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The STAR FORCE PI - Electronic Tabletop Mini-Arcade


StarForcePilot

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@vcoleiro1: It's a difficult one, I kept the name and general shape in the 3D mockups as an hommage to their cool little 80s system, and referencing their device as the shell of the prototype, but I agree we may enter in a bit of scary legislative waters. Unfortunately, with emulation we're already pretty much deep in this grey area. For now the internal spacing dictates the eventual outer shape, and this may broaden, and tweak a little the shape, but I hoped to keep within the realm of an actual 1980s shape.

 

@Keatah: definately, but only if all else fails. I still would like this as a plug-and-play console that's ready to go, but failing that, we could develop it as a kit. But, even that isn't very cheap to develop, especially with the case.

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Cheers! It's a little tricky, and there was quite a bit of trial and error, but if you have some basic skills anyone could build this with a little bit of patience. The sad part is that you'd have to sacrifice a casing of a pretty rare 1980s tabletop game, and with the injection molding design we described in the mockup and kickstarter we can make as many as we want, and all the components would fit without much fuss. The idea is that if you know how to build something in LEGO, you can build a SFP.

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Only 3 Days Left! So with that in mind, I made a small bit of blatant advertisement for the SFP, with the SFP Backer Magazine. Enjoy!

 

 

 

You should seriously be working on the prototype idea instead of making adverstisement material for the case. Get some stiff cardboard, or some plexi. Some metal. I don't even care what you use. Just get your measurements down and figure out what the System will actually look like before put any effort in anything else.

 

There are actually short shaft arcade sticks out there (zippy) that might work for you. You could also take a look at the picade stuff, they have the boards ready and they don't seem to be expensive at all, at least for a Version that won't use a battery that might actually bring your cost down. And I think most realystic People don't even want to have a battery in this Thing.

The raspi Zero might be a godsent for your project. It's even smaller, much cheaper and runs on even less power. Of course Emulation is slower, but I guess it still does Neo Geo? maybe it's worth taking a look at how well it does 16 bit Emulation. If it does it competently. this should be a great bet. Will require some soldering, but you'll save a ton. No battery, the picade board and a pi Zero should shave of some 70 bucks out of the System. and if the zippy arcade stick is any good might actually help with your dimentions.

 

It would just be so nice to see you actually design this Thing from scratch. I can't believe playing through this magnifying glass is any fun. I am pretty sure that's one of the aspects of oldschool gaming we don't Need back. And in the end it's just unecessary cost for your System. How much more does a slightly larger Screen cost? Not to mention this would save you space to use for more useful features.

 

You could reduce all the bulk of the Brains part, and enlarge the platform for the controlls, maybe even having a neo geo like button layout, or even 6 Buttons layout, without sacrificing the Overall portability of the System by much once you sabe a ton of space and cost in other Areas.

 

You can actually have this be anyway you want. You're making the moulds from scratch. Why would you let an old design that has nothing to do with your new Project define the egonomics and logic of a new Emulation platform?

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And so we finish our Kickstarter campaign with a phenomenal 49.000 euro backing from 171 awesome individuals! Unfortunately, our funding goal of 190k was not met, so this iteration of the STARFORCE PI project is over, and we look forward to bringing a reimagined production plan to you next year! One thing is clear, there is a huge support for our little device, and with the increased visibility and international interest, from consumers and retailers, I'm sure we'll do well in a second round geared towards a smaller production volume. Check the blog for a little more information on this -> https://starforcepi.wordpress.com/2015/12/13/game-over-continue/


Thanks for your feedback and interactions here, and we'll open a new thread when we have a new plan.


Cheers!

Marcel


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Edited by StarForcePilot
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  • 2 weeks later...
  • 3 months later...

A few months further, but we're still working hard on getting a small-volume STARFORCE PI made for pre-order, in a limited release (50-100 units). In the meanwhile I've been working on the STARFORCE NEO All-in-One System, and just finished it!

 

Read more on this on a dedicated thread here: http://atariage.com/forums/topic/251485-the-starforce-neo-smallest-all-in-one-neogeo-mvs-system/

And read more on the detail on my blog here: https://starforcepi.wordpress.com/2016/04/10/the-starforce-neo-a-neo-geo-mini-videogame-system/

 

Cheers!

 

Marcel

SFP Development Team

 

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  • 4 weeks later...

Definately, that's why with building your own system you can spread the potentially crippling cost over several months and delude yourself into thinking it's not that expensive... until you tally the cost at the end :P But in the end, it's very satisfying though.

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BTW, if you want to write star force in japanese you should enlongate the vowels with a - sutaa foosu. I don't have japanese fonts installed, but just search for star wars japanese and adapt to star force, it's pretty similar.

 

Just tested google translate and it works well. You can use that too. Just write with capital letters beginning each word so it recognizes as a name, otherwise you'll get kanji that you don't want. "Star Force" will give you what you want.

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Yeah, someone pointed it out on Youtube as well, it's okey though, I'm not using the Japanese word for it for the Pi version, was just aesthetically better for a quick Neo logo (the dashes in スターフォース made it too long to incorperate nicely).

 

Cheers anyway :) Also, Here’s a little walkthrough of the STARFORCE NEO system in comparison with the STARFORCE PI, side-by-side:

 

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We're still pretty entrenched in the development stage of things, it moves a little slow due to the budget restraints and skeleton crew, but we're making headway! Check out the latest update on what will be part of the STARFORCE PI small volume production batch:

 

 

We’re adding a big videoscreen upgrade to the STARFORCE PI, from 4.2 inch 16:9 aspect ratio at 320×240 resolution, to a vivid 5 inch 4:3 aspect ratio screen with 640×480 resolution. Also, we’re adding Switchable Button Plates so users can customize their own button configuration, supporting up to 6x Arcade Buttons. These upgrades are a direct result of community feedback, so cheers everyone!

 

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Edited by StarForcePilot
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  • 4 weeks later...

Finding Fresnel & Tate - Check our new blog entry on Arcade Magnification and Tate Mode for the SFP!:


https://starforcepi.wordpress.com/2016/06/11/finding-fresnel-tate/


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UPDATE 22/06/2016


Looks like Magnification is back on the menu, boys! I found a very good lens grinder in China that can cut 2mm acrylic fresnel lenses to size and in volume! I’ll install one into the SFP this week and check the effects, he sent me 3 samples with different focal lengths, so now I’ll check which ones work the best and show you the result!


20160622_084453.jpg

Edited by StarForcePilot
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  • 2 weeks later...

Feedback matters, and listening benefits us greatly.

 

The fresnel lens window was something that I had all but abandoned in the last SFP video, but via Facebook and Youtube people really encouraged me to find another solution, and so here we are with a really awesome huge screen, covering almost the entire window! It's also made me revisit the Arcade Shield (the connectivity board between the RasPi and controls/power/video/etc) to jam more arcade-true features into it. A video comparing the latest SFP videoplayback and emulation with the SFNeo is on its way, but for the time being: check out the significant video playback upgrade in pictures.

 

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I know it's slow-going, sorry for that, we're all working full-time jobs and have families. We want to make sure we get all the important parts right and have very clear production agreements before we take pre-orders. This particular unit is being shipped to the production company in Serbia we're working with for a design update and a new rough CAD design which will be used for the production estimate. Once we have this final estimate, we will calculate the per-unit production price, negotiate contracts with vendors and start the pre-order campaign.

Edited by StarForcePilot
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  • 2 weeks later...

This thing is looking so sick, I would love to put one on my desk at work. Surely my manager wouldn't mind that at all.

 

I think you'd have to chain it to you desk :P

 

In the meanwhile, I made a video showing arcade games from Konami, Capcom and SNK on this device, and I'll do a later video featuring console gaming, HDMI out and gamepads connected. Enjoy!

 

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After the top video featuring Arcade-only Games, we cover Console Gaming on the STARFORCE PI! With 23 games from different consoles that look great on the large magnified window,and work flawlessly with different controllers, in 2 player mode, and even on an HD monitor!




That’ll be the last teaser video I make on the STARFORCE PI – the next video will be on pre-ordering and producing details, so stay tuned!

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Ola Retronians,

 

It has been a good while since the last update on this forum, so let’s run down some of the developments we’ve had chronologically since the last teaser video. It’s a long one, but then you get some idea of how development goes without capital:

 

2016-07-23: Last teaser video, showing removable button plate (allowing up to 6 arcade buttons) and a magnified window were back in the design. I vowed to only post again with production details and pre-order date. Prototype 1 was at the CAD designer, Arcade shield was still in development with the Engineer.

 

2016-07-29: My first child was born.

 

2016-09-01: Contacted Watermelon Games for licensing possibility of their games for the STARFORCE PI. NG-DEV:TEAM was on board against a heft licensing fee, I figured perhaps WG would be more accessible, but alas they weren’t looking to license. Cool guys though, very interested in our gear, specifically the Starforce Neo conversion of the Minitel (they’re French, so they were digging it).

 

2016-09-14: Prototype 2 arrives at CAD designer, first version was lacking internals and could not be fully realized in CAD.

 

2016-10-28: Finished workflow on options to include into the Arcade Shield for our engineer. This would include VGA output via the GPIOs to a scanline generator before reaching the 5” screen. We discussed the inclusion of 2 stereo speakers and a dedicated amp to manage 2watt output. We discussed making the battery optional to press the per-unit cost.

 

2016-11-03: First meeting with a French-Chinese production company on getting small volume production runs. CAD designs would be delivered as soon as our designer delivered them to us

 

2016-11-12: First CAD draft of housing is delivered. Questions of the design were answered, and the changes would be made.

 

2016-11-17: Non-disclosure forms were signed with the production company. Packaging options were discussed.

 

2016-11-30: Second CAD draft of housing is delivered forwarded to production company.

 

2016-12-16: First attempt to send STARFORCE PI prototype to production company was tried, failed (La Poste did not accept address).

 

2016-12-18 until 2017-04-01: Xmas Holiday – Get PC Engine + everdrive, start new parallel project: the PC Engine SD

 

2017-01-18: Second attempt to send STARFORCE PI prototype to production company was tried,successful!

 

2017-02-08: The engineer leaves the project. No prototype of the PCB was made by him at this time, nor was an attempt made at a design, unfortunately. New plans are made to simplify the design so the PCB could be made without the engineer.

 

2017-02-11: Prototype was returned to sender, this time China post did not understand the addressing.

 

2017-02-27: Third attempt to send STARFORCE PI prototype to the production company was tried, successful again.

 

2017-03-29: Package arrived at the production company. CAD design, boxart and prototype of the case are now in China, Shenzhen. Request for PCB development was made.

 

2017-04-21: Still waiting for a meeting with the production company.

 

So that’s as far as we are now. I’ve spent a few thousand euros since the original Kickstarter campaign, mostly for custom or limited available parts and prototypes, each prototype costing around 200-300 to build. As I mentioned, to keep up morale I’ve been working on side projects, such as the recently finished PC Engine SD:

 

pcenginesd_console1.png?w=1024&h=682

And I’m nearly finished with my biggest build yet, the Sega Omega Drive, which I will unveil in a few weeks. I’ll be sure to share some pictures here and make a video. I hope this gives some perspective on the SFP project, and that I continue to tenaciously pursue at least a small volume run of awesome mini arcades.

 

Best,

 

Marcel J. de Haan

SFP Development Team

www.starforcepi.com

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Is that pc engine sd going to be sold or just a pet project as I would buy that because all the game prices suck now as you pointed out.

 

It's a one-off, to go with my more grandiose Sega build, but I'll make a build-blog like I did for the STARFORCE NEO so people can make their own. It really is a fairly easy build, the costs go mainly into getting the PC Engine and the EverDrive, the rest is peanuts, even the GX 4000 case I got for 12 euro on leboncoin.fr. I originally bought a different generic case for it, but I wanted something more sleek.

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