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Critique my control panel (plans inside)
TalkingOctopus:
Thank for all of your responses. I am definately going to reconfigure the trackball. I have not played many track ball games, but I definately plan to on my cabinet. Other reactions:
--- Quote ---I see the left and right player getting annoyed witha corner in their stomach.
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Do you have an example of a different layout where this does not happen?
--- Quote ---I don't know about you guys but I prefer the way the 6/7 buttons look when the 2 on the left are placed sligtly lower. For some games its nice to be able to hold your fingers over 3 or 4 buttons at once. The most obvious example would be Neo Geo games.
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I prefer the Capcom template.
--- Quote ---Just a thought, but have you thought about the ramifications of having player 3 and 4 angled like that?
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I did it like that because of space constraints. Once again, do you have any examples of a non-angled layout. Keep in mind the cabinet is about 26" wide and has a 27" tv.
--- Quote ---It looks a little cramped to me. I think that players one and two might not have sufficient shoulder room. Take a look at the SlikStick Quad as a point of comparison. They have the 'ball between the players which alows more room for big drives on Golden Tee. It also looks like they have about a foot between the player one buttons and the player two stick -- which should give a bit more room to operate.
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I had the same worry. I thought it looked cramped too and will attempt a solution.
--- Quote ---What did you use to design this? Do you have a full size diagram?
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I used photoshop 6 with grids and guides and brought Lusid's MS-Word templates into photoshop. I have a fullsize diagram but do not have the bandwidth to release it. If you really want it, PM me and perhaps I can arrange something. The plans my cabinet is based on and the MS-word templates used in my diagram can be found here: http://home.earthlink.net/~seanhat/arcade/arcade.html
I will work on it some more and post a revision in the next few days. Thanks again for all your help and input.
Birdtales:
--- Quote from: TalkingOctopus on April 30, 2003, 10:00:13 pm ---
I see the left and right player getting annoyed witha corner in their stomach.
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--- Quote --- Do you have an example of a different layout where this does not happen?
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All you have to do is use what you have and trim it up to fix this one. Something like this.
unclet:
Let me start by saying that I built a 4-player cabinet and like everything about it. My control panel dimensions are 56"x19" and I have a 27" TV inside. When I remove this control panel, then the cabinet itself can still fit through a standard 28" wide door frame (very important!!). Anyway, I have thought about many of the concerns posted by other people when I built my cabinet and have incorporated them into my cabinet already. It would be easier to send you send pictures of my cabinet along with the control panel layout if you want. If you do (or anyone else), then email me at emailAddrRemoved
Note: I do not have sketched plans like you posted here for your control panel, but I do have some MS Powerpoint slides which you can print which shows the button/joystick layouts.
Anyway, if you want my opinion as well....then these are the things I see which I would change:
- Move trackball down. I play Birdie King and Golden Tee and others. Also, just think of all the CD-Rom games you could play with on this cabinet as well which might need a trackball (ie: other golf games, bowling, etc...) When you move the trackball down, then the joysticks will get pushed out to the sides even more...just like mine. Once you move the trackball lower then make sure you have enough spacing between the trackball and the joystick so when you really give the trackball a good hard spin, that you arm does not fling into a joystick.
- Do not tilt player 3/4 joysticks that much, just tilt ever so slightly to give the players some elbow room. Do this while keeping the joysticks somewhat level with each other so you can play multiple joystick games.... (one of my favorites is Karate Champ)
- Make sure you leave enough room in front of the two widest joysticks for players to rest their wrists and part of their forearm on the control panel top. These player's arms will get really tired (or their wrists really sore) if they could not rest them while holding the joysticks and/or pushing buttons.
- I am not sure what kind of joysticks you are using, but I wished I added a joystick with a top fire button.
- If you are going to all of this trouble of making a kickass cabinet like this, then go ahead and add a spinner (I added two of them) and some pinball buttons on the side (I also added a plunger button for the hell of it... ;D)
- I agree with JamesMalloy about the button layout In fact, this is the button layout I used on my cabinet since I had the same concern about finger positioning.
- Do not know whether you thought of adding a pause button, but you should. Since I had a 4-player cabinet, I added 2 pause buttons (wired together) so each of side of the cabinet (left/right) would be able to reach the pause button easily (ie: need to take a beer piss RIGHT NOW type of thing :D)
- Also, if you are hacking a mouse for your trackball, then do not forget to add right/left mouse click buttons so you can use the trackball like a mouse...
Anyway, if anyone wants my info and pics, send me an email.
Best of luck...and do it right since once you are complete with this cabinet, you most likely will have it for years and years...so do it right the first time so you do not wish you had done anything differently. Building a cabinet is pretty cheap if you plan on keeping it for 10 years or longer.....
UncleT
skirge66:
before you go and move your trackball think about this...do you and the people you hang around with even play golden tee? It seems that just about everyone here wants to have the trackball possitioned spacificly for this game...and shoos...
personally the only thing I find worse than actually playing golf is pretending to play it...or watching it on tv. I think it's great that people all enjoy different games, but set things up the way it works for you.
I like the possition of your trackball where it is, but then again, I'd never have to worry about smackin the piss out of the trackball to play games like centipede. Just think about which games you are wanting to accomodate with that ball.
No offense to those of you that made that recomendation, as we each have our own agenda and should be able to respect that.
u_rebelscum:
--- Quote from: skirge66 on May 01, 2003, 12:33:38 am ---before you go and move your trackball think about this...do you and the people you hang around with even play golden tee? It seems that just about everyone here wants to have the trackball possitioned spacificly for this game...and shoos...
personally the only thing I find worse than actually playing golf is pretending to play it...or watching it on tv. I think it's great that people all enjoy different games, but set things up the way it works for you.
I like the possition of your trackball where it is, but then again, I'd never have to worry about smackin the piss out of the trackball to play games like centipede. Just think about which games you are wanting to accomodate with that ball.
No offense to those of you that made that recomendation, as we each have our own agenda and should be able to respect that.
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Hey, another not-golf-fanatic! (although I sometimes do play it in the arcades with a friend or two).
FWIW, I'd like the TB being ~8"-10" from the bottom of the CP, with the buttons aligned (& slightly slanted) with the top of the ball. Look at dedicated 3 player rampart or dedicated cabal CPs for examples. OTOH, I'm planing on making a 2 or 3 TB - no joy CP, so I have more freedom of placement than the CP in discussion. ::)