Author Topic: Namco adaptations for disabled gamer (Read 5812 times)

skallagrigg · « **on:** January 28, 2005, 05:32:37 pm »

Hi,

Not wanting to take anything away from the superb work being carried out on the "controller for quadriplegic" thread - I was hoping there might be some help out there for another disabled gamer?

I've been asked to adapt a Jakks Namco TV game for a disabled lad with cerebral palsy. He plays games using two head mounted switches, with the help of an enabler when necessary.

I'd like to be able to make some adaptations to this controller so he can play it as independently as possible. One of the first things I would normally do, would be to add 3.5mm mono sockets so that he could connect his head switches to the Namco unit (see diagram below).

Adaptations, presently beyond me, which would really help:

I'd like to add a lockable auto-fire facility, so that he can play Galaxian independently. I tried attaching a hacked out auto-fire circuit from an old Atari VCS controller which runs off the current supplied by the FIRE and GND. pins, but had no luck.

The second thing that would really help would be to create some kind of flip-flop circuit. So for example, everytime he presses a head-switch, it's function toggles between left and right. This would enable him to play Pac-Man with two switches, something that presently eludes him.

Any help or pointers would be really appreciated.

Barrie
www.OneSwitch.org.uk

http://www.jakkstvgames.com/namco.html

tetsujin · « **Reply #1 on:** January 28, 2005, 05:58:10 pm »

So, I want to see if I've got the requirements understood properly:

So for Galaxian you're looking for one to switch auto-fire on and off (I'm guessing that's what you want) and one to switch between moving left and moving right?

And for Pac-Man, I guess it would be something like this:

(Current State) * (Switch Pressed) -> (New State)
up * vertical -> down
down * vertical -> up
up or down (after previously moving right) * horizontal -> right
up or down (after previously moving left) * horizontal -> left
and so on...

Something like that?

Things like this are very easy to do with simple microcontrollers like PICs. Much easier than building an equivalent logic circuit out of individual components IMO. The microcontroller could generate the auto-fire signal, the two-key translations for everything, etc, and there'd be a minimum of external circuitry required. I could try to whip something up for that.

Of course, the intermediate controller would need to be switched to different modes to match the game being played, I don't think that's something that could be automated. But maybe that's not a problem.

Jakobud · « **Reply #2 on:** January 28, 2005, 09:11:40 pm »

Can you just apply a toggle switch to automatically complete the circuit that the fire button normally completes (thus making it think that the firebutton is being held down)? I dunno if it will fire like this or if you have to keep pressing the firebutton over and over.

moonpatrol 4 lyfe · « **Reply #3 on:** January 29, 2005, 02:56:14 am »

I have a t-shirt with a diagram for a flip flop printed on it. i'll wear it to a gathering, so be sure to take notes!

Bill

skallagrigg · « **Reply #4 on:** January 29, 2005, 05:23:45 am »

Hi - thanks for your fast replies - this is an amazing forum!

Galaxian:

Chris (the boy wishing to play the Namco 5 in 1) could play MAME Galaxian with user-defined controls using:

head-switch 1: LEFT and FIRE
head-switch 2: RIGHT and FIRE

This would work very well as he could time his shots. I thought this would be impossible to replicate in hardware, as hardwiring LEFT, RIGHT and FIRE together makes the game unplayable (i.e. as soon as you press LEFT, you're not only operating FIRE, but RIGHT too - your ship locks up).

This is why I thought about an Auto-fire option that could be turned on and off. Chris could then play using left and right whilst his ship fired constantly. Holding down the fire button normally fires one shot and no more. You have to keep pressing it. This would also benefit him when playing Bosconian.

As for Pac-Man, I think you've got what I mean:

head-switch 1: LEFT or RIGHT (alternates between the two on each new press)
head-switch 2: UP or DOWN (as above)

If you could help, Chris and his family would be absolutely delighted.

Barrie

StephenH · « **Reply #5 on:** January 30, 2005, 01:58:32 am »

I just wanted to say that I have Autism, another form of disability, and I am a strong disability rights advocate.

As for the autofire, you might be able to accomplish this by adding a multivibrator circuit using like a 555 chip, set at like 2-8 pulses per second, and then send this to a key encoder like an I-Pac, KE72, etc. Connect his switch input between pins 8 and 4 on the 555 chip.

skallagrigg · « **Reply #6 on:** January 30, 2005, 10:46:07 am »

Thanks for the pointers Stephen, although that sounds a bit beyond my capabilities at present. Any advice for a beginner at this sort of work would be great. I'm thinking of getting the following:

http://www.maplin.co.uk/Module.aspx?ModuleNo=25884&TabID=1&source=15&WorldID=&doy=30m1

Any other suggestions?

Thanks,

Barrie
www.OneSwitch.org.uk

tetsujin · « **Reply #7 on:** January 30, 2005, 12:25:41 pm »

Quote from: skallagrigg on January 30, 2005, 10:46:07 am

Thanks for the pointers Stephen, although that sounds a bit beyond my capabilities at present. Any advice for a beginner at this sort of work would be great. I'm thinking of getting the following:

("Programing and Cusomizing the PIC Microcontroller" book link)

I have that book, it's great. Though I never had a bit of luck getting that "El Cheapo" PIC programmer it comes with to work. I'd recommend the PIC programmers here if you want to try PIC programming:

http://www.kitsrus.com/

There's going to be some learning curve, but if you're more inclined toward writing computer code than to creating digital logic circuits (as I am) it could be a good way to learn to solve problems like this.

brandon · « **Reply #8 on:** January 30, 2005, 04:30:20 pm »

if I understand the pacman thing correctly it would be like having two microswitches.. one with left on the N.C terminal and right on the N.O or vice versa.. and the same for up and down..

but with this set up it would always be press diagonals.. which pacman cant understand.. without a neutral position you would alway be press two directions at once so I'm not really sure how this could be accomplished...

tetsujin · « **Reply #9 on:** January 30, 2005, 08:38:56 pm »

Quote from: brandon on January 30, 2005, 04:30:20 pm

if I understand the pacman thing correctly it would be like having two microswitches.. one with left on the N.C terminal and right on the N.O or vice versa.. and the same for up and down..

Not exactly. Here's the way I understood it:

The controller is always directing Pac-Man to go in exactly one direction. If the direction is currently vertical, and the "vertical" key is pressed, then Pac-Man reverses direction. If the direction is currently vertical, and the "horizontal" key is pressed, Pac-Man stops going vertically and goes horizontally (either in the last horizontal direction he previously went, or the opposite direction to that... I'm not sure which would be better.) Then take the above rules and swap "vertical" and "horizontal" to get the rules for when the current direction is horizontal.

In other words, let's say Pac-Man starts off going left. I press "vertical" at a particular time, and he starts going up. Then I press "vertical" again and he starts going down, then "horizontal" and he goes left again. Then to get the power pellet "vertical" would have to be pressed twice with the appropriate timing, once to switch to vertical and again to go up. Then horizontal, vertical, and Pac-Man is powered up.

This solution isn't ideal - really, it might be better if the controller knew how to navigate the maze. Then the controller could work cooperatively with the player, and the use of only two inputs might be less limiting. But that requires the ability to inspect the game's state... which is beyond the scope of what I'm readily able to do.

I don't know the exact requirements for this (that is, I don't know the limitations of the user) but I'm assuming buttons can't easily be pressed and held in the closed position. I'm also assuming he can't trigger both at once. If he could reliably trigger both at once, it'd be easier to provide full control of Pac-Man: push "left" switch to change direction counter-clockwise, push "right" switch to change direction clockwise, push both to reverse direction. That'd be full game control right there, with no compromises.

brandon · « **Reply #10 on:** January 30, 2005, 08:50:49 pm »

oh I see.. so one button would enable vertical movement and also toggle between left and right.. the other would enable the horizontal movement and toggle up and down.. so there would never be diagonal.. ok, that makes more sense..

skallagrigg · « **Reply #11 on:** January 31, 2005, 01:22:33 pm »

Hmm - not quite.

Head switch 1: alternate on the horizontal plane.
Head switch 2: alternate on the vertical plane.

So for example, if you were to repeatedly tap Head switch 1 - the desired effect would be for Pac-Man to go left...right...left...right...etc.

Chris can reach both switches quite well, but not easily at the same time. He can hold them in down too, without too much difficulty.

The "push "left" switch to change direction counter-clockwise, push "right" switch to change direction clockwise, push both to reverse direction." is inspired - but unfortunately would not work well for Chris.

Thanks again all,

Barrie

tetsujin · « **Reply #12 on:** January 31, 2005, 01:51:02 pm »

Quote from: skallagrigg on January 31, 2005, 01:22:33 pm

Chris can reach both switches quite well, but not easily at the same time. He can hold them in down too, without too much difficulty.

The "push "left" switch to change direction counter-clockwise, push "right" switch to change direction clockwise, push both to reverse direction." is inspired - but unfortunately would not work well for Chris.

Yeah, I thought that might be the case. Another possibility would be the same design, but without the "both switches" rule: since it's more common in Pac-Man to make 90 degree turns than 180's, having to turn twice to do a 180 might not be a major problem. I'm not sure. (Of course, then making a 180 would depend on either double-turning quickly or doing so in a place in the maze that the intermediate direction won't cause a problem...)

Do you think it would be useful to have the ability to reverse direction by holding down a switch as opposed to activating it twice?

For instance, if Pac-Man is going left and wants to go up - but the first press of "vertical" causes him to go down instead,

1: would it be easier for Chris to hold down "vertical" for an extra half-second or so rather than press it again?
2: would the extra half-second press be something he would be likely to trigger by accident (pressing and then accidentally not releasing in time), or otherwise something that would get in his way?

It's sort of a question of whether a "double-click" is something that is awkward for him, whether that's something more or less comfortable to him than controlling the amount of time he's pressing a switch. Taking a 90 degree turn and then having to immediately reverse direction if the turn went the wrong way is one of the (perhaps unavoidable) drawbacks of this general design.

brandon · « **Reply #13 on:** January 31, 2005, 03:45:27 pm »

Quote from: skallagrigg on January 31, 2005, 01:22:33 pm

Hmm - not quite.

Head switch 1: alternate on the horizontal plane.
Head switch 2: alternate on the vertical plane.

So for example, if you were to repeatedly tap Head switch 1 - the desired effect would be for Pac-Man to go left...right...left...right...etc.

ok.. so he would just tap the button to change direction, then the "virtual joystick" would recenter so when he pressed button 2 it wouldnt still be holding left or right from the previous button press..

skallagrigg · « **Reply #14 on:** February 01, 2005, 01:27:35 pm »

My idea for the 'virtual joystick' (like it!) would be that it would act just like a normal switch whilst depressed, but on releasing it changes to become potentially the opposite direction.

Thus, with Galaxian you could sweep left and right the full width of the screen by holding down one switch for a couple of seconds, releasing, then pressing it again.

With Pac-Man, tapping the switch sends you going off in whatever direction is selected. So yes, on releasing both switches - the virtual joystick would be 'centered'.

Is this possible?

Barrie

skallagrigg · « **Reply #15 on:** February 05, 2005, 03:39:28 am »

Maybe, I've started off with too big an ask. If I go back to basics, could anyone help me in building an auto-fire circuit for the 5 in1 Namco Arcade?

Thanks,

Barrie
www.OneSwitch.org.uk

RetroJames · « **Reply #16 on:** February 05, 2005, 08:03:09 am »

Quote from: skallagrigg on February 05, 2005, 03:39:28 am

Maybe, I've started off with too big an ask. If I go back to basics, could anyone help me in building an auto-fire circuit for the 5 in1 Namco Arcade?

Thanks,

Barrie
www.OneSwitch.org.uk

Barrie,

Just based on a quick google there appears to be some info out in the void that will help you along.

skallagrigg · « **Reply #17 on:** February 05, 2005, 10:22:04 am »

That's brilliant info - thanks! I'll get into it as soon as I can.

Barrie
www.OneSwitch.org.uk

skallagrigg · « **Reply #18 on:** February 17, 2005, 11:11:50 am »

Okay - got the bits, now I just need the time to do it. I'll post my progress as it comes....

Thanks again,

Barrie
www.OneSwitch.org.uk

RetroJames · « **Reply #19 on:** February 17, 2005, 11:22:05 am »

Quote from: skallagrigg on February 17, 2005, 11:11:50 am

Okay - got the bits, now I just need the time to do it. I'll post my progress as it comes....

Thanks again,

Barrie
www.OneSwitch.org.uk

Cool, this will be a neat project...lots of uses.

skallagrigg · « **Reply #20 on:** February 19, 2005, 09:57:46 am »

Well, I'm following this diagram, but with little luck at present, even using an Atari VCS... I shall keep trying...

You will need:

1x LM 555 timer IC
2x 10K resistors
1x 100nF capacitor
1x 0.42nF capacitor
1x on/off switch

IntruderAlert · « **Reply #21 on:** February 22, 2005, 03:09:10 pm »

On this page I found that Namco has been making communication aids for severely disabled people since 1985

http://www.cgexpo-uk.co.uk/forum/index.php?s=275c4ad9664a38f8e1ce36e95d4c103f&showtopic=95

Lots of other good links there too
Maybe you can get some ideas from what other people are already doing

skallagrigg · « **Reply #22 on:** February 24, 2005, 03:17:13 am »

Thanks for spotting my accessible retro gaming forum, IntruderAlert! If anyone else has any other devices to add, please let me know, and I'll put them up.

Cheers,

Barrie
www.OneSwitch.org.uk

NiN^_^NiN · « **Reply #23 on:** March 08, 2005, 10:26:58 pm »

I really like this idea

I was building a 1 handed playstation controller for my cousins (he was born with a stump so he can only play 1 handed basiclly)

Believe it or not i got all the button on the joystick the only buttons you couldnt touch quickly was select and start which is fine he played fighters mostly so he could do anymore i could

But i really like your idea

check out: http://www.smspower.org/smscartpad/rfu.htm

Picture of how to build a rapid fire unit for SMS but the sms is direct on/off switches so it can be hooked into the namco thing easily

skallagrigg · « **Reply #24 on:** March 20, 2005, 05:29:00 am »

So far (progress is very slow) - The NAMCO 5in1 TV game was fine in adapting for plug-in switch use. However, I've only managed to get one fire activation every 6 seconds - my "not very rapid fire" circuit. Strangely, rapid fire is fine on other adapted devices, such as my adapted Namco Arcade Stick.

I'm thinking of abandoning this project in favour of a much more versatile system of a lap-top controlling a games console...

Thanks all for your help so far though.

Barrie
www.OneSwitch.org.uk

RetroJames · « **Reply #25 on:** March 30, 2005, 03:26:48 pm »

Arcade doubles as source of therapy

Appleton Post Crescent - Appleton,WI,USA
... Walking past GameZone one day, she looked inside and was struck by the potential of the arcade's offerings for rehab purposes. ...

http://www.wisinfo.com/postcrescent/news/archive/local_20377105.shtml

skallagrigg · « **Reply #26 on:** April 11, 2005, 03:09:28 am »

I've got some fantastic news on the accessible gaming front. RetroRemakes.com are hosting a single switch game programming competition. Programmers have a month to create the best game/s they can that will be playable using a single switch. There are three prizes up for grabs, but a ton of kudos for all having a go. People's efforts will go to further the very small range of games playable with a single switch.

Competition rules here: http://www.retroremakes.com/forum/showthread.php?s=&threadid=4043

Barrie
www.OneSwitch.org.uk


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