Rooter's Arcade - My first cab

[rooter]

Once I finish up my control panel artwork, I will be able to wire up my control panel.  I went ahead and bought a control panel top from Knievel.  I feel kind of lame doing that, but I did it for a few reasons.  First, I won't have access to a wood shop for a few months and I couldn't wait to get started.  Second, he's got crazy skills.  I'm not that great with woodworking projects and I might be able to tolerate a flaw on the body of the case, but not on the controls themselves.  Also, I never cut plexiglas before and I liked the fact that it was included in the price.

Anyway, here is my first rough draft of the control panel artwork.  I would like some critiques and/or advice. 



The center of the panel is a translucent blue trackball with LEDs behind it.  It is supposed to look like the light is affecting the pieces of the control panel.

I'm not sure how well the blue is going to turn out.  It looks horrible on my work's color laser printer, but that is a piece of junk.  I'm sure my local print shop can do a better job than my work.  I really want to know if it is worth sending it out to MAME Marques or somewhere similar.

Again, this is rough, I plan on adding glows/sparkles/etc in Photoshop and maybe a star field background or something else.  I would love to hear anyone's ideas.

Thanks!

[rooter]

The control panel is 99%finished and working.  This is probably a bad thing as I can play games now.  It's really going to deter me from finishing everything up.  I didn't get a spinner yet.  I'm thinking about asking for one for x-mas.

Major progress has been made on the cabinet as well.

[bfauska]

I must have missed your post originally.  That's pretty cool CP art, and the assembled CP looks great.  The cab seems to be shaping up well too.  Looks like it should be a nice project.  Do you have any ideas for the marquee yet? Are you doing side-art? Using Knievel for the CP sets the bar high for the rest of the project, now you have to do a good job.

[Barry Barcrest]

I love that control panel. 

[rooter]

Thanks for the kind words!   

I'm going with a similar color scheme and style for everything else.  I know it's pretty plain, but there is going to be artwork pretty much everywhere and I didn't want to detract from the actual games.   The colors also remind me of my local arcade growing up.  That place was so dark, I don't think they used any lights other than the games themselves.

The marquee is just going to say "Rooter's Arcade" with artwork similar to the lines around player one's controllers being the first "R".  I'll probably hide a few things in the background and jazz that part up a bit.  I'm also going to make a custom Mala layout with the theme as well as a Future Pinball table that matches.  Eventually I'm going to theme my website the same way, but I'm not going to bother with that until I put some stools in front of a working cab and waste a few hundred hours of my life away.  I'm not sure about the side art yet.  If I do make some, I will probably want to use a vinyl sticker like the one on the Flyercade:

[DaOld Man]

Welcome to the home arcade hobby!
Good work on yours so far..
I like the CP.. Knievel does great work.
This project reminds me of my first.
There were times that I was ready to give up and say the *** with it.
But I didnt give up, and I was very glad I didnt.
So dont let the work get you down. It will be well worth the effort.
And dont ever say "This is the last one I will build", because I said that and I have built 3 more since then.
I love this hobby. And this forum is a great place to learn, and maybe pilfer some good ideas!

Keep up the good work, cant wait to see the pictures of your progress along the way.

[rooter]

Looks like the cabinet is 95% complete! 





Right now, the machine is using standard PC speakers.  The speakers you see in the photos are not connected yet.


Here is my to-do list:
  The monitor bevel is jacked, I need to redo that.
  Install fluorescent light for behind the marquee (glass on top)
  Create artwork for the marquee and have it printed on the glass
  Install an amp and subwoofer and connect them to the existing speakers
  Install this screen (as seen on BYOAC forums) somewhere and show directions for each game on it.  (http://www.warrantyvoid.us/cyberhomedvdplayer.html)
  Drill holes for pinball buttons on the side and admin buttons on the top (I had to get a new bit)
  Install the spinner (http://groovygamegear.com/webstore/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=86&products_id=268)
  Finish designing/coding Rooter's Pinball game
  Buy stools (http://www.usa-barstools.com/barstoolimages/ls970.jpg)
  Buy keyboad (http://www.connectreviews.com/images/microsoft_reclusa.jpg)
  Buy mouse (http://www.rushmessageboard.com/cpmb/uploads/monthly_12_2007/post-523-1197584616.jpg)

I went with a 27" wide screen monitor because it was only $399 from NewEgg.  The 27" widescreen equates to a 22" 4:3 CRT with black bars on the side.  I couldn't find a CRT for that price and they weigh 20X more.   I considered putting a 4:3 bevel over the black bars, but in person it looks just fine the way it is.  I've also been know to play a PC game or two in widescreen and I like having options.

I had my friends over for poker night and they just threw down the cards and started betting on Marvel vs. Capcom.  Everyone was screaming/cheering.  Good times.  I can't wait to get more work done.

[metaHipster]

how did you bevel your monitor bezel? is that wood?

[WaRpEd]

I really like the chrome tmolding and blue artwork
Keep up the good work!

[bfauska]

Looks pretty cool. Another advantage to leaving the monitor fully exposed is that you could use it as a media center/ jukebox with video or visualizations that utilize the whole screen.

Have you considered adding either a real coin door or one of the stickers from GroovyGameGear? Ultimately I think that plunking coins into the machine is a serious part of the nistalgia, but even superficially I think that the cabinets just look more authentic with something that looks like a coin door on the front.

The cabinet is looking great and with or without a coin door it will look really finished once that marquee spot is occupied. Great job.

[Franco B]

Looks great 

Gotta love the black/blue/chrome colour scheme 

[rooter]

how did you bevel your monitor bezel? is that wood?

Yes.  I completely need to redo it though.  The curve didn't come out right at all.  If you look closely, you can see the it isn't even flush with the control panel.

[rooter]

Have you considered adding either a real coin door or one of the stickers from GroovyGameGear? Ultimately I think that plunking coins into the machine is a serious part of the nistalgia, but even superficially I think that the cabinets just look more authentic with something that looks like a coin door on the front.

I have considered adding a coin door, but there are a few dozen other things that I need to do first with the spinner being #1.  When I was a kid in the arcade it was always my dream to own my own machine, just so I didn't have to put money in it.  I think putting a fake me out sticker on their is kind of silly.

[rooter]

Added a new keyboard and mouse.  Still need to do the marquee.  :/
The mouse was only $6 from NewEgg.com.  I love it.

[amiga500]

Looks great! Keep up the good work!

[rooter]

I developed my own game for the arcade cabinet.  It feels like a pretty good accomplishment getting the machine built with a game running on it 100% by my design and hands.  The game was written for the XBox 360, but it seemed like too perfect of a fit not to get a copy running on the arcade cabinet.  Once a week my friends come over to play poker.  The game is always dealer's choice, and sometimes that choice is a game at the arcade cabinet.  I want to create a fun two player game to run quick tournaments with.  It seems pretty hard core, but if you use your powerups at the right place and time, it's not that bad.  I made it through without dying one time.  There are no lives, but destroying your ship is a score penalty.  I have a million more ideas to put into it, but I think I'm going to start work on my 3D puzzle game for the 360 for now.  After that, it's onto the digital pinball cab.














If you want to download the game and give it a shot: http://shaunroot.net/rootersShooter.zip
Please let me know what you think!  root88@ice.org
Note:  this game requires the .NET Framework to run.

The controls are the same as the default MAME settings. That means Player 1 controls are Left Ctrl, Left Alt, Space

[jholman76]

The Rooters shooter game looks pretty sweet... definatley going to put that on the cab and try it out! thanks!

[BobA]

Glad you are still enjoying your cab.   Your game looks good as does you cab.

[rooter]

The Rooters shooter game looks pretty sweet... definatley going to put that on the cab and try it out! thanks!

I did add a boss to the end of the game, so if you downloaded it before this post was written and want more content, you should download it again.

Thanks