Who makes their own games?

[Gambit]

Are there things that need to be kept in mind when designing games for MAME  cabinets?

I have a DirectX game that I plan on rewriting to take advantage of the extra things specific to arcade cabinets. Not sure where to start reading about it.

[NIVO]

the biggest i can think of offhand is simply allow every key to be remappable. Entering/exiting and menus all need to be allowed to be controlled using a joystick, button(s). Of course trackballs as well, but for the most compatiblity, the joystick is the most common on every control panel out there.

[Howard_Casto]

Also some common sense stuff like:

Make sure the game can run at 640x480, less if you want it to run on arcade monitors. 

Don't be dumb and hardcode any inputs.  I've seen games that do a great job of making every gameplay key remappable and yet they still make you press enter to start or something dumb like that. 

Keep text large so it can be seen well on low-res monitors. 

Ditto for the graphics.


That's all I can think of. 

[Minwah]

Basically what has been already said, but it should be said again

Enumerate all available video modes and allow any of them to be used.  Some games do not include low-res modes etc..

Allow mapping of all inputs, and allow mouse/joystick(s) to be used.

Don't have some menu/interface which requires different inputs to the in-game ones....so don't hardcode say cursors and enter like most games do.  Probably the easiest way is to use the in game keys for the menu (if a menu is even used).

Good luck

[NIVO]

oh yes, 1 last thing. Allow us arcade nuts to beta test for you, its the best feedback you could possibly get 

[Space Fractal]

Here is some things, that can been remebed:


** KEYBOARD **

• Remappable. It for ALL keys, INCLUDNING the escape key.
• As Casto wrote: Dont rely hardcoded ENTER in the menu! This is key do a cab NOT have. Instead remap this as well of all others. It funier to use PL1 Start or the first button for that key instead of Enter. Othewice it would require AutoHotkey to remap that enterkey.
• If mouse is not required by the ingame, all menus should been navigation by a joystick, using ingame keys and button. And please hide the mouse pointer for that.
• When pressing Escape, it should exists direct to the frontend, regaardles, where you are in the game. You can use a pause key or such instead.
• Wait to exit, until the escapekey is RELASED (Some frontend may not wait the key to being released). It just for safe.
• Support for joystick for buttons up to 32 buttons (wich escape can been remaped here as well). GPwiz have more than 16 inputs, and is "gameport" based.

** SCREEN **

• 640x480 is the lowest resoulution need to been supported (Arcade monitor CAN support this mode interlaced).
• A 320x240 resoulutuin would been fine, but is NOT required (if you ask me). But if 320x240 can been used, please also try 321x240 as well as 320x240, and use that one, that exists. This because ArcadeVGA do NOT use 320x240, but 321x240.
• A vertical mode is also very nice, since some cabs use this. It not direct required, but it also would been fine.

** CONFIG & FOCUS **

• Do not use windows based options or help files, that can

[Howard_Casto]

Something I wan't to disagree on.  If you intend to allow usage on arcade monitors 640x480 is acceptable, but in all honesty it's kinda crappy.  You'll look on your computer monitor and think "well that looks great" when runnning at 640x480.  The problem is arcade monitors do 640x480 interlaced, which is really 320x240 with every other line flickering between each other.  It makes the text horrible, certain colors horrible, and certain blend techniques all look horrible.  Now if your text and graphics are very crisp and "gi-normous" then this isn't an issue, but if you doing something with really tiny sprites (like a galaga remake) then it's gonna look bad in interlaced mode. 

[Space Fractal]

It depend how the game is made.

All mayor pc games today can

[Howard_Casto]

Well anything I make anymore is 100% scaleable. 

Things on the screen are positioned in percentages rather than absolute pixel values.  This way you can support any resolution. 

[Space Fractal]

The problem is not in the game itself, but rather in the menu. This need to been redesigned a bit to fit correct into 320x240 or 640x240. I do have a plan for command line support, so it can been used from a frontend.

I may now create a little another menu on this low resoulution, since the game itself not have a problem with the low resoulution. I do not use percents, but rather in alignments instead (left, center, right and top, middle, bottom).

Anyway:

- 640x480 is required as minimum.
- 320x240 is luxus (but remember to check 321x240 as well, if 320x240 dosen

[Chris]

High score entry: So many almost cab-friendly games expect a keyboard for high score name entry... that's always a pain.

[Howard_Casto]

That's very true.  Also any other hiscore entry besides the old-fashoned move the cursor and select your initials is down right annoying.  I kinda hate the fact that sims like future pinball have this feature. 

[Chris]

That's very true.  Also any other hiscore entry besides the old-fashoned move the cursor and select your initials is down right annoying.  I kinda hate the fact that sims like future pinball have this feature. 

<blatant plug>
Heh... My Visual Pinball table, Fight Night, does all its configuration and high score entry through the flipper buttons and start button... but I had to write that into the script myself, no built-in support from the program.
</blatant plug>

<embarrassing realization>
Wow, I'm so behind the pinball times... I need to take a look at Future Pinball...
</embarrassing realization>

[Space Fractal]

Highscore: Thank for that mind. There are many PC games, that use that, but what hell do they need the keyboard?

Even a trackball would been a lots better than keyboard, since you can use a joy2mouse script for "emulate" the mouse.

Best is of course avoid the trackball/keyboard for input the hiscore entry, if the game is joystick only game.

I guess we should add a wiki page about this subject?

[Chris]

Rather than add a new Wiki subject, better to add it to the article on Cabinet-Friendly Software.

--Chris

[brophog]

That's very true.  Also any other hiscore entry besides the old-fashoned move the cursor and select your initials is down right annoying.  I kinda hate the fact that sims like future pinball have this feature. 

How is future pinball going these days? Last I looked at it, the engine was too slow to be real playable so I left it off my cab.

[Space Fractal]

Rather than add a new Wiki subject, better to add it to the article on Cabinet-Friendly Software.

--Chris

I have changed and "started" the page. Other, please add and change (or using the talk page) what you think.