Okay so the stock Alien pinball machine has that generic yellow launch button, which makes sense if you’ve got it out on location or something, but for home use, I wanted something that fit the theme a little better.
Took a screenshot of the ENVIRON CTR PURGE UI from the first film, cleaned it up a bit, drew the missing bits of a few text characters, and printed it onto milky transparent film.
Cut out the art, inserted it between the backing and cover of a blank white launch button, and we’re good to go!
My goal with these was to make them look dated, like something that’d been sitting around on a shelf since after the war.
Broken Token laser-cut birch pieces are thin. To give the box corners the appearance of being nailed on, I clipped the heads from nails and glued them to the corner pieces with E6000. The corners themselves were then attached to the boxes with E6000 as well.
For the ABCD and propaganda posters, I weathered the art in photoshop and then printed the pieces on clear waterslide decals, hoping that the lack of white would make it look like the inks had faded over the years. I applied multiple layers, as if posters had been pasted over posters, with heavier duty weathering of the “earlier” layers.
Central Powers on one side, Entente on the other.
ABCD decks (2 of each) along the edges, and XYZ decks (2 of each) in the middle.
Ready to play! One box is for myself, the other will be going to my dad, who I suckered into picking up “just a few planes” earlier in the year.
For anyone else that picked up a New 3DS today and is making due with trimmed XL screen protectors until properly sized versions arrive, here’s a guide I threw together to make it easier to trim those larger overlays down to size.
(the image itself it 6×7 inches, print at actual size)
Dear reader! Starting with the next issue, I’ll be writing regular columns for RETRO magazine, covering arcade history and game tech, two subjects that are pretty much always on my mind anyway.
I’ve been a subscriber since the magazine’s debut, and RETRO has continued to improve with each issue since. I’m pleased enough to be writing with a retro gaming focus, but after chatting about the team’s plans for the upcoming year, I’m even more thrilled to be onboard.
RETRO is currently running a Kickstarter to bolster subscription numbers and add additional content for year two. The funding goal was quickly surpassed and now the focus is on stretch goals, three of which (more pages! stickers! posters!) have already been met. If you’re interested in reading, it’s a good time to subscribe, as the Kickstarter rate is a hell of a deal.
Paul Ford created tilde.club on a lark, and it’s been fascinating to watch a community grow from within the tiny AWS server with nothing more than a little bit of space and a shell account.
As I can dredge the old memories, I’m writing about the good ol’ days at tilde.club/~drifter.
