Chapter 204 The final plan for the mini steering wheel!
Thursday, February 13th.
Nitiantian Game Experience Store.
The decoration team is very efficient and has already started construction work.
Gu Fan basically gave Xiao Mingyu the direct responsibility for matters related to the experience store. He just roughly selected the location, thought about the decoration plan, and then found a store, signed a long-term lease contract, and found a reliable decoration company. A series of tasks were all handled by Xiao Mingyu.
The decoration team this time was generally quite reliable. The designer was amazed by the decoration plan proposed by Gu Fan and gave some suggestions from a professional perspective.
As a result, the decoration work of the experience store soon started in full swing.
Gu Fan deliberately selected various environmentally friendly materials, striving to complete the decoration in more than two months, and try his best to catch up with the official opening of the new game.
After finishing his work, Gu Fan went to a nearby cafe and met with the person in charge of the Zhitong handle.
"Mr. Gu, right? Hello! My name is Lu Haocheng, and I'm here to talk to you about the product design plan today.
"This is the design plan I made temporarily before, please take a look."
Lu Haocheng handed several printed designs to Gu Fan.
Gu Fan took it and took a look. The first thing was the design of the co-branded handle.
This design is relatively simple, with only two or three pages in total, basically a direct reskin.
At present, Zhitong controllers mainly have three best-selling products, and the naming method is relatively simple and crude, namely Fengshen, Vulcan, and Thor. The prices are getting higher and higher.
Among them, Leishen is the flagship product of Zhitong controller, which basically has all the new technologies and new gameplay of Zhitong.
Of course, there are other models, such as the "Breeze" series, which are mainly cheap, compact and lightweight, and the "Explorer" series, which are mainly used to test the waters by applying some niche and unpopular new technologies.
If the market feedback of a certain new technology is good, it will be considered to be applied to the "Thor" series. If the cost of this new technology is reduced, then it will be considered to be transferred to the "Vulcan" or "Wind God" series.
The co-branded handle is nothing more than a permutation and combination.
Choose a game from Nitian Games, adopt its design style, and then choose a specific product from the main products of Zhitong Controller, then change the case and sell it at a slightly higher price.
Considering that players who buy this kind of commemorative edition controller are basically not short of money, most of them just choose the highest grade.
Lu Haocheng directly chose the latest "Thor" series controller. The specific model is "Thor 3S". The original price was 499 yuan, but the co-branded version increased by 20 yuan to 519 yuan.
As for the co-branded games, of course they are "Ascend" and "Road Rage Simulator".
The co-branded controller of "Ascension" will mainly adopt the Xianxia style, while "Road Rage Simulator" will adopt the racing game style.
Gu Fan looked at it briefly, without comment, then picked up the "miniature handle steering wheel" plan and looked at it.
This is the highlight.
After reading the design plan, Gu Fan shook his head slightly.
Lu Haocheng seemed to have been mentally prepared for this, and he said a little embarrassedly: "Mr. Gu, I know that this plan may not meet your requirements.
"You wrote in the requirement that the price of this thing must be more than 100 yuan!
"But...it's such a small thing, the structure is very simple, if it were made of plastic, the cost would probably be less than five yuan.
"If it were made of metal, it would be difficult to reach 30 yuan, and metal would have many problems, such as feel, joystick rebound, etc. This is not very reliable!
"I can only make a simple optimization for this small toy currently on the market."
Gu Fan sighed silently. Obviously, the other person's thinking was not broad enough, and he needed to give him some inspiration and tips.
"Mr. Lu, you need to be more open-minded. How can such a mediocre product design stand out in today's fiercely competitive market?
"The co-branded controller of "Ascension" can be used directly with Thor 3S, but "Road Rage Simulator" cannot. This does not reflect the characteristics of this game at all, and it does not link with our new product "Micro Controller Steering Wheel". This Definitely not!
"Mr. Lu, the price of 100 yuan is not high. As long as you open your mind, you may even feel that the money is not enough.
"Who said we have to use this crude structure? Who said we can only control the direction by connecting a handle? Can't we send signals directly to the handle?
“And what is the must-have function of a steering wheel? It’s force feedback!
“Can’t you think of a way to add this function to the mini steering wheel?
"Just in time, I discovered that your company has already had a good product, which is this: the 'Explorer 4' detachable modular handle."
Lu Haocheng was a little surprised. He originally thought that this "100 yuan small accessory" was mentioned randomly, but now it seems that it was definitely not carried out randomly, and he was prepared!
It seems that Mr. Gu already has a clearer plan in mind?
But what exactly is the plan?
Of course Lu Haocheng is familiar with the Explorer 4 controller. It is a detachable modular controller. The four button functional areas on the controller are the left and right joysticks, cross keys and ABXY keys. These four Functional areas can be disassembled and replaced at will.
From this, many weird layouts can be created, such as the "PS-like layout" with the left and right joysticks at the bottom, or the "anti-human layout" with both the left and right joysticks at the top. You can even take off the right joystick and replace it with another one. Four cross keys.
All in all, it's very playable.
Of course, this kind of detachable module is not the first of Zhitong controllers. Some other handle manufacturers have also made similar products. However, this controller of Zhitong Company is relatively complete, and the related ones are very imaginative. There are also many accessories.
For example, there is an accessory that replaces the left joystick with a round wheel-shaped rotatable knob, which allows players to use it to turn when playing racing games.
It's just that this accessory didn't sell very well and is now close to being discontinued.
Could it be that the miniature steering wheel that Mr. Gu wanted was because he had spotted the detachable modular handle of the "Explorer 4" and wanted to make it a matching accessory?
Mr. Gu said that this micro steering wheel can send signals directly to the handle. Isn’t this what accessories mean?
Lu Haocheng couldn't help but suddenly realized: "Oh! I understand, Mr. Gu, you mean to directly remove the left joystick and install this accessory! In this way, it is no longer necessary to pull the left joystick through a mechanical structure. Instead of sending steering wheel turn information directly to the controller?
“After all, the joystick is different from the steering wheel. There is a dead zone, and the sensitivity will be much different. Therefore, the original crude solution can only be said to be barely usable. In fact, it is not necessarily better than using the handle directly.
"But this new solution is really equivalent to a miniature steering wheel! It can achieve very precise control!"
His train of thought instantly opened up, and Lu Haocheng continued to think along this train of thought.
"Mr. Gu, what else do you need? By the way, the steering wheel needs to have vibration and force feedback...
“Vibration is easy to say. Currently, the handles all vibrate. It’s just like updating the vibration mode like a steering wheel and upgrading the vibration module to achieve different vibration modes.
"But force feedback may be a bit difficult. The force feedback of the steering wheel is completed through the base. There is a direct drive motor, but where does the motor come from in the handle...
"Wait a minute, Mr. Gu, you don't want to install a small motor in this accessory, do you?"
Gu Fan looked at him without comment: "What do you think?"
Lu Haocheng couldn't help but take a breath, he understood!
No wonder the price of this gadget is so high. Obviously, if you want to make it seriously, it won't be cheap!
Why is it necessary to give back powerfully?
Because using a steering wheel to play racing games requires force feedback, it would be impossible to play without it.
The most basic thing is to straighten the steering wheel.
After completing the turn, release the steering wheel slightly and let it return to the straight line naturally. This is a driving habit that many people have in real life. This is very important for the driver to grasp the current body posture.
Without this function, the driver would feel uncomfortable and unable to determine whether the car body is traveling in a straight line through the feel of the steering wheel at this time.
And if you want to master some high-end skills, such as drifting, then force feedback is even more necessary.
Because during the drifting process, the driver would originally let go of the steering wheel, quickly turn the steering wheel, and then find the right time to hold it again. The whole process is smooth and smooth. Without force feedback, this action would be impossible to complete.
Why is the steering wheel always on the base? From gear transmission to belt + gear transmission to direct drive, the steering wheel has always been pursuing greater and greater force feedback intensity. If the force feedback of a direct drive steering wheel is adjusted to the maximum, it may even injure the player's arm.
The current micro steering wheels made of plastic are only directly connected to the left joystick through a mechanical structure. Although the left joystick itself has a certain centering force, this force is not strong to begin with, and when it is transmitted to the steering wheel through the connecting piece, it is almost non-existent.
Therefore, it has no soul.
Lu Haocheng took out his notebook and drew a simple sketch on it.
"Mr. Gu, is that what you mean?
"Based on the controller of "Explorer 4", first move the cross key to the upper left and move the left joystick to the bottom. Then remove both the left and right joysticks and install this miniature steering wheel .
“In this way, there is no need to worry about the collision between the micro steering wheel and the joystick.
"A small motor is installed on the micro steering wheel. It is basically located directly below the handle and is directly connected to the handle through a buckle structure. It drives the steering wheel to achieve force feedback.
“Since players only use two thumbs to control the steering wheel, the motor does not need to be large, but as long as it gives strong feedback, it is enough to greatly improve the player’s experience!
"Is it right?"
Gu Fan nodded slightly: "Yeah, almost. But one more thing is the shape of the steering wheel. Is there any room for improvement?"
Lu Haocheng thought for a while: "You mean...you can add two more finger positions?"
At present, this steering wheel is basically a structure of "one large circle with two small circles". The big circle is the body of the steering wheel, and the two small circles are located at the 3 o'clock and 9 o'clock directions of the steering wheel, corresponding to the player's two thumbs.
These two small circles are a slightly concave, flat structure similar to a rocker cap, which is to facilitate the player's control.
After all, the real steering wheel is held by the player with his whole hand, while the micro steering wheel only uses fingers. If this structure is not made, it will easily slip.
This is also the mainstream design of crude miniature steering wheels currently on the market.
But when Gu Fan reminded Lu Haocheng, he instantly realized one thing, that is, this structure still had some flaws.
Because this means that players can only play a quarter of a circle at most.
The best the player can do is turn their thumb to the 12 o'clock or 6 o'clock position, and then they can no longer turn it because their fingers are not long enough.
But in driving games, a quarter turn is definitely not enough. Even the top F1 cars basically need to turn half a turn.
Therefore, to take into account the player's operation of turning the steering wheel half a turn, it is necessary to add two thumb pressable areas at 12 o'clock and 6 o'clock. In this way, the player can first turn the steering wheel half a turn with his right thumb. Then use your left thumb to rotate half a turn.
You can even switch relays repeatedly between your two thumbs, turning as much as you want.
Finally, release the steering wheel and let it return to straightness through force feedback.
Gu Fan was very satisfied with Lu Haocheng's understanding: "Well, very good, Mr. Lu, your current design plan can finally satisfy Party A!"
Lu Haocheng was stunned for a moment. Is this my plan? Isn’t this what you, Party A, guided me to do step by step...