Anyone ever use any non-standard controls, interface devices, etc?

[shponglefan]

Besides the usual (joysticks, buttons, spinners, trackballs, etc), I was wondering if anyone has ever mounted or experimented with some non-arcade interfaces, controls, etc, specifically when building control panels.

I'm thinking along the lines of touch screens, small LCD/LED displays, and so on.  I'm not yet sure what advantage (if any) could be had from such things, but was wondering if anyone else had?

[BadMouth]

I've messed around with touchscreens and a program called TouchBuddy that the flight sim guys use.
You can add virtual buttons to the touchscreen that post as key presses.  It is launched via command line, so front-ends could launch the appropriate layout along with the game. 

The buttons can cycle through different images so they can appear to light up or toggle switches can change position.
I got into it far enough to do a proof of concept where each player could cycle through a move list for characters on fighting games.
Never took it beyond that because I couldn't get anyone else to get on board with making all the move list cards.
(I'd still like to see a program that gets all the info from command.dat, images from a folder, and spits them out automatically)
The touchscreen would also be useful for games like Thayer's Quest which had a quazi-keyboard with a ton of buttons.
Another thought was to display instructions for Golden Tee and have the left and right buttons on the touchscreen.

So many ideas, so little time. 


Still arcade controls, but I have shoddy little CP built with a postional gun and am working on another with dual analog happ triggersticks.

[keilmillerjr]

The reason I want an arcade machine is for the experience of standing up, inserting a coin, and using the joystick/button controls. Using any other form of controls would ruin the experience in my opinion. I could use a handheld controller, but then I would rather sit on the couch with a gaming console or airplay my imac to my apple tv. I could use a touch screen, but then I would just use mame on my iPhone and my appletv. Or use my iMac, appletv, and iPhone all together.

Anyways, the controls is what makes a mame machine unique. Building a computer game to specifically accept a new form of input (think about what nintendo did with the wii or m$soft did with the kinect) would make more sense. 

[shponglefan]

I got into it far enough to do a proof of concept where each player could cycle through a move list for characters on fighting games.
Never took it beyond that because I couldn't get anyone else to get on board with making all the move list cards.
(I'd still like to see a program that gets all the info from command.dat, images from a folder, and spits them out automatically)
The touchscreen would also be useful for games like Thayer's Quest which had a quazi-keyboard with a ton of buttons.
Another thought was to display instructions for Golden Tee and have the left and right buttons on the touchscreen.

That actually sounds like some good ideas.  I like the idea of having instruments available for specific games, or having specific move lists for fighting games.  In fact, I'm now tempted to try something like that myself (I just need a touchscreen first ).

[shponglefan]

Thought I'd *bump* this to see if anyone else has any input.

I've been toying with the idea of a touchscreen interface for game lists.  Not sure if any existing front-ends would support such a thing, though...