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Rethinking the 4-player control panel...

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vidmouse:

I'm currently thinking of making another CP box and adding
controls for P3 and P4.  I don't play Smash TV all that much
so the angled joy's aren't that much of a problem for me
(and I can still do it single-player w/ P1/P2 joys)

My cab is about 27" wide and I didn't want to make a giant "wing".
At first I was going to make some attachable modules but
the more I designed it out, it seemed clumsy and the potential
for breakage was high.  Then I thought about just adding gamepads
via USB -- what I'm doing now -- but my kids both want to play on
the actual arcade controls with me vs using a gamepad (hey who
can blame them)

Open for comments/critiques...  You can also see pics of my cab
as-is on my site for comparison to my 2p panel

http://www.freewebs.com/vidmouse/Autobot%20Layout.jpg



Lilwolf:

I had angled joysticks for my player 3 and 4 years ago.  I had a party with a bunch of kids at it (5-9 or so) and EVERY kid had a problem using them.  They where just walking around in walls. 

I never had a big problem with them, but its something to consider.

I would get a scrap piece of wood (like those 4 buck press board 4x8's) and mount the joysticks and a few buttons each and try it out for a few days.  And make sure to let others try it out.  If your using quick disconnects it shouldn't take all that much time to do it and move them over later.

good luck!

DaveMMR:

Again, you don't have to angle the joysticks for space concerns.  The outer controls don't usually have complex controls, so place the buttons above, below, etc. the joystick (see: TMNT, Simpsons, Gauntlet, etc).

I also say that because I'm not a fan of the shape of your CP.  Even if it does look like Optimus Prime. 

Everything else looks fine though.  ;)

unclet:

I have a 4-player control panel and opted to have a wider control panel to allow P3/P4 joysticks to be mounted straight rather than at an angle.    I am not a big fan of angled joysticks.

Now, if you are absolutely sure you want angled P3/P4 joysticks and the width of the control panel has been decided for sure then I would say your design is pretty much the best you can do.

vidmouse:


--- Quote from: DaveMMR on December 19, 2007, 07:38:01 am ---The outer controls don't usually have complex controls, so place the buttons above, below, etc. the joystick (see: TMNT, Simpsons, Gauntlet, etc).

--- End quote ---

Y'know, that's good, I hadn't thought to look at what the games I wanted to emulate actually did... the big one I can think of is D&D SoM... 4 buttons per player, not too far off from where I'm at.  Anyone know the width of that CP?  (so I can add the appropriate inches to include my trackball as well)

Not sure if I'll change, but worth another jpg drawing to
flesh it out...

Lilwolf thanx for the comments about the kids too, that helps.
I wonder why angled is such a problem for them.  Will try to
see if I can cardboard it out after the holidays and see.  Right now
I need my 2P cab playable over the holidays and don't have
as much time as I thought I did when I started this post... :P


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