Thinking about Armagetron in the arcade setting...

What do you want to see in Armagetron soon? Any new feature ideas? Let's ponder these ground breaking ideas...
Dorne
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Thinking about Armagetron in the arcade setting...

Post by Dorne »

I was thinking about Armagetron Advanced in arcades, and it would make a good novelty, but it would take someone dedicated to make this.

We'll need:

-4 cycles (plastic, but durable) painted different colours that resemble in-game.
-1 copy of armagetron advanced (arcade version)
-1 PC
-A coin machine for each cycle
-12 Monitors
-3 monitors for each cycle
-1 large monitor on the ceiling to show the overall map.

The game would be in first person mode only. The modes of play are either single player, multi-player co-op (vs AI, and vs other players) and multi-player free-for-all.

The four cycles need coins to operate, and are connected to the machine. They can use the cycle handles to move left, right, and slow down. These cycles are connected via usb. Each cycle will have 3 monitors with which to see the left, right, and front side.

For that one PC (I think linux could work just fine), there could be multiple threads for
all four cycles.

The only problem would come from multiple screens for each light cycle, as well as the broadcasting of highscores and map of the large monitor.
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Infa(mous)
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Post by Infa(mous) »

Why not just play a LAN game of armagetronad?
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Post by Dorne »

F! Infamous wrote:Why not just play a LAN game of armagetronad?
I do like that Armagetron already has built in LAN and internet capabilities, but I was specifically thinking that it can be put in arcade settings like Playdium in Toronto, or your local movie theatre.
Last edited by Dorne on Fri Jan 23, 2009 3:14 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Infa(mous)
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Post by Infa(mous) »

So map a few joysticks to multiplayer mode. o.O
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Post by Crazy »

arcade improvements
1. 1 computer for each cycle
2. use already existing ladders for highscores
3. for the screens, instead of 3 screens, a curved piece of semi-transparent plastic, and a projector in the back projecting onto it.
OR
a virtual helmet that senses which direction your head is looking and displaces the glance buttons accordingly
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Post by Dorne »

F! Infamous wrote:So map a few joysticks to multiplayer mode. o.O
That works as well Infamous. Thanks for that idea. I'm just trying to create ideas on how to present Armagetron in an arcade style with which everyone would want to play. In an "Arcade" setting.
Crazy wrote:arcade improvements
1. 1 computer for each cycle
2. use already existing ladders for highscores
3. for the screens, instead of 3 screens, a curved piece of semi-transparent plastic, and a projector in the back projecting onto it.
OR
a virtual helmet that senses which direction your head is looking and displaces the glance buttons accordingly
1. That's probably a better option
2. I'm sorry, but what do you exactly mean by existing ladders?
3a. ,I was thinking something similiar as well but would that mean changing the visuals in the actual programming to accomplish that?
3b. A virtual helmet would be cool if we were to have this semi-privately, and if we had the developers to make it happen. In an arcade setting, these things will probably break apart (kids, and not so much kids).
Last edited by Dorne on Fri Jan 23, 2009 3:14 am, edited 2 times in total.
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Post by Crazy »

or, replace the keyboard with buttons like on classic arcade games

all you need is
left, right, brake (arrow keys)
escape and enter really.


in an arcade, instead of typing, it could have a mic(or not)
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Post by Infa(mous) »

If you're going for the arcade look...
1. Edit the main menu to just have two buttons: "Play" and "View Highscores"
-Submenu of "Play" -> "Number of Players" (1,2,3,4?)
2. Have it set to play one match for each credit (You decide how much the credit costs)
3. Put monitor(s) into the cabinet.
4. Set up a computer to show the (up to 4) players on the screen(s)
5. Map 4 joysticks to separate binds for each player
6. Boom! You have an arcade! :P
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Post by Dorne »

Crazy wrote:or, replace the keyboard with buttons like on classic arcade games

all you need is
left, right, brake (arrow keys)
escape and enter really.


in an arcade, instead of typing, it could have a mic(or not)
I was looking more for the first person viewpoint, but then again, keeping the joystick buttons instead of actual cycles would be cost effective. Then you could forgo multi-screen altogether.
F! Infamous wrote:If you're going for the arcade look...
1. Edit the main menu to just have two buttons: "Play" and "View Highscores"
-Submenu of "Play" -> "Number of Players" (1,2,3,4?)
2. Have it set to play one match for each credit (You decide how much the credit costs)
3. Put monitor(s) into the cabinet.
4. Set up a computer to show the (up to 4) players on the screen(s)
5. Map 4 joysticks to separate binds for each player
6. Boom! You have an arcade! :P
Easily the cheapest and most cost-effective arcade version of armagetron advanced.
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Post by Crazy »

i say to have a projector in the back of the screens instead of normal moniters because little kids will break the screens.

which would you rather buy?
1. a rear facing projector or 2 and a few sheets of frosted plexi-glass (or a screen with clear plexi-glass infront of it)
OR
2. 3 screens for every cycle, + many replacements for them.


and it doesn't need to be a very good projector either, because its so close to the screen, view field is very small
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Post by Lucifer »

KISS. To start, anyway. The main problem to start is the coin operation and code changes that go with it. Get those done, hook up the coin machine, make your controller (a joystick will probably work), then throw a computer, a CRT, the joystick, and your special linux distribution tailored to the hardware in the console together with some plywood. Paint it, and you're done.

Let it run as smartcam, give cam buttons, etc. Worry about making a full-blown VR-style game later. ;)

(I do agree with the curved screen. Remember that you can configure the angle of view (I forget what it's called), so one projector could theoretically show a 180 view, with the right lens)
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Post by Crazy »

yes, you could do the curved screen thing with a special lens.

but an alternative option would be to do a 'corrective distortion' to the video feed going through the projector.
basically, you distort the image to counter the effects of the screen
example:

if your projector is behind the screen with the screen with this curve:
(not to scale.)
.......____
......|......|
.......--_-- <projector


......_..--.._
....-...........-
.../..............\
../.................\....<screen
.|...................|
|.....................|

.^player there^

and your normal videos horizontal scan lines are even like so

| | | | | | | | | | | |
| | | | | | | | | | | |

then you make the video feeds horizontal scan lines non-liniar like so

|| | | | | | | | | ||
|| | | | | | | | | ||

where in the middle, they are the same size, at the ends are smaller.

you can do that in special software


OR if you don't want to do that.
you could pay a guy to come and calibrate a projector to do that for you
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Post by Tank Program »

4 cycles with 3 screens each will take up a lot of space.
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Post by Phytotron »

Vector-screen graphics would be best.
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ed
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Post by ed »

Finally found some time to throw something together ;)
This is an arcade machine I built several years ago to play old arcade games using mame. As well as a computer it also has a dreamcast tucked away in there too. But that's by the by.
And yes, I spent a lot of my youth in arcades.
All the controls connect to a keyboard emulator so each control can be mapped to any movement within arma.
That is an original 25" arcade monitor. The pc inside has a special graphics card that will output at the correct arcade monitor frequency (15Khz). Although the monitor has a native resolution of something like 300x256 this card will interlace anything running at 640x480 to fit the arcade monitor res. It really does give it a very nice old school arcade look. The pics don't do it justice.
Anyway, onto the pics...
Attachments
It's just like a computer...You can chat too.
It's just like a computer...You can chat too.
Here comes a new challenger...
Here comes a new challenger...
4 player mayhem!
<br />(also great for 2 player Smash TV)
4 player mayhem!
(also great for 2 player Smash TV)
Last edited by ed on Sun Mar 01, 2009 9:30 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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