After ending the video call with Lin Xiaoguang, Zhong Ming first closed the design documents of the new game, and then took out the hand-drawn tablet to draw the modeling diagram of the new controller.

Is there no difference between a handle and a handle?

Of course not, the difference is huge!

Some of the basic layout of the handle is really difficult to change, for example, other people's handles have two joysticks, two shoulder buttons, two trigger buttons, you have to make three joysticks, one shoulder button, then it's strange if you don't die violently.

The basic layout of the handle is indeed the most suitable equipment researched by many hardware design experts in combination with ergonomics, fully considering the comfort and convenience of players holding the handle, and making changes in these places will only become "innovation for innovation's sake", which is just a joke in the eyes of the insider.

The functions on the handle, such as adding electronic screens, adding touch pads, adding speakers, adding new buttons, etc., these solutions have basically been tried by countless people, some have stayed, and some have been removed.

The features that are left behind may indeed be essential or slightly enhance the experience, while those that are removed may be useless and costly.

Compared with making software, making hardware requires more awe, because there are too many aspects to consider when making hardware, including the actual configuration, practicality, and the shape and feel of the hardware, which are all things that affect the whole body. Some hardware manufacturers have some unique habits in appearance, which leads to a decrease in the yield rate of products and various quality problems, which is simply worth the loss.

The development of a handle that is ahead of the times requires a huge investment in R&D, and the new technologies applied in the handle also require a huge investment in R&D resources. Zhong Ming is obviously unable to spend tens of millions of dollars to research new technologies to make handles, he is not so wealthy now, what Zhong Ming wants to do is to combine the current technology to optimize and improve the handle.

……

Zhong Ming quickly sketched the new handle on the drawing board, and the functions and practices of each part were also noted on the side.

This shape is Zhong Ming's XBOX elite controller in his previous life, and it is said that Microsoft spent more than 100 million US dollars in order to develop this controller. It is impossible for Zhong Ming to spend so much money to make technological breakthroughs, but many of the successful elements on the elite handle can be used for reference.

The first is the shape of the controller,Switch、PS4、XBOXThe general layout of the three handles is similar,But the specific shape has its own merits,According to the feedback of players in the previous life,XBOX's controller should be the most liked by players。 Of course, Sony and Nintendo's controllers are not bad, but if you have to divide them, there is still a gap with the controller of XBOX.

In addition to the most basic controller configuration, this set of controllers also comes with additional accessories: a set of raised joystick caps, a set of mushroom head joystick caps, two sets of four paddles on the left and right, and a classic D-pad button - because the default D-pad button has been changed to an eight-way D-pad with a recessed center for hand-rubbing fighting games.

And these accessories are all magnetically adsorbed, which is very easy to install.

There are corresponding slots on the left and right joysticks of the handle, the position of the cross button and the position of the middle finger press behind the back, and the corresponding button or paddle is gently placed up to achieve the adsorption effect, a real fool-like operation.

In addition to the interchangeable joystick cap and D-pad, the controller also supports changing trigger travel, as well as the freedom to map new function keys to the paddles on the back.

This is also the smartest thing about this controller, it has not been forcibly changed and optimized, and the optimizations it has made have just touched the pain points of players, and they are all functions that players can really use.

Different players have different habits of using the joystick cap, some people like to use the traditional joystick cap, touch the depression at the top of the joystick cap with their thumbs, and some people like to push the joystick from the side.

Even many players have slight differences in the way they push the joystick because of the type of game they are playing, and this difference may not even be felt by themselves.

Once the various joystick caps have been replaced, players can change them at any time according to their habits.

The advantage of the long joystick cap is that when turning the direction of the same amplitude, the player's hand needs to draw a larger circle, so that they can be more precise when moving and turning the camera - especially when looking up at a taller enemy at close range.

The mushroom-shaped keycaps allow players to rub the joystick cap frequently for a long time without their hands being rubbed red due to friction, let alone fatigue or pain, which is also a huge improvement for the gaming experience.

In terms of the D-pad, the official standard D-pad is an eight-way D-pad with a depression in the middle, and its biggest role is that you can simply rub out the combo you want when playing fighting games, and because the surface of the eight-way D-pad is very smooth, no matter how you rub it continuously, it will not hurt to rub your hand.

In addition, there are also some items in the game that are selected with the arrow keys, which used to be a two-click click to select the upper right item with the four-way D-pad, but now only needs to be clicked once.

Although there are very few players playing fighting games in this world, there are still a group of people, and this design is a boon to them.

There are two special buttons on the back of the handle that can be flipped to change the travel of the two triggers – one is the more common deep and the other is shallow.

This design is also very practical, the deep key travel is very suitable for racing games, it can well simulate the feeling of throttle and brake, slowly press the right trigger, the car will slowly accelerate, and gently press the left trigger, the car will slow down slightly, without braking all at once.

In shooting games, players can shorten the key travel of the trigger button according to their preference, so that they can trigger the shot with a single press without having to press so tiredly.

In addition, there are the paddles on the back of the handle, which are also magnetically adsorbed, a total of four, and players can choose to use some of them according to their needs. When in use, the official driver allows the player to map any function key to these paddles, which can then take on new functions.

The biggest role of these paddles is two, one is to attach new keys to the player, many players always feel that the keys are not enough when playing games with the controller, or some keys are inconvenient to press, and the paddle can solve this problem well; The second is that in some games, players need to press a certain key very frequently, such as the ordinary attack button in some RPG games, the shoulder button and trigger button are pressed too much and it is very easy to get tired, at this time, as long as it is mapped to the paddle, it can be easily pressed all the time.

Of course, this paddle may also make some players uncomfortable, because the position of the paddle in the player's middle finger, if some people are used to holding the handle when they are nervous, they may touch it by mistake, which requires the player to adapt to it, just like many players play mobile games from two-finger operation to three-finger operation, there must be a familiar process.

In any case, the designer has to provide these solutions so that the player can choose freely.

In addition, an important design is the circular trackpad in the center above the controller, as well as the high-precision gyroscope built into the controller.

The position of this round trackpad is similar to that of the PS4's rectangular trackpad, and the shape is similar to that of the steam controller, with a slightly recessed center in the circle. The most important purpose of this trackpad is to allow the player to perform some mouse-like actions in the game.

For example, in management simulation games, players often need to choose a certain area on the map to build a building, or build a road, etc., this operation is difficult to complete with the original joystick, the best way to operate is to use a keyboard and mouse.

But with this round trackpad, it's easy to say, as players only need to use their thumb to gently drag on it, and they can use the D-pad on their left hand to do certain things, such as placing buildings in a very precise place.

This circular touchpad is much more sensitive than a joystick, and similar to the touchpad of many laptops, gamers can quickly get used to it with just a little familiarization. This also makes the controller perfect for supporting a lot of simulation games.

In addition, there is a high-precision gyroscope in the controller, which is mainly designed to improve the accuracy of shooting in FPS games.

In FPS games, players can use the right stick to control the direction, and if they still need to fine-tune at this point, and the player doesn't want to use the right stick or touchpad, they can simply tilt the joystick to aim - just like the players in the previous life of Zhong Ming did in The Legend of Zelda.

This is a huge boon for many players who like to play FPS games on consoles, and of course, Shimmer Studios kindly suggests that if you want to play FPS games, it is best to buy the whole GS1 emulator to get the most perfect shooting experience.

In addition, due to the large number of metal products used in the handle, the weight of the entire handle will be significantly higher than that of other handles, making the player feel more weighty in the hand, so that the feel of the entire handle will also be improved.

……

Soon, Zhong Ming finally finished writing the design plan of the handle and sent it directly to Lin Xiaoguang.

Lin Xiaoguang's first reaction after reading it was stunned: "It's so complicated??? ”

Obviously, Zhong Ming wrote a lot of things that completely exceeded his expectations, before Lin Xiaoguang didn't understand why Zhong Ming gave him three months to make this handle, but now he understands, it really takes three months!

This handle is different from any handle on the market, there is a touchpad and a gyroscope on it, just the stacking is enough for Lin Xiaoguang, not to mention that there are some special designs in it, such as the key travel of the two triggers can be adjusted, which have to change the internal structure.

"Mr. Zhong, is it necessary to make this so complicated? The experience for players has indeed improved a lot, but the price of this controller should also be very expensive, and it is very likely that it will ...... It's going to sell for about a thousand dollars. At this price, there is no competitive advantage in the market. ”

Lin Xiaoguang doesn't think these innovations are bad, of course innovation is good, and any improvement in the player's feel must be valuable. But the key is that the improvement of the feel will inevitably mean the increase of the price, once the price goes up, the player group for the market will naturally be narrow.

Zhong Ming replied: "It's okay, let's bundle the controller with the GS1 X console. Anyway, only rich people will buy it, and it is not a big problem to pay a few hundred yuan. ”

"God, it's not a big problem to be a few hundred dollars!" Lin Xiaoguang asked, "What about the GS1 S?" ”

"The GS1 S can be equipped with the most common handle, as long as it works. The GS1 S is mainly on the affordable route, while the GS1 X is on the high-end route. In addition, the handle is also sold alone, how much it costs to see how much it costs, and then let's talk about it, it's not impossible to sell it for 1000 yuan. ”

Lin Xiaoguang didn't reply for the time being, but was quickly calculating the price of these two hosts.

The current two host devices, the GS1 S and GS1 X, are also priced at 2499 for the former and 4199 for the latter, because of the big difference in configuration.

In this, Lin Xiaoguang reserved the price of the handle and reserved 200 yuan.

That is, for a machine without a handle, the GS1 S should sell for 2299, while the GS1 X should sell for 3999.

But how is it possible for a host to not have a handle? It's definitely going to be bringed.

Now Zhong Ming wants to bundle this elite controller with GS1 X, then the price of GS1 X will soar directly to 4999 (if the price of adding the new controller is about 1000), this price is slightly embarrassing.

Even if 4999 compresses profits, it will be compressed to 4899 at most, and for players, this price is not particularly sensitive, and it doesn't make much sense. If it can be compressed from 3100 to 2999, it will be more intuitive for players, but for GS1 X, it is obviously impossible to push the number of thousands down any further.

That said, the final pricing is most likely like this:

GS1 S version console (with normal handle): 2499

GS1 X Edition console (with Elite Controller): 4999

GS1 Edition Elite Controller: 999

At present, the price of the host on the market is basically about 2500~3000, and the most expensive is about 4500. In other words, the lowest version of the GS1 console is not competitive in terms of price compared to the cheapest console on the market, and the high-end version of the GS1 console is more expensive than the most expensive console on the market.

Of course, considering the selling price of the Elite Controller, the GS1 X should cost 4000, which is 500 bucks cheaper than the most expensive console on the market, but ...... There is a question mark over whether players will consider this price so sensibly.

Players are likely to see the number "4999" and directly "bother".

As for the handle, it is more expensive, the most expensive handle on the market is basically about 500 yuan, this elite handle is crazy to pile up, and directly doubles the price.

According to the general idea, when hardware manufacturers enter a new field, they generally first gain a firm foothold at a low price, and then slowly increase the price to steadily enter the high-end field. This is what the GS1 emulator did before, but looking at the current situation of the host and controller, it seems that it is going to be directly in one step?

The X version is twice as expensive as the S version, will any player really buy it?

Lin Xiaoguang was also very uneasy in his heart.