Mini Keyboard Addon

[Safe Da Erf]

Hi, I was wondering if anyone knows if Valve plans on doing a mini keyboard addon like the Xbox 360 Controller had.

That kind of mini plugin functionality worked extreemly well on 360 for typing messages, etc... I would love to see something similar on the Steam Controller

http://www.blogcdn.com/www.engadget.com/media/2007/09/xbox-360-chatpad-hands-on-07.jpg

[wt7]

http://store.steampowered.com/bigpicture/
"Now you're typing with Daisywheel
QWERTY is for keyboards. Daisywheel is for controllers. Now surfing and chatting are easy with your thumbs, a controller, and Daisywheel, Big Picture’s new tool for typing."

Daisywheel is so much easier to use than that munchkin keyboard addon for the 360 controller

[SKaREO]

No, Valve wants to throw away the mouse and keyboard and change what used to be considered PC gaming into a modular console gaming solution. The keyboard and mouse are now a thing of the past in Steam.

[wt7]

Originally posted by SKaREO:

No, Valve wants to throw away the mouse and keyboard and change what used to be considered PC gaming into a modular console gaming solution. The keyboard and mouse are now a thing of the past in Steam.

You can use a keyboard and mouse as usual if you wish. Plug them in and go.
If you want a keyboardless experience, they aren't required.
Once anyone navigates BigPicture or Steam OS for a few minutes with and without a controller it's evident.

[Achoobert]

I second the interest in a keyboard add on. Unfortunately there is no port on the bottom for such and addon.
Hopefully the released version will support added on doohickies. I'm a member of the PC master race dammit! I want to put electronic things on my other electronic things!

[Safe Da Erf]

Originally posted by wt7:

http://store.steampowered.com/bigpicture/
"Now you're typing with Daisywheel
QWERTY is for keyboards. Daisywheel is for controllers. Now surfing and chatting are easy with your thumbs, a controller, and Daisywheel, Big Picture’s new tool for typing."

Daisywheel is so much easier to use than that munchkin keyboard addon for the 360 controller

I tried Daisy Wheel on SteamOS, it's definately better than the Xbox 360 QWERTY on screen keyboard.


I still veto for some kind of 4-5" controller addon or a wireless keyboard mouse from Steam because I need it.

[Mailbox Junkie 📫]

The Daisywheel is cool and all, and probably will be super smooth with the trackpads, but as someone who uses the chatpad and loves physical buttons, I feel like a chatpad for the steam controller is a must.

Picking up and putting down a keyboard takes too long, takes my eyes off the game and gets annoying after repeating 20+ times.

The daisywheel takes up the entire screen, which also takes my eyes away from the game, and since it's not an actual keyboard, it wont respond to every single chatbox in every single game, in fact the only game i've seen it actually work in is Warframe.

I don't think it's likely to come out, but it's absolutely beneficial.

[Achoobert]

Besides the chat, I imagine using mine for the extera buttons.
I know Valve put more buttons on their controller, but so many games have so many unique inputs. 'q' to turn the wipers on, 'e' to fill the tank at the gas station, 'z' to unattach trailer....

[Mailbox Junkie 📫]

Originally posted by Achoobert:

Besides the chat, I imagine using mine for the extera buttons.
I know Valve put more buttons on their controller, but so many games have so many unique inputs. 'q' to turn the wipers on, 'e' to fill the tank at the gas station, 'z' to unattach trailer....

You can map the controller via the in-game overlay.
You have 8 buttons underneath each trackpad.
You have two underside buttons.
Any of these buttons can be mapped to a shift key, or "modifier" key allowing you to access way more buttons.
No PC game has over 60+ buttons, don't worry.

[SKaREO]

Originally posted by MylesShort:

No PC game has over 60+ buttons, don't worry.

I can list hundreds of PC games that require more than 60 buttons. ArmA III and StarCraft II, just two name a couple. I have my left hand utilizing 35 buttons with muscle memory in just about every game I play, including shooters like Insurgency.
1234567890
qwertyu
asdfgh
zxcvbn
Tilde, Tab, Shift, Ctrl, Alt, Space
That's 35 buttons that need to be remapped to the left hand of the controller.

[Mailbox Junkie 📫]

Originally posted by SKaREO:

Originally posted by MylesShort:

No PC game has over 60+ buttons, don't worry.

I can list hundreds of PC games that require more than 60 buttons. ArmA III and StarCraft II, just two name a couple. I have my left hand utilizing 35 buttons with muscle memory in just about every game I play, including shooters like Insurgency.
1234567890
qwertyu
asdfgh
zxcvbn
Tilde, Tab, Shift, Ctrl, Alt, Space
That's 35 buttons that need to be remapped to the left hand of the controller.

35 buttons that can be mapped to either hand of the controller, doesn't matter which.

Let's just see how many buttons the steam controller has by default.

A.
B.
X.
Y.
Start.
Select.
L1.
L2.
L3 (underside).
R1.
R2.
R3 (underside).
Left Thumbstick up.
Left Thumbstick down.
Left Thumbstick left.
Left Thumbstick right.
Left Thumbstick click.
Right Trackpad Button 1.
Right Trackpad Button 2.
Right Trackpad Button 3.
Right Trackpad Button 4.
Right Trackpad Button 5.
Right Trackpad Button 6.
Right Trackpad Button 7.
Right Trackpad Button 8.
Left Trackpad Button 1.
Left Trackpad Button 2.
Left Trackpad Button 3.
Left Trackpad Button 4.
Left Trackpad Button 5.
Left Trackpad Button 6.
Left Trackpad Button 7.
Left Trackpad Button 8.

That's 33 mappable controls.
But wait, there's more!

Use the underside buttons as modifiers:
None - 31 buttons.
L3 (underside) - 62 buttons.
R3 (underside) - 93 buttons.
L3 + R3 (underside) - 124 buttons.

Like I said, no need to worry, you're all good.

[SKaREO]

No that's not enough buttons. If I add in my mouse which has 15 programmable buttons, I'm up to 50 buttons now.

[Mailbox Junkie 📫]

Originally posted by SKaREO:

No that's not enough buttons. If I add in my mouse which has 15 programmable buttons, I'm up to 50 buttons now.

124 buttons isn't enough? lol.

[SKaREO]

33 buttons is now suddenly 124 buttons?? You think I can't and don't do the same thing with my controls? If I were to extrapolate the number of keybinds I'm using it could easily total in the 200's. Like when I hold ALT+[Button] or CTRL+[Button]. I'm talking about physical buttons that my mind already has mapped in muscle memory.

[Mailbox Junkie 📫]

Originally posted by SKaREO:

33 buttons is now suddenly 124 buttons?? You think I can't and don't do the same thing with my controls? If I were to extrapolate the number of keybinds I'm using it could easily total in the 200's. Like when I hold ALT+[Button] or CTRL+[Button]. I'm talking about physicals buttons that my mind already has mapped in muscle memory.

There's no physical way a controller can have that many buttons, but through modifier keys you can access every keybind you want.

Meaning you have the ability to map any games keybinds to this controller, which is the point I was making in the first place.

I never asked if you can do the same with your controls, obviously you can use a keyboard to access more keys, it's a freaking keyboard.

Also, muscle memory is just that; memory that your muscles had to learn.
New inputs require new muscle memory, always.

The fact I was getting at is you'll never find yourself out of places to put keybinds with the steam controller, that's it.

[SKaREO]

I'm skeptical, I'll have to wait and see how well this controller performs with traditional RTS/FPS games, before I'm sold.