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Getting ready to start a control panel

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shauny:
First off, great site! Tons of great info!

So, I'm starting my plans for a CP and am having a hard time deciding on a button color. So I'm sure this will be a hard question to answer since I don't know what the artwork will be (thinking simple at this point) but I can say it's going to be a coffee table top CP, not going with full cab due to space restrictions and it's going to be a 2 person fighter layout SF2 style with the extra thumb button. This will be to start but will add "stuff" as I go.

So 2 questions,

How do you go about deciding your button colors where the design is a work in progress? So I guess safe color choices would be the way to go.

Besides the main control buttons; Joystick, buttons 1 -7, p1, p2, coin1, coin2, esc. What other buttons do you guys put on for games and to make navigation easier? I see alot of CP's with 2 buttons on each side of the cp which I assume is for pinball. But wouldn't you just need 1 per side?

Looking to build a cp for all consoles + mame.

Thanks for the suggestions! I'll post some pics as I go.

DirtyDachshunds:
I have buttons for pause, exit, quick save, and quick load.  I also have an additional 3 buttons for the trackball and spinner (as well as mouse). 

I don't know what to tell you about button color.  I went the standard red and blue for player buttons.  I would say finish your design first, then choose the button colors.

I am also building a cab for a bunch of consoles + mame, and it is a lot of work.  If you don't already have all your emulators and roms configured with your FE, be prepared for many hours of work.  It takes longer than you think.  And you need a decent machine for dreamcast and above emulation and hyperspin.

shauny:


--- Quote from: DirtyDachshunds on October 14, 2010, 01:08:26 pm ---I have buttons for pause, exit, quick save, and quick load.  I also have an additional 3 buttons for the trackball and spinner (as well as mouse). 

I don't know what to tell you about button color.  I went the standard red and blue for player buttons.  I would say finish your design first, then choose the button colors.

I am also building a cab for a bunch of consoles + mame, and it is a lot of work.  If you don't already have all your emulators and roms configured with your FE, be prepared for many hours of work.  It takes longer than you think.  And you need a decent machine for dreamcast and above emulation and hyperspin.

--- End quote ---

I probably have 20hrs into the FE setup already. I am using hyperspin, and it is by far the nicest fe that I demoed.

I'm taking it one emulator at a time. So far I have completed NES, SNES, GENESIS, and Daphne (sort of) this one is tough without a controller. Next will be MAME. Yea I am in no way kidding myself that this is will be plug and play. MY PC should be ok. Hardest part so far is getting the rom sets to play nice.

quick specs
4gig ram
3.2 Intel Dual Core overclocked to 4
1 gig vid card

I think I'm leaning to a single color(maybe led) layout for buttons and stick, I think it will look less busy.
The hidden buttons (start, esc, save/load state (I like that idea) will be black)

orchidius:
I guess it all comes down to the space you have and what you're looking for... Say you wanted a very clean look with just your 6 buttons per person and a joystick. This is perfectly possible since most encoders have a "shift" key that allows a second command to be assigned to every button. On the other end you could get an extra button for every single command if you have room for it and don't mind a crowded CP.

For the pinball buttons: most people use two per side because one is used to "nudge" and one is used to use the flipper itself. I personally don't really use the "nudge" thingy, so I don't have a second button planned for my CP. Again, personal preference is key here...

Same goes for button color really, but I totally understand the situation you're in. I'm a total disaster when it comes to designing artwork, so I just keep postponing the design phase. What I did for button color/cab color/t-molding color is the following: I went with very neutral "colors". My cab itself is black, my t-molding is chrome (silver) and my buttons are translucent LED buttons. The buttons will be fitted with RGB leds, so that leaves me with an infinite number of color options once the design is done! My admin buttons are plain black, but you can get button decals in various colors too, so you can get those to fit your CP design.

Hope this was any useful :p

shauny:
That was helpful :) So I decided on a color (i think).  And since this is my real first photoshop attempt, I decided to not reinvent the wheel and practice on a known AWSOME design. So like many others I started with the kneivels cosmic frostbite background. I'll move on to something more original in the future but I really want to get this made so I can do what this is all for...  :lol Plus it looks so damn purty.  :lol

This is what I have so far. Literally first photoshop project ever so everything to way longer than it should have. Probably 6hrs on this so far.

Opinions welcomed

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