Homework for the Legion!

Blaze needs a gamepad that would render the mouse obsolete or close to it.

Any suggestions or tips about getting the camera controls [y axis] mapped on the keyboard keys would be great and way cheaper.

So far I'm leaning towards this gamepad

http://www.n52te.com/

User Manual for n52te
http://www.belkin.com/support/article/?lid=en&pid=F8GFPC200&aid=9287&scid=0

I hear the thumb button [16] is a little too far to press effectively. I'll get used to that. That is the default space bar.

Here is another good choice, but a bit pricey at $80

http://www.logitech.com/index.cfm/keyboards/keyboard/devices/5123&cl=us,en

Looks less attractive than the Belkin, in my opinion. Has LED screen that I would probably not even look at unless it monitors my CPU performance and temperature. I have not been able to find information on what this tiny screen can project.


3rd Choice for its Ambidextrous design:
Steel Series Fang game pad. 29.99 Euro money. I have no idea how much that is in dollars.

http://shop.steelseries.com/index.php/marketplace/fang-game-pad.html

Good ambidextrous design. I can use for my right hand. But I figured left hand for gamepad and right hand on numpad will be my general set up.


4th choice that I just found while browsing around:
Saitek Cyborg Command Unit
http://www.saitekusa.com/prod/cyborgcommand.htm

I have not read much about it yet.



Please help. Main purpose of this gamepad is to do the mouse's job. Let me know what you can find out. Thank you

<3 Blaze

I have what is known as a 3D mouse from 3dconnexion. It is generally used in engineering design software for navigating components inside the design software. It has an X, Y, and Z axis along with a twist in the Z axis and two buttons on the side. When the game goes out of beta and into the market I'm going to work on making it work with Aion. It would be perfect for navigating in the game because of the various axises and the two buttons.

What I'm hoping to achieve...

X and Y will move my character in the expected directions. Y forward or backward, and X side shifting left or right.
The twisting axis will simulate the turning of the character left and right.

For flight:
hitting one of the two buttons enters the character into flight mode, and up and down in Z will raise and lower the character in place.
hitting the other button could potentially release me from flight mode, enter me into glide mode, or enable auto run. If I get to this point, I think this one will become debatable. I think this because if I can achieve everything up until this point, then I can free my hand from a mouse completely, and set shortcuts on my keyboard for everything else.

I'll keep you posted. To do the leg work necessary to make it work is achievable, but not 15min achievable. Because of this, I don't want to waste precious beta game time to analyze it.

Good Idea. Is that a gamepad or a gaming mouse? Sounds awesome. I'll stick to my keyboard ... and mouse... for now. I'll go get some when real game is out and fix up the kinks. Thanks for the response. Looking forward to the result of your programming skills.