Author Topic: Welcome to the Sharkade! New Pics 5-31-2005 (Read 14519 times)

JThw8 · « **on:** December 08, 2004, 09:40:25 pm »

Some of you may have been following my thread here http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php/topic,28472.0.html

I have this monster cab and Im building it to fit into a whole bar/gameroom Im building in the house.

The room has a Margaritaville/Fins bar theme ala Jimmy Buffet so the final decision was made today to make the cab shark themed so I present the new project "Sharkade"

Still sorting out alot of the theme details but I have decided instead of paint or traditional side art I will be getting these mural panels to be the side panels of the arcade.

The dimensions are almost perfect for the size of my side panels. I still have to come up with a full name and marquee, I have a 4 ft marquee to fill so Im shooting for rediculously long names such as Kelley and Jims Margaritaville Bar and Grille Sharkade. The marquee background will of course be an under sea theme with sharks and Im thinking about using some lighting tricks like on the cheesy waterfall clocks they sell at kiosks at the mall to make the water effect on the marquee shimmer.....so many ideas so little time

As of yet I dont have any real website up for the project...but Ive thrown the few photos I have up at www.misfittoysracing.com/cabinet

MinerAl · « **Reply #1 on:** December 09, 2004, 12:22:48 am »

You know...

If you wanted to give up he whole arcade part, that thing would make a pretty good fishtank stand. Leave the control panel on and do up the art, but have a 100 gallon fishtank where the monitors would be, with some little sharks in it.

Maybe not...

JThw8 · « **Reply #2 on:** December 09, 2004, 08:18:39 am »

very tempting

But with the space limitations in the room it would never fit with another arcade too.

BobbyG66 · « **Reply #3 on:** December 09, 2004, 10:41:43 am »

"Fins to the left, fins to the right"

Cool theme, can't wait to see some more pics and artwork!

JThw8 · « **Reply #4 on:** December 09, 2004, 02:27:32 pm »

Quote from: BobbyG66 on December 09, 2004, 10:41:43 am

"Fins to the left, fins to the right"

Cool theme, can't wait to see some more pics and artwork!

Ask and you shall receive. I just picked up a couple of these. One may end up being the CP overlay, and the other may get cut down to make the marquee if the light shines through it properly.

JThw8 · « **Reply #5 on:** December 09, 2004, 08:38:04 pm »

Played around in paintshop and came up with this for the marquee

RayB · « **Reply #6 on:** December 09, 2004, 09:00:28 pm »

eww...

You may want to learn a bit more Photoshop before you print that up. Turn on Anti-Aliasing on your text. And learn some of the effects like "glow".

JThw8 · « **Reply #7 on:** December 09, 2004, 09:37:53 pm »

actually it looks much better full size but I scalled it down to post and the forum shrinks the image down even more and gave it the lovely blocky look.

Didnt think about using the glow effect, I will have to give that a shot, should be a nice touch, Although I may run some quick paper copies to try with light behind them before I commit to a final product. Effects like glow can kind of wash out with a bright light behind them, I'll have to trial it both ways and see how it looks.

Its by no means a finished product, just a quick concept, but thanks for the input and advice

Quarters · « **Reply #8 on:** December 09, 2004, 11:33:51 pm »

No offense intended but it look kind of squashed. Maybe something more like this?

JThw8 · « **Reply #9 on:** December 10, 2004, 07:17:30 am »

No offense taken, thats why Im tossing my ideas out here to get input and feedback.

I did have to squash them from the original art to make them fit the dimensions of the banner.

I had originally added more black space like you did to the sides to keep from squashing them so much, but when I did my second resize I didnt do that. I should have, you are right, I will play with that some more.

Thanks

BobbyG66 · « **Reply #10 on:** December 10, 2004, 10:32:22 am »

I like the work Quarters did.
I like the darkness around the sharks, a little more scary.
Maybe lose one of the Sharkade titles.

What size is the marquee? Hopefully it's not that long and thin.

BobbyG66

JThw8 · « **Reply #11 on:** December 10, 2004, 10:45:29 am »

Quote from: BobbyG66 on December 10, 2004, 10:32:22 am

I like the work Quarters did.
I like the darkness around the sharks, a little more scary.
Maybe lose one of the Sharkade titles.

What size is the marquee? Hopefully it's not that long and thin.

BobbyG66

Unfortunately it is, 48" long x 7.5" high viewable area
Id loose one of the titles but you see Ive got this problem with symmetry, Im obsessive about it. Drives my wife nuts. When we moved into the new house I actually measured everything out so all the furniture was placed symmetrical and equidistant on walls. Yeah, Ive got issues

I've definitely got to play with it more and then make some full size prototypes just to see what looks best in the cab. Things take on a different look when they are finally in place.
In the mean time it looks like my Tmolding is arriving today so Id better get cracking on finishing the sanding and painting of the cab. Havent had much time to work on it at night and Ive been rather space limited too. This weekend I will take one of the cars out of the shop so I have some room to work and I should be able to get the prep on the main cabinet finished.

RayB · « **Reply #12 on:** December 10, 2004, 11:40:13 am »

Ugh. You know when I was in design school, they made it a point to teach us that symetrical is not a good design layout practice, even though it seems like it would be (and most newbies have a tendency towards it). Why make everything "mirrored"?

JThw8 · « **Reply #13 on:** December 10, 2004, 11:55:18 am »

I understand why its not good design practice....for me its really an obsessive compulsive thing though, it will forever drive me crazy if its "unbalanced"

Im having the hardest time reconciling myself to the fact the control panel will either have to have 2 left handed and 2 right handed setups or be asymmetrical, but I will in the end fight my symmetry addiction and make it functional rather than symmetrical, keeping the marquee symmetrical is my compensation for this

Its no fun being normal, I have lots of fun

TOK · « **Reply #14 on:** December 11, 2004, 07:19:03 am »

I think the shark marquee is great. How about if you centered the Sharkade text where it said "Wanna Play?" in your one example and left the ends blank?
Personally, I wouldn't want a lot of text stealing the attention from that picture.

krick · « **Reply #15 on:** December 12, 2004, 01:07:45 am »

Quote from: JThw8 on December 10, 2004, 11:55:18 am

I understand why its not good design practice....for me its really an obsessive compulsive thing though, it will forever drive me crazy if its "unbalanced"

Im having the hardest time reconciling myself to the fact the control panel will either have to have 2 left handed and 2 right handed setups or be asymmetrical, but I will in the end fight my symmetry addiction and make it functional rather than symmetrical, keeping the marquee symmetrical is my compensation for this

Its no fun being normal, I have lots of fun

I have symmetry issues as well.

JThw8 · « **Reply #16 on:** December 14, 2004, 10:15:31 am »

Quote from: TOK on December 11, 2004, 07:19:03 am

I think the shark marquee is great. How about if you centered the Sharkade text where it said "Wanna Play?" in your one example and left the ends blank?
Personally, I wouldn't want a lot of text stealing the attention from that picture.

Hey Tim! Thanks for the input. I've played with it some more, I have the files at home so I will have to upload them later, I think Ive reached a nice balance. The Wanna Play? was the wifes input since she thought it looked like the sharks were taunting, orignially she thought "Shall we play a game?" But too war games which is not the theme here, wanna play works, bottom line is if she offers input I try to include it to make her feel "involved" and therefore gain her support

JThw8 · « **Reply #17 on:** December 14, 2004, 10:19:52 am »

Quote from: krick on December 12, 2004, 01:07:45 am

I have symmetry issues as well. I'll come out of the closet and admit it.

The way I get over it with control panels is to picture an imaginary rectangle around each player's joystick and its buttons. In fact, I might make a control panel overlay with the rectangles printed on it.
+--------+  +--------+
|    ooo |  |    ooo |
| O  ooo |  | O  ooo |
|   o    |  |   o    |
+------ -+  +------ -+
As long as the rectangles are symmetrical, I'm ok with it.

But, like you, I'm obsessively symmetrical everywhere else.

Funny, I look at it the same way

keeps me sane. All my buttons and joysticks came in yesterday along with the IPAC-4 so I really need to get hopping on finishing up the cabinet repair. Still waiting on my side panel graphics which should arrive this week, but Im not installing any finish work until its out of the garage and in the house, dont want to risk damage in moving.

I was looking at trackballs, my original plan was for a blue translucent, but then I saw a black one and it reminded me of a sharks eye, so Im contemplating doing the CP overlay with just a big sharks head with the black trackball as its eye. I have to lay it out to see how it works, it will have to be a pretty big head to make the trackball look proportional, but I do have a 49x26 CP to work with.

danny_galaga · « **Reply #18 on:** December 15, 2004, 10:27:10 am »

Quote from: JThw8 on December 09, 2004, 08:38:04 pm

Played around in paintshop and came up with this for the marquee

im thinking for the marquee it might look good to have the title right in the middle and have the sharks (a bit smaller) around the edges. sort of lurking, looking towards the title...

JThw8 · « **Reply #19 on:** December 15, 2004, 03:09:33 pm »

Hmm, thats an interesting concept too, I will have to play around with it when I get a chance and see what I come up with.

I got the side art murals today so I really have to get cracking on finishing the repairs to the cabinet. I have most of the CP base cabinet sanded and primed and one side of the main cabinet, still have to strip and prime the second side.

JThw8 · « **Reply #20 on:** January 22, 2005, 06:55:24 pm »

Well I realize I havent posted any updates. The cabinet is in the house although still in primer. I have the basic CP done and wired, still need to order and add the trackball.

I wired everything up for a quick test run, it works great. Hard to believe how big this thing is though and how small it makes a 27" TV look. I really want to go ahead and just spring for a 32 or 35 in there, but the wife bought me the 27 just for this project for christmas and she was very hurt when I even suggested it....maybe down the road a bit.

It does make for a very roomy 4 player CP though with acres of space left for the trackball, spinner and a 4-way joy.

I even considered dual trackballs for head to head marble madness since there is plenty of room, but a quick poll of all my friends shows Im the only one who even likes the game so it seemed like a waste of money.

thrdbace · « **Reply #21 on:** January 22, 2005, 06:58:09 pm »

holy crap...why so big?

JThw8 · « **Reply #22 on:** January 22, 2005, 07:36:56 pm »

Its an old 6 player X-men cabinet. I wasnt looking for something that big but for $5 it was a bargain

Will · « **Reply #23 on:** January 22, 2005, 09:33:20 pm »

That cabinet needs a 60 inch plasma screen or the worlds biggest bezzel.

JThw8 · « **Reply #24 on:** January 22, 2005, 09:42:00 pm »

I will more than happily accept donations of 60" plasma screens

I have a full glass front for it which will get blacked out to mask the empty space. Im playing with putting some graphics on the glass and back lighting it to make some artistic use of the dead space. Lots of ideas, Im sure it will all progress over time. Right now I just want to get the basic project done so I can get back to some other projects Ive let lag behind

AGGIEZ · « **Reply #25 on:** January 23, 2005, 11:08:56 am »

The wife needs to take that TV back to the store and get a bigger one!

JThw8 · « **Reply #26 on:** January 23, 2005, 11:32:59 am »

She was so happy with herself for getting something I really wanted for christmas that I just cant do that too her right now. We have a 35" in the living room right now that she keeps wanting to replace with a 60" so once I have the money I might just do that, toss the 35 in the cabinet and move the 27 into her "gym" to replace the little 15" that she watches her workout videos on. If all else fails I can run cable into my workshop and use it out there.

Will · « **Reply #27 on:** January 23, 2005, 01:33:07 pm »

Any idea how heavy that beast is??You must need a forklift to move it.It is even bigger than Kraw's.

JThw8 · « **Reply #28 on:** January 23, 2005, 05:02:54 pm »

because its in 2 parts it can be moved by just 2 people if needed as long as the TV isnt in it. But it is rather heavy. The whole thing is on casters or it would never move again probably

DarkSoul1 · « **Reply #29 on:** January 23, 2005, 11:55:36 pm »

Seeing those pics of the White Pointers (Great Whites) gives me the shivers.

Already had 1 fatal White Pointer attack here in South Australia this summer.

RetroJames · « **Reply #30 on:** January 24, 2005, 06:32:29 am »

JThw8, where are you located? I have a 32" CRT you might want. I am in Atlanta.

JThw8 · « **Reply #31 on:** January 24, 2005, 09:22:52 am »

Ahhh, Atlanta...sorry about the game yesterday

If that didnt give away my location Im in NJ right outside Philly

Im going to press on with the 27 for now, I have some ideas which hopefully when complete wont look so bad. And Im still scraping for the money to add the trackball which is a must for me.

I know some folks have kicked around (and even accomplished) adding second smaller screens which dynamically display the correct control layout for each game as it is selected. I would really love to be able to mount something like that in the extra space, but Im nowhere near the electronics wiz some of these folks are to be able to accomplish that.

brandon · « **Reply #32 on:** January 26, 2005, 06:22:55 pm »

Too bad Mame doesnt support the 6 player dual screen version of X-men.. that would be impressive

JThw8 · « **Reply #33 on:** February 13, 2005, 05:59:54 pm »

Latest updates, the trackball is installed, speakers mounted, and a base coat of paint is on. Most of the paint will be covered by the final graphics.

Today I finished work on the bezel and installed the t-moulding.

The shark graphics on the bezel I got when I took my daughter to Disney on ice, the cotton candy came in plastic bags with the shark on them, I thought it looked cool so I cut them out and glued them behind the glass before painting. I didnt paint the backside and hope to add some lights behind them when its all done to make the sharks glow.

DreamWeb · « **Reply #34 on:** February 13, 2005, 07:57:54 pm »

Hey there!

I only write this.. because I think you've got the starts (art/concept) of a really terrific cabinet.

It looks really, really odd (read: ugly?)

I think you'd be MUCH happier with finding (under $100) an empty cabinet somewhere.. or building you own.

But, if you like it.. keep going!!

David

the3eyedblindman · « **Reply #35 on:** February 13, 2005, 08:06:27 pm »

I agree, I just think its way too big, I think in the end youd be happier with it smaller, just pay the 60 dollars for 3 sheets of MDF, build a cab to accomodate a 27 inch screen... unless you really like it. Other than the size of the cabinet, its looking nice.

IG-88 · « **Reply #36 on:** February 13, 2005, 08:26:32 pm »

What the Hell you all talking about its AWESOME! Keep going! Something out of the norm finally!

RetroJames · « **Reply #37 on:** February 13, 2005, 08:34:28 pm »

Quote from: IG-88 on February 13, 2005, 08:26:32 pm

What the Hell you all talking about its AWESOME! Keep going! Something out of the norm finally!

A HUGE ditto to that! Bigger, Better, More Outlandish, Awesome.

And if you ever lose your house you have somewhere to live

GameOver · « **Reply #38 on:** February 13, 2005, 08:41:24 pm »

Quote from: 1hookedspacecadet on February 13, 2005, 08:34:28 pm

Quote from: IG-88 on February 13, 2005, 08:26:32 pm
What the Hell you all talking about its AWESOME! Keep going! Something out of the norm finally!

A HUGE ditto to that! Bigger, Better, More Outlandish, Awesome.

Double ditto. I'm lovin' it! Can't wait to see the CPO & Marquee put on lit up. Great work.

brandon · « **Reply #39 on:** February 13, 2005, 08:48:12 pm »

I like it too... and there are all kinds of possibilities to do something totally different.. like a dual monitor nintendo Vs. setup or maybe drop a 60" plasma in there at some point

and you can have every possible spinner, trackball, 4 way, 8-way, 49-way, lightguns and still only take up half of the control panel


Main	Restorations	Software	Audio/Jukebox/MP3	Everything Else	Buy/Sell/Trade
Project Announcements	Monitor/Video	GroovyMAME	Merit/JVL Touchscreen	Meet Up	Retail Vendors
Driving & Racing	Woodworking	Software Support Forums	Consoles	Project Arcade	Reviews
Automated Projects	Artwork	Frontend Support Forums	Pinball	Forum Discussion	Old Boards
Raspberry Pi & Dev Board	controls.dat	Linux	Miscellaneous Arcade	Wiki Discussion	Old Archives
Lightguns	Arcade1Up	Try the site in https mode		Site News


Unread posts \| New Replies \| Recent posts \| Rules \| Chatroom \| Wiki \| File Repository \| RSS \| Submit news