A Paddle For Pandora?

[timofonic]

Hello.

What about having a paddle controller for Pandora? Some kind of easy to do modification for one of the analog pads or maybe a mechanism containing a well that moves an analog pad in circular way could be possible.

Maybe it could be possible an addon like the one used for Nintendo DS.

Some suggestions? This is quite interesting for atari arcade games, Tempest 2000 and others...

The driving controllers are relatively some kind of paddles too.

QUOTE

Atari also offered driving controllers for use with games like Indy 500 which needed wheels that could be spun around in one direction indefinitely. A driving controller could be spun continuously, had a picture of a car and the word "driving" on it and a single controller attached to each controller port. The driving controller was not compatible with paddle games. Like a mechanical computer mouse, the driving controller was a quadrature encoder-based device and thus only sensed relative position, not absolute position. This controller was functionally identical to the spin-dial controller used in Atari's Tempest arcade game.


From wikipedia


QUOTE
Game Publish/System
Arkanoid (by Taito, for Nintendo NES)
Astroblast (by M Network, for Atari 2600)
Bachelor Party/Gigolo (by Playaround, for Atari 2600)
Bachelor Party (by Mystique, for Atari 2600)
Backgammon (by Atari, for Atari 2600)
Backgammon (by Sears, for Atari 2600)
Beat 'Em & Eat 'Em (by Mystique, for Atari 2600)
Blackjack (by Atari, for Atari 2600)
Blackjack (by Sears, for Atari 2600)
Breakaway IV (by Sears, for Atari 2600)
Breakout (by Atari, for Atari 2600)
Bugs (by Data Age, for Atari 2600)
Bumper Bash (by Spectravision, for Atari 2600)
Burning Desire/Bachelorette Party (by Playaround, for Atari 2600)
Canyon Bomber (by Atari, for Atari 2600)
Canyon Bomber (by Sears, for Atari 2600)
Casino (by Atari, for Atari 2600)
Circus Atari (by Atari, for Atari 2600)
Circus (by Sears, for Atari 2600)
Clowns (by Commodore, for Commodore 64)
Demons to Diamonds (by Atari, for Atari 2600)
Eggomania (by US Games, for Atari 2600)
Encounter at L-5 (by Data Age, for Atari 2600)
GI Joe: Cobra Strike (by Parker Bros, for Atari 2600)
Kaboom! (by Activision, for Atari 2600)
LeMans (by Commodore, for Commodore 64)
Mangia (by Spectravision, for Atari 2600)
Night Driver (by Sears, for Atari 2600)
Night Driver (by Atari, for Atari 2600)
Omega Race (by Commodore, for Commodore 64)
Outrun (by Sega, for Sega Master System)
Picnic (by US Games, for Atari 2600)
Piece 'O Cake (by US Games, for Atari 2600)
Pinball Spectacular (by Commodore, for Commodore 64)
Pong
Pong Sports (by Sears, for Atari 2600)
Sea Wolf (by Commodore, for Commodore 64)
Solar Storm (by Imagic, for Atari 2600)
Speedway II (by Sears, for Atari 2600)
Star Wars: Jedi Arena (by Parker Bros, for Atari 2600)
Steeplechase (by Sears, for Atari 2600)
Street Racer (by Atari, for Atari 2600)
Super Breakout (by Atari, for Atari 2600)
Super Breakout (by Sears, for Atari 2600)
Super Smash (by Commodore, for Commodore 64)
Tac-Scan (by Sega, for Atari 2600)
Video Olympics (by Atari, for Atari 2600)
Warlords (by Atari, for Atari 2600)
Warlords (by Sears, for Atari 2600)
Warplock (by Data Age, for Atari 2600)
Woody Pop



QUOTE
"Driving Controller" (includes ColecoVision):

Game Publish/System
Bump 'n Jump (by Coleco, for ColecoVision)
Destructor (by Coleco, for ColecoVision)
Dukes of Hazzard (by Coleco, for ColecoVision)
Indy 500 [w/Driving Controller] (by Atari, for Atari 2600)
Race (by Sears, for Atari 2600)


Regards.

 

[donny662]

Here is a video showing the analog pad: video

It looks like it has the spinning "paddle" motion built into it. Maybe an adhesive extension could be placed on it to allow better control of that motion.

 

[Snu]

two words: usb host

 

[Exophase]

Here is a video showing the analog pad: video

It looks like it has the spinning "paddle" motion built into it. Maybe an adhesive extension could be placed on it to allow better control of that motion.



The rotational movement doesn't actually translate into anything, sadly.

 

[timofonic]

I found this text from the video's comment...
QUOTE
The control nub spins freely, but it does so for mechanical reasons only and cannot be used as a wheel for a racing game (for example).


Sadly, that thing could be very interesting

The problem of an external paddle is the lack of portability. Couldn't be easy to add a potentiometer into the analog paddle? Or some pins on the PCB for adding it optionally...

 

[OrR]

Maybe a volume wheel could be used for this.

 

[javaJake]

The hardware has no way of knowing what the volume wheel is doing, so that isn't possible.

The rather easy answer is to just use an analog stick as it is, and move it in a circle to simulate the rotation of a paddle wheel.

 

[JakeK]

Here is a video showing the analog pad: video

It looks like it has the spinning "paddle" motion built into it. Maybe an adhesive extension could be placed on it to allow better control of that motion.



The rotational movement doesn't actually translate into anything, sadly.


Even if it did the size of the analog stick and its ease of turning the analog stick would be horrible to use. It might be fun to begin with but it would become very tedious to use. Even if it were an option to use I think it would be wasted on most people.

 

[timofonic]

Here is a video showing the analog pad: video

It looks like it has the spinning "paddle" motion built into it. Maybe an adhesive extension could be placed on it to allow better control of that motion.



The rotational movement doesn't actually translate into anything, sadly.


Even if it did the size of the analog stick and its ease of turning the analog stick would be horrible to use. It might be fun to begin with but it would become very tedious to use. Even if it were an option to use I think it would be wasted on most people.


That's not a problem at all, just add a little piece of plastic that adapts it into a wheel and problem resolved. Sadly, the analog pad don't supports that

 

[OrR]

The hardware has no way of knowing what the volume wheel is doing, so that isn't possible.

Well, I guess that depends on how the volume wheel is realized. If it's a primitive potentiometer, this wouldn't work. However, there might be a wheel that can submit it's movement/position to software which then decides what to do with it. Don't know if something like that is easily available.

 

[Sphinxter]

Might come in handy when you're up shit creek.

 

[Chip]

I think Tim is suffering from Niche Feature Obsession syndrome. He's made about a dozen requests in the last couple weeks for hardware / features that are only useful for a very small and specific subset of games / users. His obsession seems to compel him to continue to push for these niche features, even after being told that it is absolutely not going to be included, and getting a thorough explanation of why not.

I'm not sure how to help him overcome this debilitating malady. Maybe we all need to stop feeding his obsession after the 2nd or 3rd "no", and just let the threads die.

 

[JakeK]

That's not a problem at all, just add a little piece of plastic that adapts it into a wheel and problem resolved. Sadly, the analog pad don't supports that

Yeah it is, because then the user has to create the piece of plastic or we'd have to buy another piece of hardware.

I think Tim is suffering from Niche Feature Obsession syndrome. He's made about a dozen requests in the last couple weeks for hardware / features that are only useful for a very small and specific subset of games / users. His obsession seems to compel him to continue to push for these niche features, even after being told that it is absolutely not going to be included, and getting a thorough explanation of why not.

I'm not sure how to help him overcome this debilitating malady. Maybe we all need to stop feeding his obsession after the 2nd or 3rd "no", and just let the threads die.

Flammage is the answer my friend.

 

[Game_over]

Here is a video showing the analog pad: video

It looks like it has the spinning "paddle" motion built into it. Maybe an adhesive extension could be placed on it to allow better control of that motion.



The rotational movement doesn't actually translate into anything, sadly.


Even if it did the size of the analog stick and its ease of turning the analog stick would be horrible to use. It might be fun to begin with but it would become very tedious to use. Even if it were an option to use I think it would be wasted on most people.


That's not a problem at all, just add a little piece of plastic that adapts it into a wheel and problem resolved. Sadly, the analog pad don't supports that


Which could of been a hardware innovation not seen since that one control paddle/stick in the arcade (I forgot the name of the game that used it).

 

[WaverBoy]

The Pandora sounds like it has all the emulation bases covered...

...except for a paddle controller. There are a chunk of great, classic games that you can't play without one. KABOOM!, for instance, Atari's finest hour and one of the best, most addictive video games ever made, is currently unplayable without the original hardware. I'm with Timofonic, and I hope the designers of this will at least consider adding a paddle option to a future model, if there is one.

 

[danielliu88888]

The Pandora sounds like it has all the emulation bases covered...

...except for a paddle controller. There are a chunk of great, classic games that you can't play without one. KABOOM!, for instance, Atari's finest hour and one of the best, most addictive video games ever made, is currently unplayable without the original hardware. I'm with Timofonic, and I hope the designers of this will at least consider adding a paddle option to a future model, if there is one.

dude... don't revive old threads like this. and just to say you agree too.

 

[atomicthumbs]

Arkanoid isn't worth reviving a year-and-a-half old thread

 

[bzar]

*sees unread posts on the first page*
*opens thread, jumps to first unread message*
*reads a few messages*
*sees Chip's message*
*starts to wonder*
*checks timestamp on last post before today*
*facepalm*

 

[MDave]

What happened to Chip anyway? Havn't seen nor heard from him for months.

 

[bzar]

What happened to Chip anyway? Havn't seen nor heard from him for months.

If you come to the boards at midnight and refresh just as the clock strikes twelve, you might see a post made by him for a split second until it vanishes.