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Critique my control panel layout please!

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popester:
Howdy,

I'm building a four player cab and I'm basing my control panel roughly off of the one that mameroom.com ships since it seems to be rather well thought out.  A few details that might need explaining:

1) I can't think of a great reason to include more than four buttons for P3 and P4.  The only ones I were able to come with up are SNES and newer emulated games.  Any thoughts there?

2) I think the 7th button for the neo-geo is where I want it, but I'm open to feedback there.

3) The trackball is centered with the world, and P1 and P2 are equidistant away, about as far as possible to leave space for slammers.

4) The top has a dedicated four way plus three buttons.  The eight other buttons are for player and coin buttons.

5) Admin buttons were placed to discourage hitting exit and load, since those can be somewhat catastrophic.  Power will be on the back of the cab.

Any thoughts or feedback?  This is the first control panel I've designed so it would be nice to get feedback from more experienced folks :)

PL1:
Assuming that 8 of the unlabeled buttons at the top are coin and start buttons for P1 - P4, what are the four other un-labeled admin buttons for? 

Have you completely thought through your selection of dedicated admin functions?

Have you tried the 7-button layout on cardboard yet?  The spacing seems a little wide, especially for the 7th button.  Slagcoin has some good layouts / spacing info to consider.

Is there enough room for P3 and P4 to rest their wrist?  P1 and P2 have more room.

Looks like there is a lot of empty space between the player buttons and the admin buttons.  Have you considered reducing that gap somewhat?


Scott

paigeoliver:
You can drop the 7th button unless you or your best buds are real neo geo fighting pros. Even if you are it tends to work better on the other side and real Neo Geo cabinets don't have such a dramatic drop on that 1st button. In fact dropping that low makes it harder to play the Neo geo titles, not easier.

Panel is way too big and deep.

Do you have children or do you live in a frat house? If neither are true then player 3 and 4 will almost never get used. Grown men don't like to squish in like that. I know from experience they will take turns 2 at a time on a 4 player machine instead of squeezing in all at once.

popester:
Thanks for the feedback guys.  Answers inline:


--- Quote from: PL1 on December 11, 2012, 06:46:04 pm ---Assuming that 8 of the unlabeled buttons at the top are coin and start buttons for P1 - P4, what are the four other un-labeled admin buttons for? 
--- End quote ---

Dedicated 4 way and buttons.


--- Quote ---Have you completely thought through your selection of dedicated admin functions?
--- End quote ---

I think so, but I would love some feedback on them.  The most thought is around what I'll want and how to avoid hitting exit and load, since that could be disastrous.


--- Quote ---Is there enough room for P3 and P4 to rest their wrist?  P1 and P2 have more room.
--- End quote ---

Yes.  I've actually got this printed out and it seems pretty good.


--- Quote ---Looks like there is a lot of empty space between the player buttons and the admin buttons.  Have you considered reducing that gap somewhat?
--- End quote ---

For what reason? (other than the thing being huge)


--- Quote ---You can drop the 7th button unless you or your best buds are real neo geo fighting pros. Even if you are it tends to work better on the other side and real Neo Geo cabinets don't have such a dramatic drop on that 1st button. In fact dropping that low makes it harder to play the Neo geo titles, not easier.
--- End quote ---

Ok, that seems like pretty good logic.  Why do so many CPs have the seventh button in that location?


--- Quote ---Panel is way too big and deep.
--- End quote ---

It's big and deep for a reason: sight lines to the 27" screen, and its a 27" screen so you don't want to be too close anyway :)


--- Quote ---Do you have children or do you live in a frat house? If neither are true then player 3 and 4 will almost never get used. Grown men don't like to squish in like that. I know from experience they will take turns 2 at a time on a 4 player machine instead of squeezing in all at once.
--- End quote ---

Well, on one hand how is the CP too big and yet too small at the same time? :)  I've printed this out and seems like it will work with my buddies and we're not small.  I decided on a four player cabinet and that's what I'm building damnit!  This may also end up in the office where the four players may get used more than average.  I also really want the simpsons/TNMT experience to be really good.

Any other thoughts?

Dawgz Rule:
It might look good on paper but I would have to agree that it is pretty large.   I have a 29" screen on my cabinet and just dragged a tape measure across to see what 48" of panel would look like and it looked like it needed to be fueled up and ready for takeoff.    I was all hyped up about making a four player cab and I am glad I did not.  I am lucky enough to have two people playing at any given time.  That aside, you have to do what is right for you.  Even as a four player, I would consider sizing it down.  There is plenty of space to do it and still have adequate visibility. 

The button spacing looks uncomfortable, especially button 7.  Here is a good link to button layouts that you may find helpful.  Won't argue the merits of curved or straight buttons as there are plenty of other threads about that:

http://www.slagcoin.com/joystick/layout.html

I originally liked the mameroom.com design but after doing some additional research I found it to be dated.  A lot of valuable info can be found right here.

Consider what games you are going to play as well.  Do you really need dedicated four way sticks or is a convertible stick an option?  I opted for convertible sticks and found that it is very rare that I actually play a game that requires a four way.  I don't regret the decision because the real estate is the same but I may have if I had added two dedicated four way sticks.

In the end, it really amounts to whatever makes you happy.  I didn't care about artwork so I picked "off the rack" stuff from Game on Grafix....others spend a great deal of time there (with incredible results).  Again, whatever floats your boat. 

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