Is is possible to plant my game into arcade?

#1 I have done this in the past, I have 2 of them in my garage, none of them are pictured here. But check this out.
Gives you the basic idea

http://www.mame-arcade.com

#2 Yeah, maybe the customer is asking for MAME :).

#3 Arcade games generally run on dedicated hardware, so it's not likely you'll be able to get your T2D game into an actual arcade machine version.

The best thing would be to build an arcade cabinet, put a PC in it, hook up a keyboard encoder and then play your game using arcade style joysticks and buttons. All you need to do for this to work is assign the extra functions in your game to add credits, start a 1P/2P game and map your game controls to the keyboard encoder.

Hey presto, one arcade-like game experience.

#4 Thanks for your kind replies.

I think you found very wise way to change your PC game to arcade. But I'm afraid that is somewhat
different from what my customer wants.

He wants tradditional one, which has coin hole, one or two sticks, 3~5 buttons, running night and day, receive many guests every day. In addition to that, it is not one or two game machine that he wants.
So, dumping the game into every game machine simultaneouly is necessary.

As I'm totally ignorant with this part, I'd like to know if it is possible for T2D to be transformed into
that kind of arcade machine. And if it is possible, please let me know how it is possible.

Thanks in advance.
Hong Jin

#5 Thanks Philip.

I think I have to find another way.

Thank you all.

Hong Jin

#6 I have no clue what the steps would be... though I know Torque has been used in arcade machines before... e-mail garage games Hong.

#7 You might also wish to check out this IOTD that talks about how Orbz was put into bona-fide arcade machines by leveraging a platform called FlexArcade by TLC Industries.

#8 @Matthew;
Thanks for your kind reply.

@Luke;
You always give me useful information. I deeply appreciate your kindness. With your advice, I sent an e-mail to TLC to get more information about this issue. When I get any progress, I'm going to post it here again.

Hong Jin

#9 From the video on their website, I became to know that their product is not so different from MAME.
I think I have to try more to find out if there is any solution.

Anyway, thank you all.

Hong Jin

#10 While it is true that FlexArcade is essentially a PC at the core of the arcade cabinet, from what I understood from the literature on their website the units are fully functional coin-operated video games to the consumer, intended for commercial arcade use. Is your customer looking for something specific beyond this capability that FlexArcade doesn't seem to support?

#11 In the GG break room they have an Orbz arcade machine :)

#12 At this moment, I think my customer wants the tradditional one. But I'm going to advise him of this kind of solution, which seems quite simple and cost effective. One thing I'm worrying about is that this solution can be a troublesome for him. You know people usually don't enjoy the changes.

I don't think making the cabinets for this kind of game here, in Korea, is so difficult. But anyway, he'll have to make whole new one. I wonder if he will chose this even though there are so many simple and ready-made products.

If he chose to import the cabinets from FlexArcade, he may lose the price merit. In addition to that, importing something is not a simple matter.

Still I think there is a possibility if the price merit is big enough. So, I'm waiting for the answer from FlexArcade. After getting their answer, I'll make a strategy.

Thank you all for your interest.

Hong Jin

#13 In Korea, I would think they use mostly the sit-down style arcade machines, that use the JAMMA standard?

The cost effective route would be to use a low-cost Small Form Factor PC, or mini-atx / micro-atx PC.. and use a pc 2 jamma adapter, maybe the J-PAC, http://www.ultimarc.com/jpac.html The cost of this setup will likely be much less than new arcade games, for example the current arcade shooter kit from Cave sells for around $2,300 USD new, that contains the game printed circuit board and all related artwork/stickers/instructions.

That way, you can interface the PC with the standard JAMMA connector found in all arcade games, the J-PAC uses a keyboard encoder and acts as if it was a keyboard, it should also eliminates the problem of having multiple keys held down at the same time.

The arcade machine would need to have a multisync monitor (15khz to 31khz), it would need to be able to display 640x480, similar to current arcade game hardware.

The PC would need to be setup to boot up and straight into the game software, I'm not sure what T2D's current status is for Linux (i'm a newbie :D) but I would assume if T2D worked on Linux that Linux would be the better solution rather than having it boot into windows!


All your connections are wired through the J-PAC, the JAMMA connector has the coin switches, player starts, 8-way joystick for player 1 and 2, and 3 buttons per player standard. It also has a Mono audio signal which you can route in on the J-PAC.
You would then need to plug the computer's VGA cable into whatever VGA input there is inside the cabinet (if it is 15khz - 31khz multisync).
The JAMMA connector has a video signal, but its for RGB+sync and only meant for 15khz standard resolution, which a normal PC won't display easily..

#14 If you're mentioning, Ultimarc, you might as well mention their custom video card which support arcade style reslutions and refresh rates. I haven't personally used one, but several people in the home-build arcade community do and apparently they're great :)

My only concern would be how much 3D horsepower it has. Last time I looked at it, it was based on an older ATI card which is fine for running MAME, but TGE/T2D could struggle.

#15 Dear Ezra,
You gave me really nice information. I appreciate it!

Dear Philip,
Thanks for your advice.

Few days ago, I had a meeting with my customer. I explained that PC based arcade game is getting popular and it has merits in price and flexibility. I think I have to give him some more information with your information.

Hong Jin

#16 Just for reference, there are also commercial companies that simply build you an arcade cabinet to spec. One company I know that does this uses a linux pc within the console itself, and there aren't any major issues regarding getting Torque games to work with it. Unless your customer has specific requirements to use a pre-existing, "standard" cabinet, there are plenty of options.

EDIT: Fixed spelling.

#17 Dear Stephen,

Thanks for your information.

Hong Jin