GEMINI CONTROLLER

The control scheme of today’s 3rd player-view video games is basically dictated by an unwritten standard for controllers: 2 analogue thumb joysticks with a various number of digital and analogue buttons. One thumbstick usually controls the game avatar movement in the virtual environment and the other is responsible for the third person view camera angle, with the difference in sports games where the camera is automatically oriented and the second thumbstick gives additional controls for the player. These inputs with added button combinations enable the users to perform a number of game-specific actions.

As games are evolving, more and more game character moves, features are being implemented into the games. Because of this, more buttons are required in order to fulfil the ever-growing demand of control expansion. Humans only have a limited number of fingers capable of input manipulation, so this method is destined to be a dead-end in the near future. This issue is even more obvious in sport and fighting games.
The complicated and abstract (not relatable to the actual executed in-game movement) joystick and button combinations which trigger the actions in these games are widening the gap between casual and novice players, because it takes a lot of time and skill to master them. VR game controllers, which enable 6 DOF movement-input with both hands, are giving a lot of freedom to the players, but deprive them of one major thing: To enjoy games from the comfort of their sofa or chair without the need to move their whole arms and/or body to perform in-game actions. We believe it is a dealbreaker for the majority of casual gamers because after a long day of work they don’t want to participate in a highly energy consuming activity.

Our ‘Gemini’ controller offers a solution to this problem. Unlike traditional controllers, our patent-pending modified input device, allows the player’s wrist and complete range of motion of the player’s thumbs to be utilized. In return, this method gives intuitive and realistic moves into the hands of the users, that naturally translates to the game avatar movement while not relying on heavy button input. As a result, they can execute in-game actions with a freedom that’s unprecedented in the world of prerecorded mocap animated action/sports games.