Yet another...look at my CP layout

[rbarr110]

Okay I am building a new CP, old one was 2 player, but really feel like I "need" a 4 player layout.  I want to be able to play smashtv, hence the joysticks in line with each other at same angle.  I also have a 4way joy to the left above trackball and a spinner and topfire joy to the right of the trackball.  I threw in some other buttons for coins/player start for now but not sure of placement yet (those are trivial, just in for place holder for now).  The dashed circle around the 4way is something I am currently laying out so it can be rotated 45 degrees for Qbert control. 

I have also attached an older photo of my 1st CP.  I haven't yet hurt myself with the trackball and positioning of my spinner and topfire on the 1st cp, so I am trying to have a similiar layout where above the track ball is mostly clear of obstructions.

Critique away......

[leapinlew]

how much bigger is this than the 2 player cp.

42" seems awful big!

Other than being a large CP, it looks ergonomically in good shape.

[rbarr110]

how much bigger is this than the 2 player cp.

42" seems awful big!

Other than being a large CP, it looks ergonomically in good shape.

Old CP was just under 36", I tried to keep the new one as narrow as possible, and 42" was about as small as I could get and be able to access all controls relatively comfortably.  Still not sure about 4 way placement, seems like P! joy might be awkward to maneuver around.

[ahofle]

Personally I wouldn't angle the joysticks that way (angling sticks in general is a highly debated topic here).  It would be HORRIBLE to play a one player game with the player 1 stick at that angle for example IMO.  Although you probably won't come up with a good 4 player solution that also works for 2 player smashtv otherwise (unless you make an albatross style 5 foot wide CP).  I opted to let one player use the p1 and p2 sticks and use a dual stick gamepad for the rare occasion I have two people playing smash tv. 

Also, doesn't look like you'd have much elbow room there for 4 players with those sticks so close together.

[rbarr110]

My cab almost always has 2 people playing it, usually my kids.  And the need for 4p is there because their friends often get stuck watching while my kids hog the game.  I thought about going with swappable cp's, but that is too much of a pain in the @ss.

[leapinlew]

Although this doesn't address the smashTV aspect - an option would be to use your existing CP and hang off some USB controllers. I realize the drawbacks, but thought I'd mention it in case you hadn't thought of it.

Ok - so you wanted to know about your joystick layout. It all looks good, but I have a concern regarding the angling of the joystick. Which direction will be up? Some people want to push towards the monitor to be up while others want to go with the angle of the buttons. If it were mine, I'd probably make it as wide as I had to and keep the controls straight on to the monitor. Thats me though, I prefer being head on to the monitor.

[BamBam]

I agree with everyone on the angling of the joysticks.  There may be a problem with the position of the joystick immediately to the right of the trackball.  I mounted my this close and constantly hit my right hand on the right joystick while playing trackball games.
I plan to mount my trackball closer to the front of the CP to alleviate this problem.

John

[rbarr110]

Although this doesn't address the smashTV aspect - an option would be to use your existing CP and hang off some USB controllers. I realize the drawbacks, but thought I'd mention it in case you hadn't thought of it.

Ok - so you wanted to know about your joystick layout. It all looks good, but I have a concern regarding the angling of the joystick. Which direction will be up? Some people want to push towards the monitor to be up while others want to go with the angle of the buttons. If it were mine, I'd probably make it as wide as I had to and keep the controls straight on to the monitor. Thats me though, I prefer being head on to the monitor.

I agree with wanting to be "square" with the monitor, however looking at alot of 4p arcade games, 3 and 4 are next to never square with the screen, but square with the direction you are standing. I think, that with the angles cut on the CP, you have to stand/sit square with the joysticks.  I think that my current layout will be cramped with 4 players forcing P1 and P2 to not stand square with the joystick....hmmm....
Examples:

[leapinlew]

I don't know if it's fair to look at existing arcade CP's. When they built them, they had space limitations to deal with and only had to build it for 1 game. I'm sure if you reduced the amount of games your arcade cabinet played to just a single game - this would be real easy to do.

In a sense, your reinventing the wheel here. How about draft up a couple CP mockups with no regard to size and only be concerned with comfort and then decide what our options are.

[DaveMMR]

Although this doesn't address the smashTV aspect - an option would be to use your existing CP and hang off some USB controllers. I realize the drawbacks, but thought I'd mention it in case you hadn't thought of it.

Ok - so you wanted to know about your joystick layout. It all looks good, but I have a concern regarding the angling of the joystick. Which direction will be up? Some people want to push towards the monitor to be up while others want to go with the angle of the buttons. If it were mine, I'd probably make it as wide as I had to and keep the controls straight on to the monitor. Thats me though, I prefer being head on to the monitor.

I agree with wanting to be "square" with the monitor, however looking at alot of 4p arcade games, 3 and 4 are next to never square with the screen, but square with the direction you are standing. I think, that with the angles cut on the CP, you have to stand/sit square with the joysticks.  I think that my current layout will be cramped with 4 players forcing P1 and P2 to not stand square with the joystick....hmmm....
Examples:

Here's the kicker with those layouts: they're for dedicated 4-player games on 4-player cabinets.  Often, you'll see one player using the awkwardly positioned joystick because he likes Thor or Lisa.  You wouldn't want to play a one or two player game on those, especially a fighter.

Maybe you could make a dedicated 4-player cabinet.   Or just make a dedicated 4-player control panel that'd you'd whip out when company's coming.  I know you said it's a major PITA, but it'll only be for those special occassions - like when you break out the good silverware.  Leave off the odds and ends (trackball, 4 way, etc.) and just have 4 supers with three or four buttons each.  Meanwhile, it looks like have plenty of real state on your current CP to add a second joystick for each player for those Smash TV fixes.

[arzoo]

Rbarr110,
I too wanted a 4 player control panel that would play Smash TV. My franken-panel is 40 inches wide. It