Exit button...how does your's work? i need advice

[severdhed]

Hey guys, i'm in the process of building a new control panel for my cabinet, using all new components.  I'm currently using components that i removed from my x-arcade 2 player unit that i bought a few years ago, along with a Betson  4way joystick (which sucks), wired in parallel to player 1's stick.


here is the current panel layout:


the yellow buttons were originally each an exit button (left one is Esc, right one is Enter...mame is set to exit when either key is pressed, this allowed me to use them for other things with other emulators)...anyway, my 2 year old likes to pound buttons while i play, and he was frequently hitting the player 2 exit button and stopping my game, so i changed mame so that both Esc and Enter have to be pressed to exit.   i also currently have pinball flipper buttons that i use as pause buttons in mame.  there are no coin buttons, the coin door must be used.  i pulled the other emulators and pinball stuff off of the cabinet a long time ago...so it is time for a change.

i purchased two U360 sticks, and new buttons for on my panel.  i will be ordering a new trackball here hopefully in the next week or two.(leaning towards the U-Trak at this point)  I plan on using the button inputs on the u360s for all of my controls.  i will probably end up buying an optiwiz, since they are inexpensive and support mouse buttons (unlike the usb interface for the utrak).  i will make the bottom row of buttons for player 1 be the 3 mouse buttons, which allows me to have 3 dedicated admin buttons if i need them.

i really like having dedicated pause and exit buttons, my only concern is people accidentally exiting games.  I am wanting to make this cabinet as approachable as possible, the less clutter the better...however i dont want people to have to remember alot of button combos to use the cabinet.  Here is what i am leaning towards with my new panel, but i am looking for advice on how to handle the exit buttons



in this layout, the Red button is pause...you would hold player1 start + pause to exit.    what do you think?  i know there is a slight possibility that player 2 could try to pause just as player 1 is pressing start, but i dont think that would be a common thing to have happen.  I am also contemplating installing coin buttons.  i have mixed feelings on this though.  i like having to use the coin door, it makes it more authentic...however i often find myself annoyed that i have to do it.  i dont necessarilyl want them on the top of the panel though...should i put them on the ends of the cabinet like pinball flipper buttons?  or possibly on the front edge of the control panel box?  i plan on keeping the coin doors connected as well... and i will probably use black buttons so they dont stand out too much. 

the other option would be to have two pause buttons(mapped to different inputs) and make you press both to exit.


i thought about installing a spinner...but to be honest, i dont think it would get used that much.  i had a spinner in my cabinet before and other than a few games of tempest and cameltry, it didnt get used that much.  if i do install one, i plan to buy either a turbotwist or a spintrak, since they will work much better than my mouse hack hard drive spinner. i just dont know if it is worth the extra $100 for something i probably wont use very much.    If i were to add a spinner, where on there should i put it?

just a side note, i already have the blue, yellow and red buttons.  i'm not 100% convinced that i like the red buttons, but i dont knwo what other color to use.  I'm going to have to place orders..probably with ultimarc and groovygame gear before all is said and done...so if you have any suggestions on button colors, i'm open.  the cabinet right now is all black, and i will probably leave the control panel solid black as well..i like it that way (i'm still not entirely ruling out an overlay, but i will more than likely paint the back side of the plexiglass black like i did that last time, since it is easy and looks good).

here is the cabinet as it stands right now, i went with blue and yellow buttons to tie in to the marquee artwork.  there is a littel red in there, so it would work..but i am open to suggestions.



i am building a new control panel box as well, since that one looks like crap.  i had only a jigsaw, drill and a dremel when i built that one...now i have an orbital sander, router and circular saw as well, so those should enable me to make somethign a little nicer..i am also installing T-Molding this time around.  i plan to take my time and do it right this time...because this time, i dont have to hurry because i have an existing working panel to use until i finish it, which was not the case the last time.

[doctorhifi]

My exit button is in the upper left corner of my cp.  My pause button is in the upper right corner.  Both my buttons are labelled with their function. 
I have never had anyone accidently exit or pause a game. 

http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php?topic=67989.msg691462#msg691462

[TelcoLou]

I have my admin buttons (pause, esc, and tab) all on the left side, where pinball buttons usually go.

[MKChamp]

I have my admin buttons (pause, esc, and tab) all on the left side, where pinball buttons usually go.

Same here...except I cut my admin buttons down to 2. 1 for exit and 1 that serves as pause/menu.
That is all the admin buttons I think you really need on any cab that are visual. If you need to start getting more into your system...at that point, I would pull the keyboard out.

[Cakemeister]

There's nothing wrong with the old CP, IMO.

I would just put a red and a green button for exit/coin (if your coin door isn't wired up) in between the start buttons.

Maybe some sideart would be a nice addition.

[javeryh]

I isolated the "Exit" button on the upper left of my CP - it doesn't get pressed accidentally but that's because my kids can't reach yet (and my daughter knows not to press it unless she wants to exit the game she is playing).

[ivwshane]

I only have two admin buttons, pause, and tab (I'm currently only using mame). If I want to exit I have to hit pause and p1 at the same time.

This allows me to pause the game and make keypad layout changes on the fly.

[TheShanMan]

I have 2 exit buttons (upper left and upper right corners), which are wired in series. Therefore both have to be pressed simultaneously to register. No accidental exits that way!

[RayB]

I have Exit on upper left and Pause on upper Right. Smaller buttons, clearly labelled.