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Advice sought on arcade game cabinet graphics production
As per my first message in the ‘Say Hello’ section – I’m looking for advice on the best way to reproduce graphics for arcade game cabinets.
Just to make sure I’m not misunderstood – my intention here is definitely NOT to leech a load of free advice from here and then take my request to a local sign shop – I’m hoping to find the right supplier right here!
I have (or rather I will have next week!) a large number of files (some are retouched .psd files and others are redrawn .ai files) that have already been used to reproduce the graphics from original arcade games. For some of the more popular games I’d be looking to keep small stocks of the items on hand, for other less popular games I’d be looking for some kind of ‘print-on-demand’ option.
I’m really looking for opinions and advice on the best way to supply the arcade buffs all over Europe with good quality sideart, bezels, control panel overlays and backlit marquees. I originally considered buying the kit to try and do this myself but realistically, that’s probably one of the worst ideas I’ve ever had!
I’ve dumped an Excel spreadsheet here that lists what I think(!) I need but some of the detail is still sketchy due to my lack of knowledge of what’s possible/sensible with regard to materials etc.
There’s an example of a cabinet here that shows the sideart, bezel (behind the glass around the screen), marquee (at the top behind perspex) and control panel overlay (where the buttons go!).
Some example bezels are here.
I suspect that this will throw up more questions than answers but any advice, suggestions would be very gratefully received. As soon as I know what I’m asking for I’ll put a quote request in the appropriate section and hopefully I can find a partner here to work with.
Thanks!
Tim
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5 Replies
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Tim
Reproducing the decals you need would be very easy with a modern print and cut solution. ( solvent / eco-solvent inks onto vinyl then digitally cut )
I should imagine the originals were screen printed though.The problem you are going to have is that all the artwork will be under copyright, and therefore when you start reproducing it without permission you are could find yourself in quite a bit of trouble.
If you are just restoring the odd machine and you have the artwork in a digital format then I’m sure your local sign shop could help you out, but no one is going to mass produce these for you unless you have permission.
BTW. . I love arcade machines I had a full size 1942 in my bedroom for years . . best shoot-em-up ever !
😀
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Hi Dave,
1942 – one my favourites too. If yours was a standup version rather than the cocktail then it was a real rarity in Europe – only 5 are known to be left worldwide and none are in the UK!
Thanks for the reply and for confirming that print/cut would work for this stuff. You’re right that the originals were screen printed and ideally that’s the way I’d like to have gone but there are just so many machines that might only ever generate a few requests it just wouldn’t make sense to hold stock of all of them.
It makes sense to stock up on some of the more popular items (Pacman cocktail bezels etc) but the others really need to be produced on demand as the orders come in via the website (being built as I type). Probably not in single units but in sensible numbers to make best use of the material with minimum waste – if a request for a 1942 cocktail bezel comes in the it makes sense to do a couple if they’ll fit the material.
As for the trademark.copyright issue – you’re right again which is why I’ve gone to the extra expense of ensuring that the right of reproduction has been legally transferred to me from the guy that put the collection together. He spent a huge amount of money getting formal reproduction rights approval from the original trademark/copyright owners and I’ve jumped through all the hoops to make sure that they’re now vested in me as the new custodian of the artwork.
Where the trademark/copyright has expired or the company is no longer trading, the lawyers in the USA have issued notices to various journals and government departments claiming them as ‘abandoned’ and nobody came forward within 90 days so we should be OK there too.
Phew!! 😮
I’ve spent a fair few £thousand getting this all sorted – partly because I think that there’s a market for retro arcade gaming and the interest in the MAME project is growing massively but, also because arcade games were a big part of my childhood and some of the stuff I’m getting is literally the last known example in the world.
Now…who want’s to bring happiness to geeks all over the world and turn these files into physical stuff?!! 😀
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Tim,
I am located in the US but we do projects like this for several vendors and also vending machine / cooler artwork for in-store graphics. Mostly all digital print/cut, short-run, long-run, on demand etc. As long as all the proper licensing is in order this wouldn’t be a problem, I just figured you would want someone in the UK first instead of importing them but i thought I would put the offer out there.
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George – thanks for the offer but the deal I have is for production and supply in Europe only so I can’t have stuff produced over there no matter what. 😥
Also – (not related to George’s reply)
I think this got moved to the wrong forum – I already have the graphic design work done: it’s the actual production of the physical output I need help with! Probably my fault for using the term ‘artwork’ to describe the stuff attached to game cabinets – edited to make more sense now but made my post sound like I was talking about files instead of sticky stuff!
Sorry.
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Tim if you already have all the artwork sorted and the legal stuff is all sorted for you to get them produced all you really need is someone to reproduce them for you. You would probably be better off with a company that was local to you so you could meet with them from time to time but any company that can print onto backlit film should be able to help you out, maybe your best bet would be to ask in the quotes forum for help and then get each of the companys that reply to print a small sample from artwork you supply so you can check the quality is OK.
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