Electronic 4/8 way 'el cheapo' style.

[blueznl]

(It's just an idea. I did not know where else to post it.)

Let's assume we got an 8 way joystick and we want to play 4 way games. Now, unfortunately, some games will get a little confused when using that 8 way joystick, as they don't recognise the diagonals.

So, we don't want diagonals, and thus decide to add restrictor plates. Great solution, but costly, mechanically troublesome, etcetera.

I was wondering if there was no other solution, and perhaps there is one. This would need either a little 'add-on' board for your controller, or it could be done by the controller software itself (all *pac's and *wiz's may want to take notes now )

Here are two solutions, the 'reluctant' and 'aggressive' approach.

Method 1: the 'reluctant' approach:

- When moving from a horizontal / vertical to a directly adjacent diagonal we stick with the last input. Only a movement towards a new horizontal / vertical (without a diagonal component) will change the 'direction information'. In other words, cutting a corner in packman means you'll have to be exactly spot on, BUT you're never stuck.

- Hitting the 'opposite' horizontal / vertical will change the direction that way, regardless of a diagonal component.

Method 2: the 'aggressive' approach:

- When moving from a horizontal / vertical to a directly adjacent diagonal means the user wants to change direction. To give the fastest / sharpest input possible, we'll immediately change direction into the expected next horizontal / vertical, ie. we assume that the user is going to move to the next 90 degrees position.

Does this make sense? When reading it back, I think I should reword it perhaps, but I hope you see what I mean.

Such an 'electronic' feature would make a great addition to our encoders / controllers, and could perhaps be realized entirely in the software / drivers (at least for USB modules).

It's just an idea, one could probably test it with a little TTL. Anybody care to comment on it?

[Kremmit]

I believe MAME implemented this in software and it was so poorly received that it was taken back out.  It sounds good, but works poorly.

[leapinlew]

Good news! You can purchase an Ultimarc 360 and it comes with mapping software. Based on the game selected, the stick can be a 2 way, 4 way, 4 way diagonal, 8 way stick.

The 49ways have had this ability as well.

Mame also allows you to turn off inputs for a direction. It's so/so. Works good in frogger, the pacman games still don't like it.

[horseboy]

Good news!

Was that a little Professor Farnsworth? 

[leapinlew]

Good news!

Was that a little Professor Farnsworth? 

whoop whoop whoop whoop whoop

[blueznl]

I know it can be done using the UltraStick 360, I was just wondering if it would make sense on regular sticks.

Appearently not 

[Zoltan]

This sounds appealing since I have 8-way joysticks and sometimes (at the worst possible moment) when playing Ms Pac-man I get stuck. My only question is what happens when you move from a horizontal/vertical to a non-adjacent vertical. For example a move from right to up-left. I’m not sure what the proper thing to do in this case would be. Maybe this is a reason why this scheme may not work well.

[leapinlew]

This sounds appealing since I have 8-way joysticks and sometimes (at the worst possible moment) when playing Ms Pac-man I get stuck. My only question is what happens when you move from a horizontal/vertical to a non-adjacent vertical. For example a move from right to up-left. I’m not sure what the proper thing to do in this case would be. Maybe this is a reason why this scheme may not work well.

I find it unusable with Ms. Pacman. It works well with Frogger. Give it a shot - it's easy to try.