Our New Machine, Pandora

[God Ginrai]

If the new handheld WERE to have 4 shoulders, I would definitely want it to be Eolair's idea. That style gives you a lot of buttons. Not only do you have L1, L2, R1, and R2 with that, but in essence, you have a L3 and R3 by pressing both down at the same time. I could see some interesting control schemes coming out of that. But at the moment, I will assume that there will only be 2, in accordance with what Craig said, I just hope that there are 6 buttons (that's including start and select) that you can get to easily on the right.

Anyways, Eolair, do you think you could try to make an image of the Retrograde using the dark gray color of this flash drive?

I think that would be a really nice color for the handheld, but I'd like to see what it looks like on your design, because it's not so easy to imagine a color on a handheld, especially one we have no pictures of atm. ^_^;

-God Ginrai

 

[Vorporeal]

Maybe you could make one that used the darker grey as the body of the handheld, and then the lighter grey/silver as accents.

 

[atomicthumbs]

My ideas for colors (and names, for marketing):

Carbon Grey (kind of the color of the previously-mentioned flash drive)
Glaring Green (guess)
Dark purple (name?)

and the one that would be really cool:
Crystal - A totally clear color, kind of like the Game Boy Pocket:

I would definately buy the clear one.

Another idea: anodize the metal parts of the case (if they're aluminum) to match the plastic! A charcoal grey or black casing with like-colored brushed aluminum highlights would be AWESOME.

 

[Alex.]

The Gameboy Light and Gameboy Pocket always looked so classy

 

[mavsman4457]

For me, 4 Shoulder Buttons just mean finger pain. Its hard enough to controll a game with 2 Thumbs, additional 2 Shoulders are tricky and then 4 Shoulders, maybe all at the same time?!?!? No way. ^^

I know I said I'll let this rest, but I have to ask have you even seen my trigger pics a couple pages back? quite the opposite of uncomfortable I think.


On the contrary to what you said earlier about only you wanting 4 shoulder buttons I also want 4 shoulder buttons. I am using this hugely for PS1 emulation as well as N64 emulation and I think we need at least 3 shoulder buttons for a Z for N64. Now of course we don't NEED these buttons but I am in favor of having at least 3 but who would want 3 so let's just make it four. Also, I think a metal design would be way too hot in the summer and cold in the winter. Alsooooo, although I don't want to make this thing look like crap, strangely enough, part of me wants this to not look too flashy. Quick little anecdote: When I was a freshman in high school I played baseball and someone broke into the locker room and stole a bunch of stuff. Unfortunately I left my Zire 72 in my backpack ready for theft, this thing cost about $300 at the time of purchase. Luckily for me however this person probably did not know what my Zire 72 did and how to use it, or how expensive it was for that matter, so the kid didn't take it. Anyways, I'm just saying that it might not be a terrible thing if it doesn't look great so theives won't even want it. This might be inevitable however since it will have two analog sticks and buttons thus making it look like a gaming machine or PSP.

 

[God Ginrai]

Maybe you could make one that used the darker grey as the body of the handheld, and then the lighter grey/silver as accents.

I thought about that, too. I just know for sure that I think that that gray color I posted should make a good body color, IMHO.

-God Ginrai

 

[icurafu]

QUOTE
Luckily for me however this person probably did not know what my Zire 72 did and how to use it, or how expensive it was for that matter, so the kid didn't take it.


Did I tell you about the time someone broke into my house and only stole my GP2X.

 

[zaffercharles]

On the contrary to what you said earlier about only you wanting 4 shoulder buttons I also want 4 shoulder buttons. I am using this hugely for PS1 emulation as well as N64 emulation and I think we need at least 3 shoulder buttons for a Z for N64.
Anyways, I'm just saying that it might not be a terrible thing if it doesn't look great so theives won't even want it. This might be inevitable however since it will have two analog sticks and buttons thus making it look like a gaming machine or PSP.

Thanks for speaking up. I want to know how many people here are both for and against shoulder/triggers or 4 shoulders. a few have given their opinions but there's a lot more that haven't. Of all the suggestions on what to add I feel like having more control is a sensible enough thing that shouldn't be overlooked. It would help out N64 if it ends up possible as well as PSX and more.

I'm starting to feel like I've taken over from DaveC here - anyone else? no offence Dave, where have you been?

As for it not looking great, I like the idea of it looking retro too, and a clear plastic case like that gameboy would be cool as well.

 

[DaveC]

Craig, could you please tell us what materials will be used for the case?

Also, please, tell us how many shoulder buttons / triggers it'll have.

I like asking questions, even if I don't get them answered :lol:

BTW. I'll be donating, but can't do it for another day or three ( no cash available )

EDIT: Donation made, my bank account is a little more red than before

Hi

For the case we are looking at a PSP style mix of metal and plastic. If we want to price to stay the right side of £200 we can't go too crazy with the case.

It has 2 shoulder buttons like the GP2X/GP32, we don't want to bloat this thing too much.

I'll post a link to the analogue nubs we are taking a look at later too.

Thanks

Craig


Could you post a concept for what the d-pad you are designing will look like too? That will be important for all pre-PSX gaming systems like SNES, NeoGeo, CPS1 etc that can be emulated near perfect. I think that is very important to see too.

If you look at Eolair's design you will see the 2 buttons under the d-pad. Those could be mapped to shoulder buttons too.

 

[quartercast]

Wasn't the d-pad design going to be "secret"? Maybe I'm imagining things... hmmf <_<

 

[Tobriand]

Just regarding the appearance/casing et al, what about a transparent shiny black as an outer layer - and here's the interesting part - a second layer with some kind of swiley designs on it. Result should look very cool indeed, and the designs would be protected from the elements nicely, so you could use tyhings that would otherwise not last on an outer casing?

I don't have any examples, but dream with me people!

 

[Turnip]

For me, 4 Shoulder Buttons just mean finger pain. Its hard enough to controll a game with 2 Thumbs, additional 2 Shoulders are tricky and then 4 Shoulders, maybe all at the same time?!?!? No way. ^^

I know I said I'll let this rest, but I have to ask have you even seen my trigger pics a couple pages back? quite the opposite of uncomfortable I think.


On the contrary to what you said earlier about only you wanting 4 shoulder buttons I also want 4 shoulder buttons. I am using this hugely for PS1 emulation as well as N64 emulation and I think we need at least 3 shoulder buttons for a Z for N64.

*snip*


Because of the 3 prong design of the N64 pad you only ever use 2 at any one time tho so N64 emulation would only use 2. Provided there are 6 face buttons ofcourse.

 

[X-Code]

This is a little off topic, but I thought that it would be a good idea to bring it up again

http://www.gp32x.de/board/index.php?showtopic=38605&hl=

--

Leaving that aside, we must remember that even if we don't have the same button layout, it should be reasonably comortable to have just those two triggers and 6 buttons on the right of the machine... Though, I would love to have the dual trigger buttons that Eolair has suggested, as they would be perfect in a slimline design.

I also think that chromed metal surfaces where buttons and D-pad are would look great and feel great. Basically, we could have the matt plastic clipped over the metal case as an interchangeable overlay/faceplate that simply leaves certain parts of the metal visible... Neat or what?

Only considering possible options B)

 

[Turnip]

Id prefer brushed to chromed. Apart from anything else chromed is too reflective and would distract the eye.

 

[X-Code]

Well, yes, It was only an idea though , it could be metal, and could be any colour.

 

[pkostrze]

I know I'm jumping in sort of late on this but, after reading and thinking a lot, I came up with a couple of ideas.

First, I think a metal case would be cost prohibitive - I could barely scratch up the cash for my F.E MKI.

Second, a D-pad similar to the one used in the MKI/MKII conversion kit (an N-Gage I believe) would be familiar to those that have upgraded and is a decently small and comfortable controller.

After thinking long and hard about controllers I've used in the past I remembered my favorite - The Microsoft Sidewinder gampepad. It was a nice textured, matte dark gray plastic that didn't slip and doesn't show fingerprint. Also, the D-pad was comfortable and responsive and very similar to the N-Gage. Here's a pic for those of you that never had the pleasure of using one:

 

[X-Code]

Craig has already stated that we're using a plastic-metal combination , in my particular post above, we would only need the upper half of the console ( screen side ) to be metal, and add to that, a secondary plastic matt faceplate( of any colour you choose ) that clips onto the metal one, leaving certain metal areas uncovered.

Never tried the sidewinder, the button layout seems good but I don't think that it could be applicable to this portable console due to space limitations.

On the right side of the following generic GameCube controller photo, the group of 3 buttons ( A, Y, X ) could be 5 and they would be perfectly usable methinks... But again, do we need to complicate matters?

*The keyboard behind is my new Saitek Eclipse II keyboard

 

[pkostrze]

Craig has already stated that we're using a plastic-metal combination , in my particular post above, we would only need the upper half of the console ( screen side ) to be metal, and add to that, a secondary plastic matt faceplate( of any colour you choose ) that clips onto the metal one, leaving certain metal areas uncovered.

Never tried the sidewinder, the button layout seems good but I don't think that it could be applicable to this portable console due to space limitations.

On the right side of the following generic GameCube controller photo, the group of 3 buttons ( A, Y, X ) could be 5 and they would be perfectly usable methinks... But again, do we need to complicate matters?

*The keyboard behind is my new Saitek Eclipse II keyboard



I was thinking of just using the D-pad, I agree the buttons wouldn't really work.

 

[X-Code]

Would be nice to have a Dpad along those lines, I agree. Craig said that he would post a link to the analogue sticks that we're going to be using, maybe he could post the Dpad too ( if it's not top secret )

 

[Yrx]

On the contrary to what you said earlier about only you wanting 4 shoulder buttons I also want 4 shoulder buttons. I am using this hugely for PS1 emulation as well as N64 emulation and I think we need at least 3 shoulder buttons for a Z for N64. Now of course we don't NEED these buttons but I am in favor of having at least 3 but who would want 3 so let's just make it four. Also, I think a metal design would be way too hot in the summer and cold in the winter.

N64 wouldn't need more than two shoulder buttons. In most cases the left one would be used for Z, and L wouldn't be used. When did you ever play a game that actually required you to use Z and L? It would be extremely uncomfortable on the actual N64 controller. If 4 shoulders were considered, they'd have to be done like the Retrocon controller mentioned earlier.

As for the metal, I don't think it would be uncomfortable if done right. Not that it really matters anyways, we already know that it'll be primarily plastic.