Cameron Posted April 13, 2007 Posted April 13, 2007 We took a little field-trip today out to the factory that's building our game, called "The Fast And The Furious - DRIFT". I love factories, particularly assembly lines, so I snapped a few pictures. Hope you enjoy them! Cameron. The company across the street, I was so tempted to walk in there and ask if I could borrow a pen! Giant rolls of pink bubble-wrap = awesome! A pedestal (which is boxed separately) is already wrapped, and ready to go. Workers place a complete machine on a shipping pallet. It will be wrapped in plastic and boxed up. It's ALIVE! This is the backside of the dash. The large black cylinder is the motor that provides feedback on the steering-wheel. Completed DRIFT games in the testing area. All switches and lamps are tested, as is the sound system, wheel, and finally several games are played to make sure the computer and hard-drive are happy. Official stickers which are placed in and on the finished cabinet. The complete guts of a DRIFT machine. Computer, speakers, pedals and two I / O Boards. The upper board is the main one for all switches and lamps (it's USB). The lower is the audio amp, hardware watchdog, and driver hardware for the steering-wheel feedbac These guys are installing various parts of the electrical work. Wiring, boards, switches, etc. The marquee lamp, speakers and monitor have now been installed. Looking into the back of a machine early on the main line. You can see the computer, coin door (wiring poking through on the lower-left), and pedals have been installed. The cabinet is just a shell when it arrives from the cabinet factory (the same factory that built cabinets for Williams/Bally pinball - I think they do Stern Pinball cabinets too). Another sub-assembly line is for the pedestal/seat. The seat contains a huge bass speaker, and lights inside the pedestal. The dash is made on a separate line as a complete sub-assembly. It is completely built-up here, and will be screwed into the cabinet on the main line. Some completed cable harnesses are hanging up waiting for installation. It's fun to run your fingers through them! Cable harnesses are being assembled by hand. The gas and brake pedal assemblies. The brake is just an on/off switch, but the gas has a range from 0-255 (although I recommend just keeping it floored ) Monitors as far as the eye can see! These are considered mid-res in the arcade industry, and we run them at 640x480. These boxes contain the computers that we use in our games. They're basically PCs with NVIDIA graphics cards. Looking down the factory floor. This is the start of the line, and the completed machines can be seen at the far end. I just love the old-school "tech" sign from the 70s! This isn't a new factory, but it's very efficient and clean. I was impressed.
socalMAN123 Posted April 13, 2007 Posted April 13, 2007 Cool photos Cameron! I never knew the making of video games was like that, a giant assembly line. Thanks for the photos! ---Brent
Freefallbestrideever Posted April 13, 2007 Posted April 13, 2007 This is almost as good as the Newegg.com tour i saw a while ago
OzCatter Posted April 13, 2007 Posted April 13, 2007 Hey, if I see it at Dave and Busters or somewhere like that, I'll make sure to play it. Nice TR man, I've never seen an arcade production facility, now I have.
Stitch Posted April 13, 2007 Posted April 13, 2007 Cool PTR Cameron, I have dabbled in sites that show how to make your own Arcade cabinet so this made a lot of sense to me. You should do a PTR of a Pinball machine being assembled, if you ever get the chance.
dandaman Posted April 13, 2007 Posted April 13, 2007 I second the pinball machine one. Those things have fascinated me since the dawn of time (conveniently around 1991). Great TR!
mcjaco Posted April 13, 2007 Posted April 13, 2007 Very cool Cameron. You never realize how much goes into arcade games. Jaleco and Sierra had offices in Northbrook way back in the 80's. We used to try and hang out there to get free goodies as kids. Never worked.
Meteornotes Posted April 13, 2007 Posted April 13, 2007 Cool PTR. If I spot the machine anywhere, I'll be sure to play a game in tribute to you. dt
Cameron Posted April 13, 2007 Author Posted April 13, 2007 Glad you all like the photos .. thanks for the comments! Matt we used to get people peeking in through the break-room windows at Williams (which was Midway too, at the time). Ed Boon (creator of Mortal Kombat) used to bring the best players (typically kids) in to Midway to playtest his games and help tune them. He'd pick them up with a limo from a local arcade (Diversions at Kimball + Devon in Chicago - now defunct ), and bring them down to Midway to play the games (with pizza and such). We didn't do stuff quite that cool in pinball - although I have been asked (on several occasions) to sign peoples bodies..! Cameron. PS: Next time I'm at Stern Pinball after-hours, I will get some photos.
Golfie Posted April 13, 2007 Posted April 13, 2007 Arcade machines are SO much less complicated than pinball machines... almost everything is electronic - not mechanical.
mcjaco Posted April 13, 2007 Posted April 13, 2007 Very cool Cameron. There used to be a great little arcade at Milwaukee, Golf Road and Greenview by Golf Mill Mall. I think every kid had a birthday party there. I spent hours upon hours play Bump N Jump, Spy Hunter, etc. It's ashame most arcades are long gone.
YoshiFan Posted April 14, 2007 Posted April 14, 2007 Yeah I hate that arcades are a thing of the past. There are 7 malls within a 30 minute radius of my house. At one point all of them had arcades, now 2 have arcades (1 of which is just a small room with 2 DDR machines and 4 other games). I'm glad almost every park has an arcade in it so when I go to a park I can have access to my 2 favorite hobbies, coasters and video games.
robbalvey Posted April 14, 2007 Posted April 14, 2007 Aw man...it's so nice to see that! It was such a bummer that for so many years "dedicated cabinets" were a thing of the past thanks to the JAMMA board. At least now with many games being more of an "experience" there are more dedicated cabinets instead of just slapping on new stickers and a new control panel. Loved the pics! --Robb "Who misses his old Basement arcade in Baltimore!" Alvey
Zen Coaster Posted April 14, 2007 Posted April 14, 2007 A standout TR -- good to see what goes into the makings of such machines. I have a bubblewrap fetish (non-sexual). Can you please post a wallpaper-sized version? - Tony "Steal me one of those giant rolls & I'll be set for life" Teulan
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