Batman Arcade/Emulator PC Project

[Jtalk4456]

OK so my daughter is SUPER into Batman, and for her 8th birthday I want to make her a batman Computer. this is a year away, lots of long term planning and stuff to learn to make this work and I'm aware there might be things I'm not thinking of yet. Basic design is intended like an arcade machine almost, with a keyboard and maybe other controls as I intend to run emulators and older games that might use buttons and sticks. I know woodworking and have endless tolls at my disposal there, but I'm just trying to form this into a more concrete idea and plan it out so I can start working on and learning slowly. Any thoughts are greatly appreciated.
 

 

Budget (including currency): considering pi and display, plus some material probably 300-400 USD, but just a guess

Country: USA

Games, programs or workloads that it will be used for: Kids Games, Emulated old games, ABC mouse on browser, small stuff like that
 

 

 

 

For Cases and Mods, I know woodworking and can use some nice cabinet grade plywood for the main structure, easy peasy once I have designed the shapes. My questions concern the space for keyboard and computer department. I was thinking they both be under the main desktop area. I was kinda going for a similar shape to this with some stylistic modifications:

 

Something like this, but with feet so the kid can stand up

I'm not sure if I'll have or need sticks and buttons arcade style, but I'd love the aesthetic if I did.

I plan to custom build and paint it myself, I've done tons of woodworking in the past and have no problem with that.

Timeline is a little less than a year, she just turned 7 in Feb.

Inside I plan to use a rasp Pi, a cheap keyboard cuz kids, and some good old rgb for some effects

 

 

1. I assume the fans up top are for the kind of lighting that was used then and shouldn't be needed for an led strip?

2. The intent is using a Rasp Pi system, run some emulator on it, load some fun games, and also be able to do basic web browsing and youtube watching with some good parental controls of course. Would a keyboard and a pi fit easily in something like this or should the pi be somewhere else? I'm considering putting it up where the lights are accessible from the top since this is kid sized and that would save me some bending if I needed to do anything. 

3. Broad question here but is there anything I should take into consideration that I probably haven't thought of for designing this? I'm starting way early on planning because I haven't done something like this before and I'm not sure what to consider or worry about.

4. I know woodworking, but painting, not so much. What's a good super dark paint good on wood, for a batman style cityscape shape?

And the bat signal ofc

 

Build Log Post: 

 

[Slottr]

-Merged-

 

Please don't spam the same topic with minor iteration

Just post one and elaborate

[Blue4130]

4 hours ago, Jtalk4456 said:

For Cases and Mods, I know woodworking and can use some nice cabinet grade plywood for the main structure, easy peasy once I have designed the shapes. My questions concern the space for keyboard and computer department. I was thinking they both be under the main desktop area. I was kinda going for a similar shape to this with some stylistic modifications:

 

1. I assume the fans up top are for the kind of lighting that was used then and shouldn't be needed for an led strip?

2. The intent is using a Rasp Pi system, run some emulator on it, load some fun games, and also be able to do basic web browsing and youtube watching with some good parental controls of course. Would a keyboard and a pi fit easily in something like this or should the pi be somewhere else? I'm considering putting it up where the lights are accessible from the top since this is kid sized and that would save me some bending if I needed to do anything. 

3. Broad question here but is there anything I should take into consideration that I probably haven't thought of for designing this? I'm starting way early on planning because I haven't done something like this before and I'm not sure what to consider or worry about.

4. I know woodworking, but painting, not so much. What's a good super dark paint good on wood, for a batman style cityscape shape?

And the bat signal ofc

 

Build Log Post: 

 

Those aren't fan slots, they are speaker slots. That design is called "bartop". I've made 3 various cabinets now, I have always used a Bluetooth keyboard and mouse combo. No need for it in the cabinet in my mind. (but I never used mine for browsing, they were dedicated arcade machines. Mine were all pc based. 

 

If people make handheld game machines using mints tins and a pi, then you should have zero problems fitting a pi in this design. 

[Jtalk4456]

13 hours ago, Blue4130 said:

Those aren't fan slots, they are speaker slots. That design is called "bartop". I've made 3 various cabinets now, I have always used a Bluetooth keyboard and mouse combo. No need for it in the cabinet in my mind. (but I never used mine for browsing, they were dedicated arcade machines. Mine were all pc based. 

 

If people make handheld game machines using mints tins and a pi, then you should have zero problems fitting a pi in this design. 

Ah that makes more sense...

So for the keyboard, I'm gonna set it in because I've got 5 kids, this is for the oldest, so risk of grabbing and damaging is high. good to know space shouldn't be a problem though