Announcing......"Aemulari", Arcade artwork need feedback!!! **updated 2-16-07

[lordtodd75]

Hey guys, Since I have been working on my cab for about 2 yrs now I figured it was the perfect time to announce it, since noone is really interested in the whole progression thing </sarcasm>. I actually had the cab finished, minus artwork but it wouldn't fit into my living room with the 5' wide frankenpanel on it. So I tore the panel off and began constructing a more normal sized CP.

Currently I have the new panel about halfway done. I am also working on a custom intro video for my cab, so far the logo screen is finished, but I am having trouble finding "exciting" game footage without recording it myself. Perhaps someone has a suggestion?

I will try to get some photos up tonight so everyone can take a gander.


**UPDATE**

Ok so here are some pictures 








and here is my logo video:



It is nearing finish but I still need to finish the cp and few other small things. As you can probably tell the artwork was influenced by Dragons Lair. Actually some of the parts came from an original DL (coin door, speaker grills, flourescent light fixture). Be easy guys, this is my first cab and I will just say that I have learned a lot during the 2 years of this build. Let me know what you think.

** Update 1-22-07 **

It has been a while since I got to work on my project. But now, for your viewing pleasure, I have a not quite finished draft of my cp overlay. Let me know what you guys think. Hopefully tonight I can get some more work done on my actual CP. More pics tomorrow, possibly???

Let me know what you guys think of the CP overlay.



** Update 2-16-07 **

Well here are my completed marquee, cp overlay and mamewah skin:

Here is my marquee:


Here is my mamewah skin:


Here is my CP Overlay:


Let me know what you guys think. Do they fit together? I am really just learning the adobe suite but I think these look alright. Thank s again for any input. Also, for some reason I am having a problem viewing the cp overlay in the firefox web browser so try a different browser if you experience the same.

[lordtodd75]

Here is the logo video. As you can see my cab's theme is influenced by Dragons Lair. Pictures up soon 

[psychotech]

Nice..

But I'd rather see the actual cab 

PIX, Pics, Pictures ....

[miles2912]

Snap some pics of the build and post em.  Nice logo btw.

Don

[lordtodd75]

up up updated 10-27-06

[RetroACTIVE]

Nice colors on the marquee and intro, I like DL....

What was your reason for using electrical j-box covers as mounting plates for joysticks?  So that you could change them (to something else) later without having to re do the woodwork?

What cha got in that there electrical box?

Sounds like youre having fun... good stuff

[lordtodd75]

@retroACTIVE

mounting plates: so I could flush mount everything and for easy removal if I want to switch out anything.

electrical box: A ham sandwich, incase I get hungry  Actually it is just the wiring for my toggle switch, momentary contact switch, and speaker amp. I made it to have something I could mount my controls too as well. The toggle switch interrupts the main, it puts power to everything in the cab. The momentary contact switch is to turn the TV on (easiest way for me to do it since all other options were ruled out). The speaker amp is ripped from a pair of cheap altec lansing speakers and well you know what that is for. Nothing spectacular really.

This project has been the most fun I ever had as well as the most frustration. I love doing it though. Can't wait till my second project.

[lordtodd75]

cmon byoac, gimme some love 

[(+_+)]

This project has been the most fun I ever had as well as the most frustration. I love doing it though. Can't wait till my second project.

Yes, I agree 100% on the first time around. I laughed, cried, sighed and sawed heavily into my own palm. Never try to cut the head of a happs pear shaped joystick without a vice. That nylon material or whatever the heck is almost impossible to get off the steel joystick rod.

I've already started my second cab and once again I am enjoying it immensely without no where near as many headaches.

[lordtodd75]

thanks for the encouraging words, makes me feel good to think the second time will be a lot less headaches. Between wearing no dust mask the first couple of months (yes mdf dust will make you sick!), 6 CP revisions and 3 total rebuilds and the amount of stuff I forgot to do before all the finishing work I don't see how I could do much worse  Maybe this time I will glue more then half the cabinet as well 

Don't get me wrong it is not that I am a poor planner, I think a big part of it was the excitement of progress. I would tend to skip or altogether forget things because I was so excited to move on.

[lordtodd75]

updated 1-22-07. see op.

[clockwork]

Holy frankenpanel, Batman! 5' wide??? That would be a sight. So where's the name Aemulari come from?

[Mikonos]

I hope when you had finished your cab you will perform something like this:


Bubblum cab & Bobblum Cab:

...


Video:




Regards

[lordtodd75]

Holy frankenpanel, Batman! 5' wide??? That would be a sight. So where's the name Aemulari come from?

Yes 5' wide. Funny thing is, everybody that saw it thought it was awesome. It was shaped like a coffin. I was actually going for a horror theme originally. The trackball was going to be done like a brain with a skull shell that needed to be peeled back for access. Ofcourse none of this came to fruition so I ended up with a black coffin shaped CP. It is now sitting in my garage. I can only imagine what my neighbors would think if they ever saw it sitting there.

To answer your question about the name, "aemulari" comes from the latin word meaning "to emulate"

What do you think of the cp overlay, I was hoping to get some feedback on that.

[clockwork]

Ah, Latin. I should have thought to check that. I love Latin. Fun language.

The horror-themed frankenpanel sounds great. Too bad you weren't able to finish it. The new CP looks good to me, but I haven't used or built one yet, so I can't really pick out any particular pros/cons of the design. I know it's typical to have the player buttons aligned perfectly horizontal, but I plan to use a more "ergonomic" design with them in sort of a small arc. Like how the Neo Geo boards are setup, I believe.

One thing I can say is that if you like fighter games, you may want a 7th button.

[(+_+)]

Holy frankenpanel, Batman! 5' wide??? That would be a sight. So where's the name Aemulari come from?

Holy smokes. I though mine was wide at ~ 44 inches. You can almost bury somebody in it (seeing that it's coffin shaped). I've always said I want to be buried in my Robotron cab.

[lordtodd75]

updated 2-16-07 with pics