Designing the optimum gaming controller

Nesh

Double Agent
Legend
Current controller designs have been improved enormously but they are still lacking in areas.
One controller seems to be better than the other and vise versa in key features. Trying to fix one area may not be the best for some genres

The PS4 controller in particular has a superbly accurate d-pad very conveniently placed for fighting games and 2D games. Basically any game that requires the D-pad
On the other hand the One controller switches this with an analogue for optimum functionality for first person games and games that use a similar control scheme. This is very inconvenient for the other type of games I mentioned earlier. The shape of the controller forces an uncomfortable position of the thump and the dpad and face button positions create a diagonal angle.

The question is does this switch (analogue with dpad) provide enough advantages to compensate? Since the PS4 dual analogue distance increased and ergonomical shape has improved it has also improved its level of comfortability and navigation with the sticks. But how much better is the XBOX analogue stick positions for these genres? If the XBOX provides substantial improvement in those genres and the PS4 provides substantial improvement for fighting games etc how can we get the best from both?

I believe that analogue sticks probably need to be tighter and have better material on the DS4.

The face buttons also appear kind of narrow on XBOX, they are placed up, they have a slight concave shape themselves, the area on which they lay on the controller also has some concave shape and I think they are slightly narrow. Again this serves great for games that use the face buttons as complimentary. But games that use them as primary extensive inputs feel less comfortable.

Then we ve got the trigger buttons. XBOX One triggers are ideal for racing games and for shooters, the PS4 R2/L2 have improved but are still not there regarding the particular genres. But the PS4's R2/L2 work great for other genres. Especially for games that require extensively fast paced, minimum inputs from R2/L2 like Devil May Cry or Street Fighter. There the triggers start to feel slow in comparison due to the widely low placement and much bigger distance to press fully in. Yet no one can refute the fact that XBOX triggers are ideal for shooters and control in racing game acceleration.

Then we ve got the shoulder buttons and R1/L1 buttons. There its the reverse problem. The tiny clicky shoulder buttons on XBOX are optimum for changing weapons in third and first person shooters and great for secondary uses like changing cameras etc. The clicky feel on the other hand is the opposite extreme of the triggers. They are too narrow for extensive use and the clicky feel does not give proper input back for genres that use them extensively having issues for the same type of games mentioned earlier. The DS4 controller on the other hand is probably too wide.

The PS4 controller's touch pad and light bar are also great underutilized ideas. The touch pad seems to be underutilized because the tracking area and accuracy is technologically limited. So I wonder how that could improve for future use.

In terms of shape and robustness the XBOX controller feels more firm, probably more comfortable than the DS4.

Currently the XBOX controller has a better approach to genres that used to be popular on PC (1st person shooters, third person shooters with similar controls and racing games) whereas the PS controller has a better approach to genres that are more popular on console.

And probably the reason why people argue which controller is the best is probably due to the genres they play the most on each console.

As an example playing dead space on a PS3 controller was a pain, whereas on 360 it was much better. But the opposite could be said for Devil May Cry or Street Fighter.

It would have been awesome if a controller was designed perfect for both worlds.

But can it be done?
 
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making the xbox controller's left analog and dpad to be removable and exchanged may be a solution .
It may. I think there were some controllers that enabled a switch but the solution did not work as well because the D-pad was not designed with accuracy in mind.
But there are a lot more areas that need to be addressed on top.

How do you imagine the perfect controller design?
 
There is no such thing as the perfect controller design. I think it's important to acknowledge that before a meaningful new product can be considered. Anything trying to cover as many diverse uses as a game controller is going to have to make compromises, meaning jack-of-all-trades, master-of-none. The perfect fighting controller is a stick. The perfect racing controller is a wheel. The perfect FPS controller definitely isn't dual thumbsticks!

With that stated, the target should be 'how can we best improve the standard game controller'? The more customisability you add, the better the options, but also the increased failure rate and cost. So like any engineering endeavour, before you can proceed you need to set a final product price and work within those limits. One area that could be addressed is software, changing the sensitivity. In SWBF, I had trouble firing some of the guns quickly because the trigger needs to be fully extended. If I could set that in an option to 75% extended, I'd get no shot failures.

Regards ergonomics, I'm not sure shoulder buttons make the most sense. Holding my hands out naturally, the fingers curl under the grips, suggesting the buttons should be on the back-side of the grips.
 
Gamepads are inherently limited. Games like Diablo3 have to make huge compromises because you can't aim the area spells with precision. RTS games are pretty much out. I've never used the steam controller, but it seems like the idea of the trackpad has some potential. I just think they could have done with one track pad and one analog stick ... but then they might have to make left-handed controllers? I'm not sure what gaming is like for left-handed people with the face-buttons on the right, but some games let you swap all of the stick controls. I kind of like the idea of a wii nunchuck style analog stick paired with a mouse, but I think it'd be hard to match the same number of buttons you get on a gamepad in a convenient way.
 
I haven't tried the steam controller. Now it's had a while out in the wild is this meeting the need for precision input?
 
I guess Microsoft could take some of the things on the Elite controller and put it on the normal controller

Also some of the motion control stuff from the Switch looks promising...I have always been sceptical of motion controls because I always felt heavily involved movements are to slow/cumbersome for a lot of games. But I think a very precise gyroscope that could detect subtle movements could work.

This guy seems to explain it well:

 
There is no such thing as the perfect controller design. I think it's important to acknowledge that before a meaningful new product can be considered. Anything trying to cover as many diverse uses as a game controller is going to have to make compromises, meaning jack-of-all-trades, master-of-none. The perfect fighting controller is a stick. The perfect racing controller is a wheel. The perfect FPS controller definitely isn't dual thumbsticks!

With that stated, the target should be 'how can we best improve the standard game controller'? The more customisability you add, the better the options, but also the increased failure rate and cost. So like any engineering endeavour, before you can proceed you need to set a final product price and work within those limits. One area that could be addressed is software, changing the sensitivity. In SWBF, I had trouble firing some of the guns quickly because the trigger needs to be fully extended. If I could set that in an option to 75% extended, I'd get no shot failures.

Regards ergonomics, I'm not sure shoulder buttons make the most sense. Holding my hands out naturally, the fingers curl under the grips, suggesting the buttons should be on the back-side of the grips.
You can easily invert L1 / L2 and / or R1 / R2 in the PS4 menu (or any other button). And you can add those customized buttons to the quick menu (a few seconds needed when you enter in a game to activate / deactivate it). I used this to replay Infamous Second Son, play Battlefront and others games on PS4.

Unfortunately many developers still don't understand that real gun triggers aren't analog and that you don't really need to pull the trigger completely to fire most guns...
 
I guess Microsoft could take some of the things on the Elite controller and put it on the normal controller

Also some of the motion control stuff from the Switch looks promising...I have always been sceptical of motion controls because I always felt heavily involved movements are to slow/cumbersome for a lot of games. But I think a very precise gyroscope that could detect subtle movements could work.

This guy seems to explain it well:

talking of Switch, a youtuber has managed to make the Xbox Adaptive controller work with his Nintendo Switch.

https://www.eurogamer.net/articles/...rosoft-adaptive-controller-to-nintendo-switch

The guy even managed to play Mario Kart using a Flight Stick connected to the Xbox adaptive controller.

 
I've never seen this controller. What was its purpose?

https://www.xbox.com/en-US/xbox-one/accessories/controllers/xbox-adaptive-controller

ArsTechnica Review:
https://arstechnica.com/gaming/2018...-impressions-a-bold-start-for-limited-gamers/


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