Cliff Hanger Cocktail Project

[97thruhiker]

Well I'm in the intial information gathering stage for my next project - Cliff Hanger Cocktail.  I realize that Stern never made this great laser disc game into a cocktail but I'm up for the challenge. 

With that said I need some help from my fellow BYOAC's out there.  I plan on basing this cocktail off of the other ones Stern made at the time (Berzerk, Super Cobra, etc.).  This way I can have a close representation of what a Cliff Hanger cocktail would of been like it Stern actually made one.  I have downloaded as many pictures as I could find off the internet for these and have a good base to start with.  Does anyone here own one of these cocktails or have access to one to provide basic measurements and additional pictures (all the pictures I have so far only show the front side with the coin door).

Here's a link for Cliff Hanger in case you do not know the game.

 http://www.klov.com/game_detail.php?letter=C&game_id=7352

Thanks for looking and hopefully this cocktail will be a fun project.

[97thruhiker]

Well, tonight I've been playing around with Inkscape and came up with my first attempt at a bezel underlay for my Cliff Hanger Cocktail.  I like what I came up with but am open to any suggestions.  I do not want to overload the bezel with to much artwork so the simpler the better.  I have access to a plotter so I will print out a couple of copies to get the graphics proportioned just right before they suffer image breakdown.  They should hold up at the current size as I only increased their size by about 1-2 inches. 

I could not find any examples of an instruction card for this game.  Not sure if it even came with one.  What I did for my instruction card was fired up Cliff Hanger in Daphne and paused the 5 on-screen instructions that flash on the screen during the attraction mode.  I think it looks good in Jester Font.  Well thats all for tonight.

[loadman]

Fourth, I want this cabinet to double as my home computer (for space reasons as it will replace my current computer table) and a cocktail would fit this bill as I can easily use a wireless mouse and keyboard while sitting at the machine). 

FYI  I have a wireless keyboard and mouse for surfing the Net in the Games room but if you intend to use this as your Main PC you might find that it is not very ergonomic .

You end up in a weird position looking up and over the keyboard

Games are OK as you can sit back and relax,  but to view text and high res graphics you are too far away to be comfortable for extended periods.


Well I found that anyway

[97thruhiker]

Fourth, I want this cabinet to double as my home computer (for space reasons as it will replace my current computer table) and a cocktail would fit this bill as I can easily use a wireless mouse and keyboard while sitting at the machine). 

FYI  I have a wireless keyboard and mouse for surfing the Net in the Games room but if you intend to use this as your Main PC you might find that it is not very ergonomic .

You end up in a weird position looking up and over the keyboard

Games are OK as you can sit back and relax,  but to view text and high res graphics you are too far away to be comfortable for extended periods.


Well I found that anyway

Yes, thats a concern but I think I have figured out a way to make the monitor slightly tilt several degrees towards either the player one or player two side as well as remaining perfectly level if wanted.  I'll see if I can make it work in the construction phase.  I only use the computer for internet surfing and PC games.  No real heavy use except for when I spend time here or at other arcade websites.  Additionally, my wife plans on getting a new laptop this fall so she will be non-exsistant on this computer at that time.

Since this game did not originally appear in a cocktail I believe that it does not have the rotation feature between player 1 and 2.  On the player two side I plan on mounting a control panel identical in size to the player 1 except that I will have a keyboard in its place.  I'm thinking one of those nice backlighted ones.  It will be removable so when the time comes and we get a bigger house with a dedicated game room I can remove it if I want to place arcade controls on that side also. 

[97thruhiker]

Well I was able to print out a sample version of the bezel underlay that I made last night.  It gives me a general idea of what this design would look like.  It was printed on standard paper so I believe that its not as crisp as it could be if printed out by one of the arcade printers that serve the community.  This one is sized out to the common 22x32 size.  That can change as I'm hoping to find the actual measurements of a Stern table (epecially a Berzerk as it's horizonally displayed).  I will continue to hunt this down but if I cannot find this information I will most likely have to estimate its size and use other more common tables as my guide.

[walls83]

I love cliff hanger.  Nice choice

[koolmoecraig]

Two other horizontal cocktails to check out would be Tapper and Rally-X. That Berserk looks to be a 13" monitor, no?

Also, I would be more bold with the Cliff Hanger logo. Like the Berzerk and Tapper ones.

[97thruhiker]

Two other horizontal cocktails to check out would be Tapper and Rally-X. That Berserk looks to be a 13" monitor, no?

Also, I would be more bold with the Cliff Hanger logo. Like the Berzerk and Tapper ones.

Yea, the more I look at the bezel I created the more refinements / ideas I have.  The main problem I'm having to remedy this is just the lack of available Cliff Hanger artwork on the net.  While I love the game and it has its many fans its just not PacMan or Galaga when it comes to finding artwork.  I have no artistic ability so creating my own artwork (ala Gamecreature) is not gonna happen and would just look worse.  I have some ideas of using Lupin III footage from the two movies they used to create the game (I have both movies on DVD).  Not sure yet how to incorporate this but have some ideas (also I'm torn about not using the original game artwork even though it really does not match the game animation itself). At this point I'm just planning and I'm in no rush to start building and I can't do anything final until I figure out the dimensions of the top.  I think I'm getting close though.

[97thruhiker]

As I mentioned in the previous reply I'm sorta torn between using actual artwork from the orginal arcade cabinet and the actual images / artwork from the movie / game footage.  My orignal intention for this project was to create a cocktail of the game with the intention of creating something Stern might of done (i.e. if Stern had made a cocktail of this game in 1983 along with the upright I'm sure they would of used the same artwork).  I'm finding that this might not 100% be the case as in doing my research of other cocktails and their upright counterparts I'm finding some differences.

I have attached a picture of the original side art for the Cliff Hanger cabinet as well as some stills from the movie / game.  There is quite a difference between the two.  I believe this might lie with the fact that the original animators did not want their artwork associated with the game. Anyways do any Cliff Hanger fans out their have an opinion on this is issue.  Since I'm not trying to make an exact replica of an exsisting cabinet I think it could possibly work.  Let me know what you think.

[97thruhiker]

Two other horizontal cocktails to check out would be Tapper and Rally-X. That Berserk looks to be a 13" monitor, no?

Also, I would be more bold with the Cliff Hanger logo. Like the Berzerk and Tapper ones.

Well that puts things into perspective with the Berzerk cocktail.  I was wondering about all the extra room around the monitor on the bezel.  I totally forgot that they used 13 inch monitors on some cocktails.

[97thruhiker]

I love cliff hanger.  Nice choice

It's one of my all time favorite games also.  Definitly one of the best laser disc games made, if not the best.  I loved the way they used the footage from the movies in the game.  I'm also a big Lupin III fan so I'm really gonna enjoy making this cabinet.

[theCoder]

If Stern were to make a cocktail cab, based on the picture from KLOV, they would go heavy on orange and baby blue.  On your bezel, you might replace the black with orange.  Something to try anyway if you truly want the original look.  It might look gaudy however.  Your call.

[RayB]

This thing isn't going to end up on Ebay with the title "teh R@RE Cliffhanger Cocktail *L@@K!* Only 1 exist!!"   is it???

[97thruhiker]

Maybe I could call it a prototype and jack the price up even more  .  No this is something I want to do for myself.  Cliff Hanger has always been one of my favorite games.  If I wanted to do this for an Ebay thing I would just try to make the original cabinet as they are rare and are fetching pretty good prices all by themselves.

[Hockeyboy]

Oh man I am so jealous!! Cliff Hanger was my all-time favorite laser disc game and I was able to beat it several times on just one set of quarters in the arcade. I love what you are doing in trying to get it into a cocktail -- best of luck on that!

I didn't see anywhere in your post on how you are trying to play it though - will you use Daphne and a computer or try to play it on an actual laser disc player? If you're using the first route I sure would like to know how you get it to run right -- I picked up the files from someone and can't get it to play to save my life.     

Can't wait to see more pictures and project updates!

[97thruhiker]

If Stern were to make a cocktail cab, based on the picture from KLOV, they would go heavy on orange and baby blue.  On your bezel, you might replace the black with orange.  Something to try anyway if you truly want the original look.  It might look gaudy however.  Your call.

Well, I've come up with a second try at creating a bezel underlay (with simulated Cliff Hanger action).  I have taken theCoder's advise and tried something a little more in line with the original Cliff Hanger upright color scheme.  The original cabinet used very straight and distinct lines with the pink and blue colors.  I like the direction this is heading though I'm not sure if it needs something else.  If anyone has some suggestions please let me know.

[97thruhiker]

Here is another version with the title in a different location.  The blue is gonna need to change a little bit to match the original cabinet color.  Overall I like these two versions.  Don't want to try too add to much to over clutter the underlay.  Most of the cocktail games I've seen now in my researching for this have been relitively simple in comparison to their upright counterpart (pacman, galaxian, galaga, tapper, etc.).  These games essentially just have the game title and instructions on the bezel. 

Since I have not heard back with any specific demnsions I will be going with what seems to be the standard for most of the classic games: 22x32 inch top.  I will use the pacman cabinet plans that are on the internet making small adjustments to follow more along the lines of the Stern cocktails (speaker and vent placements, etc.).

[javeryh]

OK, I really like where this is headed for the artwork.  Very original yet very familiar.  Anyway, I have a few suggestions...

1.  Definitely keep the font on the sides rather than in front of each player - maybe even blow the font up to the point of a little overhang as long as it's still legible.
2.  Round the corners on the inside of each CP cutout to match the flow of the rest of the top
3.  Definitely use blue font for "Cliff Hanger" on the pink background for contrast.
4.  Further to #3, I'd be curious to see how this would look:  Move the "break" from the blue to pink on each side to between the words "Cliff" and "Hanger" making sure the colors were alternated (blue font over pink back and pink font over blue back).  At least move the "break" though because lining it up with your cutout/bezel is kind of distracting to the eye (maybe slant it?).
5.  In each corner where the horizontal instruction cards are NOT, you should try and replicate a portion of the sideart you posted (I think the artwork of the dudes in black and yellow would look sweet).  Blow the artwoerk up a bit to fill the space.
6.  Around the monitor cutout or along the long edges you should try and replicate the lines from the original cab (make sure it's proportional too).  See on the bottom of the original CP where it starts out a stripe of pink then black then blue then black then pink then black then blue, etc.?  Try and maintain that on your design.

I know this is a lot of suggestions - I wish I knew how to use photoshop or something so I could just show you what I mean...  anyway, keep up the great work!

 

[97thruhiker]

Thanks for the suggestions.  I will definitly give those ideas a try and post the results.  The only one that I might have trouble with is changing the color of the font in Cliff Hanger.  I pulled that off of the StarCade site and brought it into Inkscape.  I'm not sure how I would go about changing it on a pixel by pixel basis (if you zoom in on it its actual about four different shades of pink).  I may have to post something over in the artwork section for help/suggestions.  I'm still learning Inkscape so there might be a way to do it (or possibly using Gimp instead).

[97thruhiker]

Well here's another bezel underlay.  I think this might be the one I use.  I have tried incorporating both portions of the original side art and clips from the original movies on the underlay and nothing seems to look quite right.  Whatever I try just seems to break up the flow and looks like it was stuck on as an afterthough.  The corners on each of the players sides will be rounded just havn't done it here. 

Any additional suggestions are welcomed as I will most likely continue to make adjustments through the building process.  Will most likely start the cabinet construction this weekend.

[Hockeyboy]

I like the look of that last version - well, except  for the hot pink...just can't seem to get over that but it actually does flow with the lettering and the rest of the bezel.

Thanks for the PM, by the way... I will be watching this project and more than likely asking you some questions in the future when my cab gets underway finally...still have some "moving in" on the brand-new house to do, but wife has already given her blessing on whatever MAME/Daphne-related project I want to start up as we have plenty of room in basement (over 1000 sq ft) for billiard table and entertainment stuff.

[97thruhiker]

The pink does take a little getting use to.  I actually like it now that I've been working with it on these underlays.  I've always thought that the Cliff Hanger upright was pretty ugly but now I really like it, would now love to have an original upright but very difficult to find and when you find it $$$.  There are no plans for one on the internet and anyone who has a cabinet is unwilling to provide measurements (I guess it goes back to the whole value/rareity aspect ala - Defender Prototype thread posted here awhile back).

The pink and blue I'm currently using was just copied off of Cliff Hanger marquee pictures I've found on the internet.  They are close to the original cabinet (picture several posts back) but I will try to get the best color match before having the underlay made. 

Took the family on an unplanned trip to Disney World (live 2 1/2 hours away and we have season passes) this weekend so the cabinet construction will have to wait until next weekend.