Dialing into sustainability through alternative controllers

Dial telephones as game controllers! Is it really possible? Yes, but with a few quirks, of course. Let’s figure out how.

Written by Zarif, Edited by Sadat

Source: Using Playful Approaches in Education to Create Awareness of Pro- Sustainability Behavior

Welcome to UX Analyst, where we dive and dissect the user experience of interactive technology. So, back to the question,

Well, the answer lies in alternative game controllers. Alternative Game Controllers are the antithesis of traditional, generic game controllers. They inspire creative designers to think outside the box and craft new experiences for players.

Unlike conventional controllers like mice, keyboards, gamepads, wiimotes, and dualshocks, which are designed to support all games, alternative game controllers are designed to create an experience specific to a game. They come in various shapes, sizes, and types. They can be custom-made for any game, highly modified versions of existing controllers, or even playful performances and experiences. Essentially, they can be anything that offers a fresh and exciting experience.

Fig 1. Haber Dasher Gameplay

Consider Haber Dasher as an example. Showcased in the Alt.Ctrl event at GDC (Game Developers Conference) 2023, one of the unique and low-tech alternative game controllers I have ever seen. It’s creator Erin J.K. Truesdell, a PhD candidate at the Georgia Institute of Technology at the time, designed the game to be controlled by a giant hat in a co-op setting.

Two people wear the giant hat and tilt it to control the character in the game. Tilt the hat left, the character moves left; tilt it right, the character moves right. The character, Zorg, is an alien trying to take over Earth by impersonating a businessman. Players aim to complete three stereotypical businessman activities as quickly as possible.

This game has a bizarre yet wonderful controller and simple mechanics. The hat on the character’s head serves as the Tangible User Interface (TUI) Reflection. The map is visible in the top left of the UI, with the mission target list on the top right. There’s even a coffee cup icon on the map, making it so intuitive. Its co-op nature encourages playing with a friend or making a new one. What a nice touch, eh?

Now, let’s come back to the Phone Game Controller.

Researchers Tuyishime and Kriglstein published a paper in the CHI-Play 2021 conference, where they showcased an alternative game controller called Rrrring & Play by repurposing a rotary dial phone to play the game Angry Birds 2. Their idea was to repurpose a vintage telephone which is usually a waste material to be transformed into a game controller.

Fig 2: Rrrring & Play Game Controller from a Rotary Dial Telephone – YouTube

To play the game you first need to pick up the receiver of the telephone, that will place the bird on to the sling shot. After that, you press the button under the dial to bring the mouse cursor to the slingshot location. Then you need to adjust the direction and angle of the shot by rotating the dial of the phone. Finally, you shoot the bird by putting the telephone down. The idea is unique and fascinating. And connecting Angry Birds 2 might look bizarre, but it gives the game a new medium for experiencing it. But it has got quite a few caveats up its sleeve. They are:

• While their initial 8 people usability testing showed positive feedback on entertainment and creativity, they also noted that the game was hard to control.
• The participants said that the positioning of the mouse cursor was difficult due to the position not being smoothly updated.
• Three participants found it hard to achieve the desired angle for the shot because the angle couldn’t be selected freely.
• And even though the controller is easy to learn and adapt to, it still is hard to map because of its different shape and interface compared to the game played in PC using mouse or mobile using touch gestures.

Overall, the novelty of the game controller might have been fascinating to the players, but playing the game with this controller for longer periods isn’t a practical solution yet.

Yes. Let’s talk about the sequel to the idea from the same co-author. Jan Pokorny along with three other authors including Kriglstein, published a paper in the CHI 2023 conference named, From Bin to Playin’: Give Vintage Objects a New Purpose as
Game Controllers.

Fig. 3: Gameplays with playful game controllers created from vintage objects.
Knife Hit with an Alarm (left),
Grand Thef Auto V with a Phone (middle), and Osu! with a Radio (right).

They implemented the same idea of bringing vintage items like radio, alarm clock and another phone to life by converting them into three playful game controllers. Their design utilizes the concept of tangible user interface to help improve mapping the controllers with the respective game’s user interface.

Fig. Alarm Clock transformed into a game controller using Arduino Nano and it’s mapping for Knife Hit (right)

Firstly, the alarm clock is paired with Knife Hit game. One button interaction controlled using a one button controller. You just hit the button to throw the knife on the rotating wheel. That’s it. It’s that simple. This is certainly very easy to map.

Fig. Phone transformed into a controller using with three buttons and a potentiometer and its key mapping for Grand Theft Auto V driving gameplay (right).

Secondly, the Phone is mapped with driving gameplay of Grand Theft Auto V. You need to rotate the dial pad to rotate the steering wheel. You can also accelerate and brake using other buttons. An unusual pick because it’s using only the driving aspect of the game. Although the circular dial of the controller should map with the steering wheel well, but it lacks the angle of rotation and the larger surface area required for a smoother control structure.

Fig. Radio transformed into a controller with six buttons and its key mapping for Osu! (right).

And finally, the third game is well mapped out to the controller and in some ways. Because it is supposed to make the game easier to play given the control interface is limited and only designed to play Osu!. But the problem is Osu! is a fast-paced musical game that requires practice. It requires the player to quickly press the appearing music notes in the screen with the corresponding buttons in the radio.

This research study also conducted an early usability study with six participants. And found that they were comparable to traditional controllers but wouldn’t replace them. The alarm clock performed very well and considered the most well mapped among the three. The participants really enjoyed the experience. It was easy to learn and play. But, compared to traditional controllers the players performed worse in case of Radio and the Phone. That is to be expected because of the more complex interface they have. Now let’s have a look at different kind of controller. One that doesn’t use upcycling.

Fig. Blossom Game Controller

We’ve discussed in our atomic blog in Mind Bender’s Hub LinkedIn, called Blossom. It’s an innovative game controller in the form of a pop-up book, designed by Laura M. Here each chapter of a girl named Blossom’s story is presented in a narrative driven visually appealing and interactive way.

Now it all begs the question,

Do using these upcycled controllers directly contribute to ensuring sustainability? Or do these promote sustainable development only?

Well, the answer can be a bit complicated. But stay with me here while I try to explain it in a simpler fashion.

Firstly, I need to talk about long term sustainability. Sustainability, like I have explained in my blog in MindBender’s Hub LinkedIn Page, requires a long term solution. And for a particular thing to be cost effective and sustainable, it would need to be durable and functional for a long period of time. And it would also need to recycle old plastic material which many of the manufacturers of game controllers are already doing. For example, Xbox’s Sustainable Wireless Controllers are Made with Recycled Resins.

The answer is no. Because it isn’t designed to sustain that long. And there are major problems with using these controllers for long periods. They can create new experiences, but they won’t be a great option as everyday reusable controllers. Because they usually support only one game and not designed to support many games of different genres. Also, they lack the robust exhaustive engineering and industry grade hardware that the commercial controllers have. On the other hand, keyboards and gamepads might require quite a bit of learning curve, you can play any game with it, and it would sustain for long periods of time. Maybe one day when virtual reality is ubiquitous and replace monitors, we will have a controller with minimalistic buttons and less complex interfaces.

For now, primarily in two ways. Either promoting sustainable development by teaching about climate change through stories like in Blossom or by using sustainable materials themselves like using household waste materials such as vintage radio. The potential of upcycled objects lies in in museum exhibits or interactive installations or as teaching aids in educational setting. But building them require various challenges. Such as:

• There is not enough support for building a game controller from scratch. Because there aren’t any suitable solutions widely available to experiment with alternative game controllers.
• These require quite a lot of extensive programming and calibration to make it really enjoyable.
• As the design only serves a handful of games from the same genre it becomes useless after the showcase event is over. The lack of replay ability a major concern.
• Without having a waste material that has an interface like buttons or wheels or mechanical parts it is hard to upcycle a game controller. You can’t upcycle a plastic bottle into a game controller. Because it lacks the interface that a phone or an alarm clock already has.

While there are major challenges when building them, they can be a great source of joy. And there are ways to overcome at least some of them. Using the concept of Tangible User Interface (TUI) it’s possible to make a game controller feel easily connected of the game’s interface. Another is to build a controller based on genres instead of a specific game only. For example, building an alternative game controller for shooter games (FPS and TPS primarily) like Counter Strike or Valorant can really help your controller support a large number of games. But that would require quite a bit of research to find the balance of simple control interface and support for games.

The concept of recyclable alternative game controllers presents a promising avenue for improving environmental sustainability. We can reduce waste by repurposing waste materials and promoting upcycling practices. Although we have a lot of challenges to design a custom alternative game controller like this, it can have promising impacts in building a cleaner future and a more personally customized gaming experience.

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