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CP Layout rev. 2 (feedback please)
DougHillman:
I'm curious if YOU know how much space you need. This is a wooden CP right? So you'll need the 6" square mounting plate for your trackball (or 6 1/2" if you're going with a 3" ball). Doesn't look like you've got that there.
That's why I always do my layout/templates with the entire mounting size of the control there to see, so it's immediately apparant how much room I have/need. I throw the actual CP box into the picture too, so I can see where my limitations are.
I do a quick layout with controls I cut out of foamboard, draw it up exactly in Adobe Illustrator, and then mock it up again to the exact dimensions (and height) with the foamboard for a little bit of pretend playtesting.
It'll be a little more work, but you can always build the box like I've outlined with the red lines below. This'll get you a few more inches. It's how I work a CP with rounded edges.
pointdablame:
I think you should at least center the mouse buttons over the trackball. That may be your intention and the picture just doesn't show it, in which case nevermind, heh, but I thought I'd mention it.
That top fire, or any other joystick up there always looks a bit off to me, but I'm considering adding another stick to my panel as well (either dedicated 4 way or topfire). I think you would be just fine with one Tstick plus and one topfire, you'll get used to them pretty quick I would imagine.
And if you do go that route, sell me your tstick plus, I can use one ;D
Martoon:
--- Quote from: DougHillman on September 07, 2004, 08:54:07 pm ---I'm curious if YOU know how much space you need. This is a wooden CP right? So you'll need the 6" square mounting plate for your trackball (or 6 1/2" if you're going with a 3" ball). Doesn't look like you've got that there.
--- End quote ---
I just eyeball it as I'm sliding the magnetic pieces around, but then I check it by laying the actual controls (i.e., the trackball in it's case) on top of the magnetic mockups to make sure there's a little clearance between everything. I've got faint lines sketched with a dry-erase marker where the edge boards are going to go (they don't show in the photo).
When I get to the final layout I like, I'll take measurements and lay it out via Illustrator or 3DS Max.
Martoon:
--- Quote from: pointdablame on September 07, 2004, 10:25:36 pm ---I think you should at least center the mouse buttons over the trackball. That may be your intention and the picture just doesn't show it, in which case nevermind, heh, but I thought I'd mention it.
That top fire, or any other joystick up there always looks a bit off to me, but I'm considering adding another stick to my panel as well (either dedicated 4 way or topfire). I think you would be just fine with one Tstick plus and one topfire, you'll get used to them pretty quick I would imagine.
And if you do go that route, sell me your tstick plus, I can use one ;D
--- End quote ---
Actually, the mouse buttons aren't over the trackball anymore. I pulled the joysticks and their buttons down, and put the mouse buttons to the left of the spinner so the spinner could come down a little.
I really considered using the TopFire as the P2 stick, but my co-workers are helping pay for this (and hopefully will start helping me build it), and some of them wanted all the sticks in there.
I'm actually going to do a quick-and-dirty mount of all (or most) of the controls in a piece of scrap wood, and possibly wire some of them up, to really see how they behave before we do the "real" CP. After that, we may be convinced to lose the second T-Stik and just use the TopFire, at which point the T-Stik will be yours for a very reasonable price. ;)
I'm really having a hard time telling how I'm going to like either type of joystick in actual use. I've never built a cab before, or played anyone else's, and I haven't played games in the arcade for a very long time. Just handling them alone, the T-Stiks feel incredibly stiff to me, so I may like the GGG FireTop better. I mostly play a lot of scrolling shooters. Not sure what everyone else in the office will be playing. I very seldom see any of them playing games, which is kind of sad, since we're a game development studio. ::)
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