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Coin - op |
Steve++
Member #1,816
January 2002
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Hi. Just wondering if anyone has considered making a coin-op Allegro game. I'm not talking just about coin-op style - I'm talking about making the game, building the box, and putting the whole thing together. This is something I've wanted to do for years; not so much to make any money, but more for fun. |
Johnny13
Member #805
October 2000
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Put an IBMPC into Arcade machine? Alg3D Praise my Games!!<code>#define SPAMMER (post>=666&&postperday>=6)</code><Mr.spellcaster>What post? <Mr.spellcaster>A useful post by me. |
Steve++
Member #1,816
January 2002
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No, not windows! I usually make my (unfinished) games for windows so that most people can run them. However, I think Linux would be ideal for this sort of project. The way I see it, windows is good for hardware compatibility, but Linux is better for almost everything else. I would specifically buy hardware made by vendors that actually give a toss about Linux. Also, I might use something other than Allegro; maybe SDL. |
Troy D Patterson
Member #41
April 2000
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I was thinking about doing a project like this. But I don't know enough about making things You just asked who considered. Johnny13: Could've been Virtual Tennis? Or World Tennis 2k# --------------------------------------- |
Steve++
Member #1,816
January 2002
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I've already got someone (a cabinet maker) who will make the box if I ask him. The whole thing could get a bit expensive though. |
Troy D Patterson
Member #41
April 2000
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- Joystick and buttons - A good lock --------------------------------------- |
Bradley Bergeron
Member #1,102
March 2001
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quote:- A PC with a large enough monitor (ouch). |
Thomas Fjellstrom
Member #476
June 2000
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mybe this will help... -- |
DanielH
Member #934
January 2001
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I was at this bar once and they had an arcade with DOOM. The game froze and when we unplugged it and replugged it in, we found out it was a pc running windows. |
Kris Asick
Member #1,424
July 2001
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Anyone been to Gameworld in Windsor, Ontario, Canada, while it was still popular? They were basically a one-stop game rental place including magazine sales, merchandise, and arcades. A couple of their machines were system rigs where when you put a coin in the buttons would be activated and then about five or ten minutes later the game would reset and you'd have to insert another coin to play again. --- Kris Asick (Gemini) |
Inphernic
Member #1,111
March 2001
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- A PC with a large enough monitor (ouch). Buy a used ~21" TV and use TV-Out? -- |
axilmar
Member #1,204
April 2001
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Linux is way much better that DOS for this kind of thing, especially because there are accelerated NVIDIA GPU drivers for OpenGL. So you can make a full Allegro 3D with AllegGL, run it on accelerated NVIDIA on linux, and stick it in an arcade box. |
Johnny13
Member #805
October 2000
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is that stable? Alg3D Praise my Games!!<code>#define SPAMMER (post>=666&&postperday>=6)</code><Mr.spellcaster>What post? <Mr.spellcaster>A useful post by me. |
paranoima
Member #1,380
June 2001
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HanaHo Games, Inc |
KaBlammyman
Member #455
June 2000
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I am gonna make one for my senior project (I probably cant do it tho...) I was gonna get an old MB with an old AMD processor, since I dont need to run a whole OS in the background (Thats the way the arcades do it...they have like 15mHz processors!!) Then make a joystick with arcade buttons you can order. You can take the circuit boards form a regular PC joystick, and use arcade buttons. (I had a manual on how to do this a while back, but lost it :mad Then I would get a good size TV for the monitor, and use a nice video card with TV out (even tho the graphics want be as crisp on a TV) but for the coin mechanism...uhhh I'm stuck. Ill have my girlfriend who is an ECE (Electrical and Computer Engineering) major help me with that. And there ya go...Future Wars (Download Future Wars to see what Im talking about) in the arcade! So yes I wanted to make an Arcade with Allegro...but, all in due time.
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Steve++
Member #1,816
January 2002
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I don't think it would be that hard. The only real challenges I can think of are interfacing a coin cabinet and joysticks. As far as operating systems go, I might have a look at freedos. Hopefully cwsdpmi plays nice with it. Thanks for all your links and advice. I didn't know there was such a big home arcade box scene, but I guess I should have known. Anyway, as far as interfacing of joysticks and coin door goes, I think I could do it with a microcontroller kit. There's a really good one made by Atmel. It has an RS232 (i.e. standard COM port) interface. I could hook up the joysticks and the coin door to the same system. I could program the microcontroller so that every time a joystick button is pressed or released, or anytime a coin goes in, an event is sent down the RS232 line. [ January 25, 2002: Message edited by: Steve++ ] |
Troy D Patterson
Member #41
April 2000
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There's a site that tells you how to do all of this. HERE! A keyboard hack or one of those IPacs could do the joystick to button interface. But everything else.... I'm lost on........ for now. --------------------------------------- |
Mark Venture
Member #1,272
April 2001
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What kind of games are you planning for ? 2D or 3D ? Simple style old school like donkey kong or a shootemup like XOP ? "as long as there is hope, we will fight" (quote by Captain Avatar, Star Blazers, Season 1) |
Funklord
Member #467
June 2000
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Here goes... ---------------------- Age is inversely proportional to how much drink you've had - Funklord |
Kris Asick
Member #1,424
July 2001
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quote:You need at least a 28" TV, u can get good ones today for like $30 --- Kris Asick (Gemini) |
Funklord
Member #467
June 2000
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quote:Yeah, used and in poor condition, maybe. New, not bloody likely ---------------------- Age is inversely proportional to how much drink you've had - Funklord |
ReyBrujo
Moderator
January 2001
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I disagree with many of Funklord statemets, but I don't have time (for now) to explain myself better. However, I just want to point out memory management under MS-DOS is UGLY. If you really want to use DOS, try Free or Open DOS. The problem is that Allegro isn't fully tested under those platforms. RB -- |
Bob
Free Market Evangelist
September 2000
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quote:linux cannot be powered off easily (without wrecking the filesystem), with dos u just push the power button or pull the cord. -- |
Thomas Fjellstrom
Member #476
June 2000
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You should't really use the harddisk for anything usefull anyway. If I was to build an arcade machine Id have the actual root filesystem on a CD or floppy disk and only have the high scores on a harddisk or some sort of NVRAM If I could afford it -- |
Mandrake Root Produc
Member #300
April 2000
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ok i work at a place (WRG) which makes ATM's but use to make coin-op systems (before arcades kind of up and died), and i can tell you exactly what you will need. first: no one uses pc monitors. It's either an LCD screen, or a tv set, most likely a tv set. The you would need a card doing tv out, and the like. I would suggestneihter using linux or windows, but DOS with the autoexec ready to run the game at startup. You dn't need a big harddrive, or a fast processor if it's only to do one game. The expensive part wouuld be the cash dispensor (ouch), and you would need to program the cash dispensor to recognize coins being dropped in and giving the appropiratie amount of money back, as well as realizing how much was put into to give the player that extra amount of life. Not too hard. You could probably put together a quick parrallel port converter for the cash dispener (we use that in one of our PC based atm's...not too hard once you get the hang of it). Then, you could easily do two joysticks, i think a few people made there own arcade style joysticks here, (well i know Lb1st on the GDR has, might want to ask him http://gdr.swoo.net), which is pretty much not all too expensive. It would be neat, but arcade machines are expensive for a reason. If you wanted to market a game in a box setup like this, don't expect any takers, since arcade sales are plummeting and no one would pay the 800$ that most machines cost these days. |
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