'd save that for another project later on when I have more expirience. But I didn't want to just have one of those montage photos like other cabinets have, with all the characters in a single piece of art. So I came up with a solution that seems like it will make me happy. Each piece of artwork on my cabinet will feature it's own theme. The control panel is fighting game themed, so it will be adorned by a graphic of Ryu from Street Fighter going up against Sub-Zero from Mortal Kombat. The side art on the right hand side of my cab will feature Solid Snake from Metal Gear. And the Marquee will feature a space battle between two starfighters. I haven't decided what will be on the left side yet.

As for the name of the machine, I think that may have been the trickiest part. I wanted something that wouldn't directly imply that it's a multiple game machine, and would sound almost like it could be the name of an actual game. That seemed like it would be best for creating the illusion I wanted. So eventually I came up with "VideoCaster X". It sounds a little cheesy, but in a cool 80's retro kinda way. And the lettering will look really cool when the marquee is lit up, because I spent several hours a while back tweaking the logo to perfection.

When it's all done, I will hopefully have a sweet looking multiple-arcade machine that will combine multiple themes from the games that I love without being exclusive to any single one. Perhaps my next machines will be themed to a specific game title. But when I've got all the machines in my basement game room someday, amidst the sea of custome MAME re-creations and authentic arcade machine restorations (I can dream, can't I?), there will be my first machine, sitting happily in it's own spot. And I'll look at it and say "yup, that's the one that pulled me in to this hobby!".

markrvp · « **Reply #24 on:** May 05, 2005, 04:32:39 pm »

Quote

I was in a similar boat as you. I didn't want to have some canned "arcade" title like "Multicade" or "Supercade",

I rather like SUPERCADE

IntruderAlert · « **Reply #25 on:** May 05, 2005, 05:24:28 pm »

HEY!!! I WANTED SUPERCADE!!!

rgecko · « **Reply #26 on:** May 05, 2005, 05:26:55 pm »

so uh Supercade is a mild mannered... what by day? I love the play on the superman logo.

Timstuff · « **Reply #27 on:** May 05, 2005, 06:36:28 pm »

Go ahead and call your cab whatever you want. What makes YOU happy is the whole point of making a cab.

Supercade is a fairly common name for cabs though, and I wanted something a little different for mine. Whatever floats your boat is what you should go for though!

markrvp · « **Reply #28 on:** May 05, 2005, 07:21:15 pm »

Okay. An alternative to Supercade for those whose woodworking skills just didn't live up to expecatations.

rgecko · « **Reply #29 on:** May 05, 2005, 07:30:56 pm »

actually I think a good point here is that you can have a "common" name/theme and have fun with it still, i.e. with supercade if it played the superman theme that might be awsome and by that I mean annoying after about the 4th or 5th time if it did the whole song...

slicer_d · « **Reply #30 on:** May 05, 2005, 08:34:22 pm »

I'm actually planning on doing a Punisher theme for my new machine.

The best part is I think i can do marquee and sideart for ~100 bucks. There is already a punisher marquee that is pretty cool then I'm going to get some laminate from partespress cover the cab in black. But I'm also going to get a roll of white and cut it out in the shape of the punisher symbol for both sides of the sab. The laminate is only 15 bucks each 3 or 4 for the cab and 1 for the logo is 60-75 bucks then 15 bucks for teh Marquee is 90 plus shipping will be almost one hundred.

Dire Radiant · « **Reply #31 on:** May 05, 2005, 10:07:12 pm »

Quote from: markrvp on May 05, 2005, 07:21:15 pm

Okay. An alternative to Supercade for those whose woodworking skills just didn't live up to expecatations.

LOL I love it. How about "Notanotherbloodycade"?

cbmeeks · « **Reply #32 on:** May 05, 2005, 10:30:43 pm »

Quote from: IntruderAlert on May 04, 2005, 04:29:03 pm

Well.. considering all of the time you put into your METROID PC game how about a classic METROID theme?

lol...hey, I actually thought about that. I just moved into a new house and finally have my own workspace...so, not I can put MORE time in Metroid Classic (oh, and my cab...lol)

man...the replies exploded!

cbmeeks

skim36 · « **Reply #33 on:** May 06, 2005, 08:20:35 am »

I was actually going to use a play on words myself. Something like ultracade....but I wanted it to be like an old favorite of mine....and I used to love Wizard of Wor (still do)...so I come up with "Wizard of Roms." Totally unoriginal....but I liked it. I even made up a marquee in Photoshop....went a little crazy with the effects tho...

It's a "pretty mistake."

sodapopinski · « **Reply #34 on:** May 06, 2005, 08:30:42 am »

nerdcade(its not my fault if its been said already)

markrvp · « **Reply #35 on:** May 06, 2005, 10:59:10 am »

If this is your first project and you want to impress visitors:

Avery · « **Reply #36 on:** May 06, 2005, 12:12:26 pm »

Quote from: sodapopinski on May 06, 2005, 08:30:42 am

nerdcade

Should be Geekcade. The principal difference is that true nerds seldom do things where, if your really screw up, arterial bleeding might result. Geeks will gleefully fire up that circular saw.


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