A Calgary programmer recently shared his work on turning a rotary phone into what may be the most ineffective video game controller ever.
“Just a terrible experience” wrote Greg Smith, the person responsible for bring this cursed object to life. “Don’t recommend!”
Smith first shared his rotating exploits on January 3rd, to r / ArduinoProjects
As shown in the video above, DownfallThe simple controls on were easy enough to map. Movement is handled with 2-5 while something more urgent like shooting is assigned 1 to take advantage of the best a rotary phone has for quick fire. However, each input offers only the shortest action in the game, which makes opening a door a mind-boggling sequence of microsteps while Smith waits for the device to become receptive again.
Strangely, this is not the first time that rotary technology has been combined with Downfall. As I researched this story, I learned that a group called Dialrhea Technologies had developed a similar controller back in 2017 that also uses the phone’s receiver.
While technically not being played on a rotary phone, Smith’s work is the latest in a long line of projects dedicated to manufacturing Downfall
I doubt to play Downfall It’s a lot of fun, but the feel of a rotary phone is special compared to pressing digital buttons on a smartphone’s touchscreen. If you have the right hardware at hand and want to try it out yourself, you should definitely stop by Smith dedicated github page for the project to see how you can kill some demons yourself.
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