Twenty-nine button Starcraft II arcade pad could be the ultimate RTS controller

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Twenty-nine button Starcraft II arcade pad could be the ultimate RTS controller

I’m really big on just using a keyboard and mouse for RTS play, but this concept RTS arcade controller just might work pretty well. Designed by Mauricio Romano for Shoryuken’s ultimate Starcraft II arcade stick contest, it’s sort of a beast of a thing.

Instead of a keyboard, the stick uses a matrix of Sanwa buttons traditionally used in fighting game arcade sticks. The larger buttons on the bottom left and right of the button array are for the CTRL, SHIFT, and Space keys. When plugged in via USB, the stick is recognized as a normal keyboard. No button mapping required.

The hemisphere you see on the right is a fully working 2-button mouse build using an Ultrastik analog joystick configured as an absolute pointing device. This allows for an RTS like feel while still maintaining the two-hands-on-the-stick spirit of a fight sticks.

Shoryuken says that the controller still isn’t a better solution than a mechanical keyboard and mouse, but concludes that it’s a decent alternative and a hell of a mod.

Via