Please Review Control Panel Design - Suggestions or Improvements?

[crpngdth2001]

I'm looking for some helpful suggestions to improve my layout, if anyone feels i'll run into problems with the current design. Let me start by saying the original layout is the "Arcade Paradise 3" CP layout, which I have modified, from here: http://www.arcadeparadise.org/arcade/ap3/cpplanning.html

The admin buttons across the top from left to far right are: [1P Start, 1P Coin, Pause, Quit, Reset] [2P Start, 2P Coin]

Between the spinner (undecided) and the trackball (Beston Imperial), Left Mouse and Right Mouse.

The dedicated 4 way (Ms. Pacman Reunion) will have two dedicated buttons, A & B.

The 8 ways (Wico 8-Way Cherry Microswitch) will have six buttons each, A thru F.

1. Specifically, will the close proximity (sort of?) of the 4 way to the 8 way present any issues?
2. Any issues with the left & right mouse between the spinner and trackball to avoid 1 set of buttons for each?
3. Is two buttons or three buttons recommended when dedicating buttons to the 4 way?
4. Recommend a reasonably priced spinner (won't get used a whole lot, but don't want a hack)?


Good, Bad, Ugly?

[Apollo]

It looks pretty good (too many admin buttons for my liking but meh). I think you will find that 2 inches between your action buttons is too much try 1 3/4 and I think you will do better.

[paigeoliver]

First thoughts.

Your action buttons are too far apart.

The panel is overly large for no reason. You have a lot of width and depth in there that you don't need. You could easily lose 6" of width and almost that much depth as well. A more compact panel is actually easier to use and looks nicer on the machine than a really big one.

[mrserv0n]

Agreed, Do not put your buttons so far apart. I belive the most common spacing is 1 1/2 inch from center of one button to center of the next.

[alandrogers]

It looks like you're using the project arcade panel sizings right out of the book.

Me too. I posted a nearly identical thread yesterday. My panel pic there doesn't have the details posted, but it's a 13x30 interior box so you can get a pretty good guess.

Check out some of the suggestions and my (current) design at the end of the thread: http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php?topic=64245.0

You have almost the same set up as I started with.

[alandrogers]

1. Specifically, will the close proximity (sort of?) of the 4 way to the 8 way present any issues?
2. Any issues with the left & right mouse between the spinner and trackball to avoid 1 set of buttons for each?
3. Is two buttons or three buttons recommended when dedicating buttons to the 4 way?
4. Recommend a reasonably priced spinner (won't get used a whole lot, but don't want a hack)?

Re your questions:
1. Yes. dont wanna reach over the 8-way to get to the other one (compare my original and modified layouts). Move the 4-way and spinner to the right.
I've got 4 buttons between the two -- 2 for the 4-way, 2 for the spinner.
2.(per other advice given to me) .. you can drop the mouse buttons completely. they can be remapped to other things
3. After I looked around, i couldnt find any 4-way games I play that need more than 2 buttons. If there is one, I have room to add it.
4. Got an old hard drive laying around and some spare time? (What's the name of this site again?)

[crpngdth2001]

I appreciate all of the suggestions. I'm going to read through the ideas and links provided and come up with version 2 to incorporate some of them, Thanks!

[Arcades R Fun]

Suggestions on the 1.5" button spacings center to center are right on.
Just be sure to move the spinner placement from the center as it will interfere with Golden Tee games.
Draw 2 vertical lines that follow the left/right outlines of your trackball mounting plate straight up above the trackball, and make that you no joystick/spinner zone.

When it comes time to wire up your controls feel free to check out our "How To Guide" section of our website.

No, Not on the site yet, but this Weekend we will be wiring up a couple of panels and taking pics, so give me a week or so to write it up. Based on what you have done so far the guide will be up in time for you.

Good luck

[RobotronNut]

won't work for games that have the 4-way in your left hand, like dig-dug, donkey kong, punch-out, etc.

make a paper or styrofoam mock-up to find this type of problem.

[crpngdth2001]

I took some of the suggestions into consideration and made some improvements. My wife would have killed me if I made her play Dig Dug left handed!

I changed button spacing to 1.5", relocated the spinner and 4 way, reduced the control panel size some (cabinet is 30" wide), dropped mouse buttons, changed color scheme to appease wife, grouped some of the admin buttons in the top row differently.

Attached is Revision 2. Any further considerations I should make, or does this look solid?

[alandrogers]

Hey that looks a lot better.

After reading your thread, I ended up moving my 4-way to the right side of the board, and put the spinner on the left.  Thinking here is ... if you're gonna use the 4-way right-handed ... why not put yourself into the center of the board to do that.

I will hopefully have my controls by the weekend .. and I'll try the latest modified version on some cardboard and see how it feels.

Just another thought

[crpngdth2001]

Hey that looks a lot better.

After reading your thread, I ended up moving my 4-way to the right side of the board, and put the spinner on the left.  Thinking here is ... if you're gonna use the 4-way right-handed ... why not put yourself into the center of the board to do that.

I will hopefully have my controls by the weekend .. and I'll try the latest modified version on some cardboard and see how it feels.

Just another thought

Hmm, that is an interesting thought on putting the 4 way on the right so the player is "Centered" while playing. I will certainly play alot more 4-way games than spinner games. I need to ponder this one for a bit.

[javeryh]

If I were you I'd just do what Knievel does.  It seems like you are going for the exact same results and his CPs are some of the nicest around, IMO. 

Check out post #45.  http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php?topic=55789.40

[crpngdth2001]

Good point, I do like the layout and admin buttons. My only concern is smacking that 4-way and spinner when playing Golden Tee, Bowling, etc. Sometimes I get pretty wild on the trackball...

[Arcades R Fun]

No disrespect to Knievel's design but  IMO there should not be a spinner in-line with the top of the trackball if you are a Golden Tee enthusiast. Other than that I do not see any issues.

After building several panels for customers that had the controls above the trackball, the feedback on the 4 way joystick and spinner location was unanimous. Those who liked to play Golden Tee said that it got in the way of their shot making.
Having never played Golden Tee before I had to test this out first hand. Well, I nearly broke my thumb on 1 hard drive!
So, we moved the 4 way stick out of the way. Then we test played the game with a SS spinner above the trackball. No hurt fingers but the palm got beat up! These issues were found to be a problem with all test players who tried to play Golden Tee.

We then immediately changed all our panel designs to eliminate these issues.

I can honestly say that I'm now hooked on Golden Tee! Still trying to break 50! ( yes, 18 holes) 

[shardian]

Get rid of those two buttons right below the spinner.

[crpngdth2001]

No disrespect to Knievel's design but  IMO there should not be a spinner in-line with the top of the trackball if you are a Golden Tee enthusiast. Other than that I do not see any issues.

After building several panels for customers that had the controls above the trackball, the feedback on the 4 way joystick and spinner location was unanimous. Those who liked to play Golden Tee said that it got in the way of their shot making.
Having never played Golden Tee before I had to test this out first hand. Well, I nearly broke my thumb on 1 hard drive!
So, we moved the 4 way stick out of the way. Then we test played the game with a SS spinner above the trackball. No hurt fingers but the palm got beat up! These issues were found to be a problem with all test players who tried to play Golden Tee.

We then immediately changed all our panel designs to eliminate these issues.

I can honestly say that I'm now hooked on Golden Tee! Still trying to break 50! ( yes, 18 holes) 

Yea, I think I will avoid that setup for that very reason. I'm still debating swapping the spinner and 4 way, not sure about that.

On the mention of removing both buttons under the spinner, isn't it better to have dedicated buttons for the spinner much like the 4-way, or are they not needed? As you can tell, I don't really play spinner games, but wanted the option to.

[RobotronNut]

Hmm, that is an interesting thought on putting the 4 way on the right so the player is "Centered" while playing. I will certainly play alot more 4-way games than spinner games. I need to ponder this one for a bit.

if you're really into 4-way games, you might consider doing what i did: move the 4-way down to the lower row and center it. this allows you to play 4-way-in-left-hand games (dig-dug, donkey kong, punch-out, etc.) and 4-way-in-right-hand games (ms pacman, frogger, etc.). it also enabled me to support defender well. of course, you will end up with a wider panel if you do this.

click the link in my signature to see my layout. the web page includes a list of classes of games that you may want to account for.

btw, after testing many 4-ways, i now prefer the ultimarc J-stick = sanwa JLW but have not yet updated my web page to reflect that.

[crpngdth2001]

Ok, final revision. Mocked it up and I like the layout. Attached is what I ended up going with. I will also have 2 buttons on each side of the CP for Pinball, and plan on building this fine plunger for the front:

http://www.johnsretroarcade.com/hardware_pinball.asp

Thanks everyone for your valuable input! Hopefully I'll get my first arcade project started off on the right foot.

[Arcades R Fun]

Very nice final panel design! I went back to your original post and it's changed quite a bit. You could keep taking suggestions forever as there's no shortage of great ideas on this forum. But, looks like you are ready to cut!

[crpngdth2001]

Thanks! Off to Kinko's this morning to get a few copies printed for the weekend. 

[rockin_rick]

IMHO, I think this is a better and cheaper method for the pinball plunger switch... (reply #17)
http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php?topic=39565.0

Although I'd probably replace the leaf switch with a microswitch with a long lever on it.

Rick

[alandrogers]

Just wanted to say thanks for this forum ... you and i were designing / redesigning at the same time.

I took some of the ideas here, and elsewhere, and modified my panel quite a bit. check out my new design

http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php?topic=64439.0