Bubble Bobble themed Bartop Arcade Build
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I have been using arduino for about 8 years now, I got my first one in order to make a drone flight computer with it, I can hold my own with it with use from the forums, I can easily program a program to do the lighting that bob has in that video, im not a great programmer but the arduino has a lot of space, so you dont need to be good at cutting code down when using simple code like this.
the pic I have attached is an idea running through my head that I just sketched out. you can see the plate above the screen move between the two images, this is the area i would hide my audio and lighting controls, but it occured to me whilst pooping that I can also use it to solve my issue of being able to have two screen angles, I want to use this as a feature in the bedroom or mancave, which means that the storage idea from bob is amazing, but i want to use KODI to watch videos and listen to music, hence the need for an audio system in it, and obviously the screen angle needs to change when watching video, so i would use dowels in the side panels to hinge the screen and top plate, then basically pull the screen forward and lock it onto the topplate to secure it.
i think it looks feasible and easy, what do you think ?
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@spruce_m00se Ah, so the dovels are placed on the topplate's back edge, and you then need some kind of brackets that either snaps to the marquee or the top of the screen. What kind would this be?
Just thinking out loud here.. What about making your topplate fixed, and ensuring it is a tangent to the circle with the center in the bottom hinge on the screen. On the back of the screen, you could have a sliding latch in each side, and have holes for this in the two positions.
This way, you wouldn't need to attach/detach the topplate, and I think the gap over the monitor in the KODI position would be smaller, or at least not leave the cabinet open.
I dunno. But the idea for the screen tilting is pretty good.
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@AndersHP This is wonderful - I've been very much planning to build a Bubble Bobble themed Arcade Bartop!
Where did you get the art done, if I may ask? I was in touch with the XCade folks but they didn't have any similar artwork, and most would be either generic or "aggressive" (i.e. SF2/Ghouls and Ghosts) which would make it not necessarily kid-friendly at home.
Well done!
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@pjft if you send me your bartop dimensions I can create custom art for you. You can pick out all styles/colors/design. I will provide you with the native photoshop file as well as PDF and jpeg. Getting them printed will be up to you!
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@TMNTturtlguy You're very kind for offering. :)
It'll likely be a October to December project for me, given that there's a chance we might be moving countries in a few months, so I'll hold off building one until that happens and things settle down again.
Still, when that does happen, and when I do have a definitive size and format, I may certainly reach out to you in case you'd still be up for that! And if not, it is - as always - perfectly fine. :) I am sure one such undertaking would take up a lot of time, so I acknowledge and respect that.
Thank you!
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@pjft Moving countries! Adventure! No problems, just keep me posted.
I love doing graphic art and design and something like this actually doesn't take that much time or effort. I could put together a similar bubble bobble graphic package in maybe 2 hours. The time consuming part is being picky and never happy! Finding the right high quality images is the trick and that can take time as well, but all in, it is fun and easy to do, so it will be no problem.
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@TMNTturtlguy You're too kind, and are likely underestimating the time and effort, but I appreciate the positivity :)
I'll keep this on the backlog, for sure. Thank you very much for the openness, regardless of the outcome!
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@pjft i too may be moving countries soon, i currently live 8000km from home maybe 6k cant remember.
if i make one next week then its a practice run for the real thing when i get home
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@pjft Thanks! Yeah my daughter really likes the artwork - "look at the sweet dragons" was her initial reaction :-)
I got it printed at http://rockstarprint.co.uk/
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@Rookervik What would it take to make you create some custom graphics for the coin buttons on my arcade, following my Bubble Bobble theme? :-)
See photo above for dimension proportions and my first attempt. It's not that it's really horrible, but I'd just really love to see what you might do...?
Only if you can spare the time, though :-)
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@AndersHP I thought yours looked great. Not sure how I could top it.
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@AndersHP
I have ordered some parts to make the lighting work better,
but so far I have taken this guys idea:
and I have coded it into arduino, I have made a series of different flash patterns that are randomly selected, and each flash pattern has on and off cycles which are randomly generated from similar values to what this guy has used on youtube, I have added a little flicker to the off cycle, and then programmed it to sometimes turn on normally and turn off normally, again randomly generated events.I have also added a multi jog wheel to it which I am using to adjust the brightness.
I am going to play around making the light fade on a bit when it turns on, to make it a bit more realistic.I am also planning to use the multijog to control the volume on the cabinet, that shoudl be possible, so I can select between volume or brightness from one multijog.
when I get the parts etc and its all working "impressivly " i will post a video, for now it is just controlling single LED's until the control board for the strips turns up.
In theory I could also make it control the colour for RGB led lighting,
And I plan to use the arduino to control the PI, I will use the push button "reset" script for the pi, and an output pin of the arduino to emulate the reset of the Pi, so the arduino turns the Pi on and off, and the user can shut down in the menu still if they like. Doing it like this, I can make the arduino turn off the lights when the Pi shuts down, and then with the realy board thats coming I can turn the TV and Speakers off with the Pi also, and then have the lights, sound and tv activate at any point duirng the Pi;s boot process.
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@TMNTturtlguy said in Bubble Bobble themed Bartop Arcade Build:
@pjft Moving countries! Adventure! No problems, just keep me posted.
I love doing graphic art and design and something like this actually doesn't take that much time or effort. I could put together a similar bubble bobble graphic package in maybe 2 hours. The time consuming part is being picky and never happy! Finding the right high quality images is the trick and that can take time as well, but all in, it is fun and easy to do, so it will be no problem.
I thought it would take more than 2 hours. Very time-cosuming
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@Anniecrann I think once you have done it once and have the templates then it is just a case of finding the right artwork and putting it in the right place
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New photos added! Now I'm only missing the bezel and marquee area, before this project is all finished! Can't wait! :-)
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The project's all finished! Check out the last few pictures - I'm really happy with the result! :-)
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it looks sweet! I just painted my cab today with a roller, I wish I had been able to get it sprayed, putting it back together after painting was a ballache!
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Awesome job buddy! What did you secure the marquee in with and how did you do the push to credit buttons or where did you get them from? That's a brilliant idea. The colour makes them look like coin entry slots!
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@mattyl42 said in Bubble Bobble themed Bartop Arcade Build:
Awesome job buddy! What did you secure the marquee in with and how did you do the push to credit buttons or where did you get them from? That's a brilliant idea. The colour makes them look like coin entry slots!
Thanks man! The marquee is actually a tight fit, so it's holding itself in place. That way it's easy to get to, if something happens to the light or speakers behind it, but still no visible screws or such.
The coin buttons are supposed to look like old-school slots! They're red buttons from arcadeworlduk, with a black/white printed piece of paper with the graphics behind the glass. I got the BubbleBobble graphics from a Zonaarcade community thread (lots of artwork in there, by the way!) and the coin I found on google ("coin sprite"), then I edited the parts together and did the text myself in GIMP :)
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@andershp finished result looks great! Now you can tweak the software config for the rest of your life!
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