-
Hey, guest user. Hope you're enjoying NeoGAF! Have you considered registering for an account? Come join us and add your take to the daily discourse.
Latest Steam Controller design spotted in client beta?
- Thread starter ashecitism
- Start date
And even then, Valve is making an official, and pretty cool, controller api hardware manufactures can use.
Imru al-Qays
Banned
Valve can't drop it. They need to make PC gaming couchable. That's worth any amount of money invested.
Astral/H3X
Member
Is that to say no more bullshit Direct X vs DInput crap?
Candescence
Member
In the speculation thread about Nintendo's next set of hardware, it just occurred to me that it might be an interesting idea to have a modular controller that can be split into two halves, that can swap out different halves for different customization options, including extra components in the middle.
It's an interesting concept that would certainly work well on PC, I think, especially if devs take advantage of it.
It's an interesting concept that would certainly work well on PC, I think, especially if devs take advantage of it.
ashecitism
Member
hey Candescence, has TheSonicRetard shared anything interesting again since his posts from earlier this year on Sonic Retro?
Valve aren't exactly showering us with info lol
Valve aren't exactly showering us with info lol
Candescence
Member
Can't remember, he got approved on GAF recently anyway, so if he wants to share anything, he probably will.
My perfect controller layout:
Both trackpads of original version are not necessary because no game in pc requires two mouse cursors.
- Steam controller shape.
- Left stick in place as 360 controller. Desing as 360 controller but the top of the stick as xone controller.
- D-Pad in place as 360 controller. D-Pad design as 6B genesis controller. Slightly rotated to the right to align with the natural inclination of the thumb.
- Right haptic trackpad big enough for camera or cursor movement.
- 4 face diamond buttons under right trackpad.
- Under controller buttons as steam controller but splits in the middle, being 4 buttons.
- One of those buttons is fixed as shift button to transform right trackpad in a touch pad. How it works? imagine you have to move your mouse cursor in Starcraft II from lowerleft to topright. You can use the trackpad to move it, or you can push the shift key while click in the top right corner of the trackpad so the cursor will teleport to that point and then use the trackpad to fine tune the position.
Both trackpads of original version are not necessary because no game in pc requires two mouse cursors.
D
Deleted member 102362
Unconfirmed Member
I'm amazed because it sounded like, not too long ago, when they fired their previous hardware team, they weren't willing to hire someone like a machinist.
alexandros
Banned
Valve never fired its hardware team. The people that got fired were part of the AR team and were let go when the company decided to push for VR instead.
I believe Ellsworth's claim was that Valve is unwilling to hire 'grunts' in general.
ashecitism
Member
Pretty sure in her video she specifically mentioned machinists too. That how hard it was to hire one despite the expensive gear Valve had.
edit: wouldn't surprise me if this "machinist" in the interview is just another T-shaped guy
edit: wouldn't surprise me if this "machinist" in the interview is just another T-shaped guy
alexandros
Banned
Yeah, but as I understood it she meant that Valve was unwilling to hire a guy that was 'just' a machinist. I doubt the company has a "no machinists" policy
D
Deleted member 102362
Unconfirmed Member
Yeah, true.Yeah, but as I understood it she meant that Valve was unwilling to hire a guy that was 'just' a machinist. I doubt the company has a "no machinists" policy
So, is it reasonable to think that maybe their next game (L4D3?) might have an edition bundled with the Steam controller?
I avoid steam controller threads due to the sheer amount of negativity born out of ignorance that comes out of them.
alexandros
Banned
It would make sense, Left 4 Dead would be a great fit for the Steam Controller.
ashecitism
Member
If there is a hardware they'd want to bundle with that game then, if it's still a thing, it could be their biometric stuff, since biometrics is something they mentioned quite the lot with the L4D franchise.
Otherwise I don't see them doing anything of the sorts. They like to keep their stuff separate. Steam Universe is its own thing, games are their own thing...
Ah, so it's you then. Should have known from the ava and HL2VR talk. And yeah, it's understandable you avoid these threads :/
Otherwise I don't see them doing anything of the sorts. They like to keep their stuff separate. Steam Universe is its own thing, games are their own thing...
Ah, so it's you then. Should have known from the ava and HL2VR talk. And yeah, it's understandable you avoid these threads :/
D
Deleted member 102362
Unconfirmed Member
I hope there's an option to purchase the controller directly from steam, like the Razer Hydra used to have.
If it makes you feel better, I'm optimistic about it and, despite being a lifelong lover of KB+M, would absolutely love to get my hands on one and try it out.
alexandros
Banned
I understand the sentiment but I would urge you to keep participating in these threads. If the level-headed people give up then these threads will fill up with nothing more than useless "lol it looks like an owl" and "ditch the trackpads" posts. People who understand why this controller is the way it is are needed and can provide actually useful feedback.
For the people who want Valve to basically recreate the 360 controller, I want to say this: Steam has a massive catalog of games covering a wide variety of genres. An official Steam Controller must be designed in such a way so as to accomodate all of these genres. It has to be "good enough" when playing Counterstrike and Civ, Broken Age and Wolfenstein, Planetary Annihilation and Divinity Original Sin. If Valve creates just another normal controller it's basically screwing over every PC dev that makes anything other than action games.
That's too bad. While the ignorant people annoy me too I always enjoy reading more insightful stuff.
I went from being negative about it to talking to myself in a circle about it to being positive about the controller! Now I like the design and the only issue I have is the button labels need to be WiiU gamepad/pro controller style because Legit Reasons.
I definitely want to give the controller a try.
Perhaps but I think they'll also sell them directly through steam along with machines and maybe even other third party stuff.
Moreover, I've been calling it for a while, but I think their biometric feedback stuff is alive and well and will show up along side left for dead 3 in the form of a headset or something. Damn it I'm not crazy!
Two subs appeared in the Steam registry recently, both of which include a "game" named Steam Hardware. I'd guess the larger one (Valve's stuff + a ton of third-party games) is to be bundled with Steam Machines
Edit: The smaller sub was what Valve gave to the beta testers, as per this e-mail.
ashecitism
Member
That was supposed to be a part of a VR headset though and we we know where that went. Won't the controller be enough for them to handle when it comes to retail hardware?
I'm still hopeful it's a thing though, because it sounded interesting.
ashecitism
Member
new image from the beta client again
http://facepunch.com/showthread.php?t=1238036&p=46726073&viewfull=1#post46726073
http://facepunch.com/showthread.php?t=1238036&p=46726073&viewfull=1#post46726073
Boombox On
Member
So the analog stick looks like it'll remain... which is okay, perhaps.
I really don't like change with the left trackpad, though. It doesn't need to be any different from the right.
I really don't like change with the left trackpad, though. It doesn't need to be any different from the right.
alexandros
Banned
Hmm, I guess the cross on the left touchpad is supposed to help with directional controls, but wouldn't it cause problem with games that use both touchpads for mouse movement?
Freedom = $1.05
Banned
it's probably more so that you can have an idea where your left thumb is without having to look at the controller.
Interesting. I like the addition of the d-pad guides on the left trackpad, but I wonder if you'll be able to swap it out with a more generic one like the one on the right for a more symmetrical control scheme. (Note that I have zero idea how the trackpad surfaces are actually applied/functioning, lol)
I'm going to take a guess that the controller hasn't actually changed from the last time, and that is just adding more clarification to the left pads use as a dpad as well. Could also be another of their mode switching things where you could switch between the two.
Who knows
ashecitism
Member
yeah, I don't think it would be bothersome for mouse segments, but we gotta see the real thing first
also I wonder if those lines connecting the buttons have any significance
also I wonder if those lines connecting the buttons have any significance
Grip?
ashecitism
Member
yeah, that has been cleared up a while ago
Astral/H3X
Member
I swear if they get rid of the grips/paddles I'm gonna be so mad. Also I personally would have rather had a dpad than an analog stick, but I guess that's just me.
SerTapTap
Member
IMO it would do well with one of each:
d pad
analog stick
trackpad
facebutton diamond
They seem too set on two trackpads for that to happen, but their latest awkward design seems to show they're leaning in that direction as well. I just don't think a trackpad is ever going to replace a d pad, and is probably only situationally better than an analog stick (better for camera movement, worse for player movement IMO)
I assume it's visual only, it'd kind of be worst of both worlds if it's hard to slide your thumb beyond the cross pattern.
ashecitism
Member
Why would they get rid of them? Those are like its universally praised features.
Cave Johnson
Member
I always came to the assumption that the Steampad would be modular based on the patents not to mention it would make perfect sense since no one controller state can be master-of-all-trades device.
Everytime I see a new update, my heart just sinks all the way through. Too much emphasis on trying to re-iterate what current gamepads support can by default and not focusing on the non-compatible genres like RTS or flight-sims. I like the idea that the trackpad could have multiple macro-uses like having the outer-ring divided into quadrants that doubles as "hot-keys" - can you imagine playing Bioshock with that? No longer would I have to do away with the menu screen but it's already there directly in front of the controller.
To be honest, I wanted to use these trackpads to replay Thief since their item management is horrendous. The trackpads could easily streamline that feature, hell games like LittleBigAdventure with their F1-F4 selection is just asking to be hotkeyed here and there. The potential for the trackpads are enormous, especially for backwards compatible games. I would love to have the chance to test it myself if said feature was in place.
Macro-hotkey touchpads can really be defined based on it's customizability and I'm saddened to see the impressions are always about hitting the industry standard of controls. No surprise to see X360 pad jokes (seriously, that pad is so overrated) since that's where every *supposed* design is leading up to be.
Everytime I see a new update, my heart just sinks all the way through. Too much emphasis on trying to re-iterate what current gamepads support can by default and not focusing on the non-compatible genres like RTS or flight-sims. I like the idea that the trackpad could have multiple macro-uses like having the outer-ring divided into quadrants that doubles as "hot-keys" - can you imagine playing Bioshock with that? No longer would I have to do away with the menu screen but it's already there directly in front of the controller.
To be honest, I wanted to use these trackpads to replay Thief since their item management is horrendous. The trackpads could easily streamline that feature, hell games like LittleBigAdventure with their F1-F4 selection is just asking to be hotkeyed here and there. The potential for the trackpads are enormous, especially for backwards compatible games. I would love to have the chance to test it myself if said feature was in place.
Macro-hotkey touchpads can really be defined based on it's customizability and I'm saddened to see the impressions are always about hitting the industry standard of controls. No surprise to see X360 pad jokes (seriously, that pad is so overrated) since that's where every *supposed* design is leading up to be.
SerTapTap
Member
Were you guys seriously expecting an image from the front to show paddles that are physically on the rear?
They said it was originally in the plans, and I really think they should go back to that idea. They're simply not going to make everyone happy with the current stuff. There's really no "perfect controller". I can see why two track pads makes a ton of sense for mouse controls and lefty/righty issues, but I really don't see it being worth permanently losing d pad or analog controls depending on the game.
Imagine if even only the trackpad parts were swappable, leave the analog and facebuttons there--you could put on more facebuttons for macro heavy games, put on a d pad, put a second analog stick if you prefer, both trackpads, only one. Even if it's not fully modular, just switching those two "zones" allows it to be pretty damn close to a jack of all trades.
They said it was originally in the plans, and I really think they should go back to that idea. They're simply not going to make everyone happy with the current stuff. There's really no "perfect controller". I can see why two track pads makes a ton of sense for mouse controls and lefty/righty issues, but I really don't see it being worth permanently losing d pad or analog controls depending on the game.
Imagine if even only the trackpad parts were swappable, leave the analog and facebuttons there--you could put on more facebuttons for macro heavy games, put on a d pad, put a second analog stick if you prefer, both trackpads, only one. Even if it's not fully modular, just switching those two "zones" allows it to be pretty damn close to a jack of all trades.
I found the final version... it took me a while, but here it is.
Brilliant work Duxxy. The answer was right under our noses.