Author Topic: First Cabinet: Unconventional Design (Read 7797 times)

Sylpher · « **on:** July 26, 2006, 07:44:45 pm »

[ Update - 7/16/09 ]
Picking this project back up finally. Read more about it in this post: Update

Hello, hello, hello.

The past month or so I have been building my cabinet with the much appreciated help of my brother in-law. It is still a work in progress but my page has most of the details on it up to this point: http://www.sylpher.com/mame

Actually, looking at the page it is out of date. I will do my best to update it soon. Not sure if deviating from the normal box design is a sin in this place. I figured if I am going to build it from the ground up I might as well play with the standard design a bit. Here are the most current shots until I can get around to updating the page. Sorry they are a bit blurry, when I can get my hands on the good digital camera I will take some better shots.

Question, comments, crits...welcome.

Click and view them full sized. Looks much better.

The Brain

Palm Tree

Edit:

Added new, not all blurry, pictures.

CheffoJeffo · « **Reply #1 on:** July 26, 2006, 07:59:00 pm »

Interesting design ... I like it.

Cheers

TOK · « **Reply #2 on:** July 26, 2006, 08:15:42 pm »

Really cool cabinet design, I love it. I prefer more traditional arcade machine art, but that is definitely different!

arcadefever · « **Reply #3 on:** July 26, 2006, 10:18:54 pm »

i really do like that design

for the art , not my style $:-\$ but still a very interesting cab

Ren Hoek · « **Reply #4 on:** July 26, 2006, 10:25:50 pm »

CABINET

ARTWORK

Sylpher · « **Reply #5 on:** July 26, 2006, 11:22:31 pm »

I will only comment on the cabinet art with a I understand 100%. I do like standard cabinet art, but I will defend it with a life is full of compromises. I will post a shot of the control panel when I get a chance, as well. It is very straight to the point setup.

This is probobly how the cabinet will stand for some time. Until it cools down here at least. I do have a lot more plans for it. Marquee, Mount speakers properly and prettier control panel are high up on that list.

MikeDeuce · « **Reply #6 on:** July 26, 2006, 11:46:51 pm »

Neat... sort of like a showcase hybrid.

Would make a good cab for Golden Tee if it had a t-ball

Lutus · « **Reply #7 on:** July 27, 2006, 09:00:12 am »

Cool design I must agree... but artwork, the one side looks like a pretty cool mother brain with a large eye and some sort of heart thing on the lower panel while the right side looks like a first grader painted "my day at the beach" but with very very large pixels. Is that a tv remote I see on the control panel, with some sort of built in stand for it?

Sylpher · « **Reply #8 on:** July 27, 2006, 11:42:01 am »

Its a cupholder compartment used for cars. I tore it apart and slimmed it down to make it small and sleek. I\'ll get some shots of it when I get the chance.

The beach scene is for the girlfriend.. I reiterate, life is full of compromises.

johnperkins21 · « **Reply #9 on:** July 27, 2006, 02:04:42 pm »

I dig the design. It does look well suited for Golden Tee, which is one of my main reasons for thinking about going with a showcase style cab.

Way to think outside the box and build something that makes you happy.

gamecreature · « **Reply #10 on:** July 27, 2006, 02:24:30 pm »

I can certainly understand why your GF would want something more "sedate" after seeing the brains and other organs on the other side. I think all the beach scene needs is some better reference material and a more subtle palette.

NightGod · « **Reply #11 on:** July 27, 2006, 03:23:48 pm »

Yeah, that day at the beach side is kinda odd in this setting. I actually like the mother brain bleeding heart side-I think you'd be better off copying it over to the other side, personally, but I'm assuming the compromise thing you mention involves a wife and a child or three somewhere along the way.

That said, awesome design on the cab itself and hey, a cool cab with funky art is better than a messed up cab with cool art-you can always redo the artwork, the cab itself is the important part.

Lutus · « **Reply #12 on:** July 27, 2006, 03:33:28 pm »

I apologize if I seemed harsh, I actually do like the design. Gamecreature is right about the beach scene (as usual, he is the art master!) it just seems to be missing a major focal point... not sure what it is though.

Sylpher · « **Reply #13 on:** July 27, 2006, 06:46:20 pm »

No offense taken. I originally planned to have the brain mirrored on the otherside, but time constraints didn't let that happen... You can read more about why on my page.

The only part of the palette on the beach scene that I dislike is the tree trunk and the sand. I think once the CP art and marquee and everything is done it might pull it together a bit more. Originally the sides were just going to be black, but a friend offered to do it for free so anything was better than blank.

The camera I have at dispossal is annoying as it takes a picture and then takes the picture again about 2 seconds later so if you move even slightly it blurs. I have tried to find if it is some odd shutter feature or any way I can shut it off to no avail (If anyone knows of anyway to fix this it would be very appretiated). My roommate has a nice camera. I am going to try and get some better shots tonight.

Sylpher · « **Reply #14 on:** July 27, 2006, 08:31:21 pm »

Here is a closer shot of the control panel. It is in serious need of art and glass covering, but it plays games which is really the most important thing.

CP

Mark70 · « **Reply #15 on:** July 27, 2006, 09:13:43 pm »

I agree with the others. The cabinet design has a lot going for it. It seems like a blend of a traditional upright with some showcase mixed in. I still prefer a classic cab, but I like what you've done.

The artwork I cannot say I like. It's fairly well done, but it pales in comparison to the craftsmanship of the cabinet. It also suffers from adolescent themes. If you read "Drawing on the Right Side of The Brain" you get you eyes opened to the whole idea of adolescent themes. Eyeballs and brains belong on your grade seven notebooks. If you can pull off a cabinet that nice, you can definately do better artwork to compliment it.

That sounds far more brutal than it should. I like the cab. The art is ok. It's the juxtaposition of the high quality cab against the less high quality art that makes the art suffer so much.

Crafty · « **Reply #16 on:** July 27, 2006, 11:51:45 pm »

Well done on putting together a unique design..

This is why we all keep posting and looking at this forum..

Your artwork seems to be "not worthy" of the total design though...

Kremmit · « **Reply #17 on:** July 27, 2006, 11:57:27 pm »

I like it, both the design and the much-maligned artwork. Well, not the beach side.

Tell you what, though- if I'd walked into the pizza place when I was a kid and that machine was there, I'd have dropped the first quarter into it for sure.

Minor note- the guy who's cab you mention as a design inspriation just MAMEd a standard Xenophobe cab, so maybe you ought to be crediting Xenophobe instead of the guy.

NightGod · « **Reply #18 on:** July 28, 2006, 12:36:21 am »

If you read the story, he explains why the art is weird like that-the guy who did it had to move cross-country before he could complete both sides.

Hopefully you find a way to balance it out somehow.

Vigo · « **Reply #19 on:** July 28, 2006, 09:58:44 am »

Quote

The camera I have at dispossal is annoying as it takes a picture and then takes the picture again about 2 seconds later so if you move even slightly it blurs. I have tried to find if it is some odd shutter feature or any way I can shut it off to no avail (If anyone knows of anyway to fix this it would be very appretiated).

What kind of camera do you have?

sweet cab. It is actually very rare for a first cab to be of unique design! you definitly achieved that.

And since you titled the thread "first cab", it must mean that you might be considering making more. If thats the case. I really reccomend you to really give the next cab a lot of thought and more of that "outside of the box" thinking. You have potiential and you don't restrict yourself to make the same thing that other people are making.

And for next cab, I suggest looking into finding a custom joystick for yourself. I think you mentioned wanting a trackball too. There are so many different arcade controls out there, and using x arcade controls is the most standard out there. Poke around the forums and you can find the pros and cons of each joystick on the market. One of the best sites for a custom control set is http://www.ultimarc.com/
you can find specialty joysticks, and cards to let you wire in whatever controls you want, and much more.

Anyway, I hope thats helpful to you.

Later

Sylpher · « **Reply #20 on:** July 28, 2006, 10:51:37 am »

In my opinion arcades are completely tied to adolescents. At least it is tied heavily to my childhood, so brains and eyeballs seem appropriate enough to me. I think the point everyone is trying to get across is that there is a very clear line in the cabinet. The design is going one way and the art is going another. Which I agree is there and it is a problem.

I hope I can pull the two together with the CP and marquee. If not and the final result is not pleasing to my eye I may just have to sand her down and start over.

I do have future cabinets in mind. I would like to do a racing style sit down cabinet and possibly a cocktail. I am really digging the small bartop style cabinets. My brain has a lot of ideas of what you could do with minimal space.

I went with the x-arcade because I wasn\'t originally planning to go all out so I just bought an arcade stick and Tv and sat it on a table and things took off from there. I am pleased with the overall quality of the controller.. I even went to the local arcade and other than some minor things they felt very similar. In the future though I will probobly do the CP from the ground up. Much cheapier.

If I ever have the funds I do have a dream cabinet kicking in the back of my head. The overall cost I have estimated at around 2 grand. Might happen one day. No way anytime in the future. Maybe I\'ll sketch up some plans sometime. I have always been quite secretive about my plans when it comes to any project though.

Lutus · « **Reply #21 on:** July 28, 2006, 11:02:31 am »

You wouldn't have to sand it down and start over... just come up with some nice files on the computer and get an online service to print your file on adhesive vinyl or whatever it is called. Look in the artwork thread for more ideas. Beats sanding and paintint IMHO.

danny_galaga · « **Reply #22 on:** July 30, 2006, 05:32:36 am »

sweet (",)

RayB · « **Reply #23 on:** August 01, 2006, 01:29:40 am »

This one should be nominated for a Mamey.

My only crit is the beach side. It looks unfinished. Love the art on the other side though.

Sylpher · « **Reply #24 on:** August 01, 2006, 10:43:25 am »

Well, even if I did an adhesive I would need to sand it down as the first layer of paint would make it all bumpy.

And I appretiate the notion of a Mamey. Although I do reiterate that it is in no way finished. I just got it to a point that it is functional. Once the heat dies done a bit here I will get back to work finishing it up, so nothing at this point is final. I really like the ideas people have down with lights and led\'s around here. I may incorporate more lighting into my overall design.

And I do have some more unconventional ideas floating about.

yuppicide · « **Reply #25 on:** August 21, 2006, 01:03:59 pm »

I am with everyone else. Love the cabinet design, don't like the artwork.

Mark70 · « **Reply #26 on:** August 27, 2006, 08:08:05 am »

Just revisiting here.

You know. With a good marquee, bezel, and CP artowork, that cab would probably look pretty sharp just in black.

The white will be a challenge to accomodate in bezel and cp art. For some reason the black and white make me think of yin-yang

Masterful Gaze · « **Reply #27 on:** August 28, 2006, 09:49:58 pm »

I like the design alot.

The first thing I thought of when I saw the beach side was Super Mario 2. Sticking Mario on the beach might be a thought.

Sylpher · « **Reply #28 on:** July 14, 2009, 01:11:27 pm »

Dang! I can't believe it has been 3 years since working on this. First I would like to pay a small tribute to the guy who helped me originally with this cabinet, Ed. He was an extremely talented guy as his wood working shows, but he passed away. I still have the cabinet, but with his passing and my laziness I lost a lot of motivation to work on it. Then I had a fairly epic HDD crash in which all 3 (one, two, three!) of my HDD's died and after that point I lost all motivation.

So here is to Ed and the hopes that he is playing in the largest arcade... somewhere out there.

But time passes and we move on from things like this and a couple weeks back I looked at my huge cabinet sitting in the corner, sad, alone...collecting dust, and thought "What the hell is wrong with me?" and I would really like to clean it up and make it look really sharp.

I have already addressed a couple issues that occurred with simply moving the cabinet around. The T-molding in a couple areas had come loose and due to not routing the edges before assembling I couldn't get it to really stick well on some of the corners. I picked up some Gorilla Glue and it seems to be holding quite nicely now.

The other areas I want to focus on, and the real purpose of posting, I was hoping to get some feedback and suggestions from the community. The bezel, marquee, and control panel never really got finished, and the art...well...can use some improving.

The general direction I am wanting to go is a very clean, minimalist look. Someone pointed out that clean black with the white molding alone would probably look pretty slick and I agree. I am considering sanding the art down a bit just to make it smooth and then paint black over it, then putting some minimal lines (Something like the Atari 2600 game covers, or a retro 70's kind of look) or a MAME logo sort of theme on the sides and marquee.

I'd love to hear any other ideas anyone might have, or other possible direction you think it could go?

severdhed · « **Reply #29 on:** July 14, 2009, 02:05:12 pm »

i like the cabinet design alot

SNAAKE · « **Reply #30 on:** July 14, 2009, 04:16:56 pm »

looks good actually

Barry Barcrest · « **Reply #31 on:** July 15, 2009, 06:04:26 am »

Really like that, it works.

Yvan256 · « **Reply #32 on:** July 15, 2009, 05:27:45 pm »

Not of a fan of the artwork (on either sides), but I really like the style of the cabinet itself!

Also... am I the only one who sees this cabinet as a prime candidate for a "Tron" theme?! $:-\$

Because apart from the artwork, this thing screams "Tron" to me, especially the black sides/white T-molding! And the shape and curves too!

TRON!!!

BASS! · « **Reply #33 on:** July 15, 2009, 05:41:04 pm »

reminds me of a xenophobe.

Sylpher · « **Reply #34 on:** July 16, 2009, 01:43:42 pm »

Yes, I used Lowerhell's restore/mod of a Xenophobe cabinet as inspiration for mine. Unfortunately his site is no longer online it seems.

The best example I have found for the direction I would like to go is jeffhlewis'
Neo-Geo MVS Mini cab. In particular the shots in this post. I really like the minimal flat white NEO GEO and SNK logos.

My thought is that the design and profile of this cabinet is already strong enough I don't really need over the top artwork. I am trying to decide is if I should simply make a template and paint the logo myself on the side (cost effective) or get some adhesives.

I also want just a tiny bit more flair on my cabinet. As I mentioned some abstract lines or such. This is the other appealing thing about painting it myself since I would have very tight control over them lining up with edges and such. I'm going to mock some stuff up hopefully over the weekend or whenever I get some free time.

Yvan256 · « **Reply #35 on:** July 16, 2009, 02:03:33 pm »

You wouldn't happen to have dimensions or a Sketchup model already made? It makes the job of testing new looks (especially flat colors and marquees) so much easier and faster, IMHO.

Sylpher · « **Reply #36 on:** July 16, 2009, 02:09:52 pm »

I have the dimensions, but I just started messing with sketchup yesterday. Making a model and texturing it is a good idea, though, thanks!

I'm trying to trackdown a vector image of the MAME logo. I could swear there was a photoshop file or something available at one point but I can't seem to locate it. Anyone know if this exists or did I dream it up? The only thing on the MAME page is a nasty high res JPG.

Yvan256 · « **Reply #37 on:** July 17, 2009, 09:23:58 am »

Quote from: Sylpher on July 16, 2009, 02:09:52 pm

I'm trying to trackdown a vector image of the MAME logo. I could swear there was a photoshop file or something available at one point but I can't seem to locate it. Anyone know if this exists or did I dream it up? The only thing on the MAME page is a nasty high res JPG.

Could it be localarcade? Some files are vectorial, others are bitmap. But the bitmaps I've seen so far are in really high resolution, suitable for printing.

Silas (son of Silas) · « **Reply #38 on:** July 17, 2009, 09:57:12 am »

I would go with some funky laminate, maybe Formica 'Chrome Yellow' then overlay some vinyl graphics. I know you want minimalist, clean etc.... But this cab shape is gorgeous, its screaming for some bright colours... REALLY BRIGHT colours

Sylpher · « **Reply #39 on:** July 17, 2009, 05:33:46 pm »

That is the very one, Yvan, thank you! Sorry, I should spend a bit more time in the artwork forum as I found this link very quick over there, too.

Bright yellow, eh?

One direction I am considering is pin striping around a printed logo, so I could do a lot with a limited palette. I have the basic model of my cabinet together in sketchup. I probably don't really need to model much beyond this point since my purposes are mostly the side art, but I might keep going just for the fun of having a 3d model of my cabinet.


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