Daves Mame World - a Roadmap from Concept to Implementation

Dave's Mame World

A Roadmap from Concept to Implementation

Table of Contents:

Background: 3

Concept: 3

Features / Marketing: 5

Hosting: 6

Security: 8

Legal / Ethical Issues: 9

Conclusion: 10

References: 10

Background:

The sounds of quarters being dropped in a slot and the resulting beeps added to the daily escape of Americans in the 80's. Video games like Ms. Pac-Man, Donkey Kong, Defender, and Joust are few, that children and adults spent countless of amounts of quarters and tokens on them during their hay day. In each generation, gaming has had a very important role in leisure time activity, as an escape from ones daily life. Our parents grew up in the back alley pool halls, we grew up in the video arcades of America and our children are spending their time in the on-line gaming arenas.

Like any generation, as we grow in life and become comfortable in our daily life cycles we look back at the ways of our childhood and what to capture the spark of its innocents. That is the catalyst for this concept; I was looking to purchase a childhood favorite of mine, full-size upright Ms. Pac Man video game. Much to my surprise I was able to locate one locally and when I checked on the price I found that it was out of my current price range.

I shelved the ideal until months later when I discovered that you can play all of the arcade classics from your home computer. The software that allowed me to do so is called MAME or Multiple Arcade Machine Emulator. This software application emulated all of the beeps and whistles of the original game however you had to use your keyboard instead of a joystick. Ms. Pac Man was just not the same until I ran into the web site called ArcadeControls.com. This web site is a tutorial and message board for people just like me who wanted to play the arcade classics and have build full-size video game cabinets just like the classics.

I have spent countless hours over the past 9 months researching and building my first Mame Cabinet and during this time I have found out that there is not one web site that offered all of the components necessary to build one of these cabinets, therefore the seed was planted for Dave's Mame World.

Concept:

The idea for this web site is a result of my knowledge as a computer consultant and my love for classic video games. This is not truly a business plan as such but a roadmap from the concept of the site to the implantation of the site. I have currently built over 50 web sites during the past 5 years with a majority of them having some form of electronic commerce functionality therefore I would be the principle designer, coder, and maintainer of the web site. Each web sites that I designed, I asked the below questions and the results are foundation of the web site:

* Who - This question is asked in multiple ways but the results are always the same. "Who will be visiting this web site?" This question is to determine our target visitor and build the site for their enjoyment and usage.

Dave's Mame World Answer - I would be targeting the web site to those people who want to build a cabinet for MAME system. I have been researching this topic for many months and to date I have not found one supplier who can offer all the items necessary for the completion of the system.

* Why - I always use this question as a transition to my "what" question. "Why do you want a web site?" The information that you can learn during this stage is beneficial to the overall development of the site as it helps to being a familiarity of the product to the designer.

Dave's Mame World Answer - I believe that by building a web site of this nature, you can market it to those people who are just entering this hobby and offering them a one-stop shopping for these items. You can also carter to the customers who shop with our suppliers as we would not charge a minimum for product purchase and everyone could benefit from our group purchasing power.

* What - This question is one of my favorites as you will never know what information the client will present to you. "What information are you trying to give your target visitor or what service or products are you trying to promote or sell?" This question helps define the amount of work that will be required in building the web site.

Dave's Mame World Answer - The products that we would offer would be very traditional in sense. Each video game requires buttons with micro switches, joysticks, and encoders. If the customers request a product we could review the need and possibility offer it on the web site. I would like to start out slow and steady to verify that our market research is correct before a large inventory is purchased.

* When - This is the most dreaded question in any information technology project. "How soon would you like this project completed?" As with any project time is money and money is time and this question defines the scope and payment of work.

Dave's Mame World Answer - A time is not a huge factor in building this web site. I currently work a full time and I have a full load of classes.

* Where - This question helps in determining the location of the web site and it is totally based on the scope of work and size of the organization. "Do you plan on hosting your web site internal or external?" With most companies at this point they shrug their shoulders and say I do not know.

Dave's Mame World Answer - I would not care to host this web site internally as it would cost too much money nor do I have the infrastructure in place to do so. I would plan on hosting the web site externally with a web hosting provider.

* How - The information gathered from this question helps to determine the overall direction of the design of the web site. "Do you plan on making edits to the web site yourself or do you place on someone else to make your edits?" Typically the answer of this question determines the complexity of the design and the amount of database driven interaction that takes place.

Dave's