Thursday, February 13.

Anti-Heaven Game Experience Store.

The renovation team is very efficient and has already started construction.

Gu Fan basically handed over the relevant matters of the experience store to Xiao Mingyu to be directly responsible, he just roughly delineated the location, thought of the decoration plan, and then found a shop, signed a long-term lease contract, found a reliable decoration company and a series of other work, all handed over to Xiao Mingyu to take care of.

The decoration team this time is relatively reliable on the whole, and the designer was amazed by the decoration plan proposed by Gu Fan, and gave some suggestions from a professional point of view.

As a result, the renovation work of the experience store was soon in full swing.

Gu Fan deliberately selected a variety of environmentally friendly materials, striving to complete the renovation in more than two months, as much as possible to catch up with the official opening of the new game at the same time.

After finishing his work, Gu Fan came to a nearby café to meet with the person in charge of Zhitong Handle.

"Gu always, right? Hello! My name is Lu Haocheng, and I will communicate with you today about the design of the product.

"This is the design I have drawn up for the time being, you can take a look."

Lu Haocheng handed several printed design plans in his hand to Gu Fan.

Gu Fan took it and looked at it, first of all, the design of the co-branded handle.

This design is relatively simple, a total of two or three pages, basically a direct skin.

At present, there are three best-selling products in the Zhitong handle, and the naming method is relatively simple and crude, namely Fengshen, Vulcan, and Thor, and the price is getting higher and higher.

Among them, Thor is the flagship product of Zhitong handle, which basically has all the new technologies and new ways to play Zhitong.

Of course, there are other models, such as the "Breeze" series, which focuses on cheap, compact and lightweight, and the "Explorer" series, which are mainly used to apply some niche and unpopular new technologies as a test of the waters.

If the market feedback of a new technology is good, it will be considered for application to the "Thor" series, and if the cost of this new technology is reduced, it will be considered for decentralization to the "Vulcan" or "Fengshen" series.

The co-branded handle is nothing more than a permutation and combination.

Choose a game from the Antiheaven game, adopt its design style, and then choose a specific product from the main product of the Zhitong controller, and then change the shell, and sell it at a slightly higher price.

Considering that the players who buy this commemorative version of the controller are basically not bad for money, most of them directly choose the highest gear.

Lu Haocheng directly chose the latest "Thor" series handle, the specific model is "Thor 3S", the original price was 499 yuan, and the co-branded version rose by 20 yuan to 519 yuan.

As for the co-branded games, of course they are Ascension and Road Rage Simulator.

Ascension's co-branded controller will be primarily in the Xianxia style, while Road Rage Simulator will be in the racing style.

Gu Fan looked at it briefly, was noncommittal, and picked up the plan of the "micro handle steering wheel" and looked at it.

That's the main thing.

It's just that after reading this design plan, Gu Fan shook his head slightly.

Lu Haocheng seemed to be mentally prepared for this, and he said a little embarrassedly: "Mr. Gu, I know that this plan may not meet your requirements a little.

"You wrote in your request that the price of this thing must be more than 100 yuan!

"But...... It's such a small thing, the structure is very simple, and if you use plastic, the cost is estimated to be less than five yuan.

"If you change to metal, it is also difficult to get 30 yuan, and there will be many problems with metal, such as the feel, the rebound of the joystick, etc., which is not very reliable!

"I can only make a simple optimization for this kind of small toy that is currently on the market."

Gu Fan sighed silently, obviously, the other party's thinking was not open enough, and he still needed to give him a little inspiration and hints.

"Mr. Lu, think more openly, how can such a mediocre product design stand out in today's fiercely competitive market?

"The co-branded controller of "Ascension" can be used directly with Thor 3S, but "Road Rage Simulator" does not, which does not reflect the characteristics of this game at all, and does not link with our new product "micro handle steering wheel", which is definitely not possible!

"Mr. Lu, the price of 100 yuan is not high, as long as you open your mind, you will even feel that this money is a little insufficient.

"Who's to say you have to have this rudimentary structure? Who said that you can only control the direction by attaching a handle? Isn't it possible to send a signal directly to the handle?

"And, what is the must-have function of a steering wheel? It's a force to give back!

"Can't you just find a way to add this feature to the miniature steering wheel?

"It just so happens that I found out that your company has a good product for a long time, and it is this: the 'Explorer 4' detachable modular handle."

Lu Haocheng was a little surprised, he originally thought that this "100 yuan small accessory" was mentioned randomly, but now it seems that it is definitely not a random pickup, and he came prepared!

It seems that Mr. Gu already has a relatively clear plan in mind?

But what exactly is the solution?

Explorer 4This handle,Of course Lu Haocheng knows it very well,It is a detachable modular handle,The four button functional areas on the handle,They are the left and right joysticks、Cross key and ABXY key,These four functional areas can be disassembled and replaced at will。

This can also make a lot of strange layouts, such as the "PS-like layout" with the left and right sticks below, or the "anti-human layout" with the left and right sticks above, and you can even take down the right stick and replace it with another four D-pads.

In short, the playability is high.

Of course, this detachable module is not the first of Zhitong handles, and some other handle manufacturers have also made similar products, but the completion of this handle of Zhitong Company is relatively high, and there are more related accessories with big brains.

For example, one accessory is to replace the left stick with a round, wheel-like rotatable knob that allows players to use it to turn while playing racing games.

It's just that this accessory doesn't sell very well, and it's close to being discontinued.

Could it be that the miniature steering wheel that Mr. Gu wants is to look at the detachable modular handle of "Explorer 4" and want to make a matching accessory?

Mr. Gu said that this micro steering wheel can send signals directly to the handle, isn't this what accessories mean?

Lu Haocheng couldn't help but suddenly realize: "Oh! I understand Mr. Gu, what do you mean to say, just take off the left joystick and install this accessory! In this way, instead of turning by pulling the left stick through the mechanical structure, the steering wheel turning information is sent directly to the handle?

"After all, the joystick and the steering wheel are different, there is a dead zone, and the sensitivity will be much worse, so the original simple scheme can only be said to be barely usable, in fact, it is not necessarily better than using the handle directly.

"But the new scheme is really equivalent to a miniature steering wheel! Very precise control is possible! ”

The train of thought opened instantly, and Lu Haocheng continued to think about it along this line of thought.

"Mr. Gu, what else do you need? By the way, it is necessary to benchmark the steering wheel, there is vibration and force feedback......

"It's easy to say that the vibration is good, at present, the handle has vibration, but it is just like the steering wheel to update the vibration mode, upgrade the vibration module, so as to achieve different vibration methods.

"But the force feedback is probably a bit difficult, the force feedback of the steering wheel is done through the base, there is a direct drive motor, but where does the handle come from......

"Wait, Mr. Gu, don't you want to install a small motor in this accessory, right?"

Gu Fan looked at him and was noncommittal: "What do you think?" ”

Lu Haocheng couldn't help but gasp, he understood!

No wonder the price of this gadget is so high, obviously if you want to do it properly, it really can't be cheap!

Why is it important to give back?

Because playing racing games with a steering wheel, the force feedback is just needed and you can't play it without this thing.

The most basic thing is to get the steering wheel right.

After the turning is completed, release the steering wheel slightly to let it return to the right naturally, which is a driving habit that many people will have in reality. This is very important for the driver to grasp the current body posture.

Without this feature, the driver would be uncomfortable and unable to determine whether the car is driving in a straight line by the feel on the steering wheel at this time.

And if you want to master some high-end skills, such as drifting, then force feedback is even more necessary.

Because during the drift process, the driver would have released the steering wheel, let the steering wheel turn quickly, and found the right time to hold it again, and the whole process was smooth. If there is no force feedback, this action is simply difficult to complete.

Why does the steering wheel always play on the pedestal? From gear transmission to belt + gear transmission to direct drive, the steering wheel has always pursued more and more force feedback intensity, and if the direct drive steering wheel adjusts the force feedback to the maximum, it may even injure the player's arm.

The current miniature steering wheels made of plastic are only mechanically connected directly to the left joystick. Although the left stick itself has a certain amount of centering force, this force is not large, and when it is transmitted to the steering wheel through the connector, it is even more almost nonexistent.

So, it has no soul.

Lu Haocheng took out his notebook and drew a simple sketch on it.

"Mr. Gu, do you mean that?

"Based on the Explorer 4 controller, first move the D-pad to the top left and the left stick to the bottom. Then remove the left and right joysticks and install this miniature steering wheel.

"This way, you don't have to worry about the micro steering wheel and the joystick colliding.

"On the micro steering wheel, a small motor is installed, which is basically located directly below the handle, and is directly connected to the handle through the buckle structure, which drives the steering wheel to achieve force feedback.

"Since the player only uses two thumbs to control the steering wheel, this motor doesn't need to be too big, but as long as it gives strong feedback, it is enough to greatly improve the player's experience!

"Right?"

Gu Fan nodded slightly: "Well, almost." But there is another point, that is, the shape of this steering wheel, is there room for improvement? ”

Lu Haocheng thought for a while: "You mean...... Can you add two more fingers to press the position? ”

At present, this steering wheel is basically a structure of "one big circle with two small circles". The big circle is the main body of the steering wheel, and the two small circles are located at 3 o'clock and 9 o'clock on the steering wheel, corresponding to the player's two thumbs.

The two circles are a slightly concave flat structure similar to a joystick cap, which is meant to be easier for the player to control.

After all, the real steering wheel is held by the player with the whole hand, while the micro steering wheel only uses fingers, and if you don't make this structure, it is easy to slip.

This is also the mainstream design of the kind of shoddy micro steering wheel on the market at present.

But as soon as Gu Fan reminded Lu Haocheng of this, he instantly realized one thing, that is, there were still some flaws in this structure.

Because it means that players can only play a quarter of a lap at most.

At most, the player will turn their thumb to the 12 or 6 o'clock position, and there will be no way to continue the rotation, and the fingers will not be long enough.

But in the driving genre, a quarter lap is never enough, and even the best F1 cars basically have to take half a lap.

So, to take into account the player's half-turn steering wheel, it is necessary to add two thumb pressable zones at 12 o'clock and 6 o'clock, so that the player can first turn half a circle with his right thumb and then turn half a circle with his left thumb.

You can even swap relays with two thumbs repeatedly to turn as many times as you want.

Finally, let go of the steering wheel and let it return to the right with force.

Gu Fan was very satisfied with Lu Haocheng's understanding: "Well, very good, Mr. Lu, your current design plan can finally make Party A more satisfied!" ”

Lu Haocheng was stunned for a moment, is this my plan? Isn't this what you, Party A, guided me step by step......

(End of chapter)