Synopses & Reviews
Remember wishing you could live at the arcade?Was it Pac-Man at the corner convenience store? Street Fighter at the arcade in the mall? Recapture the fun, if not the quarters, by building your very own arcade machine! Make it complete with joysticks, buttons, trackballs, spinners, guns, sound effects, eye candy, and all your favorite games. Have your name flashing on the marquee. Customize your cabinet to have your very own dream arcade machine!
Do we have your attention now?
Follow these steps for building the cabinet, designing the control panel, finding the software, installing speakers and a monitor, and putting it all together. The arcade's back, this time at your place!
John St.Clair, like most children of the '80s, spent endless youthful hours feeding his allowance into arcade machines. He grew up to be a network engineer, but remains a game fanatic who created Build Your Own Arcade Controls (BYOAC) at www.arcadecontrols.com, a gamer's paradise where arcade game builders can swap plans, experiences, tips, and ideas. John wrote the first edition of this book in 2004.
Déjà vu how-to
Choose a cabinet plan
Calculate your budget
Design the control panel
Build a spinner
Explore flight yokes
Pick your guns
Connect the brain
Hack a mouse
Install the monitor
Load up on software
Add bells and whistles
CD-ROM includes
Classic cabinet designs and instructions from the first edition
Brand-new plans for cabinets and devices
Shareware games and software utilities
Arcade control panel templates
High resolution color photos, links, tutorials, and more!
See the CD appendix for details and complete system requirements.
Synopsis
Project Arcade 2 will provide a hands-on guide to building arcade controllers and full arcade machines to use at home with personal computers. It will begin by covering physical construction (woodwork) and the different types of projects that can be tackled. Next it will cover the various types of arcade controls available and how to interface them to the computer. Audio and video options are discussed next, followed by game software and cabinet artwork. Online resources for troubleshooting and purchasing ready-made kits are covered towards the end, wrapping up with a presentation of hall-of-fame home built cabinets for inspiration.
Important topics included are: Building the cabinet from sheets of wood to finished product
Arcade controls to use - joysticks, buttons, spinners, trackballs, flight yokes, and guns How to interface arcade controls to a computer Setting up the computer as the brains of the arcade cabinet without looking like it's running on a computer Software to run once you've completed construction - how to get it, what's legal, what's not Online resources for help and inspiration
Synopsis
The bestseller returns—completely updated to include the newest hardware, software, and techniques for building your own arcadeInterest in classical arcade games remains on the rise, and with a little money, older computer hardware, and a little effort, you can relive your arcade experiences by building your own arcade machine. The hands-on guide begins with a description of the various types of projects that you can undertake. It then progresses to a review of the audio and video options that are available and looks at the selection of game software and cabinet artwork. Ultimately, you’ll learn essential troubleshooting tips and discover how to build arcade controllers and machines that you can enjoy at home with your PC.
- Serves as a soup-to-nuts guide for building your own arcade machine, from the sheets of wood to the finished product
- Addresses the variety of arcade controls, including joysticks, buttons, spinners, trackballs, flight yokes, and guns
- Explains how to interface arcade controls to a computer
- Shares troubleshooting tips as well as online resources for help and inspiration
Project Arcade, Second Edition helps you recapture the enjoyment of your youth that was spent playing arcade games by walking you through the exciting endeavor of building your own full arcade machine.
About the Author
John St.Clair, like most children of the '80s, spent endless youthful hours feeding his allowance into arcade machines. He grew up to be a network engineer, but remains a game fanatic who created Build Your Own Arcade Controls (BYOAC) at www.arcadecontrols.com, a gamer's paradise where arcade game builders can swap plans, experiences, tips, and ideas. John wrote the first edition of this book in 2004.
Table of Contents
Introduction.Part I Playing Your Games the Way They Are Meant to Be Played — with Arcade Controls.
Chapter 1 Picking Your Path to Game-Playing Nirvana.
Chapter 2 Building Your Arcade Cabinet.
Part II Designing and Building Your Dream Arcade Control Panel.
Chapter 3 Pushing Your Buttons and the Joy of Joysticks.
Chapter 4 Taking Your Game Out for a Spin — Spinners and Trackballs.
Chapter 5 Arcade Controls for Power Gamers.
Chapter 6 Building the Control Panel.
Part III Hooking Things Up Under the Hood — Time to Trick the Computer.
Chapter 7 How It Works — Turning a Computer into the Brains of an Arcade Machine.
Chapter 8 Using the Keyboard Connector for Arcade Controls.
Chapter 9 Arcade Controls Using the Mouse Connector.
Chapter 10 Miscellaneous Bits of Arcade Trickery.
Part IV Putting Together the Final Pieces.
Chapter 11 Audio — Silence Isn’t Golden.
Chapter 12 A Picture Is Worth a Thousand . . . Tokens?
Chapter 13 A Picture Is Worth a Thousand . . . Tokens?
Chapter 14 Choosing and Loading Software.
Chapter 15 Buttoning Up the Odds and Ends.
Part V Like the Concept but Not Sure You Have It in You?
Chapter 16 Stuck? Frustrated? Out of Quarters?
Chapter 17 Buying Your Way to Gaming Nirvana.
Chapter 18 Online Places to Go.
Appendix A Where to Find Arcade Parts for Your Project.
Appendix B The Great Debate — Preserving Versus MAMEing the Past.
Appendix C What’s on the CD?
Index.