Posted by Bill Lash on 27, 2000 at 6:32 PM:
In Reply to: Extra adapter for rotary games not using dial inputs posted by Druin on 26, 2000 at 1:01 AM:
: It was noted by The Maverick that there are at least 3 games: Front Line, Wild Western, and Tin Star, that have a rotating character that doesn't use the 2 dial inputs, but instead these games (and possibly others?) use an 8 way joystick to control the aiming (why would they do this - you need 3 arms then, one for normal character movement, one for aiming on the other joystick, and one to fire). I have no idea why these games were emulated differently, but luckily for me, the 2 out of 3 of them that I tried at least, were "older" games than the good old Ikari type, so since they aren't really nostalgic for me, and they're so simple looking, I won't really miss them, but for anyone that WOULD like to play them, I came up with a little adapter circuit.
: It's untested as yet so it may not be fully correct but the idea is there. I purposely chose not to use an easy solution with a programmed microcontroller. I used normal discreet ICs that anyone can buy and use without having to program chips, especially if they don't have a programmer etc.
: Since the games are Rotary games, I designed this circuit around the Rotary Interface so that it can connect to the interface's clockwise/counter clockwise outputs and convert those backwards into 8 way joystick combinations of up, down, left, and right, so each time the rotary joystick is rotated either way, the adapter circuit will "rotate" a fictional 8 way joystick in that same direction, and that gets wired to the keyboard encoder's joystick inputs. Then we're back to only needing 2 hands again to play...one on a rotary joystick that controls character movement and aiming direction, and the other one firing or holding the beer.
Interesting. Looking at your other rotary interface, it seems to be 12 positions per revolution, while this one is 8 positions per revolution. Will this cause anyone any problems? You will get a full circle with only 3/4 of a revoluton of the joystick. You could change the schematic some so that decodes over 12 reset the counter, and add some extra diodes for the decode going into the analog switches, but it would definately complicate the design (and might have an uneven feel to the control as well).