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Announcing the Super Game Controller for the ColecoVision


opcode

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On 8/31/2019 at 9:43 AM, opcode said:

 

I have been missing some action....

 

102e0bfcb67bf505d660e9482a30d55e.jpg

 

 

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Love the case design. I think black would look better than the gray though. Maybe a matte black for the main part, and a gloss black for the middle part.

 

And maybe some kind of color stripe around the gloss part where it meets the matte part. Like a red stripe. Even better if the stripe was translucent and clear when the unit was off, but then lit up red when powered on.

 

Also, assuming the buttons are power and reset, spread them out so one is in each corner vs next to each other. 

Edited by nick3092
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UPDATE: the plan is to present the final controller later this year. Two possible scenarios:

 

1) Things go really well and we can present it in final beta form, with working prototype

 

2) Things go not so well, and we present the final design, a 3D printed version, but not quite fully beta functional yet. 

 

We made quite a few changes to the design based on the feedback we got. 

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6 minutes ago, Donny Swanny said:

Any chance of the four buttons being colored/mapped to replicate the SAC?

I actually second this, even if it will only be useful for Rocky and Front Line (and perhaps a couple of others I'm not thinking of).

 

Edited by Pixelboy
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8 hours ago, doubledown said:

If they're molded, more colors = more money...just a thought. 

Good point. Also, the button color issue can be fixed easily with the proper controller overlay, which can surround each button with a thick orange/yellow/blue/purple circle. I'm sure Eduardo (or maybe someone else) will want to release an overlay for just about every game that made use of the keypad beyond just skill select.

 

8 hours ago, doubledown said:

And you're not thinking of Spy Hunter & Star Trek: S.O.S.

Ah yes, forgot about those. Again, overlays will do the trick.   :)

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Ah yes, forgot about those. Again, overlays will do the trick.   [emoji4]

The SAC uses a questionable scheme to map the two extra buttons. Buttons are mapped as extra keys, which has two main side effects:
1) pressing both extra buttons at the same time will be identified as pressing a different key in the keypad (and no button pressing)
2) pressing a key in the keypad and one of the extra buttons results in a 3rd different key being identified as pressed (and no button pressing again)

So yeah, whoever come up with that dropped the ball to say at least.

While there is the option to add a switch somewhere to select between schemes, I can say that I am definitively not going with the SAC scheme as my default scheme, as that ruins the usefulness of those extra buttons.


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18 minutes ago, opcode said:

While there is the option to add a switch somewhere to select between schemes, I can say that I am definitively not going with the SAC scheme as my default scheme, as that ruins the usefulness of those extra buttons.

Are you saying your controller won't be compatible with Front Line, Rocky, Spy Hunter and Star Trek?

 

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1 hour ago, Pixelboy said:

Are you saying your controller won't be compatible with Front Line, Rocky, Spy Hunter and Star Trek?

 

I am saying that there will be a primary and default setting which isn't compatible with SAC, because frankly, SAC sucks. I can't have buttons interfering with each other and the keypad as the default. Which doesn't mean it can't be set to SAC mode.

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Personally I'm all for, some "new blood" in the realm of the ColecoVision, and look forward to the possibility of games with more than 2 truly independent fire buttons.  First off consider the 7 existing S.A. compatible games:

 

Super Action Baseball, Football, Soccer...all need the Speed Roller additionally, so without that, 4 buttons or not, they're still not playable (and honestly I could care less)

 

Spy Hunter and Star Trek: S.O.S., both have a "standard controller" scheme which allows for play with 2 buttons + keypad buttons (granted not as nice...with the membrane keypad on stock hand controllers)

 

Front Line has 2 different homebrew ports that allow for game-play with a hand controller, wherein you shoot the direction in which you are running.  And unless someone is going to make a hack of this game that allows for a rotary controller (that I would be happy to build), like that which was used in the arcade game...it will never be "arcade accurate" anyways.

 

Which leaves Rocky...as the only game, that needs 4 S.A. buttons, but not the Speed Roller.  Is anybody playing this?

 

Just think...with 4 separate buttons, a port of Vanguard could be programmed which allows for arcade accurate firing, and a hack of Tutankham could be created where say the "left" (of 4 buttons in the diamond shape) shoots left, the "right" shoots right, and either (or both) of the top and/or bottom buttons could be the Flash Bomb button.  Better than the original whereas you could accidentally waste a Flash Bomb if you press the opposite firing button, before you completely let go of the first.  

 

Without having any idea how you plan to implement 4 independent buttons, I have no real knowledge, but I would have to assume that with something as simple as a switch possibly, it could be swap-able from one "scheme" to another...but like everything else feature related, would add time to engineering, and in the end cost...and everybody already complains about things being too expensive in the first place.  Additionally if a switch was do-able to change "schemes" let's see if we can all agree on which of the 4 buttons should be which of the the 4 S.A. buttons...that works perfectly for all 4 existing games.  ?  I think we all know how "decision by committee" usually works out.  

 

...blah...blah...blah...my personal opinion...no offense intended...blah...blah...blah (standard boiler-plate here).

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