New Cab -- Brew Arcade?

[sharkus]

Unfortunately, I recently stumbled upon BYOAC...  Now all I can think about is building an arcade cabinet.

I really enjoy reading about peoples experiences building their cabs so I want to do the same.  I've started a blog here: http://www.sharkus.com/wordpress/

While I'm waiting for my Project Arcade book in the mail, I've been considering what theme would work well.

I'm currently leaning towards a Strange Brew / Beer theme for my cab.  I don't have an artistic bone in my body, so I'm not quite sure how I'm going to pull off the artwork side of things.  Then again, I generally suck at woodworking as well.  All in all, this will be a very interesting project.

So far, I've taken some pictures of my Strange Brew movie poster, and have pulled various pieces out.  I also took a picture of the bubbles in my beer (right before I drank it).  I've started to composite a few elements together  on my control panel (I'm starting out with a layout based upon Arc-Eden).

Some things I was thinking for the CP background:

• Background will be beer bubbles
• Various pieces of Strange Brew poster will be pasted around panel
• Each button will be backed by a beercap (beercap will have a ring of text describing button functionality)
• Trackball will have bloated Bob (see pic)
• Spinner will be backed by tin can top
• Joystick direction arrows will be beer bottles

I'm worried this might get a bit busy.  Anyone want to provide some friendly advice for a complete noob?



-Sharkus

[javeryh]

You should put a tap on the side of the cabinet and squeeze a kegerator or something in there.  A Brew Arcade that dispenses beer would be great!

[missioncontrol]

Welcome:

Unfortunately, I recently stumbled upon BYOAC...  Now all I can think about is building an arcade cabinet.

Caution this hobby can be highly addictive. THey are considering a sergions general warning on the second edition.

While I'm waiting for my Project Arcade book in the mail, I've been considering what theme would work well.

You may want to stay out of EE while waiting for the book, otherwise you'll spend more time here than finishing the project. It's even more addicting than building a cabinet.

I'm currently leaning towards a Strange Brew / Beer theme for my cab.  I don't have an artistic bone in my body, so I'm not quite sure how I'm going to pull off the artwork side of things.  Then again, I generally suck at woodworking as well.  All in all, this will be a very interesting project.

you could allways model it after this.

[Bones]

And with my left nut being on the line in the artwork forum, that image will soon be vectorized so you will have some sideart.

[ras2a]

In the words of Homer: "mmm...beer!".  Seriously, though, I have thought about this, too. A beer based cab would rock.

Hey, I might do knock up some 'stella' (artois) based side-art

Best of luck with the build  

ras2a

[BobbyG66]

That would be a cool theme.
I liked that movie alot, many years ago...

I would have to watch the movie again to look for more design ideas.

Was there a certain brand of beer in the movie?

I like Bob & Doug Mackenzie too. "Take off, you hosers!"

Thinking about this now has two songs stuck in my head:
"Take off (to the great white north)" with Getty Lee of Rush and
"The 12 days of Christmas" Which I have not heard on the radio yet...

Well I'm off to go get me two-four and a pound of back bacon!
See ya
BobbyG66

[spocktwin]

  What a cool theme for a cab!!  I loved that movie and there was a certain brand of beer but for the life of me I can't remember what it was

[ssc arcade]

not sure on the spelling but I think it was Elsinore.

I want 24 Elsinore and there will be no charge for that, since I found a mouse in my bottle of beer.

Tapper is a great game, I haven't seen one in a long time and didn't remember the game having such a cool look.

[sharkus]

Beauty Eh!

Here's an updated version of my original concept.  I definitely think it is too busy.

I'm mow leaning towards just Bob and Doug with the "Great White North" as a background.  Rough sketch included. 

Thanks for the topper pictures.  That may be a cool option for side art (unless I can get someone to vectorize my Strange Brew poster...

-Sharkus

[More Cowbell]

Fantastic theme! Zombie hockey players need to be incorporated in there somewhere.

[sharkus]

In Rev2 you can see that I'm trying to use a black and white hockey player to represent player 1 and 2... 

[Frosty]

"Being on the same team as you is all the padding I need, Rosie."

[Frosty]

Doug plays Galactic Border Patrol...

"You got to level six and I only got to level five.  Beauty playin'..."

[Bumblebounces]

Beuaty movie, eh. 

"Luke, I'm your father.  Give in to the Dark Side of The Force, you knob." 


Great idea for a cab theme.  Good luck and keep us all posted on your efforts.

Bumble

[DrewKaree]

The sides....they have to be made to look like a pilsner glass.  The sideart is then simple and easy.  Make it look like it's a beer.

The bubbles on the CP make my eyes hurt.

[missioncontrol]

heres a background image for the marque...

just copy and past the image side by side then add your lettering abouve it

[missioncontrol]

another

[missioncontrol]

o.k. so I had nothing better to do right now.....


how's this for a start?

[DrewKaree]

The line of demarcation is too blatantly obvious.  That's gonna have to be blended in, but that's EXACTLY what I'm talking about.  The only thing to add to it is the rim of the glass at the top.  And B&D can stay off the marquee.  That just looks like a sticker some kid had lying around and slapped on there because he was bored.  Next you'll be throwing an old iron-on design up there

[missioncontrol]

The line of demarcation is too blatantly obvious.

[DrewKaree]

The line of demarcation is too blatantly obvious.  That's gonna have to be blended in,

so what's that in english?

You can see the cut/paste line too easily

I never claimed to have any skillz I was just giving them something to start with 


btw thanks for killing my joy of thinking I actually did something   

Shaddup you pansy.  You DID find exactly the type of image I was talking about earlier, so stop trying to get me to pump your ego up.  Those high heels you're wearing will go great with your Tampax case, Nancy

[sharkus]

Thanks for the ideas!  We might need to drink a few to relax before we continue this thread...   

I totally agree that the bubble on the CP are way too hard on the head.  I've been ordering various cabinet parts so I haven't had much time to think about the artwork.  I'm hoping to get back on the art next week.

[sharkus]

Here's my first crack at the control panel layout.

I'm using a Mag-stik plus for my primary joystick, and a mag-stik (non-plus) for my secondary.  Therefore, I'm skipping a dedicated 4-way (since the Mag-stik+ is easily switchable).

Button layout as follows:

7 buttons per player (spaced as closely as possible).

The two buttons to the left of the spinner are m1 and m2.  The two buttons to the right are exit and pause.

On the Top left are P1 credit and P1 start; top right are P2 credit and P2 start.

P2 buttons are slightly higher on the CP to give move wrist rest space.

4" lip on the bottom is a bit more that I would like, but I need to allow enough space for mounting my MS force feedback wheel for part-time racing games.

Comments are again greatly appreciated...

-Sharkus

[missioncontrol]

Shaddup you pansy.  You DID find exactly the type of image I was talking about earlier, so stop trying to get me to pump your ego up. 

someone's got to help me with my low self esteem problem...

just imagine my post count if I felt good about myself 

[missioncontrol]

Here's my first crack at the control panel layout.



Comments are again greatly appreciated...

-Sharkus

looks like it's like the other 7 button 2 player panels out there.

[stellarola]

Hey, Sharkus. I like how your buttons are slanted per player, but you should slant them the other way. So the button 3 are close to the joystick. It'll be more comfortable for the hands, I promise. 

[ginno]

The vertical lines that are in the image of the marquee can easily be removed by flipping every 2nd image horizontally.  Dont know if it matters but though id chuck in that tip.

Cheers.

[sharkus]

Missioncontrol,

Is that the highest resolution version of the image that is available?

Thanks also to ginno and stellarola for the tips..

-Marcus

**Updated with control panel with fixed button offsets (thanks stellarola).**

[missioncontrol]

Yes it is. my art skillz are not at the greatest I'm slowly getting better...

I'll try to find a better beer image and see what I can do with it or you may be able to get the people who hang out in the art thread a stab at it. They can do hella better then what I did.

[missioncontrol]

btw what size will your marquee be? I can try to take a stab at it at work while I'm out from school. who knows maybe if we have something we can get the artwork guys to touch it up....


also found this image it's much bigger with better resolution

http://wuarchive.wustl.edu/aminet/pix/wb/beer.jpg

[GGKoul]

Take off you hoser!

[sharkus]

I'm basing the cab on the Ultimate Arcade II plans.  Marquee will be standard size for those plans (I'll update this post with exact size when I get home tonight).

[missioncontrol]

still waiting on measurments. Also if you got a better name than Brewcade


any name suggestions to go with a marquee using this background:


I made this 8 inches X 26 inches

[walls83]

Coors Light-CADE?


Just a suggestion

[DrewKaree]

still waiting on measurments. Also if you got a better name than Brewcade


any name suggestions to go with a marquee using this background:


I made this 8 inches X 26 inches

Now THAT is a marquee!  w00t! 

Someone needs to photoshop the letters so they "pop"...mebbe some more exaggerated 3D elements (I see 'em, but they kinda get lost) or a different font or something.  Mission, send me that pic.  I should reinstall Photoshop anyway  

send it to me at gmail.  I'll fard around with it tomorrow, I"m off to fard around with some snow for an hour or 24

[missioncontrol]

I'm doing in in Fireworks What format you want me to send it in. also do you want me to leave out the lettering?


Anyway I'll send it tonight from work

[missioncontrol]

also I'm guessing your gmail is your "BYOAC name @ gmail"

[sharkus]

Looks very nice.

Have you guys tried Gimp?  I've been using that with pretty good luck (along with Visio for drawing shapes and CP layout).

Here's another pass at the control panel.  I'm still trying to come up with ideas for the CP background (that is not too crazy like the beer bubbles).

-Sharkus

[TurboC--]

I didn't like gimp.

[DrewKaree]

also I'm guessing your gmail is your "BYOAC name @ gmail"

[Ed McMahon] YOU ARE CORRECT SIR! [/Ed McMahon]

Photoshop is PSD, PNG, and a few others I can't remember, but those are common, I believe.  Send one with, and one without, the letters.  I dunno if it'll save in layers between the progs.  I'm home now for a couple hours before we go out to finish, so I'll be around till about 10 your time

[DrewKaree]

Looks very nice.

Have you guys tried Gimp?  I've been using that with pretty good luck (along with Visio for drawing shapes and CP layout).

Here's another pass at the control panel.  I'm still trying to come up with ideas for the CP background (that is not too crazy like the beer bubbles).

-Sharkus

What about finding the label from the beer, with mebbe that pic of Bob & Doug for the side?

[missioncontrol]

Drew check your email and let me know if you got it I think gmail is acting up

[DrewKaree]

Drew check your email and let me know if you got it I think gmail is acting up

I'm not certain if it's yours or mine.  I was finally able to log into my gmail when I got home (haven't been able to for a few days now for some reason)  I got all 3 e-mails, and none of 'em had an attachment ....um....er....attached.  What size is the image?  Gmail seems to have problems with anything larger than 3 megs, even though they say you can send up to 10 megs as an attachment

[missioncontrol]

30 megs I just checked the gmail restrictions right before I read this....

[DrewKaree]

30 megs I just checked the gmail restrictions right before I read this....

Mebbe RAR it, but I doubt you'll get it small enough. 

[missioncontrol]

i'll mess with it some and see if I can get it smaller without killing too much detail

[Mark70]

The Great White North background is the winner so far IMO.

Beer Bubles for the marquee will look good when lit.

I'd go for just Strange Brew as the theme/title.  Drop the 'cade.

[missioncontrol]

looks like this project died out....

[sharkus]

Not quite.  I've just been crazy busy so haven't had time to post any updates.  I did  manage to take a couple pictures of my little WIP and post them here:

http://www.sharkus.com/gallery2/main.php?g2_view=core.ShowItem&g2_itemId=733

A bunch of things left to do:

- Finalize artwork for CP and marquee

- Mount speakers

- Make bezel

- Wire side buttons

- Add switches to disable credit buttons (optionally only accept tokens to limit kids game playing)

- Mount and configure lightguns (after I get them)

[missioncontrol]

wow I like the CP