Anthony W's Senior Project Blog

Project Title: Here Comes a New Challenger: Fighting Game Controllers for People with Disabilities
BASIS Advisor: Jershon Eagar
Internship Location: Independent Project
Onsite Mentor:



Project Abstract

Fighting game players have a long history of creating custom controllers. For example, Smash Melee players have started to use controllers made of only buttons in order to relieve strain on their tendons. Additionally, Fightsticks and leverlesses are sometimes used as existing disability controllers because of the big buttons and wide spacing. These features make it easy to hit buttons consistently. While there are fighting game controllers that address some hand problems, none of them address motor issues or lack of limbs. I want to create a custom controller that addresses more severe physical disabilities, and keep the controller at a low price. While adaptive controllers exist, few of them focus on fighting games. Like any kind of game, Fighting games can offer a sense of normalcy and community to people who have recently lost the use of a limb. This can help their recovery by giving them a new hobby or allowing them to continue their existing passions.

    My Posts:

  • Seventh Week: The Finale, and Future Possibilities

    This week is the final blog post I will write for this project. The plexiglass sheets were cut, and I drilled a hole into the circles for the joystick. It is mostly complete, and I have to assemble the parts for the controller. It will be functional for my presentation, and I will bring it... Read More

  • Sixth Week: Joystick Nearing Completion

    This week, I built the body of the joystick of my prototype accessible controller. Once I attach switches, the joystick will be complete. The design is very similar to my sketches from last week. The only difference is the type of screw. Instead of using a custom screw with a C-ring at the bottom, I... Read More

  • Fifth Week: Running into Problems

    This week has been the exact opposite of last week. I ran into multiple obstacles, and have not progressed far. What I did accomplish is I figured out what to do for the control stick. I will recreate the mechanism that arcade sticks use, but with the ball enlarged into a disk. It should look... Read More

  • Fourth Week: Sawing and Printing

    This week has been very satisfying, because I feel like I’ve made a lot of progress. I made the STL file for the enlarged version of the buttons I’m using. I had to do this because the slicer software makes every part of the button bigger when you increase the buttons’ size. This is fine... Read More

  • Third Week: Starting to Build

    This week, I began building the actual controller and started to use 3D-printed parts. First, I focused on making a control stick. I thought I could make a plate-like stick by cutting in half my existing ball-topped joystick and adding a wide disk to the top. The idea was that a user could press on... Read More

  • Second Week: Gathering Materials

    This week, I focused on gathering materials for my prototype. However, I needed a concrete design to do this. For quite some time I had a general idea for a foot-operated controller, but I wasn’t sure of the specifics. Currently, I am thinking of splitting the controller into two independent halves and putting the buttons... Read More

  • First Week: Gathering Information

    The main goal of this week was planning out and doing prerequisite research for the rest of the project. My main plan is to spend the first two weeks deciding the materials that I will use for the controller, the shape of the controller, and the parts I will use for the internals. Arcade sticks... Read More