Smallest comfortable 2player cp

[bfauska]

This has probably been asked before, but I want to build a 2 player CP with a joystick and 7 buttons for each player, plus 1 trackball (centered) and 1 spinner.  I want to be able to do 4way games, but some of them that I like are 2 simultaneous players so I think I will need switchable joys.  I would also need 2 player start buttons.  I think I will hide my admin buttons on top of the cabinet, except for an exit button which I think I will put with the bezel.  I would like to use a 3" ball.  Ideally I could cram this comfortably into the space between my cab sides and keep it to less than 26" wide.  I think the TB is going to screw me.  If it would make a huge difference I could cut the 7th button from each player, I don't mind playing 4 button games with the top row and the 1st bottom button, that would save me about 3" total I think.

Does anybody have examples of CPs with similar features that are about as small as comfortably possible.

[btp2k2]

I have a 3 inch trackball, 2 player controls with 3 buttons a piece on a 25 inch panel, and there is no problems....even during hardcore street fighter battles.

The panel is 25"x11"

[BobA]

Commercial product to copy from.  Use good sticks and buttons and the layout would work for you.

Tankstick

[shardian]

Just a note, but you can mount your joysticks with the narrow part of the base is perpendicular to the screen. This can save you 2" or so. Never really understood why they were mounted the other way anyways...anyone care to chime in?

[btp2k2]

Yeah , that is what I do to save space.

Also, if you are good with a router, it is possible to mount a trackball in wood. Look no further than the X-Arcade line of products that use a trackball....you save tons of space not having a big ugly mounting plate

[SGT]

Commercial product to copy from.  Use good sticks and buttons and the layout would work for you.

Tankstick

Correct me if I'm wrong, but the tank stick is 30" wide and has no spinner.

[bfauska]

Just a note, but you can mount your joysticks with the narrow part of the base is perpendicular to the screen. This can save you 2" or so. Never really understood why they were mounted the other way anyways...anyone care to chime in?

That's funny, I didn't realize I was doing it the "wrong" way when I did it that way before.  Since the workings of the joysticks are omnidirectional, I sort of guessed that perpendicular to the screen was the standard way, funny that it isn't.

I am glad to hear that the size should be doable.  I will play with some layouts tomorrow I think.  I finally have a day off and no plans.

I am bummed out about using a switchable joystick because I don't like the short throw of the omnisticks that I have and the magstick plus is only 1 degree more.  I don't want to use a dedicated 4 way since one of my current favorite games is Klax and it has a head-to-head option and sucks with 8 ways.  Any suggestions on this?  I don't want switching from 4 to 8 way to be a difficult process either.

[SGT]

Any suggestions on this?  I don't want switching from 4 to 8 way to be a difficult process either.

Send maps to U360s?

[btp2k2]

Magstick

[bfauska]

The 360s sound really versatile and I would like the ability to play some analog based games as well, but the price is difficult for my cheap ass to deal with.  I know that i get 8 button presses with each stick so between the two sticks I would have 16 buttons and two joys, but I need 16 buttons to do buttons, starts, and coins.  This means I need an encoder as well as the 360.

I like the idea of how the Magstick plus switches from the top more than I like the look of the omnistick prodigy, but I would like to do a single source order and Randy has really impressed me in the past.  I can't tell if Randy's new Joystick is going to do analog/digital and how it will be configured, so maybe it'll meet my needs when it shows up.  I also thought about machining custom restrictor plates for the omnistick so that I can rotate the restrictor with a motor and the build of the system excites me as much as playing the games so this might be a fun route too, but chances are good it'll take up some room.

[BobA]

Commercial product to copy from.  Use good sticks and buttons and the layout would work for you.

Tankstick

Correct me if I'm wrong, but the tank stick is 30" wide and has no spinner.

Thats why I said to copy from, I did not mean to buy a TS.  I was suggesting it as a starting layout which could be modified to get it to his ideal layout.  Maybe use the ultrastick plus and a spinner with associated buttuns and see if it can be made to fit.

[Arcades R Fun]

If you can afford try the Ultimarc U360 sticks.
They do not have microswitches. Since you do not have that added width on the base with the crimp-on terminal connectors you can save a total of 2" width this way over standard microswitch sticks.

Jack

[bfauska]

That's interesting about the size of the 360s I will likely solder my connections, but the tabs on the microswitches do stick out a bit, I'll think about that, thanks.

[csa3d]

Not that this is your ideal layout, but here's what I was messing with for my 23" wide galaxian layout



Now that randy has made a smaller button sized spinner, I may be able to adjust this layout slightly and make it better.  My biggest conerns were:

1.  Keeping the dual joysticks far enough away from the verical size walls.  If I'm remembering I left 3.5 or 4"
2.  Keeping the dual joysticks far enough apart from each other that it felt natural to grab both.

You should build my layout, then tell me how it feels so I know myself 

-csa

[polaris]

Not that this is your ideal layout, but here's what I was messing with for my 26" wide galaxian layout

nice design/artwork integration, very nice design

[bfauska]

You should build my layout, then tell me how it feels so I know myself 

-csa

I'll get right on that. 

That is a really nice looking design, I think that with the smaller spinner and pushing the p1 joy a little closer to the side of the cab I may be able to add 4 more p2 buttons to that layout.  It seems doable, and I am definitely going to give it a shot.  I will probably have a mock up on Monday night, although I don't have a TB or spinner yet, I can easily leave space for the spinner and I am sure I can find some dimensions for the TBs around here somewhere.

[AtomSmasher]

On my mini cab my CP was 25 1/2'' wide, but it also had a 1/2'' of overhang on each side, so it could of been 24 1/2''.



Heres the project thread if you want to see more details: http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php?topic=55720.0

[SGT]

AtomSmasher,

What is the button above the right joystick?  Does it say Game Over? If so, I guess its mapped to ESC?

Also if you were going to add a spinner onto your CP, where would you put it?

[AtomSmasher]

AtomSmasher,

What is the button above the right joystick?  Does it say Game Over? If so, I guess its mapped to ESC?

Also if you were going to add a spinner onto your CP, where would you put it?

It says Exit Game, and ya, its mapped to ESC.  If I was going to add a spinner, I would probably move the mouse buttons a little to the right, and put the spinner in line with them to the top left of the TB.  Of course I don't have a spinner on any of my CP's, so that may be horrible advice.

[SGT]

AtomSmasher,

I was looking at your project thread, and it looked like at one time the inside width of your panel was 30".  Did you narrow it down in the later stages?

[leapinlew]

I've done some experimenting. My first cabinet was a standard Nintendo cabinet. It was 22.5". When designing the control panel, I was trying to decide if I could go with a street fighter layout. I settled on building it with 2 joysticks and 2 buttons per player. Playing Joust and Mario Bros. with some of my friends was very close quarters. We would stand shoulder to shoulder.

I created a new control panel for that machine. Single 4 way joystick and 3 buttons.



The next machine was a wide body Nintendo that was 3 inches wider at 25.5 (it may just be 24.5). A street fighter layout was very comfortable with a street fighter layout. So, for me and my fat ass friends - 25" seems to be comfortable.


 

[AtomSmasher]

AtomSmasher,

I was looking at your project thread, and it looked like at one time the inside width of your panel was 30".  Did you narrow it down in the later stages?

No, I used the layouts from the project arcade cd and shrunk them by 3/4.  If you look at the first post where I put up the template you can see that I mentioned that the numbers were wrong.

[Doc-]

I would say 24" is reasonable - my modular mame is 24" wide in the interior (about 25-1/2" overall with the sides), and two people can easily stand or sit and play just about any game.

Cheers!
Doc-