One Handed Controller

CONTROLLER
DESIGN
Daniel Cox, Sebastian Elmes, Nate Gurian, Brandon
Hackett, and Thomas Hoffman
Assignment 2
Full Sail University

ABSTRACT
This presentation will cover a design proposal for a one
handed video game controller. Detailed diagrams will
present the controller idea. Three games that the controller
will be best suited for will be discussed. A simple prototype
will be built along with playtests and analysis of the
prototype by all team members.

DESIGN PURPOSE
The topic that is going to be discussed will be a
design proposal and prototype for a one handed
video game controller.
INTRODUCTION
This controller is specifically designed for gamers
who suffer from circumstances causing them to only
have the use of one hand.

INSPIRATION (DANIEL COX)
“After a few ideas worked less than well, I focused on the mouse my brother
uses for his gaming PC, a Razer Naga Hex (Razerstore) and realized a mouse
would work great for the situation. So, I worked on a layout to the basic model of
mouse Razer uses. I also wanted to make sure it would work for the common
mainstream console, so I used the button layout of an Xbox One controller as an
example of what I’d need to have.”
-Daniel Cox

INSPIRATION (SEBASTIAN ELMES)
“The inspiration for my one-handed controller design
came from the PlayStation Move controller (Hardy,
2010) ergonomic design. I think that with this controller,
the placing of the buttons feel much more naturally since
they are located right where the thumb, index, and
middle finger rest, while maintaining a firm grip with the
ring and pinky finger. When thinking about the most
important design feature for a one-handed controller, it
all came down to how comfortable the controller has to
be, since it’s very likely that the user is going to spend
long periods of time holding on to it. I also think that
restricting the amount of buttons to 3 keeps its simplicity
and helps to ease new players in to try it out.” -Sebastian
Elmes.

INSPIRATION (NATE GURIAN)
“The inspiration for my one handed controller design came from holding my
phone car charger one day (Casio Commando Charger, eBay). I went to
plug it in but before I did, I noticed how well it fit into my hands. I
immediately thought that this would make a good controller. After thinking
about it, I decided to place the button right where the fingers rested. This
would make it easier on the player and little manipulation would have to
take place. While I feel the charger itself might be too clunky, with size
modifications this could be a functional controller for a one handed player.”
-Nate Gurian

INSPIRATION (BRANDON HACKETT)
“ The inspiration for my one handed controller came from the Wii Remote
(Nintendo, 2015), and the Rock Band guitar (Whitaker, 2007). The wii
remote is one of the most innovative controllers ever made that can be
used with one hand while also being very diverse on how it is played, and
because of that I felt that simplicity and motion controls were the way to go.
As for the Rock Band guitar I felt that the longer buttons on the top were
easy to press when gripping around the neck of the guitar so I felt that
could be implemented into my one handed controller design as well.”
- Brandon Hackett

INSPIRATION (THOMAS HOFFMAN)
“My inspiration for the came from the Xbox One Media Remote (Xbox, 2015). I
believe that adding the side buttons to the controller will make a more sleek one-
handed design. This will allow the user to play a game that would require the
use of two hands, but only use one hand. I think using this remote would give
the player a very capable one handed game controller and a superb media
remote.”
–Thomas Hoffman

DESIGN METHOD
To make our design for a controller together, we all
decided which of our assumptions we could agree on and
designed something new taking that into consideration.
We used Nate’s inspiration as a baseline for the shape of
the controller, and worked from there.
We came up with this after finding a place for every
button we wanted. Sebastian ended up making sketches
for a proper looking version after Daniel finished putting
together a rough sketch in Google draw (picture).
We mostly had the same features in our designs, so
it was easy to make the button layout for the final
design. The layout was mostly Brandon’s work, while the
placement of the D-Pad specifically was Thomas’s work.
We were originally going to use Sebastian’s trackpad in
place of a joystick, but decided that games for the
console we were designing for would be better off with a
joystick.

EXAMPLE –SCHEMATIC DIAGRAMS
Front View
Analog Stick
Start button
(indented)
Status indicator
Directional Pad
Home button
Headphone jack

CONTINUED...
Directional Pad
Analog Stick
Home button
Headphone jack
Y button
X button
B button
A button
Side View
Start button
(indented)

CONTINUED…
A button
B button
X button
Y button
Home button
Analog Stick
Directional Pad
Back View

DESIGN ASSUMPTIONS
(DANIEL COX)
When making the controller I designed for the Week 1
Discussion, I took into mind several requirements, all on
the assumption that this would be compatible with the
three big modern consoles:
• 2 devices functionally similar to joysticks
• A D-Pad and at least 4 face buttons
• 2 ‘trigger’ and 2 ‘shoulder’ buttons
These were all intensely important to my design. No
gamer would buy a product that was missing essential
functionality, even if it was all that was available to them.

DESIGN ASSUMPTIONS
(SEBASTIAN ELMES)
When coming up with the design for my controller, I wanted the controller to
reflect 3 core features:
• Comfort
• Simplicity
• Intuitive
I deliberately decided to not include an analog stick, and instead have a
trackpad. The trackpad allows the user for the swiping functionality, which adds
a layer of versatility to the controller.
The addition of the motion controls also factored in the decision to make the
controller feel natural, as a Game Informer editor praise its accuracy and said
“The Playstation Move is a intuitive, natural feeling way to play games”
(Marchiafava, 2010). The main idea behind the controller was for players to feel
they have control of their game without having to think about it.

DESIGN ASSUMPTIONS
(NATE GURIAN)
When designing my controller, I felt that there were certain
fundamentals of a controller that were pretty standard. Some of these
assumptions were
• There had to be a joystick
• There had to be 4 buttons
• The controller had to be symmetrical for the use of both left and
right hand
For me, the joystick was essential because of its place in
controller design history. The joystick has been around since Atari had
incorporated into their design in the late 70’s. The joystick has proven
its worth over several generations, consoles, and other gaming
platforms (Lu, “Evolution of Video Game Controllers.”)

DESIGN ASSUMPTIONS
(BRANDON HACKETT)
When designing my controller, I felt that the controller required specific features
in order to be able to compete with the standard two handed controllers while also being
available to a wider audience. So my assumptions for what features the controller needed
were:
• An Analog stick symmetrically place so that both left handed and right handed players
could play.
• 4 wide face buttons and 1 home button.
• Motion controls for more diverse play.
• More cylinder shaped for a more comfortable grip.
• A strap to secure controller to player to prevent harm to people or objects.
Many major companies have some sort of motion controls like Microsoft’s Kinect,
Sony’s PlayStation Move, and Nintendo’s Wii Remote. That being said I believe that motion
controls won't’ be going away especially since the industry is heading towards virtual reality
like Sony’s Project Morpheus (Wawro, 2014), and virtual reality will require some motion
control if they want it to be as immersive as possible. That is why I feel that motion controls
are essential in control designs.

DESIGN ASSUMPTIONS
(THOMAS HOFFMAN)
When I was designing my controller, I determined that
there are some key features that must be present.
• There must be an analog stick and directional pad.
• There must be four action buttons present.
• The controller must have the proper buttons to control the
Xbox One.
In my opinion, the directional pad or “D-pad” is the most
important part of the controller. All games require some form of
movement, and this is the original industry standard. The D-pad
was originally created for Game & Watch in 1980. The D-pad
has been present in almost every game controller since then.
(Lu, “Evolution of Video Game Controllers.”)

Game Description 1:
(New Super Mario Bros U)
New Super Mario Bros U is Nintendo’s modern answer to one of
their most beloved platformers. Because it was made to feel like an
NES game, it only uses a few buttons to function, which is fortunate.
According to Super Mario Wiki, a player using the wiimote uses the
D-Pad, A button, and 1 and 2 buttons to control their character, as well
as simple motion controls (Super Mario Wiki). This functionality is not
lost with our controller. The player will simply replace the A button with
the topmost button on the back, and the 1 / 2 buttons with the two
bottom buttons. The motion controls, which are simply shaking the
wiimote, will be replaced by mashing the second button from the top.

Game Description 2:
(Mario Kart 8)
Mario Kart 8 is a simple go-kart racing game played using
everyone’s favorite Nintendo characters. Players race against one
another to finish first. There is one trick though, players can pick up
blocks which gives them special moves to help or hinder their opponent.
Controlling the go-kart will be done with the analog stick.
Acceleration will be controlled with the “A” button and braking with “B”
button. Pressing the “X” button will activate drifting on corners. Players
can make their Kart jump by pressing the “Y” button. Pressing down on
the Directional Pad can use items that are picked up. Players can
pause the game and access the menu by pressing the “Start” button. If
a player needs to access the system’s menu, they can press the
“Home” button to be directly taken there.

Game Description 3:
(Super Smash Bros)
Super Smash Bros is a Nintendo fighting game where
players can choose from a wide variety of characters. Players can go
head to head or play in a free for all up to 8 players. Team matches are
also an option. The object of the game is to inflict as much damage as
possible to your opponent and launch them off the map and deplete their
lives.
With our controller, the player will have the choice of
using the analog stick or the D-pad to control the character based on
preference. The A and B buttons will be used for different attacks for the
player. Also, the player can create special attack combinations using the
analog stick or D-pad and the A/B buttons. Since we do not have trigger
or shoulder button on this controller, the X button will be used for
blocking (shield). The Y button will be used for grabbing onto the player’s
opponent. This way the controller utilizes all the buttons and gives the
player classic feel of Super Smash Bros.

TEST RESULTS
Tester’s Thoughts
“It’s a pretty comfortable controller for a one handed controller, but
would have prefered a trigger instead of four buttons on the
bottom.”
“Being left handed I don't’ like how the analog stick gets in the way
when trying to reach towards the directional pad, but overall it is
pretty comfortable.
“This controller is like a nunchuck mixed with a wii remote only
cooler, and pretty darn comfortable to handle minus not having a
trigger.”

POST MORTEM
What went correctly:
The brainstorming session and analytical thinking
the team participated in went very well. We were able
to take criticism from each other and take everyone’s
ideas into consideration when making the controller.
Brandon successfully made the prototype, which
looked close to the finalized design idea in his first
attempt. This was accomplished due to the advice the
rest of the team provided.

POST MORTEM CONTINUED...
What went incorrectly:
We removed features that are standard in
controller designs in the interest of having something
unique. For example, we removed the trigger from
our original design and went with 4 buttons on the
back. The testers later complained about the lack of
triggers. They found that their fingers were looking for
a trigger on the controller.

POST MORTEM CONTINUED...
What would the team have done differently?
Sebastian’s drawings looked much better than
anything we could make in Google Draw. We found
his artistic sketch to look more professional than the
Google Draw, which also made it easier for Brandon
to create the prototype. Google Draw can be used as
an early design method, but we should not spend too
much time with it. The hand drawn pictures were
substantially better in quality.

REFERENCES
Casio Commando Charger, eBay. (n.d). Retrieved March 12, 2015. from
http://www.ebay.com/bhp/casio-commando-charger
Hardy, M. (March, 2010). “Introducing PlayStation Move”. PlayStation.Blog.EU. Sony Computer
Entertainment Europe. Retrieved from: http://blog.eu.playstation.com/2010/03/10/introducing-
playstation-move/
Lu, W. (n.d.). Evolution of Video Game Controllers. Retrieved March 11, 2015, from
http://web.stanford.edu/group/htgg/sts145papers/wlu_2003_1.pdf
Marchiafava, J. (September, 2010). “Move Hardware Review: Motion Controls Evolved”. Game
Informer. Retrieved from: http://www.gameinformer.com/b/news/archive/2010/09/01/move-
hardware-review-motion-controls-evolved.aspx
Nintendo. (2015). Retrieved March 12, 2015. from: http://www.nintendo.com/wiiu/accessories
Razer. (2015). Retrieved March 11, 2015. from: http://www.razerzone.com/store/razer-naga-hex

REFERENCES CONTINUED…
Super Mario Wiki (2015). New Super Mario Bros. U. Retrieved March 12, 2015. from:
http://www.mariowiki.com/new_Super_Mario_Bros._U
Xbox One Media Remote. (n.d.). Retrieved March 11, 2015, from http://www.xbox.com/en-US/xbox-
one/accessories/controllers/media-remote
Wawro, W. (2014, March 18). This is Project Morpheus, Sony's prototype VR headset. Retrieved
March 12, 2014 from:
http://www.gamasutra.com/view/news/213460/This_is_Project_Morpheus_Sonys_prototype_VR_hea
dset.php
Whitaker, R.. (2007, November 28). Retrieved March 12, 2015. from: http://www.gamefront.com/the-
ps3-rock-band-guitar-debacle/

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