Gaming, Software Development, VR & General Blogging
Oh my god! Was it August 2003 when I last posted on my MAME Cab? Where does time go? Well, it has to be said I haven’t too done much with it since. However, I have now bought myself a new widescreen TV and donated my old Philips one to the MAME cabinet. Here’s a couple of pictures of it sitting in place (not connected yet!). The cat is called Catherine by the way.
(Edit: Pictures no longer available)
I bought a glue gun and had a go at gluing the T-Molding in place. A fairly slow process but a satisfactory result. The hot glue sticks the T-Molding to the wod very well.
I also taped on a paper print out of the marquee I’m going to use. I’ll probably get a nice semi-transparent plastic one made at a sign shop which I’ll light from the back with a small florescent.
Here’s some more pictures.
(Edit: Pictures no longer available)
I’ve finished painting my cabinet! It takes great patience waiting for each coat of the primer to dry and then for each coat of the paint. However, it’s worth it in the end and I’m pleased with the result.
I have also attached the front door using the hinge I bought. I had to get the sander out to fine tune the size of the door so that it would swing open and closed okay. I then attached the coin door – a fairly easy task. I had an amusing few moments putting quaters into the slots and hearing the coins fall inside. Okay, so I’m easily pleased!
The next step involved cutting the T-Molding to fit. This was much simpler than I anticipated; just place it on and mark where you need to cut. It cuts easily enough with a Stanley knife. I’m going to need some glue to keep it securely in place – though I think this is fairly normal. From what I’ve read, hot-glue works the best so I’ll probably use that.
Anyway, here’s the latest pictures – I can’t believe how near to completion it is!
(Edit: Pictures no longer available)
I made a start on spray painting parts of my cabinet. I quickly discoverd that spraying directly onto the MDF was not going to work very well. So, I took yet another trip to B&Q after work to look for some primer. I discovered you can buy specific MDF Primer, so I bought a tin.
I gave all parts of the cabinet I plan on spray painting two coats of the primer. Then, I tried the spray paint again and it worked much better with the primer on. Spay paint (I’ve never used it before) gives quite a different type of finish from regular brush on paint. It’s sort of a mottled finish which I am quite pleased with – looks like a real arcade cabinet! I’m also happy with the colour I chose, Night Navy Plasticote.
I completed spraying both the front door and the control panel base. I also primed the rest of the cabinet ready for spraying.
Found the edible ghost sound! Checked everything was running smoothly and provided a download. 18 months in the making and Wobman is finally complete! Go play!
I’ve managed to resolve all the issues I had and Wobman is running like a dream now. I’ve made the latest version (v1.13) available for download which includes the executable.
I had to make one decision regarding the high score which is now saved to file. In the original arcade version the score clocked at 100000 points. I was tempted to make mine go higher, but in keeping with the object of this project, I’ve kept it just like the original. If anyone manages to clock it, they probably need locking up anyway.
The only thing left to do before I release the final (?) version v1.2 is to make a last effort to get the edible ghost sound and tidy up the code a bit and that’s it!
In an attempt to keep some progress going on my MAME cabinet, I decided to take a trip to B&Q (hardware store) yesterday to buy some parts I knew I was going to need:
Whilst I was there I had a brainwave regarding mounting the display shelf. I’ve been putting it off until I know what size TV I’m going to put in it. However, whilst in B&Q I spotted those metal shelf parts. You know the ones that come with wall mounting adjustable height bars and the brackets themselves which slot in and hold up the shelf.
Ah! Why not install those inside my cabinet, that way I will easily be able to adjust the height of the shelf any time I liked. Also, by lowering the back two, you can adjust the backward slope of the shelf to your liking. I can’t believe I didn’t’ think of this before. The only thing to remember if you decide to do this also, is that the wall braces obviously take up some of the width in the cabinet so you will need to account for this when measuring for a TV.
To mount the shelf, I simply cut four slots that would slip over the braces. Simple solution and very effective!
So, I also ended up buying:
– 4 steel shelf wall braces
– 4 steel shelf brackets
– some more screws
I’ll post some pictures later.
I did some more work on Wobman last night. Odd things still seem to occur with the sound even with the latest version of Blitz (v1.35). However, I’ve managed to overcome what I think is a bug in Blitz and got the sound working. Compiled the exe and everything still runs okay!
I’ve got a few things to fix before I release the full compiled version on you poor people.
1. Need to fix the siren sound change which get more frantic as the number of pills remaining reduces. Was working previously, but doesn’t seem to be at the moment.
2. Blanks are appearing in the score at certain points
3. Shadow’s speed-up towards the end of a round doesn’t seem to be working
That’s all I know of at the moment anyway. So you could see the release of a compiled (final?) version this weekend.
Errr…this diary is waaaayyyy behind. A year and half since I last posted here? Where does time go? Anyway, since my last post I’ve rewritten the whole shebang in Blitz3D, and most recently I’ve tried it with the new BlitzPlus which is designed specifically for 2D games.
The game has been revamped a lot and I’ve now included the full intro sequence as seen in the arcade version, 2-player mode, high scores, well….everything really! I’ve also decided to leave out the banner surround on the new Blitz version of Wobman. I think it was a bit tacky.
I think I’ve now fixed the sound bug that was plaguing me a few months back when I stopped working on it. I think it was just caused by a typo. Duh! The other big issue, keyboard controls, well, it’s a non-issue with Blitz. Nice one.
I’m in a bit of a dilemma at the moment. I can’t really move on until I decide on a display for my cabinet. Ideally, I would probably like to have a large arcade monitor as it could be rotated for vertical or horizontal games. However, they are quite expensive compared to a TV and not easy to connect to a graphics card. Even the new Arcade Monitor graphics card from Ultimarc requires some wiring up yourself. So, it looks like a TV (a computer monitor simply wouldn’t do it for me – also expensive).
Now, my cabinet is 26″ wide and looking at the size specifications for TV’s it looks like it’ll be a 25″ TV which are usually between 23″ and 25″ wide including the case. I need to put up the monitor shelf in the cabinet before I can paint it as I’ll need to drill some holes. However, I can’t put the monitor shelf up until I know what the TV is like. So, until I decide on which TV I can’t move on. And, I’m going on holiday for 3 weeks – so not much progress going to be made for the next month!