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The STAR FORCE PI - Electronic Tabletop Mini-Arcade


StarForcePilot

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Regardless of the possibility of derision, Keatah is right: it is great that emulation is more important and prevalent than ever. I don’t think that the corporate gaming landscape of the early 2000s was ever interested in porting old games to their modern system via a physical medium, because it wouldn’t be profitable to do so and there wasn’t enough time between modern hardware and oldschool systems for people to buy into the nostalgia scene that’s currently going on. But now that it has, interest in these games have surged and prices of cartridges & systems have increased. In parallel, more indiedevs are popping up to make 16-bit style games and bringing a great creativity to a forgotten genre. And I’d argue this is in part due to emulation platforms, allowing us common folk to explore system and games we know nothing of. A lot of these emulator teams are tiny as well, with community involvement to develop it further; it’s really a labor of love and should be acknowledged as such.

 

Also, it took me a long time to configure my emulation frontend to an acceptable level, and it still kinda sucks, so I think you would have to be an extremely naive gamer to think that emulated games play exactly as they did. And those who do think that, don’t matter, as they will play 1 or 2 games on the toilet, and forget about it.

For those companies exploiting the retrogaming hype, by ripping off code from small open teams and giving no acknowledgements (Hyperkin allegedly), that is absolutely reprehensible. And I’m guessing you were referring to the NeoGeoX with licensed emulation; that was the sole reason for me to build this. I thought if the company behind the original hardware can’t even be bothered to make their own games palatable, I’ll make my own goddamn device and do it right.

 

However, barring our different views, I agree with your last point: it’s close enough, but not perfect. If the gold standard of gaming is the original hardware, with original carts and peripherals on an appropriate TV/Monitor, then I’m striving for silver with STARFORCE PI.

 

BUT! Ideally, I would like this to become a platform for NEW 16-bit style games. This is why once we have hardware production going, and we make a little money on it, my share will go into 3rd party emulation support and new games. If we can get enough pledges, I’d even like to bundle the system with 1 original game. It doesn’t have to be exclusive to the SFP, but it does have to work perfectly on there.

 

But such is the dream J

 

 

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And I’m guessing you were referring to the NeoGeoX with licensed emulation; that was the sole reason for me to build this. I thought if the company behind the original hardware can’t even be bothered to make their own games palatable, I’ll make my own goddamn device and do it right.

 

Actually when I was writing it, I was aiming more firmly over nintendo's bow (Virtual Console) with my comments, but yeah, it fits neogeo x much better, as well as whole batch of licensed but utterly terrible ps2/psp/wii-era arcade collections.

 

You're on point with your comments, I can't really disagree with them. I know that emulation is everyone's future, but it's a real shame that the reasons for that have more to do with convenience than quality. Besides, geezers like me are always going to grump about something.

 

I probably should have held my tongue on my last post a bit better, since I don't feel much of it applies to your device, and maybe would have been better left to a general emu thread. IMO your form factor choice itself specifically gives you a HUGE pass on accuracy issues. For example, I can't even imagine frogger not playing about a million times more like the arcade on your device than the VFD units it is styled on. Not that the VFD versions don't have their own special charm sometimes, but they were trying their best (within budget) to replicate an experience that this device is a lot closer to.

Edited by Reaperman
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It allowed me to better explain the motivation behind the system, Reaperman, so your comment was excellent and much appreciated. A lively debate about this scene is just what I need to better focus the campaign and development of the console.

 

I’m loosely designing the system along the lines of Gameboy creator Gunpei Yokoi’s philosophy of Lateral Thinking of Withered Technology: ‘take mature technology which is cheap and well understood, and find new ways of using it. Toys and games do not necessarily require cutting edge technology: novel and fun gameplay are more important’. Hence the use of relatively cheap, replaceable, off-the-shelf components and building the case and arcade shield around it. And still, developing a device like this is crazy expensive, so I hope I can convince people to pledge money needed to bring this into reality.

 

We shall see, we’ll be announcing the Kickstarter date on 21st of October, so we can hopefully get Marty McFly’s endorsement :P In the meanwhile, we’ll bug people on twitter, techblogs, facebook and forums to pay attention, and hopefully we can get the word out there.

 

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You can have it playing in 4:3 on the 16:9 screen, you just need to adjust the software settings.

 

I would prefer a 4:3 screen, but I don't think it would make a difference in your design, since the size of a 4:3 screen that would fit is the same that you will get using a 16:9 with black bars on the sides. And, as you said, the ones that are cheap and readily available are wide.

 

And adjust the settings to display it in 4:3 when using the HDMI out too.

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Cheers for that, AverageDavid, we're thinking along the same lines. I commented on this on retrovideogamer.co.uk a few days ago, check it:

 

'The arcade controls are going to be good; they’re components that come straight from a full sized arcade cabinet, so it’s excellent, even in the first iteration of the SFP. With the video screen we have a problem: we can’t get a decent 4:3 ratio screen for our system for less than 50 euro, and that’s just too expensive. This ratio is just not popular anymore, so we have to be clever. Firstly, we’re going with a 16:9 screen that’s cheap, and configure the emulator suite we’re using right now (PiPlay) to 4:3 ratio, running at 320x240 resolution. The unused part of the screen will likely have some light bleed through, giving these distracting black bars on the side. I hate these. So we’ll cover them up with a 4:3 plastic window that sits on top of the screen. Secondly, the screen will be relatively deep behind the magnified window, and will be slightly tinted, so it deepens the black on the screen, without affecting the colors too much. The magnified, sunken effect also goes a long way with the arcade vibe, it’s really a nice feature that seems slight, but during gameplay is very enjoyable.'

 

Additionally, I'm building the screen mount in such a way, that users can open up the SFP and fix the screen into either vertical/tate or horizontal position, so topdown and side scrollers can be played in the correct orientation. Should be good!

 

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Edited by StarForcePilot
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Great. Being able to rotate is also great.

 

I can't stand playing with a distorted image, my eyes hurt when I see it, like in your videos.

But the black bars on the side are distracting to you, and you hate those, so different strokes for different folks.

 

Your heart is in the right place, and I am glad that you found a solution.

 

And the tinted window should work nice too.

 

Good luck with the project.

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Yeah, we're allowing boths options really, native configuration will be 4:3 as I described in previous post, but someone could take the 4:3 window off, flip a switch back to 16:9 if they want, it should be fairly flexible. I generally don't like ingame overlays like those, as it has the same luminosity as the game. If it's a physical sticker you place as a frame and gets ambient lighting it's fine, but otherwise it's a distractor. I'm gonna play Ghost 'n Ghoblins now, you inspired me :)

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Edit: Or is this just another case of my sarcasm meter being broken? I honestly have trouble when it comes to your many, many emulation posts.

 

..that's alright, I have trouble understanding myself from time to time. Everyone does.

 

 

Emulation has largely killed the proper porting of "classics" to modern hardware.

 

Emulation is the proper method of porting classics to modern hardware. Hardware of the 70's and 80's is very different than that of a modern console or PC. And you either need emulation or a rewrite/remake to experience those games.

 

Emulation started as a handy/free/illegal way for the common man to get a taste of many games at once, and is now about the only way to experience them.

 

Emulation is the only way the vast majority will be able to experience the arcade classics unless one re-creates an exact 80's arcade or spends loads of money and time traveling. The ability to recreate a classic arcade in all its faded glory can only be done by someone that was there and experienced it. The modern millenial generation is oblivious to the details of an 80's arcade and confuses modern "retro" with genuine "classic". There is the option of getting official arcade classic "packs" for modern consoles, and that solves the legal issue. They're not that expensive.

 

It's also taken over what's left of our arcades with its sub-standard experiences.

 

That's ok. The genuine 80's arcades died out before the turn of the century. Of the 16 (and counting) modern-day "retro" arcades I've visited in the past 3 years.. Each and every single one of them came up short of a genuine experience. There was something wrong in every one of them. Wrong music, wrong atmosphere, wrong colors, different lighting, in-operative games, cost, card-readers, no big-hair customers, no one was dressed 80's style. Modern day arcades emulate classic arcades at best. Modern day arcades are "retro", not "classic", not "vintage".

 

Worse, there's a whole generation that actually believes these emulated games play exactly as they did. And why wouldn't they believe it?--this garbage now comes officially licensed by the original manufacturer and is sold by the biggest gaming companies in the world. You'd hope somebody involved would have a standard or two, but I have come to suspect that as often as not, those involved have never played the real deal.

 

Well the material is coming from a millenial generation that wasn't around to experience the genuine article. What can you expect? But given the right homebuilt setup with the right configuration, emulation will get you "there". And with style, reliability, and convenience.

 

Having high standards is something more suited to vintage hobbyists, not gaming studios and corporations which are focused solely on numbers and profits. Just look at the amount of shitware and skinner games out there today.

 

People that enjoyed the arcade scene as it was being created in the 70's and 80's are not likely to be working in a corporate position that controls and dictates what gets made or how it gets made. We're off doing bigger and better things. So it's left to someone else that likely has no direct experience with the original arcades as they were.

 

What emulation does still provide is a 'close enough' for the average person with almost no effort at all. However its never really billed as an imperfect solution, and that's the heart of my problem with it.

 

It is very natural to overlook or downplay the disadvantages of something someone really likes.

 

Emulation is close enough and good enough, and gets better with time. There is no perfect solution outside of building a time machine and collecting the original arcade buildings or the original consoles and CRTs and bringing them forward to today. That's something that's just understood and common sense. Nothing is 100% perfect.

 

It's true that out of the box PC-based emulation needs a lot of setup and adjustments. You need to know basic computing skills like file management and location, and how to edit configuration files and all their umpteen billion options. To make matters worse, each emulator is different. And you have to have a good conceptual understanding of graphics card scaling and how it interacts with a PC's native resolution and the emulated game's resolution. You need to conceptually understand layers of software. You need to know how controllers work in Windows. And the same thing applies to sound effects. That's just the basics. There is a lot of effort if you want the final 5% so to speak.

 

It's like being a pilot. You need to understand aerodynamics and how your plane behaves in its medium throughout the flight envelope. And all the other details that go into making a cross-country commercial flight successful. But the pilot does not need to know the mathematics behind how the aircraft was designed. Leave that to the engineers and programmers. He also doesn't need to know the baggage logistics in the terminal or scheduling of the baggage handlers, just that they're doing their job and that X amount of cargo is on-board.

 

Console "classic packs" and all these hobbyist hardware projects are really great things. They ooze convenience and reliability and practicality. I'd rather buy a Zimba 3000 and a StarForce PI and a dedicated emulation PC than to even think about going back in time or hunting down modern arcade cabinets to play the classics. Been there, done that. Lost it all years ago.

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That's hell of a plea, Keatah, well put, but I think Reaperman came back on most of his statements after his original comment.

 

But I agree wholeheartedly, especially in terms of arcade gaming, emulation is the only way to preserve these system, not as some rotting old PCB at the Smithsonian, but played by a whole new generation of gamers that can see what an old-school 16-bit should play like, and is freely available by the community. That’s why we’re not going make a dime on classic games nor will we bundle them with the system, unless it’s specifically licensed to us. We’re dedicated to building solid hardware for a good arcade experience, and rather than building our own emulator suite, we’re going to support existing dedicated teams of emulator builders and frontends. The dream goal is new 16-bit style games: to convince developers to proof-run their retrogames on the STARFORCE PI before sending it off to the Mobile/PC platforms (where the money is). A couple thousand SFP gamers are hardly going to affect the bottom-line, but they will offer some great feedback on your game.

 

I think emulation will always fall short of the real experience unless you recreate every aspect of it. Not just a smooth running game with accurate sound, but the CRT monitor, the microswitch feedback, the speaker crunch, hell even the ambient lighting and the fact that you're standing in a loud, dark environment contributes to the nostalgic experience. I had an MVS when I was a bit younger that I picked up for a few hundred bucks and it stuck out like a sore thumb in my room, because the context was all wrong. So, that's why I modeled the STARFORCE PI on the electronic tabletop games of the 80s, rather than the actual arcade cabinet which most modders go for. I think it's sufficiently different to give a fresh experience to classic games. But, besides selling a fully-loaded system, we'll also be selling components, barebone system, upgrades and cases etc. So people that need to get closer to that final 5% can do so with their own configuration :)

Edited by StarForcePilot
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It certainly sucks to Play classic arcade games at home, without spending quarters, using your Controller of choice and with save states to practice those later Levels. Completely ruins the experience of waiting in line to Play your favorite game in a smoky noisy room.

 

Oh wait. Most places have no arcades anyway. You can wait in line for an imaginary one to open up in the mall nearest to your home.

 

I don't know man... Fall short of the real experience? you can have an Asteroids cabinet in prime condition in your home it won't be the "real" experience that much more than just playing it emulated. I don't know why People get so caught up in it not being identical. If the game is there it's there.

 

Never heard a chess Player complaining that playing with playtic pieces sucks, you Need the ivory and ebony feel to bring the game to life. I guess to each his own. If you personally don't like Emulation that's fine. But thinking People are missing out because Emulation exists? Sorry, I never ever saw most arcade games in the arcades. Now I can Play tons of them through Emulation (in "crappy" poorly emulated collections). This is keeping the games alive, and bringing them to more People. Yeah it's good to spread the word about wiality Emulation. It's nice to spread the word about the experiences an arcade can bring. Just blaming Emulation just won't help with either.

 

If the alternative was to have an arcade in town, with a ton of classic games I'd be all for it. That's not the alternative. It's mostly Play emulated or Play nothing. There you go.

 

And about the "porting to new systems". You really think at this Point companies like CAPCOM would go through the Trouble? If they can easily emulate the games, slap them in a collection for barely any cost and make a quick buck they'll do it. If they have to invest some Money you can just Forget it. Not to mention the ton of companies that aren't even around anymore.

 

Now for the System at Hand, I think if you start from scratch you can make something much more functional, keeping or even improving the portability. I think it would be more expensive (how much does a 7" LCD cost?). But in the end nicer to Play games on... I mean somehting in the lines of: make a nice arcade stick, put a Screen on it. You have space for the Pi in there without any extra work. Done. But that's just me. As you can see from my views on Emulation, I just want stuff to be functional and cheap. I don give a toss about things looking Retro.

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Btw, Kevtris' upcoming Zimba 3000 is in a whole other league than the STARFORCE PI, from the descriptions I’ve read it’s a very impressive adaptable console based around the much debated Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA) over on the RetroVGS threads.

 

 

We're however going for pragmatic, fun, all-in-one system that is mostly off-the-shelf components which are robust and easily replaceable. The enclosure and arcade shield (interface between RasPi/Video/Audio/Controls/Power/etc.) are the only proprietary components we will develop. But I’m also buying a Zimba 3000 if it ever comes out, especially if he’s going to add a NeoGeo core to it :)

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The price point for a STARFORCE PI is firmly at 199 euro, which equates to about 220-225 US dollar, and 145-149 British pounds, depending on the exchange.

 

I would have liked to make it a little bit cheaper, but developing & producing injection molding tools and arcade shield PCBs from the ground up is damn expensive :/ Not to mention adding a decent sound amp & speakers, the microswitch controls, a RasPi, the videoscreen, battery, adapter, then 8% goes to Kickstarter, some money also goes to the European WEEE Directive, EMC certification and CE testing. Finally we need to add assembly and testing, so there's a lot of stuff going on before you get a device. I will outline these costs on the website and kickstarter though, so people can have a clear perspective on development cost of such a console. Hartmut has some contacts with a tooling company that's giving us a deal, and he's building and designing the PCB assembly himself, and I've built 3 SFPs to see if we can have a solid working prototype to present, which you saw in the videos, so that all saves a bit of money. But we'll probably not make money on this for a long time :P And that's cool, we all have dayjobs, we're not in it for any immediate return, we just like the idea of creating an awesome gameconsole :)

Edited by StarForcePilot
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I can see having one of these Star Force PI's sitting on my lab bench playing while waiting for something to finish. Or even using it to spread the word about classic gaming itself. It's in a rather cute case. I also hate to say it, but I don't see developers buying it to test their games with the intent of porting to a contemporary tablet and smartphone. The controls are rather different. Physical vs. Touch. And it is best to test on the target platform anyways.

 

And I never felt I was taking defensive or "re-education" posture when debating each point, rather more of a clarification and just plain ol' discussion.

 

To debate this point..

 

I know that emulation is everyone's future, but it's a real shame that the reasons for that have more to do with convenience than quality. Besides, geezers like me are always going to grump about something.

 

..I will use a snippet from an older post I made:

For fun I planned a hypothetical road trip to play 20 of my favorite arcade games(1)(2).

 

The route plan came out to be 1350 miles round trip and visiting 6 arcades scattered across the corners of 4 mid-Western states. Closer to 1500 if I used my EV and went "off-route" to utilize the charging stations. And there'd be no telling if the games were in good condition and had nicely-adjusted monitors and precise working controls. Fight the weather, the traffic, the spells of boredom while driving. The time, money eating out at fast food, hotel fees, potentially waiting in line, planning around their hours of operation and my work schedule. Dragging the wife with. IT'S * JUST * TOO * MUCH! Too much work for a small amount of time with the games. Wholly impractical and beyond tedious.

 

This is where emulation absolutely outshines any other solution. And while seemingly borne out of convenience, consider this. Emulation brings the classic games we grew up with to new form factors and environments.

 

But everyone has to do their part. The programmers trying to make everything work right and look good. The hardware makers trying to make everything fast and reliable. The end user building and configuring a custom configuration.

 

When those three things come together in synergy you will have a quality experience. The experience will be different than the 80's arcade. Definitely. And if you haven't fallen down a rabbit hole full of that nostalgia crap it will be a superior experience.

 

 

(1)

Games I enjoyed at 2 huge all-inclusive arcades in the 1980's. Just two arcades mind you! Both were within 10 or so miles of each other. Sometimes I would visit both depending if we could get rides from parents and grandparents. They were just out of range of BMX. But minutes away by car.

 

(2)

Assault
Gyruss
Tempest
Missile Command
Defender
Tac/Scan
Zaxxon
Road Blasters
I,Robot
Liberator
Timepilot
Discs of Tron
Star Jacker
Blasteroids
Sprint 2
Lunar Lander
Moon Patrol
S.T.U.N. Runner
Time Pilot '84
Asteroids

Earth Friend Mission (lost proto)

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The price point for a STARFORCE PI is firmly at 199 euro, which equates to about 220-225 US dollar, and 145-149 British pounds, depending on the exchange.

 

I would have liked to make it a little bit cheaper, but developing & producing injection molding tools and arcade shield PCBs from the ground up is damn expensive :/ Not to mention adding a decent sound amp & speakers, the microswitch controls, a RasPi, the videoscreen, battery, adapter, then 8% goes to Kickstarter, some money also goes to the European WEEE Directive, EMC certification and CE testing. Finally we need to add assembly and testing, so there's a lot of stuff going on before you get a device. I will outline these costs on the website and kickstarter though, so people can have a clear perspective on development cost of such a console. Hartmut has some contacts with a tooling company that's giving us a deal, and he's building and designing the PCB assembly himself, and I've built 3 SFPs to see if we can have a solid working prototype to present, which you saw in the videos, so that all saves a bit of money. But we'll probably not make money on this for a long time :P And that's cool, we all have dayjobs, we're not in it for any immediate return, we just like the idea of creating an awesome gameconsole :)

 

That's expensive, but if I do some quick math in my head, the numbers make pretty good sense.

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That's hell of a plea, Keatah, well put, but I think Reaperman came back on most of his statements after his original comment.

 

 

Not came back on really. Emulation's never been my thing, but I really don't want to spend my time ragging on it in your thread (and regret starting down that path) because even with the technologies in play, the star force pi is far superior to any other mini arcade I've previously seen. I also can't image that the future will see many more commercially-available devices near this quality in that form factor. It's a project well worth praising, even if I'm not fully in the target market.

 

I'm also slightly too young to have experienced real arcades in their prime, which may be why home arcading doesn't feel wrong to me. Most of my experiences revolved around playing alone at the one or two machines that lived at every single store, hotel, and restaurant in the decade or so after the crash. Remaining dedicated arcade locations had largely become dark, smelly places that the 'wrong crowd' sold drugs out of by that time. Sounds like you got rid of it, but I also went for a home MVS--the first time I played one was an AOF at a truck stop we went to for lunch while on a field trip when I was in middle school. Ah memories.

Edited by Reaperman
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There's no right or wrong with home arcading vs. arcade arcading. It really comes down to what you enjoy now today. I did the arcade scene in the 70's and 80's. And I think the 70's had more druggies than the 80's.

 

I remember going to an Aladdin's castle and playing Sprint 2 when it first came out in 1976. And the place was full of shooters and pill poppers. I remember them hoisting me up so I could see the screen and at least pretend to play.

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I really think post #38 covers a lot of specifics that are hangups and pantie twisters for die-hard crowd. Get over it! Embrace new and convenient form factors like this mini-Arcade. Soon enough that's going be the only way to play the classics.

Edited by Keatah
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Well, whether you’re a proponent of original hardware or emulation, I hope that I can make something that’s fun and affordable. Something that, if you’d find it under the Xmas tree and open it up, you flip out with excitement :P There are cheaper solutions (AtGames, GCWZero, NeoGeoX) and there are more expensive solutions (NeoGeoAES, OpenPandora, BartopMods); I’m going for something in between pricewise, a little different and hopefully a lotta fun.

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Absolutely, in fact the entire system will be developed around a plug-click-or-screw assembly, meaning that users can replace and upgrade virtually any part of the console with just a screwdriver. I want to make it as painless and modular possible. This is why we'll also sell barebone systems (no RasPi, no battery, so this already knocks off 40-50 euro from the price) and empty cases, so people have the option to build their own system.

Edited by StarForcePilot
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