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Designing Control Panel, Need Input

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zallax:
Don't let others get you down on a FrankenPanel design.  If designed well, it just works. 

Let me share my 2 cents from my experience with making FrankenPanels.   

* Do not put a spinner above a trackball.  You will eventually jam a finger. :cry:  Buttons are generally fine.
* "Second-tier" controls need to be as close as possible to the user.  If you put your flight stick, 4-way, or spinner to high, it strains the arms over extended play.
* Design button configuration for an angled arm.  FP's suffer from overcrowding, which puts your buttons to close to the joystick and strains your wrists.  With angled buttons, the left arm can be straight below the joystick and the right arm/hand can be comfortably angled.
* Spinners and 4-ways should have buttons that are in-line.  It is usually awkward to use controls at different elevation points on your panel.
* If you can slope your panel, then do it.  It helps with avoidance contact of other controls.
* Most importantly, mock it up on cardboard before you ever make a cut.  You will find things you did not realize while designing in software.
Looking over the panel you posted, here are some points to think about.

* Asteroid buttons are too far from the user and unusable as your arm will be laying across the 4-way joystick.
* When using the 4-way or the spinner, what buttons are you going to use?  The Flightstick?
* Using the rotary on 3P for player standing at 1P would be strange, unless you plan on playing at 3P.
* Like I said above, your wrists may strained if the buttons and joysticks are too close and the buttons are not angled for right hand.
For reference, here is my control panel's layout.  I have a *cleavland steamer* pile of controls on my panel, which is smaller than a Quad SlikStik.   I have had 4 players on my cab with no rubbing of elbows.  On 1P and 2P, it is very comfortable to play because the right arm is angled in.   The 4-way and DOT spinner are above P1 buttons which gives easy access.  They may look like they are too close together but they are not.  I regularly score 90,000+ on Discs of Tron so I rigorously tested the spacing with my motions.  There are buttons in-line with the 4-way and DOT spinner, which works well for the most part but I do have to raise my arm a little because I cannot rest it on the trackball (sloped panel helps here).  I have 2 joystick on 1P and 2P because of my love for Smash TV and the right joysticks are LS-30 rotaries because I am a Heavy Barrel nut.  Another thing I did was map the Flight-stick buttons to Mouse buttons, to make it comfortable to use a mouse when administrating the OS of the cab.

Click images to see larger.



My button configuration is designed for an angle hand, yet allows me to have multiple possibilities, e.g., Mortal Kombat, NeoGeo, Stargate/Defender, Vanguard, etc.  Street Fighter is shifted, but, I have had dominant SF players adjust in minutes.


I hope my information helps you out on your design.

eds1275:
Holy crap, that's a lot of buttons that make a lot of sense.

I personally think that 4 player panels are good if you have the real estate to make it wide enough that the people on the sides don't have to play at an angle. If they do then it's a little awkward to play. If they're gonna suffer, might as well just have some usb ports on the bottom of the CP and then let them use USB game pads.

Donkbaca:
Build what you want.  I just think you should build a panel so that it plays what you WANT to play, not so that it plays everything you think you should be able to play.

I don't have a trackball on my cab.  Most people think, YOU MUST HAVE A TRACKBALL.  Well, i got one, and then decided, you know what?  I don't like trackball games enough to put one on my cab.  It would mostly just sit there.  Not worth it to me...

pinballwizard79:
Modular is far worse than a frankenpanel, who the hell wants a go bot jigsaw puzzle arcade panel?

I am on my 6th build & I finally decided a frankenpanel was the way to go (for me, not you guys of course). I can play Tron, Defender, Golden Tee, Neo Geo's, Robotron & Donkey kong with my trackball, high/low spinner, Tron stick, 8 ways & 4 way which is pretty cool

The placement of my devices are perfect, nothing is in the way. Of course the only reason I was prob able to do this IMO is due to having a quad panel less player 3 & 4.

VanillaGorilla:
 :blah:

--- Quote ---The placement of my devices are perfect, nothing is in the way
--- End quote ---
:blah:

 :laugh2:

Well, thats HIGHLY subjective. But its nice that you think so.

Taking a page right outta Xiaou2's book there, aintcha...

Twelve yards long, two lanes wide,
Sixty five tons of American pride!
Canyonero! Canyonero!

Now with flames!

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