C.A.M.E. -The Micro MAME

[Tahnok]

College Arcade Machine Emulation

(All right, the name does not make sense, but the acronym sounds good.)

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I have been working on plans for a fully portable CP. The objectives:

4 player CP
Small as possible
Less than 6" thick
Expand to full size CP
Easy to transport
Light
No wasted space
Support as many games as possible
Connect to external laptop
Close to protect controls

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So far, I have come up with a design that will be about 11" wide, 10"tall and between 6"-6 1/2" wide when closed. When open, the unit will be about 40" wide (is that too big?).

In order to make the unit as thin as possible I needed to either remove the joysticks or get them out of the way (the unit would be over 8" thick if I didn't). I tried many different ideas until I came upon the idea of hinging them so they can drop into the panel at a 90-degree angle. This makes them only 2.5" tall, though they take up a lot of space underneath.

Also to save space, I put players 3 and 4 on wings that can retract into the unit. This nearly doubled the size of the CP when expanded, but keeps it small when closed. It created the problem though of shearing off the joysticks when it went inside. The hinge method explained above quickly fixed that too, since they drop completely flat.

This is a VERY rough draft. I have not been working on these plans very long so things like wood depth and such have not been accounted for.

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Problems:
How can the hinges be locked up?
What material can this be made out of? It needs to be no thicker than

[Tahnok]

Given the response to this project (none) I am guessing that this must be a bit too insane of a project. So I have decided to rethink it.

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After reading a recent thread about 2 Vs 4 player CPs, I am beginning to think it would be better to have a good 2 player panel instead of a minimal 4 player panel.

I want the new panel to the same specifications above except for the following:

2 player CP
Trackball
Spinner

I will post the plans once I have worked out a few bugs.

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If anybody is interested in further developing the 4 player CP described above, I can email you the Visio files.

[CthulhuLuke]

It seems like a cool idea but not only would it be hard work to try to find latches stable enough to keep the 3rd and 4th player going, you'll also run into some major snags if you have such a big overhang and just the 3rd player or just the 4th player is playing.  That'd give some serious tippage if there was a person on 1st and 3rd player banging away on that thing.  2 player with some controllers coming out the side is usually a good way to go if you truly want 4 players.  You could even build some solo joysticks to accomodate the 3rd and 4th player, and just have those laying around next to the arcade cabinet incase anybody else wants to join up.
  -keep us posted on the progress of this thing

[Tahnok]

Two player portable CP plans complete (almost).

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Pictured below is a design that I would feel confident building and playing on. The plan has 2 T-Stik Plus joysticks, 6 buttons per player and a 2.25" Ultimark trackball.

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Closed the design is 13.75"x12"x4.5". Open, including flip out wrist resting panel, the CP is 8.25"x27.5"x6".

I am planning on using some sort of 0.25" hard hobby wood for the casing. It will also be reinforced as much as possible with other random woods.

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If anybody sees a problem please point it out!

All images, plans and information created by Nick Koza are

[Tilzs]

I'd just point out that haveing a 3rd cocktail pannel that is 33" long, playing 2 players on it is crowded but still enjoyable. I can't however imagine playing on a 39" 4 player pannel with 4 players.

You are jamming 4 people into 4 inches. Or at the very least, 2 people if the 2 on the end give them some room.

How wide are your shoulders? Whats the min elbow room do you think one would need to play a game.

[Tahnok]

I have ditched the first idea. I am now focusing on the 2 player panel.

The 2 player version is 27.5" wide with 10.5" between players. Now if I've not missed my guess, that will make for a cramp but playable CP.

I've decided that some things have to be sacrificed for functionality. I can't afford the space to spread the players apart a bit more.

EDIT: I think I will stop updating this since none seems to care. Expect an update in a few months when construction has begun.

[patrickl]

I have (quietly) following your thread, but it's hard to understand what you are trying to do well enough to make clever remarks. I guess it would be easier if indeed you hade some prototype ready yes. Looking forward to seeing what you come up with in a few months  

Just wanted to let you know that it's not just that people don't care, but it's hard (for me at least) to contribute anything meaningful either.

[hyiu]

I'm another guy who is following your thread quietly...

don't get us wrong.... I'm sure a lot of ppl are checking out and thinking about your design...

but frankly... I don't quite understand how exactly is your design.... (I mean you have nice visio pics.... but I just can't seem to visualize the end product...)

if you can get a cardboard prototype... that would be great...

but before I can understand what you want to do... or what's special about your design... its hard to comment....

so... keep it up !!!.... we're with you... although you don't see 234526235 reponses on your thread right away.....
 

and once we all understand more about your design....
it'll be hard for others to hold back their opinions... haaa haa haa....    

[Matt, GoC]

2 player with some controllers coming out the side is usually a good way to go if you truly want 4 players.  You could even build some solo joysticks to accomodate the 3rd and 4th player, and just have those laying around next to the arcade cabinet incase anybody else wants to join up.

Adding to CthulhuLuke's suggestion, you might have excellent luck if you have players 3 & 4 controls on their own individual pedistal-type panels.  That way your friends can move them around to a position that's comfortable, and you can hide them when nobody's using them.  Seems better than using gamepads or something.  BTW, don't get urked if no one posts to your thread right away.  I've had mine up for a couple months and only a few replies.  What matters is that people are reading it.  Also, like hyiu stated, something less 2D would help us visualize your idea better.  Heck, draw a quick picture and post it.
Good Luck!

[RayB]

"CAME"? Will this cabinet play only adult games??