Buttons on CP - to angle or not to angle?

[LightningBolt]

Hi everyone, I've been wanting to build something for 14 years and I'm finally going to do it in the next couple of weeks.

For my two player control panel I was thinking that I should angle the buttons? They will be in a standard 6 button layout (like Killer Instinct, Street Fighter) - 2 rows of 3 straight across. But I was thinking of angling the whole group so that the right side is higher than the left side to make it more ergonomic, has anyone done that or had problems with it later on?



vs

[Louis Tully]

.

[IAmDotorg]

Rotating it won't help the ergonomics. If you don't want to do an ergonomic layout (where the buttons are curved), its probably better to just use a standard non-ergonomic one.

Definitely best to try it, though.

[LightningBolt]

Rotating it won't help the ergonomics. If you don't want to do an ergonomic layout (where the buttons are curved), its probably better to just use a standard non-ergonomic one.

Definitely best to try it, though.

I never liked the curved button layout..always straight buttons for fighting games for me.

I didn't mean ergonomic for fingers though more for natural wrist position..my hand naturally rests pointing in, but with a standard layout it has to cock to the right a bit.

[eds1275]

I would recommend not trying to reinvent the wheel here.

[AzureKnight]

I would agree with Louis Tully, use cardboard and your buttons to mock it up.  Some even go so far as to wire up that cardboard mockup (I didn't connect it but I did mock it up). I was glad that I did the mock up, it really gave me a feel for the different button layouts.

I would also think that if you shifted it the way you plan that you would create a tendency for people to "drift" a bit to the right.  I don't know how many players you are planning or how often you envision multiple players on the panel, but that could be one other issue.

[DaveMMR]

I never liked the "sloping" button layout personally.  Don't know what it's like in practice, admittedly, but it seems like it forces your right arm to 'jut' out into the next player. This is more evident with three or more columns of buttons.  (I know Sega did this with their Genesis/MD arcade controller and it seemed okay, but that's only a one player controller.)


I think straight or a slight curve/offset where you keep your arm to yourself may be a bit better. 


Nonetheless, try it out on a scrap/cardboard mock-up and see if you like it.