opinion of modern cocktail design

[daisson]

hi guys,
I'm interested in your opinions of my cocktail design. It is still very much in the design stage and I am new to this whole thing but excited.
I used google sketch up to design the model (free)
Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. On everything; design, building, controls, materials, software, etc. all welcome (as it is still very much in the design stage, and this will be my first build)
In the four corners are speakers, it will be on lockable castors (not shown).
Im still trying to decide the best layout as in head to head, side by side, or both (as in 3 sided cabinet) or dual landscape head to head (as in pics).
I don’t quite understand the whole switching principle of mame (or much of it for that fact)

Go ahead and have your say!
 

[vrf]

Looks very cool, and would certainly fit into a home better than many cabs. But it looks very uncomfortable to play on.

I'd also want to have a larger monitor in the center box.

Good idea, though!

[spacies]

Looks good.

Maybe put an instep at the bottom for your feet to go under?

I like the idea of seeing through the whole top though. Very cool.

[NickG]

neat looking construction, very modern and versatile.

Im still trying to decide the best layout as in head to head, side by side, or both (as in 3 sided cabinet) or dual landscape head to head (as in pics).

Hmmm...maybe all of the above? (4-sides of controls), with one horizontal side having side-by-side 6-buttons layout and each of the rest having 3 or 4 buttons layouts.  There are only a few games where you might enjoy using all four sides at once, but there are also 2-player head-to-head games in both monitor orientations. 

The speaker idea is good, especially for horizontal and vertical stereo gaming; those area in the drawings  looks like good candidates for cup-holders, too.

[destructor]

Looks beatiful and nothing more. Playing on it will be hard or impossible. Joysticks and buttons are close to wooden walls. How you want to move joystick on left player or press buttons on right player? This is uncofortablle. Remove these walls and all will be OK.

[danny_galaga]

Looks beatiful and nothing more. Playing on it will be hard or impossible. Joysticks and buttons are close to wooden walls. How you want to move joystick on left player or press buttons on right player? This is uncofortablle. Remove these walls and all will be OK.

as it stands, maybe it would be hard to play. but dont get rid of the walls, thats what makes it unique! play around with the layout and wall width more...

[destructor]

thats what makes it unique!

If it is for exhibitions in museum then OK, but if it's for playing then walls should removed.

[javeryh]

I'd just make sure your feet have somewhere to go when everyone is sitting around it.  It's hard enough to play the standard cocktail tables for long periods of time...  AWESOME design though - really unique.

[jfunk]

It would be harder, but could you combine the 2 walls in each corner and angle them out to the corners of the glass..?

I also agree that insetting the bottom would be good for the feet 

[Scumgriever]

Looks beatiful and nothing more. Remove these walls and all will be OK.

as it stands, maybe it would be hard to play. but dont get rid of the walls, thats what makes it unique! play around with the layout and wall width more...

I agree with both. Maybe try finding some sort of compromise like cutaways in the walls so it still looks the same from the top but your arms can come in at an angle without breaking your wrists. or jfunk's idea.

[melarky]

I agree with everyone else about your design, it looks nice, but very uncomfortable to play on.

I think the best modern cocktail design I've seen is the one Quarters made a while ago (he has pics and plans available on his website: http://quarters.ca/).  I want to make one of these next (with a few modifications, mostly to the way the monitor mounts, I love the look of it and don't want to change that at all).

[javeryh]

I also like this one a lot: http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php?topic=55917.0

[daisson]

thnx for the advice guys... really appreciate it.

Firstly im not such a gamerist at heart... but always like the idea.
I understand the wall concerns near the controls... in my plan that area is 60cm long. would that not be enough room for 2 control set ups, and making the wall issues no problem (the control panellayout on the model is not accurate (to scale) and would prob take up less space.

to help you get more of a feel of what im going for, i might be making it gloss black and using those funky stool cubes for seating.

I dont have heaps of money so i want to cut down on controls (as their freakin exspensive in australia). So i was thinkin of going for just a side by side design.

I also plan to use this for music heavily.
Main priorites: Looks good, sounds good, plays a few games (up to SNES emulator)

With the floor instep (foor leg space) im not sure how i would include this into the design without making it to complicated/exspensive/more work.

The pc will prob be a p3 700mhz

Still keep the ideas coming... really appreciated

[daisson]

oops i forgot it will be on castors so their might be 5cm hight clearance for feat to go under (satisfactory?)

[RayB]

I hope they are locking castors, otherwise that sucker's gonna be sliding all over the room in the heat of game playing.

I LOVE the design. (I'm into modern furniture and love modern design)

BUT my only criticism of it is the red joystick balls and buttons. I'd try to stick with colors that compliment the whole look-- Mostly black and if at all possible, silver.