Game Controller V1

Let's Create our Design

This part was very time consuming for me since I was used to just creating boxes on Fusion 360 and my design this time had curves.

Almost There

So I imported my DXFs to LaserWorks and set the machine's speed to 15 and power to about 75%. Before starting, I adjusted the bed level for an optimum focus.

Here We Go Again

It was time to cut out the design again. I was excited and worried at the same since this seems to be the part where things always go wrong.

So I imported my DXFs to LaserWorks and set the machine's speed, power and focus all same as before. The cutting process took about 10 minutes.

I actually did cut this design more than once since the side part was flimsy and kept breaking off when assembling the parts together. Therefore, I was experimenting with different spaces for the living hinges and with every design I cut, I always modified something else that I thought could be improved such as the buttons positions, the cable opening, etc.... Also, it was my first my time creating a design with screws and nuts since I was just used to attaching parts with slots and gluing anything that didn't fit well so I didn't get the screws slots right from the first time as well. However, I won't go into the details of everything since these changes didn't differ much in the overall design.

Note: Adjusting the focus actually turned out to be more important that you would think. I had to repeat my design once because the focus wasn't that good and the wooden sheet was even a bit warped so I ended up taping down the wooden sheet in the next cutting process.

You can download all the design files used by clicking on the button below.

Last Thing To Do

Now, we just want to program our Arduino board. I really want to say don't worry, this part was all easy-peasy as well and worked right away but sad to say that this wasn't the case.

The code implementation was very straightforward though so you are probably wondering what was the problem then? Actually, the buttons worked like a charm but for some unforeseen reason, the tilt detection sensors didn't seem to work as expected. I spent hours on it before eventually giving up. This doesn't imply though that it's a programming issue. It could just be a sensor fault.

Initially, we wanted 4 of the buttons for tactile direction controls (left, right, top and bottom). Then, there are two tilt sensors to be used as gesture direction controls (left and right). So we are left now with 2 buttons. One of them is to be programmed as a mode selector, to select between the two modes we have, tactile or sensing. The other button could be used to shoot in a game for instance.

That was the initial plan. but after failing to get the sensors to work properly, I ended up programming one button to shoot in a game, equivalent to pressing ctrl, and the other button to jump in the game, equivalent to pressing space.

So let's dive into the code. First, we'll include the Keyboard.h file to be able to send keystrokes to the computer through our Arduino. Next, I defined my buttons' and sensors' pins in order to make it easier to reference them later on. Remember that's it's always good practice to keep your code clear and clean.

In the setup function, the code there is run once. This is where you set up all the buttons' pins as INPUT_PULLUP and the sensors' pins as INPUT. If you are wondering why INPUT_PULLUP, it's just equivalent to connecting a resistor between the pin and the VCC (5V). This resistor – value estimated between 20k and 50k Ohm – will make sure the state stays HIGH. When you press the button, the states becomes LOW.

In the loop function, this is where we place our main code that runs repeatedly. We want to constantly check if a button is pressed and accordingly take an action. So all we do is place if and else conditions. If a certain button is pressed, let's say the button defined as UP_BUTTON, press the KEY_UP_ARROW, on the keyboard. Otherwise, meaning the button is not pressed, release that key. Same concept is applied to all the buttons we have.

Note: You could either write the key's equivalent decimal or hexadecimal value or use the key name provided in the functions' documentation. You can find it here.

Last thing we have left are the sensors. I mentioned earlier I couldn't get them to function properly but you might have better luck in doing so. I just felt that sometimes they seemed to work correctly but most of the time they didn't. I would tilt the sensor and it would detect the direction correctly one time but the other 10 times, it wouldn't so it seemed unreliable to use. Plus if you think about it, it'll be very challenging to play a game in the sensing mode since the sensors give readings at all times, even when the console isn't tilted which means that in order for it to work correctly, you'll have to be moving either left or right in the game. You can't have a neutral state where you aren't moving left or right because then it'll just give random values so it just all didn't make sense to me to add this mode. However, if you would like to try it out, you can simply define some sort of flag variable in the code to change between the modes. For example, if the flag is equal to 0, then we are in tactile mode. Otherwise, meaning it is equal to 1, we are in sensing mode. Whenever the button is pushed, we toggle the flag. Toggling the flag means that if it was 0, then it'll be 1 and vice versa; if it was 0, then it'll become 1. After that, we have an if condition to check what is the value of the flag and accordingly, decide whether we will be using the buttons or the sensors for directions control. You can find the Arduino code implementation for this below. There are two files included, one with the tilt sensors in case you would like to try it out and the other is without the tilt sensors which is the one I used. You'll notice from the code that I assumed that in the sensing mode that I won't be using any other buttons except the one that changes between modes but that can easily be changed by adding more conditions for the other buttons.

Note: It's very important to test each component on its own at first before integrating all of the components together since it'll be much easier to debug then when things don't work correctly.

You can find the code implementation as an Arduino file by clicking the button below.