-Making a arcade game, First draft of Cabinet Design.

[Edalyn-115]

Hey, Thank you first for looking at my thread. I am not here to advertise anything, rather to find people who may be interested in my project.
I am currently making a game that is inspired by my past experience with arcade games with cabinets and my current experience with playing video games. I thought to myself. What would a modern arcade game look if the classic style was carried along with the better technology of today.
I am working on this game with a team of 4 including me.
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-Risk It Biscuit-
This game is a arcade style game that makes use of better technology of todays computers and consoles. However, i want to still make cabinet forms of this game if it becomes popular. The game will be free on the computer and console.
When I was young my favourite arcade games were Liquid Kids and Bubble Bobble. When i started making this video game. I started to look back at those games. I realised i wanted to make simple visuals with smooth animations. with a 32 Bit scale I have created a world with the team, Making a world of candy, cake and waffles. Icecream Knights and Donut Monsters. The main character is Basic Boy. The game is rich with color while also being quite pastille.
The game is currently in a late Alpha stage and we are working on the intro currently. The game theme is of course candy, cakes, buns and everything in between. We are planning to make the game free to play. With only payed visual accessories. Such as hats ect. This part will be taken away for the Cabinet version.
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Now with the context out of the way. I would like to ask, What do you think of my design? I don't currently know a lot about Cabinets and what types are currently out there. I have done some research however.
Some questions id like you to answer:
-Do you have any interest in this Project/Game?
-What is your favourite cabinet style or design?
- Would you consider playing a new arcade style game through a cabinet?
-If you had to make an improvement to my design. What would it be?
-Would you like to see my progress about this project?

 

[ekorz]

I am not sure if the illustration is supposed to be accurate, but I’d recommend button layouts that obey the normal spacing and ergonomics instead of how they’re mirrored in your drawing. https://www.slagcoin.com/joystick/layout.html

 

[Edalyn-115]

I am not sure if the illustration is supposed to be accurate, but I’d recommend button layouts that obey the normal spacing and ergonomics instead of how they’re mirrored in your drawing. https://www.slagcoin.com/joystick/layout.html

Hey, I used a template for my first draft. Everything is subject to change. I'm a novice at all of this. What layouts would you recommend for a game that involved a lot of jumping and precise moving mechanics? This can be for single and double player layouts.

 

[Edalyn-115]

I am not sure if the illustration is supposed to be accurate, but I’d recommend button layouts that obey the normal spacing and ergonomics instead of how they’re mirrored in your drawing. https://www.slagcoin.com/joystick/layout.html

The interesting thing is, a joystick may not even be needed for this game. as on the computer version, the mouse is only needed for selecting dialog. which can be changed pretty easily. That will be a change ill probably make first.

 

[Zepherino]

I wouldn't worry too much about an arcade cabinet design, and focus on a finished (or near finished vertical slice) of your game first.

Arcade cabs are somewhat of a niche interest, and takes a ton of effort and know-how from a design and build standpoint to get right. Juggling that on top of creating an entire game sounds like too much in terms of scope of work if you consider yourself a novice.

 

[Edalyn-115]

I wouldn't worry too much about an arcade cabinet design, and focus on a finished (or near finished vertical slice) of your game first.

Arcade cabs are somewhat of a niche interest, and takes a ton of effort and know-how from a design and build standpoint to get right. Juggling that on top of creating an entire game sounds like too much in terms of scope of work if you consider yourself a novice.

We currently are in the late stages of having a full beta. you can actually play our game. We are working on the intro and it will be a fully playable slice of the game. making this into cabinets is more of a hobby rather than the main reason of making the game. The game is very very portable.
I'm a novice to arcade cabinets. not to making and creating video games. We have a very experienced game dev team. Just not an experienced arcade cab team haha.
Getting the game completed is always the first option. But at the very least id like to make my own custom cab for the game for personal hobbies.
We have been making the video game for almost 6 months. This cabinet is a personal thing of mine. I'm the original dev that was working on the game. The team grew over time.
I hope this clears up things.

 

[dos]

This is a typical US CRT cabinet (used standing):

Typical Japanese CRT cabinet (used sitting):

Typical HD LCD cabinet (used sitting):

I would base the design/proportions on one of these proven styles, or just use one directly. The slagcoin link above is extremely useful for panel layout. Regarding what controls to use for a game that requires "a lot of jumping and precise moving mechanics" that's pretty much the perfect use case for a typical 8-way digital joystick such as Seimitsu LS-32/LS-56 or Sanwa JLF/JLW and buttons like Seimitsu PS-14-GN 30mm or Sanwa OBSF 30mm.

 

[Edalyn-115]

This is a typical US CRT cabinet (used standing):

Typical Japanese CRT cabinet (used sitting):

Typical HD LCD cabinet (used sitting):

I would base the design/proportions on one of these proven styles, or just use one directly. The slagcoin link above is extremely useful for panel layout. Regarding what controls to use for a game that requires "a lot of jumping and precise moving mechanics" that's pretty much the perfect use case for a typical 8-way digital joystick such as Seimitsu LS-32/LS-56 or Sanwa JLF/JLW and buttons like Seimitsu PS-14-GN 30mm or Sanwa OBSF 30mm.

thank you so much for the information. From first impressions id like to go for the first image that you posted. Its closest to my current idea. I quickly looked at the slagcoin link, ill definitely use it for my next draft where ill focus on the button design and placement. Ill note down exactly how many buttons would be needed for 1 player. I'm looking into the need for a joystick. currently one isn't exactly needed as in the PC version of the game, it is solely keys that is used for controls.

 

[dos]

when you transition to an arcade cabinet those key controls become joystick inputs. it's a digital joystick so there's nothing really to change in the game code, you just map the joystick input to the corresponding key

 

[Edalyn-115]

when you transition to an arcade cabinet those key controls become joystick inputs. it's a digital joystick so there's nothing really to change in the game code, you just map the joystick input to the corresponding key

understood. The controls don't use a mouse or anything. The joystick would only be needed to move left and right. Would buttons on the cabinet to replace the A" and D" movement keys be better than a joystick for precision movement?

 

[dos]

It would be more "normal" to have a stick for movement and buttons for jumping/shooting/etc but it's your game so if you feel buttons work best it's up to you. I feel like buttons would be less precise, because it doesn't seem natural to me to control movement with buttons.

 

[Edalyn-115]

It would be more "normal" to have a stick for movement and buttons for jumping/shooting/etc but it's your game so if you feel buttons work best it's up to you. I feel like buttons would be less precise, because it doesn't seem natural to me to control movement with buttons.

Fair enough, ill do more research on it.