MAMEWorld Forums - EmuChat - Re: Quick market survey

- If two trackballs are supported, that should equate to 4 spinners (warlords).
> Wiring could probably be slaved off the same inputs, with a toggle pin to kill the
> signal to the unused devices. A button setup could be programmed to scroll thru the
> devices, enabling or disabling them in sequence. Possible LED lights up the active
> controls.
>
> - I dont think there are any games that use a trackball and a spinner together, so
> alternating them would be a nice way to have more controls off one controller board.

yeah, you could dice up the 4 axii any way you wanted really.

> - True arcade motor support would be nice. Such as being able to drive a real
> high-current force feedback wheel, or outrun shaker motor directly. Other desired
> outputs, would be 30v coil output support for both T2 guns, Qbert knocker, and maybe
> at least 3 coils for pinball support. (left&right flippers, and one coil for anything
> else activated)
>
> Andys board only outputs 5v I believe.. and so unless you are a guru of
> electronics.. which most of us are not... theres no good solution for easy plug and
> play wiring up of coils & motors. No kickback on Time Crisis guns, T2 guns...etc.
> Which is quite sad. Howards 'Mamehooker' supports the devices.. but we need a way to
> actually interface with them hardware-wise.

If MAME throws an output, I'm sure they could be integrated. I wouldn't so much be concentrating on powering items like that, but I could very easily throw out trigger lines to support external relays. PWM controlling is also possible

> - Does that mean each wheel has 3 analog pedals with it?
> Two Race Drivin machines linked would equate to 12 pots:
>
> 2 ten turn wheel pots
> 2 analog gas pedal
> 2 analog brake pedal
> 2 analog clutch pedals
> 2 shifter X pots
> 2 shifter Y pots
>
> Not only would making a device to read a 10 turn pot be completely Epic.. (people &
> mfgs would start building their own race-drivin wheels.. or maybe use of 900 degree
> wheels?), but also, the analog shifter design of Race Drivin is far superior to any
> switch based shifter. Its durable as hell, and could be programmed using custom
> software, to be used in many different gear configurations. (just have to swap the
> top mounted restriction plate)

I'm not sure where you get all of those pots from, shifter and clutch pedals were generally digital inputs on most racing games. I could probably handle up to 24 independent pot inputs with some creative muxing, but that is something I'd really have to work with carefully.

> - What about true 12 position mechanical rotary joysticks for games like Time
> Soldiers and Ikari Warriors?
>
> - And 49 way optical joystick support? for Sinistar alone, its worth it.

My thoughts are to have all the input settings hot flash-able via a GUI, so as long as you don't mind chewing up 10 inputs or so per controller it would be completely possible.

> as well. I might even toy with the idea of wireless or bluetooth if they seem worth
> it.
>
> - IMO, I could care less about wireless. That just means money spent on batteries.
> Also, wireless stuff only last so long before they eventually give out.
>

Just a thought. Might be worth it for smaller setups, and with the rising popularity of HTPCs

> Other things desired, that currently are not on the market:
>
> A custom pinball controller device:
> - hooks to pc
> - programs it via pc, upload to onboard ram/flash chip
> - easy programming mode: drag and drop w/ pulldowns & checkboxes. minimalist if/then
> basic, similar to gary kitchens game maker of the c64 days, if needed. (no defining
> variable crap, or difficult/complex commands & scripts needed, but still able to make
> great things)
> - Advanced Language support for the Gurus.
> - 5 speaker output. Surround + Sub.
> - Lighting: Flashers, Leds, Typical pinball bulb lamps
> - Able to activate videos / music / sounds from a pc, if desired. (lcd based backbox
> animations)
> - Large number of high current coil and motor support.
> - Hall, Optical, and Mechanical swtich support.

This ~would~ be the coolest farking thing in the world, but would require ungodly amounts of tech if you were going to make it even partially universal. Kinda like a programmable Ne-Wumpf, right?

> - Use of webcam via pc, for taking pics, and or possibly as an additional sensor,
> using advanced kinnect style captures.
> (possible used overhead, as a failsafe that can tell when a sensor / device is no
> longer working properly.. and the game can adjust to compensate)
> - coil power output adjustment ability. Can tweak strength of voltages, for machine
> thats losing some power.. and or to adjust the coils precisely for better gameplay.
>
> Theres a lot of interest in real pinball now, partially because of virtual pinball /
> pinmame. However, theres no easy to set up way to replicate a real machine.. nor
> design your own machine. Partly because most artistic / creative people just dont
> have a programmers mind. Or dont have the easy to wire electronics needed to realize
> something. You could say that its like keyboard/joystick encoders: Once they became
> available... all sorts of people started making their own arcade controllers.
>
> This is something that could save Pinball from disappearing completely, and the new
> interest would spur new part runs... rather than stock vanishing completely, and
> never being re-ran.