Hi everyone, I have an oddly specific question.

[generic0000]

Hi all, I just got KSP "for the kids", who are far too young to play it. One of my kids LOVES space, so he gets a kick out of the couple of times I've played it. It will be a great teaching tool, in fact watching the spacex dragon launch today I actually knew a little bit of what was going on because of KSP.

Anyway, I'm currently building a custom controller to make it easier for my youngest to play Minecraft. This was essentially practice for my long term goal of building a Kerbal controller (yes, I've been wanting this game for a while). I just ordered all [hopefully most] of the parts I need. I'm not worried about the soldering or the programming, what I really want to know from experienced KSP players is what buttons/controls/readouts would be good to have on a controller?

 

I really like the controller posted here titled "My KSP Controller (SpaceX inspired)" [I don't know if I can post links yet, first post and all...]. I'll probably use the same buttons he does. but I want this to be the only thing you need to play, ideally. From the 3-4 flights I've made I'll probably add warp up/down, quicksave and orbit view (whatever that's called) toggle. I don't know what the action buttons on his controller do, but I assume it's advanced stuff that I haven't seen yet (which is really why I'm asking this). I don't know what parts/controls/modes... there are in this game yet, so it makes it really hard to plan a controller out when I don't know how many buttons I will need. So if there are any necessary/convenient things to have on a controller, please let me know. Preferably with a noob friendly description of what it does given I have 3-4 technologies unlocked and haven't been able to make it to orbit yet.

Don't worry, I'll post all the plans/code/later cut files/BOM... here and probably on instructables too. I have some cool ideas for some UI tweaks that I will happily share with the community (open source FTW!). Thanks in advance for your input, and I look forward to spending more time in the world of Kerbals (as free time allows).

[Vanamonde]

I have not tried to make a controller, but until someone who has comes by, hello and welcome to the forum.

[James Kerman]

Welcome to the forum @generic0000, luckily we have an excellent thread full of helpful and knowledgeable engineers of custom controllers. It's a great place to see a showcase of amazing devices and ask advice:

 

[generic0000]

Thanks for the link, and the welcome. Wow, 32 pages of custom controller goodness. I knew I came to the right place. Looks like I have a lot a reading ahead of me. I figured there were others that would build a controller, given that this is a game about science and engineering.