Conceptual Doom arcade cabinet

[Blastfrog]

Alright, so an idea popped into my head for how a full immersion, full situational awareness and full control arcade cabinet could be set up for Doom.

The idea is that you have 4 CRTs; the front one being the normal view (in fullscreen with no HUD), the left and right acting like the multi-monitor setup that vanilla supported, and the top showing your statusbar and automap. There would be speakers between the top and left/right monitors. The controls would be setup to remain "traditional" (primary controls are like tank controls) yet allow for full freedom without compromise. The trackball is obviously analog, but so would the foot pedals be.

Thoughts?

[dew]

...a trackball. Is this supposed to immerse me in Doom, or in Doomguy Drives a Forklift?

[Maes]

dew said:

...a trackball. Is this supposed to immerse me in Doom, or in Doomguy Drives a Forklift?

Well, after all, as we all know, Doomguy's movements are pretty similar to those of a ground vehicle such as a hovercraft ;-)

IMO, Doomguy would be controlled excellently with a control scheme similar to the one used in Tokyo Wars:



One rudder, one pedal for moving forward, one for backpedaling. Fire, action and strafe controls on the rudder itself, as paddles, plus direct weapon choice buttons.

Even better, would be a traditional tank/tracked vehicle control scheme with two levers: they can be moved back and forward independently for fwd, backp. and turning, while strafing could be accomplished by having them move sideways (in that case, they movement would be locked, so that you can't move one to the left and one to the right). Fire and use controls on both levers, weapon changes with either an additional button or a direct choice keypad (better yet, one that lights up when a particular weapon is available).

Doomguy: hovertank edition.

[mouldy]

I can't imagine a Doom arcade cabinet without a plastic shotgun you can point at the screen. The movement might be tricky with that though..

[Maes]

mouldy said:

I can't imagine a Doom arcade cabinet without a plastic shotgun you can point at the screen. The movement might be tricky with that though..

Then you'd have to turn the game into a rail shooter, or else try one of the many awkward "VR" control schemes like walking platforms, putting walking controls on the shotgun itself, etc. (yup, I've seen that in a "VR" arcade game that had, among others, Doom and DN3, though only playable for 5 minutes, through VERY dumbed down controls). Meh.

I'd rather have vehicle-like controls then fucking up Doom with any of that crap. Incidentally, it might even be funnier that way. An arcade game where you can do drive-by shooting of monsters from Hell at full speed and stop on a dime?! That shit would be the motherfucking ass!

[Jaxxoon R]

Had better look like a hideous fusion of flesh and steel.

That'd surely draw some eyes.

[Blastfrog]

Alright, I suppose think of this less as an arcade machine and more of a dedicated fully self-contained Doom machine regardless of place/setting. My idea was that this would be for long play sessions.

dew said:

...a trackball. Is this supposed to immerse me in Doom, or in Doomguy Drives a Forklift?

It's supposed to be a stand-in for a mouse. Would it really make sense to have a mouse on an arcade machine where it could easily be ripped out? If the cord was strong enough it would become too cumbersome to use. And an analog joystick would arguably be too inaccurate for aiming.

The reason I have redundant attack/use buttons is for the sake of ambidexterity, thus the symmetrical design.

Maes said:

Then you'd have to turn the game into a rail shooter, or else try one of the many awkward "VR" control schemes like walking platforms, putting walking controls on the shotgun itself, etc. (yup, I've seen that in a "VR" arcade game that had, among others, Doom and DN3, though only playable for 5 minutes, through VERY dumbed down controls). Meh.

This. While Doom is an FPS, light gun controls are not even remotely appropriate.

Jaxxoon R said:

Had better look like a hideous fusion of flesh and steel.

If such a machine were to be made, I agree that it should be fittingly decorated.

[Nevanos]

I can't help but think if Doom were ever to be an arcade game, it would be like Time Crisis, House of the Dead or something like that - additionally with some jump scares and shit.

[dew]

Sodaholic said:

It's supposed to be a stand-in for a mouse. Would it really make sense to have a mouse on an arcade machine where it could easily be ripped out? If the cord was strong enough it would become too cumbersome to use. And an analog joystick would arguably be too inaccurate for aiming.

Trackball is one of the most awkward input devices I've used in my life and it's no wonder they almost died out. Anything played on trackball sucks, even Solitaire.

[Blastfrog]

Really, I was more interested in hearing what people thought of the dedicated 4 monitor setup specialized for Doom than anything to do with turning Doom into Timecop or House of the Dead.

dew said:

Trackball is one of the most awkward input devices I've used in my life and it's no wonder they almost died out. Anything played on trackball sucks, even Solitaire.

What?? What about Missile Command or Centipede? Even something like SegaSonic Arcade.

Trackballs aren't bad, you're bad at using them. I use this thing all the time and don't have any trouble with it:



Games are just fine. I can play any modern FPS just fine with it, and I can play Doom with one hand using the traditional mouse control scheme and eat a sandwich with the other.

Nevan said:

I can't help but think if Doom were ever to be an arcade game, it would be like Time Crisis, House of the Dead or something like that - additionally with some jump scares and shit.

I was more interested in talking about the control scheme and especially the 4 monitor setup than any game design.

Though if we're gonna talk game design, I'd have it be a co-op game on Ultra Violence with XBLA rules (same as vanilla except that all players get keys). On a point-by-point basis:

*Lives system, start with 3
*Picking up a soulsphere is a 1-up
*Picking up a megasphere is a 2-up
*Each credit is a continue if you get game over
*Respawn when you die instead of restarting the map
*Retain keys after death
*All players globally share keys
*Each monster killed is adds 10x as many hitpoints they had to score
*Bonus item pickups (and maybe others) add to score.

[plums]

I use a trackball. I like it. Maybe if I were a better Doom player it would limit my abilities, but at the level that I play at, it doesn't.

I know they're not for everyone though.

edit: Soda that's exactly the one I've got! High-five!

Anyhow I don't think Doom translates well to an arcade setting for many reasons, including controls. It would be cool to see and all, but I think it would need a bit of a change in gameplay to accommodate different controls, or vice versa. I think dual joysticks would be better, or joystick + toy gun that's light enough to use with one hand.

[Nevanos]

Sodaholic said:

Really, I was more interested in hearing what people thought of the dedicated 4 monitor setup specialized for Doom than anything to do with turning Doom into Timecop or House of the Dead.

Ah fair enough, though the thought of a 4 player monitor idea I feel is a pretty interesting concept actually. Can't remember what arcade games had that setup as of now but it would make for an interesting attraction of players, especially for the old-school types.

I felt the trackball was a call type of controller, but I understand why it died out. Games like SegaSonic the Hedgehog which I have played worked well I feel, since you have a to move in all 8 directions which is cool. I do agree a trackball would be awkward and would take time to get the control as accurate as possible, but I don't see why not though.

[spicyjack]

It's actually sort of already been done before, in the Ultimart....









For those of you scratching your head, the movie is Grosse Point Blank (Wikipedia) with John Cusack, Dan Aykroyd, and Minnie Driver.

[Clonehunter]

Huh, I wonder if that prop is still in a warehouse somewhere now, or if it was destroyed/rebranded for a different set.

[Blastfrog]

spicyjack said:

It's actually sort of already been done before, in the Ultimart....

The Ultimart Doom?

...please shoot me.

[Maes]

Sodaholic said:

It's supposed to be a stand-in for a mouse

I can see the logic, but it's obvious it would quite work as intended, especially since you seem to imply that it would also control fwd/back movement. Doomguy doesn't need fine-grained, smooth control allowing small precise movements, he needs to be able to stop on a dime and them accelerate backwards at full speed, while strafing and spinning like crazy. Doom ain't no helicopter sim (though you can play it with a flight sim stick, with some mappings being remarkably similar).

That's the problem if you are used with WASD + mouse or even the standard keyboard: every other console scheme feels like a handicap on the player.

[Doomkid]

Hmm, I think your ideas are great Soda, but I went in with a totally different layout to yours.

Two flight joysticks for either hand.

• Left stick moves forward/backward and strafes, right stick turns (and looks up and down in Zdoom and such).
  
  
• Thumb button on the right joystick opens doors, trigger shoots. Thumb button on left joystick scrolls through guns, trigger could jump (if needed) or could scroll the other way through the weapons.
  
  
• Other buttons could be added for the map, changing screen size etc. on the actual arcade panel, since you usually have time to relax when setting these functions.

Considering it's just a "big version" of the typical 360/playstation FPS scheme, I think it'd be smooth as can be - no need for gas pedals either, just flight sticks! The average FPS loving n00b such as myself can jump right in and play.

As mentioned, I find it funny that Doomguy controls most naturally with a vehicle-like setup. He certainly is fast enough!

[Maes]

Well, at that point we might as well just integrate a hoverscooter seat into the cabinet ;-)

[Doomkid]

I'm all for that idea. All the more authentic!

MOVE OVER OCULUS.

[kb1]

The cabinet should have a chair fastened to it, and the whole cabinet should spin 360 degrees, with the scene on the monitor following the cabinet. Optionally, with 3-d stereoscope vision, and stereo sound. I think a joystick would support this feel quite well. That would be massively immersive.

[molehill]

I think I read somewhere that a -really good- speedrunner (I think it was stx-vile) used a trackball to record their demos. It certainly made me consider using one!

[Technician]

dew said:

Trackball is one of the most awkward input devices I've used in my life and it's no wonder they almost died out. Anything played on trackball sucks, even Solitaire.

I love trackballs. When I was in the studio the trackball on the console was the smoothest device I've used on a computer. Once you get the hang of it, it's great. I can't attest to using it on a video game, mind you.