#byoac

Hello world! 

The blog you are reading now starts with one purpose and one purpose only. While I am building my own arcade machine (let's just call it MAME), this is going to serve as a diary with all the thoughts, images, step-by-step process of production.

Let's start from a very beginning - how it all started. The reasonable first question for normal people would be "why the hell one would want to make his own box with a computer inside (or MAME)?". This is a good question, but also with a good answer. Do you like games? Do you remember playing any game on computer 10 or 20 years ago, in your childhood? People build such machines all over the world to play these games - retro games, paying respect to the history of gaming, keeping them remembered. Oh, and do you remember the feeling of inserting a coin into such machine, when you get a credit to play?

To tell you the truth, the motivator for me were those coins. Together with an event of trying MAME myself. Once, as a student in university exchange program, I was learning game design with a really cool teacher, who brought his own arcade machine (weecade) to the class and let us play it. I was so excited that I wanted to go back home, build my own MAME and share this enormous joy I felt with my friends. And this was a breaking point for me.

The idea was made, and it was pretty good idea IMO. But do you remember any plan without obstacles in a way? It was just about the time to bump into one. In my own mind it all played perfectly: go back, build, share. So I started reading all the stuff I could find about these big boxes, found drawings, found images, explanations, even a Facebook group for people who actually make this stuff. Bought some joysticks, buttons and started making the very first test for upcoming arcade. But then it dawn on me that I have no idea how to cut wood, how to edit the designs to suit my needs, how to do any of the actual building part. I started procrastinating: "I'll do it tomorrow/next week/next month/..."

Though it took some time, buttons, electronics, an old PC - all the stuff that was already dedicated for MAME began to nag me just by staying in the room. So I decided to make this old PC to work - the thing I do the best in this project. Following a small gap of another procrastination (or let's just say, "mind preparation") period, I dared to buy some wood. Now, I believe, there's only way forward.

Finally, we go!

A rough timeline so far:

Project idea at mid 2012

Custom controls test at mid 2013

Setting up old PC at mid 2014