New 2600 Game Idea (Need Opinions)

[Tempest]

Ok after bouncing this idea off a few people and not being told that I'm totally insane, I've decided that I want to try and make this project a reality. Now bear with me a second as I try and explain my idea, then you can tell me I'm nuts...

 

My idea was for a 2600 game that would use a special controller instead of the standard joystick. I was inspired by a Star Trek: TNG episode where Data was playing some kind of weird 3D Tetris looking game with an alien using two glove looking controllers (Data lost and threw a hissy fit, but that's not important to the story). I always thought that a simplified version of that game would make an interesting 2600 game...

 

The game portion would consist of five bars that would slowly extend across the screen, and your goal would be to stop these bars before they reach the other side (think Ram It). To stop the bar you would simply need to move the joystick in the direction that corresponded to the appropriate bar (Up, Down, Left, Right, or Fire Button). Now here's where the special controller comes in...

 

The special controller would be a modified "Power Glove" type thing with mercury switches at the fingertips. Each fingertip would be hooked up to one of the four joystick directions and the thumb hooked up to the fire button. By lowering your finger you would trigger the mercury switch and therefore tigger the joystick (like the Le Stick controller). So to play the game you would really just wiggle your fingers at the appropriate times.

 

Of course there would be more to the game than just the bars. I was thinkning of maybe moving the bars to a beat and making it a warped DDR type game. I just wanted to know if anyone thought this was possible and if anyone wanted to help me out since this is a bit beyond my skills at the moment. So what does everyone think? Am I totally insane or am I on to something?

 

Tempest

[mvigor]

I don't see why it wouldn't work. Assuming you can get people to pay $250 for a copy of your game with this custom controller glove.

 

At least they would be able to use a joystick when the mercury evaporated eventually.

[Tempest]

Of course you could also use a joystick, but it wouldn't be nearly as much fun. I haven't checked into costs on the glove yet, but I imagine it wouldn't be that expensive, just low volume (this collectors item).

 

Tempest

[Rob Mitchell]

Someone came up with a finger touch pad controller for the Atari .. last year .. Inspired .. I made my own. Four areas of metal mounted on flat plastic (+ fifth for fire) .. and activated by an aluminum finger splint tethered with a wire.

 

Rob Mitchell, Atlanta, GA

[Ze_ro]

Although I don't have a link to provide, I remember seeing somewhere that someone had made an "Atari Glove" of sorts. All it was was metal fingertips, and a thumb plate. The way it worked was that the thumb was the ground, and touching a finger to the thumb served the same purpose as pressing up/down/etc on a joystick. I guess this wasn't exactly what you had in mind, but it would definitely be a ton easier to make than fooling around with mercury switches.

 

--Zero

[krisjohn]

Just make an adapter for the Nintendo Power Glove

 

http://www.angelfire.com/ok2/stepinto/Powe...rGlovePage.html