4P Control Panel Suggestions

[jeditsp]

Hi all,

I just started photoshopping a new 4 player control panel for my mame machine.

Let me know what you think.  Comments, suggestions and ideas are appreciated.

An image of the control panel can be found below.

http://www.ece.utexas.edu/~pounds/control-panel.png  (Pretty High Quality 3MB)

[Ghost]

I like the overall look and the mario tribute is cool!  Just a thought would be to put a mario/luigi pic above the trackball - maybe with a thumbs up/ peace out sign.  Don't know if this is going against your theme.

I am also curious (if you don't mind my asking) why P3 and P4 have full streetfighter setups and what made you decide to skip trackball buttons?  What games use a full setup for the extra players or was there an asthetic reason?

Cheers

-Ghost

[Veinman]

Personally, if I were paying to have that printed, I would put more into it so you get your money's worth. You have a lot of black space. I know your mosaic pattern is actually in there, really faint, but that effect will be lost on most people.

[wintermute]

What if you made the mushrooms giant, so that they became a surround for each players buttons?  I think I agree with veinman that you'll be paying a lot for something that could be closely approximated with an inexpensive  piece of countertop laminate.  If you like the mario theme, maybe throw some blocks / coins / flowers in there?  Even some of those green tubes that take you to a dungeon level, or a dungeon level itself might be cool.  Again, very much a personal preference but thought I'd share mine!

wm

[jcroach]

Personally, if I were paying to have that printed, I would put more into it so you get your money's worth. You have a lot of black space.

My wife is a publication designer and she is always telling me, don't be afraid of white space!  Or in this case black space.  you don't have to have every inch covered

That being said:

What if you made the mushrooms giant, so that they became a surround for each players buttons?

I really like this idea. The mushrooms get a little lost. 

I like the "glow" coming from the trackball too.

If you are concerend about cost, maybe you can see if you can get your image printed on Black vinyl.  Or even clear vinyl and then apply it to a black painted control panel or laminate.

[dema]

Also, you're going to want to take a second look at the button layout. That appears to be a bad layout because your longer fingers won't lay on the buttons comfortably when you're playing. You want the arc to be in the other direction to avoid any pain/cramping in your fingers. If you want to stay with your layout then make a mockup first to ensure you like it.

You might also want to place the buttons higher so your palm isn't resting along the edge of the panel.