How nice.. A dedicated forum for my favorite system :)

[dgo]

Hey all,

I've been kinda inactive in the Vectrex community the last few years, but have never lost my interest for my favorite console of all time, The Vectrex of course

VectrexMad pointed me to this forum (thanks!) as I'm thinking about doing a arcade controller project for the Vectrex, as an extension of my earlier project, the Veccab. I'm in the process getting quotes to see if a business case for a reasonable serie is viable.

Being a former avid collector, fortunately I still have my entire collection, including some very nice rarities  

And of course I still play the Vectrex, the latest game being the excellent Time Pilot+ simulation by Kristof Tuts. 

Nice to find a (for me) new place to share about our beloved system

Kind regards,

Pepijn

[TrekMD]

Hello Pepijn and welcome to VGF! I am unfamiliar with your Veccab project. Would love to hear more about this idea of an arcade controller for the Vectrex, though.

[Mayhem]

Hi Pepijn, glad to see you finally make it here

[dgo]

Thanks for the welcome

As the original site is down and archived somewhere on an old pc, I'll try to upload some pics of the Veccab later on.

The Veccab is basically a small tailor made wooden cabinet with bezel and illuminated marquee which encloses the Vectrex, and provides it with digital arcade grade controls.I made a prototype and showed it first at Eurocon in Germany where it received a lot of attention. Also online, there was a lot of interest. As it took a lot of time to build and would turn out quite expensive It stayed with the prototype as an inspiration for other builders

In the mean time, I was also selling converted Sega arcade sticks. On the retro fairs these always sold pretty easily, but where a pain in the butt to convert. And still no arcade quality controls. in the mean time, original controllers are degrading and getting more and more expensive and hard to find. We want to spare those.

So what I'd like to do, if I can make a viable case to (have) build a reasonable number of a quality Veccab style controllers primarily focussed on build quality, without being to complicated thus too expensive. Think vectorcade without all the glitter, and serie produced for the woodwork. Selling kits/and or finished product for the Veccab hasn't left my mind either, but the design has to be simplified to make that an option. I guess the Marquee has to go for sure.

Still, I realise there's already a lot of people with converted controllers of some sort, and it all depends on a viable serie size, as I won't step into the trap of doing anything other than assembly myself. So we'll see if this will see the light of day, I'm currently in the process getting quotes.

edit: Hiya Mayhem Long time no see ! How could you NOT be on here Plans going to Eurocon this year?

[Mayhem]

No Eurocon for me this year sadly, it's the same weekend as a mate's wedding. Typical. Any other weekend in October...

So unless for some reason it's cancelled or moved, I'll be there instead of Netherlands.

[dgo]

Ah too bad.. I'm not entirely sure if I can make it, but I surely have the intention. It seems to have grown a lot bigger though the last few years.I hope it still retains that in crowd collector atmosphere.. Anyways, hope to see you again in the near future.. I miss those mindless bidwars

[VectorX]

^I know the feeling, I just missed out on an annual gaming expo in November here myself

May 3, 2013 10:43:03 GMT -5 dgo said:

As the original site is down and archived somewhere on an old pc, I'll try to upload some pics of the Veccab later on.

The Veccab is basically a small tailor made wooden cabinet with bezel and illuminated marquee which encloses the Vectrex, and provides it with digital arcade grade controls.I made a prototype and showed it first at Eurocon in Germany where it received a lot of attention.

I remember it, it was pretty nice

May 3, 2013 10:43:03 GMT -5 dgo said:

I guess the Marquee has to go for sure.

Maybe those could still be sold separately if there's enough interest for them?

[TrekMD]

That Veccab sounds pretty cool! I'd love to see pics of it if you are able to find them.

[ledzep]

Are there any plans for a replacement Vectrex controller that is an arcade-quality analog joystick (and arcade buttons)? There seem to be plenty of digital stick conversions of other consoles' controllers but I'd like to see someone make something like Fury was making before he ran out of parts, a self-centering analog controller replacement.

[hcmffm]

Welcome, Pepijn, at VGF. Great to have a long time member, back! Also good to read about your plans for an arcade controller or a Veccab. Sounds very interesting to me and yes, the original controllers are the weak part of the console and shouldn't be stressed to much. ;-)

[dgo]

Thank

Well. I've spent some time figuring this out, talking to a number of people.. And for this moment, I don't think I will be able to get a reasonable amount of controllers made without taking too much of a financial risk, which I just cannot take at the moment... I'm even selling some parts of my video collection at the moment, so you can guess money is kinda tight..



Still want to do this though, but it'll have to wait until I have some slack.

In the mean time, anyone going to the retro gaming fair in Eindhoven next weekend?

[VectorX]

Jun 2, 2013 10:12:57 GMT -5 dgo said:

And for this moment, I don't think I will be able to get a reasonable amount of controllers made without taking too much of a financial risk, which I just cannot take at the moment... I'm even selling some parts of my video collection at the moment, so you can guess money is kinda tight..

Hope things get better.

[dgo]

Thanks, a matter of setting some priorities

Talking to different people, I figured selling a 100 controllers will take over a year, with initially maybe selling 20-25 tops. So that means taking a bit more risk than I am willing to take at present. In the end, it's about the fun doing this, not the money, so that can't be too big of a hurdle.

Still, the idea will linger, perhaps some other era.. )

By the way, your avatar.. Are you the writer of Thrust (In that case, I know who you are or just a big fan (like many others including myself)?

[VectorX]

No, I'm not Ville, I just got back into the game a couple of months ago I let him know about these forums early on but he didn't join.