IntelliGamepad - Development Thread

[+fdr4prez]

Within the IntelliStick thread I mentioned that the IntelliStick would be the *very first* Intellivision gamepad.

 

Well, the IntelliGamepad was actually in development for about a year prior to that announcement of the IntelliStick.

 

At that time I wasn't sure if I was going to move forward with the IntelliGamepad development, but I will now work on both in tangent.

 

The same microcontroller chip, with its firmware, will be used in both, so why shouldn't I restart/continue working on both projects at the same time?

 

Here's the concept that I started in 2018/2019 and I built a fully functional proof of concept prototype and some here saw it, and used it, at PRGE-2019.

 

The Sega 3-button gamepad:

 

 

One day I thought to myself, "self? take a look here, this gamepad has three buttons, and a dpad, so what would happen if you remove that d-pad and plop in an analog thumbstick there?"

 

This is what I came up with:

 

 

Since this was all new to me at the time (and still is), I needed to first figure how to get a thumbstick joystick working.

 

I used a thumbstick and an arduino to interface with it.

 

I used the original Sega board and I cut out an opening for the joystick board and the Arduino board:

 

One downside to this concept is that the opening for the Dpad is very large and the thumbstick is a bit tall:

 

Actually, the thumbstick i am using now is a little shorter, but even the one used in that old picture wasn't uncomfortable to play with.  it is a thumbstick after all.

 

But since the dpad hole is so large, there is really nothing to hold the thumbcap on to the joystick, so if you press too hard at the extreme movement range then it will pop off.

 

If this project moves forward, I will need to work on a 3D printed cover that will go over the stick that will hold the cap in place.

 

Since I needed to design my own board to fit into the Sega gamepad housing I was hesitant to move forward with this project because i didn't want to get real boards made if the mounting holes were not in the correct location.

 

Now that i have a 3D printer, i am now able to do test prints of the board to confirm if my board design will be good for the housing.

 

It took 5 or 6 test prints to get all the mounting holes in the right spot.

 

 

I still need to confirm the button locations and where the microcontroller will mount, but that isn't so hard to do.

 

The A/B/C buttons will be the three side action buttons on the Intellivision controller.

 

The original Start button will be wired as the Pause (1+9).

 

The joystick also has a button if you press down on it, so that will be Enter of the Intellivision's keypad.

[+fdr4prez]

Here is a little video of the thumbstick being fiddled...

 

 

 

[+fdr4prez]

Once I got the arduino and joystick wired, and I wrote the code for it, here is a video that shows that I randomly push the stick around and I get all 16 directions:

 

 

 

[+fdr4prez]

This is the functional prototype that I brought to PGRE in 2019, so a few of the Intellinerds that were hanging around in Rev's booth saw it and played with it when I connected it to a system in the booth.

[+fdr4prez]

Obviously, since there are so few buttons, then this would be a gamepad that would be used for when a game doesn't really rely on keypad input.

[+jsmith73]

That's pretty great! I hope you keep a posting your progress.  

[+fdr4prez]

My original name for this project was going to be the IntelliPad.

 

But when @evg2000 released his IntelliPaddle, I then decided not to use such a similar name, so the IntelliGamepad name was born.

 

sorry, IntelliGamepad is a bit long in the tooth, but it suits it and I have limited imagination and desire to come up with another name, so IntelliGamepad it is!

 

By the way, if you've not made an IntelliPaddle, please do so.  It is a great controller.

[+fdr4prez]

As noted in the other thread, there is a mistake in the schematic and board, so I will get that fixed up before I order the board.

[+-^CrossBow^-]

On 9/1/2023 at 6:25 PM, fdr4prez said:

My original name for this project was going to be the IntelliPad.

 

But when @evg2000 released his IntelliPaddle, I then decided not to use such a similar name, so the IntelliGamepad name was born.

 

sorry, IntelliGamepad is a bit long in the tooth, but it suits it and I have limited imagination and desire to come up with another name, so IntelliGamepad it is!

 

By the way, if you've not made an IntelliPaddle, please do so.  It is a great controller.

You could also call it the "IntelliControl"... 

 

[SiLic0ne t0aD]

Awesome work man!

IntelliPad is a great name.. That's what I'd stick with.

[+fdr4prez]

PRGE 2023 was this last weekend.

 

I brought my prototype IntelliGamepad and it was on display in the Intellivision Revolution booth for the weekend.

 

I know a few here did play with it and it received good reviews 

 

I will work on getting the IntelliStick completed first, and then I will get the IntelliGamepad completed.

 

Hopefully by Springtime '24