Lime-Aid, the Lime Arcade... Me and the nephews build

[t3design]

Seriously, I've got both the big lime and the three little limes as vector art. I would be glad to upload it for you.

T3

[eds1275]

I hate to bring up an old post, but I hate even more if this project were to die. And of course the nephews wouldn't be happy either. Today I picked up some christmas lights [on sale] some pegboard, and some j boxes and switches and stuff and set forth to do the marquee lighting.

 - but first let's talk about the side art. I stenciled it on and in a rush accidentally painted it opposite of what I meant to. But it grew on me and I am going to leave it. It doesn't look as good as T3's concept but I like it. Definitely breaks up the monotony of the green.



The j boxes for the receptacle and the light switch also act as door stops for the back door. Once I am done tying everything down I will snip the tails on the zap straps and cut the shim below the monitor to a nicer shape than busted hardboard.



Here is the machine with the front in place. It's held there currently just by being a tight fit as a test run. It needs another coat of paint. Also the bezel is a perfect fit but it's also not physically attached [because it obviously needs to be painted], which is why you can see the bottom of the monitor in the photo.



And finally here it is with the led xmas lights turned on. I'm really happy with the way it turned out. There's 35 lights in the string and 36 holes, what a pain. But I draped the spinal tap marquee from my other project over it and with all the reflective tape in there there is no dark spot in the lower left corner.




I also got the perfect set of speakers for this thing! I bought myself a wicked new computer for my studio and it came with some USB powered speakers. They look like the ones below but have black drivers in them. Don't get me wrong, they are not amazing. But they sound pretty good considering their miniscule size. Good enough for lime-aid! I just turn them up to 3/4 of the way [using the windows volume control] and it's easily loud enough when you are playing. Now IU just need some grille cloth or some perforated metal for the speaker holes and I'll be ready to screw them into place.

[CREDO]

its great how you have a project for the lads to help with. i'm trying to do one with my son but at 7 yrs old he runs away at anything louder than the drill.
The colors, the ideas you have going are so out there, it works.
love it.

[TopJimmyCooks]

Credo, get 'em some cheap hardware store earmuffs.  I got my kids some when I took them to a race, and now they put them on as soon as they come in the shop and leave them on whether anything loud is going on or not.  Then, later on the rap metal will deaden their hearing and they're good to go.   

[Malenko]

good to see the project still going!

You should have painted the peg board white for a little extra light reflection, but its not a big deal.

[eds1275]

Well here it is as of yesterday afternoon! Got the t-molding, the speaker grilles, finished the bezel, wired up the PC to power on with an arcade button. Now all I need is a door for it, and one of those coin buttons from GGG. Most of my money right now is going towards my wedding at the end of June unfortunately, but maybe I can sneak some funds to this and finish it off! I'm bringing it to our wedding anyways! Oh and of course I need a real marquee printed. The bottom marquee rail is held on by screws, and the top one by velcro.



I won't bump my other thread for the spinal tap machine but I WILL tag on a photo of the red buttons I got at Ond's suggestion. I was gonna use black, but the red looks slick!

[Woodshop Flunky]

Looks like it's turning out great! 

[DaOld Man]

Looks real good!

[GernBlanston]

Well here it is as of yesterday afternoon!

<snip>

Out. Freaking. Standing.

I'm just getting started but this is/was a great story and cool cab.  Good onya for, 1) including the kiddos, and 2) for seeing this thing through after life got in the way.  I hate seeing cool project threads just die mid-project.

Well done.  Now finish this thing up and post an arse-load of pics...then build another one and post more pics 'n stories 'n whatnot

-Gern

[eds1275]

Ahahaha thanks for the kind words. It is STILL in that state; it's true what they say about building these things, once they are playable build progress slows right down. Also my wedding while not over budget has left me a little broke even now - but things will pick up. Things it still needs:

1) actually printed marquee art, not just my laser printer demo I put up there.
2) a coin door. I'm going to use an access hatch like the ones I use around the house for accessing plumbing and wiring - it's basically a metal door, and I'll throw one of those coin-return looking buttons on it and a fake coin return slot
3) to finish the video game we are making. It's called Lemon VS Lime-Aid and the story goes that Lemon-Aid doesn't like Lime-Aid, and they just can't live together in the fridge. So Lemon-Aid gets everything in the fridge to come out and attack a frozen can of Lime-Aid concentrate on an epic battle across the dining room table. The gameplay is similar to space invaders but is horizontal. We used YoYoGames Gamemaker for it and are done everything except music and sound effects - we also only have 5 levels programmed out of ten we want to do.

Gamemaker is fun to tinker with - if you have time download the basic (free) version and run through the poorly written tutorials. If you can figure them out you'll be well on your way to making simple games. This summer when my nephews come out we're going to go way more advanced, using Blender to create our characters and Unity to make a game. Or at least get a good start on it. In my studio I'll have 3 computers hooked up across my desk and we'll do our damnedest to get something created!

[eds1275]

Here's a screenshot from the game. We're going to zip up the text and stuff to make it better, choosing a nicer font and such. The can of Lime-Aid shoots little spinning lime-bullets. Every ten kills you get a "super weapon" that floods the screen with limes, killing all baddies - but you can't hold more than one. All the bad guys have different moves - for example, the ice cubes just fly across the table at incredible speed, or slide in a zig-zagging pattern. The cans of lemon aid concentrate come at you slow but in numbers, and take 5 hits to destroy [you can only shoot 2 rounds a second] The lemons literally start off in a random direction and bounce all around. The worst, by far, is the glass of lemon-aid. It moves painfully slow, but it comes from behind and chases you. You cannot shoot behind you so while fighting off the other guys you must lead it around so you can get behind it and shoot it.



That big red exclamation point is actually not seen in the game, I just made a sprite for some code, just to make sure it is in the level. I'll turn it invisible when the game is done. Also that black bar on the left isn't there in the game either, something to do with my dual displays showing up when i print the screen.

[eds1275]

Well we've been working on it a little again this summer. A few major changes include a coin door (an "access panel" from the hardware store) which has a black button for firing up the thing and a hole for where the ggg coind door button will go when it arrives. The marquee retainers painted yellow. The screen smashed but still works, im looking for a replacement.








We're going to order a green light up ball top for it as well.

[Toasta]

This is such a cool Cab.  I love that you made this with your nephews.
The Speaker grills look awesome. and I think the coin door is awesome.
Thanks for the ideas.

[eds1275]

Thank you, it was a lot of fun. I wish they lived closer all year so that we could work on stuff like this more often and get the game done.