PROJECT N 39 The Arcade Machine Andrew Hunter Russell, Niclás Martínez-Valer Eurpean Schl Frankfurt am Main Praunheimer Weg 126, 60439 Frankfurt am Main, Germany S6 EN Abstract Key wrds: Arcade, Raspberry pi, entertainment, pythn, Wdwrk. During the curse f the six mnths leading up t the Science Sympsium we have invested a great deal f time and resurces int cnstructing a tabletp arcade machine, t resemble the ld game statins which were ppular in the 80 s. We built the fundatins f this prject n a raspberry pi single-bard cmputer running the RetrPie perating system. In additin t making the hardware f the arcade, we decided it wuld be apprpriate t prgram a game, t then be able t play n ur arcade making it unique. The game relates the stry f a firefighter saving children frm a burning building, while ddging fires. We prgrammed the game using pythn-pygame. Additinally, we handcut, carved and painted each individual part fr the casing and put it tgether using screws. Our intentins with this prject are: t have created smething fun and entertaining frm a cllectin f lse parts, with ur wn bare hands; t bring back this entertainment system which has been almst frgtten and replaced by mdern cnsles; mrever, we chse t d this prject t challenge urselves and because we fund it interesting nt wanting it t simply be smething that must be cmpleted in rder t gain access t the science sympsium. 1
1. Intrductin The wrld s entertainment industry has drastically changed ver the curse f the last fur decades. The entertainment systems have evlved t becme devices with better graphics, mre intricate games and mre cmplex cntrls. But gamers are starting t frget the rts f their passin. The arcade machines. Thse tw meters tall machines, that were interactive with the player, equipped with guns, small vehicles, micrphnes r just simple jysticks. These were nt cmmn in huses, therefre, they created a scializing cmmunity f which the members had t g utside their huse and meet ther peple t enjy a few games. This feeling f human interactin between gamers has perished. And we want t bring that back by making, with ur bare hands, a tp table mdel f a retr arcade machine. Furthermre, we want t mix the cncept f an ld entertainment machine with sme mdern designs. 2. Material Large Wd planks: Tw 600x800mm wd planks used t d the sides. (We are srry but we frgt t take a picture f the large wd planks befre we cut them, they lk the same as the small nes but 20cm wider and lnger) Small Wden planks: Three 400x600mm Wden planks t build the remaining parts: Base, Back, Tp, Frnt Raspberry Pi B: This is a fully prgrammable single-bard cmputer the size f a credit card. Fr the purpse f this prject it is running the RetrPie perating system which is built upn the Raspian OS. 4 GB SD Card: Cnnected t the Raspberry Pi. It cntains ur game and retrpie. Sny screen: The square screen is used as a display, held in place by fur wden triangles at the crners. 2
Pwer Cable: Tw pwer cables; ne fr the screen and ne fr the Raspberry Pi. Buttns and jystick: This includes eight circular red buttns and ne red ball jystick., they cme with wires t cnnect them t the encder. Encder: The Encder is a device that lets us cnnect the buttns and jystick t the Raspberry pi. Its functin is t decde the signals sent frm the buttns r jystick and cnverts it int a frmat that is cmpatible with the RetrPie (the OS we installed) HDMI cable: Cnnecting the Raspberry Pi t the screen. 3
HDMI t VGA cnverter: The Raspberry Pi s utput is HDMI whilst the screen s input cnnectr is VGA. Remte cntrl LED: Set f LEDS which cme with a remte cntrller that allws yu t change clurs. Extensin Cable: An extensin cable that will be inside the Arcade machine t be able t plug the whle system int ne scket. 4
AAA Batteries: The LEDS wrk with three triple A batteries. 18mm screws: Used t hld the pieces f wd tgether. Metal crners: Eight metal crners with hles fr screws t make easier the junctin between the planks. 5
Wd paste: Paste that has the appearance f wd t fill the imperfectins the wd might have. Ht Glue: T jin sme parts that might nt be pssible t hld tgether with screws. Spray Paint: Bth matt black and bright green. Used t paint the case f the arcade and decrate it with sme stencils. 6
3. Methds Case: I. We started by measuring the screen. We did this t be able t calculate the measurements f the frnt panel. II. With the measurements f the frnt panel ready, we hand sawed it and tk it as a pint f reference t calculate the rest f the measurements f the arcade. We did this because, if the frnt panel is 40cm wide, that means the base has t be 40cm wide, and s will all the ther pieces. III. After, we decided that 45cm was just right fr the length f the base. After hand cutting the base, we sat dwn and started ding the first sketches f ur plans fr the sizes f the case f the arcade. IV. At first we measured and sawed the jystick panel and the supprt panel. And afterwards we measured the diameter f the buttns and we cut the hles fr the jystick and the buttns. V. Afterwards, we had sme truble with deciding what the measurements f the sides wuld be, as we wanted a specific angle between the screen and the jystick panel (arund 110 degrees), plus we wanted t shape the tp f the case in a really cmplicated way. Calculating the measurements fr the angle between the back and the tp, the length f the sides and the angle between the tp inclined plane and the frnt plane was s cmplicated that we decided t change the design, making the tp hrizntal, the same way we did the bttm. VI. After cutting all the different pieces, we spray painted them with matt black and bright green designs. VII. We screwed and glued all the pieces tgether, using the metal crners. VIII. Finally we gave it a final spray t cver all the glue and the wden paste. Electrnics: I. We installed the OS RetrPie nt the micr SD card, which we then plugged in ur Raspbery Pi and als dwnlad sme games frm the frum webpage f pygame. II. III. IV. We cnnected the buttns t the encder which we then cnnected t the Raspberry Pi. After having dne s, we set the cmmands we wanted the buttns and jystick t execute. Cnnected the Raspberry Pi t the screen and tried it ut. We placed all the electrnic parts n their respective places inside the case and finished munting it. 7
4. Results Befre we started cutting and building each individual part f the Arcade we planned the measurements at length. There were fur majr steps in planning the measurements. First f all we had the preliminary stage where we made a rugh sketch f the arcade. With this sketch we estimated rughly hw much wd we need t buy. The secnd Stage was where we decided what measurements t use fr each individual piece. We decided this first set f measurements by deciding the prprtins that the sides had t each ther. We als decided the angles at which the panel with the jystick and buttns wuld sit at. Furthermre we measure all f the pieces that needed t sit ut f the wd accurately fr example the width and height f the mnitr and the diameter f the buttns. 8
The third stage was checking that these measurements made sense and that they wuld lk gd nce we started cutting the wd. T check these measurements we used a variety f different methds fr example: we used Pythagras and Trignmetry t calculate the length we wuld need t cut t make the angle f the desired size; we used scaled dwn sketches t make sure that the sizes were in agreement with each ther, s that ne side wuld nt end up larger than the ther; and we measured the wd and placed the uncut planks t frm the rugh shape f the casing. 9
The final step was crrecting the mistakes we had made in the previus plan. There was nly ne thing that we had miscalculated and that was that we had nt prperly dne the calculatin fr hw far we wuld need t cut t make the angle shw up the way we wanted t. 10
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Exact Measurements: Base: 400mm x 450mm Panel Supprt: 400mm x 70mm Jystick Panel: 400mm x 180mm 12
Screen panel: 400mm x 440mm Tp inclined panel: 400mm x 180mm Tp separatr: 400mm x 40mm Tp: 400mm x 450mm Back: 400mm x 760mm Sides: 450mm x 760mm (as this is nt a rectangle these measurements d nt fully apply) During the making f the sftware we encuntered sme prblems. The cllisins in the game did nt wrk prperly due t the fact that we had made sme miscalculatins in the placing f the blcks. We then had t g back and crrect ur errr frcing us t red the cnsequent calculatins. We had truble installing Pythn pygame nt the cmputer fr the prgramming but nce we deleted all the previusly dwnladed files and tried again it wrked withut further truble. 5. Discussin All in all we believe t have achieved the riginal gal f ur prject, which was t build a fully functinal arcade machine that resembles the nes used in 1980s in game halls. During the curse f the prject we realized that there are a few things we culd have dne better. The first thing we thught culd be dne better was that we culd have invested in an electric saw. The purchase r rental f an electric saw wuld have facilitated the prcess f cutting the wd. Nt nly wuld it have sped up the prcess but the lines wuld have been mre accurate meaning we wuld nt need t fill the gaps f where the wd is nt cut directly n the line. In additin prgramming ur game n Pythn was a challenge; therefre it tk lnger than we had hped. T prgress better we shuld have had a better and deeper understanding f Pythn prgramming language. 6. Cnclusin In cnclusin the prject was a success. We built a fully functining arcade machine that is cntrlled by a jystick and six buttns. We managed all f this staying under ur spending budget f 150 Eurs 13
7. Acknwledgements Mr. Carr - Mr. Carr was very helpful and always at ur dispsal fr any questins we had, answering every ne f them t the best f his abilities, when he did nt knw the answer himself he wuld either ask smene wh knew r he wuld put us int cntact with smene wh knew hw t answer ur questins. He als allwed us t use sme time in ur chemistry labratry lessns t wrk n ur prject. He als helped us with a few prblems we had n making the hles fr the buttns. Frau Köhl - Frau Köhl helped us with the verall structure f the science sympsium. She tld us everything we needed t knw abut the event and its rules. Alejandr Martinez-Valer - He taught us hw t use pythn and helped us when we had prblems prgramming the game with pythn. He is studying an Infrmatics and knws Pythn very well. We cnsulted him in mments f need. Alfred Cruz Helped us cutting ne f the sides and spray painting sme f the pieces. 8. References Retrpie Dwnlad site: https://retrpie.rg.uk/ Accessed: Octber 2016 Help site fr setup: https://github.cm/retrpie Accessed multiple time Octber Nvember 2016 14