Joystick from scratch: howto

[Tenacious]

It would be interesting to try a new model of joystick ergonomics.  Maybe a flattened cube shape with a single switch on each vertical facet (up, down, left, right).  The top might have 2 fire buttons.

OR

Start with the same box and use industrial spring loaded toggles - one for up/down the other for left/right.  The switches could be installed, again on different faces, with the plane of toggling naturally oriented to the direction they serve.  This could be a very intuitive and responsive controller.  Might look kind of like a steam-punk design.

Fun to think about.

[Tenacious]

Thanks for the open-minded encouragement.  

[Tenacious]

Sorry about that

Don't worry about it.  

@ SuperFrog

Nice looking controller.  Mass producers always make a stick with one cable to a specific game port (economics, marketing strategy?).  If you want just 1 stick for multiple platforms, you could mount a connector on the box itself (your pin-out design) and then make a separate cable from your connector to each platform.  It might save some space.

[Tenacious]

You've probably already seen this discussion (with links) about Amiga joysticks.

http://www.amiga.org/forums/showthread.php?t=39405&page=3