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 Post subject: my new cabinet
PostPosted: Thu Jun 30, 2005 3:43 am 
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finihsed up my cabinet todya all that is left to do now is to haul it downstairs to the game room.
http://www.geocities.com/mamehelp/daphne.html


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PostPosted: Sun Jul 03, 2005 11:23 pm 
DAPHNE Creator
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looking good!


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 Post subject:
PostPosted: Tue Jul 05, 2005 6:08 am 
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There's nothing at all wrong with the cabinet itself, but the contol panel layout. Eek!

I hope you'll accept some constructive critcism.

1. Start buttons are on the "wrong" side. Of course this is subjective, but on every single arcade cabinet I've ever seen start buttons are either centered, above the controls, or to the far right, tightly grouped together, aligned vertically.

2. Esc and Enter??? By your writeup I'm assuming this is pretty much a dedicated daphne cabinet. These buttons not only clutter up your panel, but aren't necessary to run daphne.

3. Trackball and mouse buttons?? Afaik there aren't any trackball laserdisc games and even if there was, they aren't supported in daphne. Also see #2

4. The cpo artwork is rather loud. The cpo art itself is supposed to blend into the background (not literally, I just mean it's supposed to be muted) so that the labels "pop" and users can easily read them while playing. As-is your radiation coated daphne logo is very distracting.

5. Is just a personal thing to me but I coudl do without the rat-shack buttons. Mind you I completely understand as volcanoes are impossible to find, and even if you do they cost a fortune, but still.

I think it's a wonderful first attempt, but In all honesty I'd trash the control panel and start over with that part.

I hope I don't offend you, it's just while probably everyone here would reply with a generic "looks good" comment, I find that it's more helpful to give some constructive criticism. :D


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PostPosted: Tue Jul 05, 2005 11:05 am 
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HowardC wrote:

1. Start buttons are on the "wrong" side. Of course this is subjective, but on every single arcade cabinet I've ever seen start buttons are either centered, above the controls, or to the far right, tightly grouped together, aligned vertically.


so you're on a daphne message board and you've never seen a Dragon's Lair control panel?! :)


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PostPosted: Wed Jul 06, 2005 12:14 am 
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I've seen a ton, I just never paid any attention. Apparently don bluth and his crew are insaine and don't know where the start buttons are supposed to be either. :)


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PostPosted: Wed Jul 06, 2005 2:28 am 
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Quote:
1. Start buttons are on the "wrong" side. Of course this is subjective, but on every single arcade cabinet I've ever seen start buttons are either centered, above the controls, or to the far right, tightly grouped together, aligned vertically.


I put the start buttons on the left side because that is where they are on dragon's lair. Probably my favorite laser disc game. Certainly I could've put them closer together. However, I have to say when I build a cabinet I build it from what I see in my head of how I want it to look. I didn't realize I had to build it like everyone elses cabinets. I guess that is the best thing about being able to build your own. You don't have to follow everyone elses rules.

Quote:
2. Esc and Enter??? By your writeup I'm assuming this is pretty much a dedicated daphne cabinet. These buttons not only clutter up your panel, but aren't necessary to run daphne.
3. Trackball and mouse buttons?? Afaik there aren't any trackball laserdisc games and even if there was, they aren't supported in daphne. Also see #2


I'm not a daphne pro by any means. So I have to ask. How do you start up a game or exit a game without a the mouse or a keyboard?
The trackball is nothing more than a mouse. And it is used as such that is why it is off to the far right out of the way of game play. Yes, I could've left that off and just used a mouse inside but that would mean opening and closing the cabinet to get access to it. I should point out that I use the daphne loader that comes in the download. I know you can start up a game by using the ctrl + s but that would still mean I would have to put a button on the control panel. But maybe there is another way to do it. As I said, I'm not a pro with this emulator.

Quote:
4. The cpo artwork is rather loud. The cpo art itself is supposed to blend into the background (not literally, I just mean it's supposed to be muted) so that the labels "pop" and users can easily read them while playing. As-is your radiation coated daphne logo is very distracting.


All anyone has to do is read what the button does before they start playing. After that they shouldn't even have to look at the control panel to see what button they are pushing. They should pay attention to what is going on, on the screen. Maybe I misunderstand what your meaning is here.

Quote:
I hope I don't offend you, it's just while probably everyone here would reply with a generic "looks good" comment, I find that it's more helpful to give some constructive criticism.


Everyone is entitled to their opinion good or bad. :D


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PostPosted: Wed Jul 06, 2005 11:15 pm 
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Well you use a proper front end to launch daphne. You've made three cabinets and you don't know about front ends? If you have a dedicated cabinet you do NOT use daphne loader (or mame32 or ect.... windowsy = bad).

Let's see .... lists of front ends that will do it.

Dragon King... mamewah, 3darcade kymera.... the list goes on.

Now for the escape key. You are using a keywhiz right? Well you setup your shifted functions so that pressing both start buttons registers a press of the escape key. This way there isn't the worry about someone walking by and pressing the escape button in the middle of your game, and it's one less key, thus making your panel look much cleaner and therefore much more like a real arcade machine.

About the cpo thing. You are absolutely right.... a player shouldn't have to look at the labels, but you put them on so I'm assuming you wanted people to use them. If you didn't then all they are doing is cluttering up your cpo image. As I said, having both the logo and the labels stand out the same amount is visually distracting and makes for a "busy" look.

About the start buttons thing..... I feel silly now that I realize that the bluth machines put them on the left. There is a very good reason why they don't do that now though. It's kind of like typing. You know where the keys are aranged so that you almost never have to move from the "home position"? Well for arcade machines, the home position is the player's hand on the primary joystick. That way, when a player continues a game they are almost immediately able to re-orient themselves and get ready for play. They actually did put them on a left in some of the odd-third party games of the early to mid 80's (the exidy and poly-play systems come to mind) but by the late 80's they figured out what I just explained and started moving them to more optimal positions. But I am rambling and getting away from the point.

But I can understand putting them on the left because you are wanting to keep it like a dl cabinet, that was the main reason for my criticism, all of your additional buttons/labels/patterns makes it look less and less like a real arcade cabinet and more and more like those home built machines with the horrible "franken-panels" over at byoac. :wink:


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