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Imaginative, handmade controllers power these unique games (gallery)
A beautiful old radio box was modified with servos, potentiometers, and an Android tablet to create the Radio Box Controller. It featured a couple of games, including a zeppelin adventure set on Venus. Being able to turn knobs and flip switches to control the zeppelin made for a uniquely tactile experience.
Image Credit: Dale North / GamesBeat
Click here for all of GamesBeat’s 2015 Game Developers Conference coverage.
At least one place at the 2015 Game Developers Conference (GDC) gave controllers the spotlight over the games themselves.
Returning for a second year, Alt.Ctrl.GDC is an interactive exhibit of one-of-a-kind game controllers that came out of creators’ basements and a related game jam. The exhibit is a place at the back of one of the expo halls of GDC where experimentation is the goal and where weird and unwieldy creations get the most attention. It makes for a nice change of pace at an event where a lot of the talk is serious and technical.
The 2015 lineup is even better (and stranger) than last year’s, with 18 contraptions being shown, picked from about 100 entrants. Given the hand-made nature of these peripherals, attending GDC is likely the only way to experience them. Here is a selection of the most interesting creations of this year’s lineup.
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For as funny as the blocky mask controller is, what caught my attention regarding Sam Sheffield’s Homies was its incessant chatter. It barked out commands — suck your thumb, pick your nose — as a player struggled to perform the tasks on the mask. Sensors spread across the mask register inputs in a game that has players looking like robots frantically clawing at their faces, making the experience fun for both players and spectators.
Controllers predating even Pong paddles accept player input in What Hath God Wrought? Morse code tapped into telegraph machines makes for some old time fun. Bonus: You might learn Morse Code.
Sam Sheffield’s Hexed Heart has players turning several bolts on a controller shaped like a body — similar to using a boxy metal voodoo doll. Corresponding shapes on the screen change, prompting twists from the player in an effort to break a curse. It’s a little dark. The middle screw is placed directly through the center of a pink heart.
The feel good game of this year’s exhibit was Spacebro Justice Rocket, a two-player space battle where high-fiving and fist bumping controls a heroic duo taking out aliens. Rad Sandwich Studios’ Louis Sciannamblo explained that sensors in the palms, knuckles, and even elbows register the prompted brotherly celebrations. He helped a partner and me through some of the super attacks, which required precisely timed signs of friendship to launch massive offensive fire. He also was kind enough to share his hand sanitizer.
A beautiful old radio box was modified with servos, potentiometers, and an Android tablet to create the Radio Box Controller. It featured a couple of games, including a zeppelin adventure set on Venus. Being able to turn knobs and flip switches to control the zeppelin made for a uniquely tactile experience.
If Alt.Ctrl.GDC had an awards show, But Sniffin’ Pugs would take the prize for Most Ridiculous Premise or Most Embarrassing Control Scheme. Two pugs scamper around a park, controlled by players pawing on a giant tennis ball set into a neon-green box. The goal is to do dog things, such as digging holes and dropping deuces. But to acquire your full pug powers, you’ll need to paw over to another dog and sniff its butt — done by mashing your face into a stuffed toy’s rear end. Creator Gabe Telepak told GamesBeat that the controls are simply remapped mouse functions.
You have to be brave to want to stick your hands into a mystery box with several arm holes in it, but that’s exactly how you control Ferdinand Laboite. Gross, soft things await your touch in a box painted to look just like the game’s protagonist. You’re touching his brain, squishing it to get him to move around. It’s even more gross when you consider that potentially tens of thousands of other show attendees have put their hands in the same box.
Deluxe Turbo Racing 360 turns game control on its head. It’s a platform that uses a custom controller to move modified Xbox 360 controllers in a physical play space. Four players take their stations around a game board that features four googly-eyed controllers. You can play a variety of games — including wrestling and racing — by controlling a pair of knobs.
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