hack: joystick touchpads

Introduction

You’ve built your joystick, tested it, and are ready to go further. One of the ways to do this is to add even more additional touch inputs. The Makey Makey can have up to 18 individual inputs, so there is a lot of room to grow!

The easiest way to get started hacking new inputs onto your joystick is by adding touchpads. These are flat buttons on the surface of the joystick box made of two separate pieces- a keypress pad and an EARTH pad. Whenever your finger bridges the gap between the two pads, it presses a key.

Hack Details

Time: 30 Minutes

Difficulty: EASY

Adult Supervision: Minimal

Tool Requirements: Basic (Craft)

Modification Warning

This hack could permanently modify your Retro Joystick! Please keep that in mind as you work.

Tools and Materials

This hack requires some basic craft tools and supplies for you to be successful! You can find most of them at home or in a desk drawer. We do list a few materials that could make your project a bit easier, but they are strictly optional.

Required Tools

Scissors
Glue Stick
Ruler
Pencil

Required Materials

Completed Retro Joystick with Makey Makey
Aluminum Foil
Tape
White Connector Wires

Optional Materials

Plan Your Touchpads

Before adding touchpads to your controller, you will need to decide where to place them, and what you want them to look like. These can be on the sides, the top, or anywhere that’s easily accessible for the user.

You can make the foil touchpads different shapes (e.g., circles, squares, or even letters or symbols) for added creativity. The idea will be to create a shape and then cut it in half!

Cut Your Conductive Foil Shapes

Using scissors, cut pieces of conductive foil or tape into the shapes you want to use as touchpads. The size and shape of the foil will determine the size of your buttons. If you are feeling uninspired you can check out a sheet of template shapes that should fit on the side of your Retro Joystick here .

As mentioned before, you will be making each conductive pad in two parts - one will be wired to a keypress of your choice, and the other will be wired to EARTH. That way, all you have to do is bridge the two pads with your finger in order to trigger the keypress.

Pro Tip: It is easier to design and cut out the shape of your pad first, then cut it in half!

Attach Aluminum Foil to Your Joystick

Apply glue to the back of your foil pads using a glue stick. Then, carefully stick the cut pieces of foil onto the surface of your box. Make sure to have a gap between the keypress-piece and the EARTH-piece. Push down firmly and smooth them out carefully to ensure they have good contact with the surface.

If you’re using aluminum foil, you might want to add a layer of non-conductive tape (masking tape, painters tape, scotch tape, electrical tape, etc) around the edges of the foil to keep it from peeling over time.

Wire the Touchpads

Each foil touchpad needs to be connected to one of the Makey Makey's input pins. Take a white connector wire and attach one end to the conductive foil you just placed on your box.

You can use a small piece of tape to hold the jumper wire in place on the foil to ensure a stable connection.

Conductive tape is great for connecting from the touchpads to the inside of the joystick, from there you can then connect the wires to the tape. This way, the wires stay entirely inside the joystick.

Attach Connector Wires to Makey Makey

Now, take the other end of the connector wire and carefully push it int to one of the header pins on the Makey Makey board. You can use any of the pins (for example, W, A, S, D, F, or G). These pins are located on the Makey Makey's back side, and they correspond to the touchpads you will use in your project.

You can remap the pins to whatever keypresses your game uses. If you place the touchpads on the side or back of your joystick, they are out of the way while you are playing. This makes the touchpads great for starting or pausing a game, or pulling up a menu. Mapping them to keys that control these features can be really helpful! If this is something that you are interested in, you can find out guide on remapping your Makey Makey here !

Test the Buttons!

Once your foil touchpads are attached to the joystick and wired to the Makey Makey, it’s time to test them! Plug the Makey Makey board into your computer using the USB cable. When you bridge the gap between the foil touchpads, the Makey Makey should register the input as a keypress.

Fine-Tuning and Additional Customization

If you'd like to add more buttons, repeat Steps 2 through 6 with new pieces of foil and jumper wires. You can customize the buttons further by creating different shapes and even labeling them for different functions.

Pro Tip: You can add a conductive path on the surface of the box so that multiple foil pieces can share the same EARTH. This reduces the need for more connector wires.

With your new touchpads added to the joystick, you can add all sorts of new functionality. Try using the new buttons in your project and see how they improve your gameplay or interaction!

Troubleshooting Tips

Button not responding? Check your connections to ensure the foil is in good contact with the jumper wire, and the jumper wire is securely connected to the Makey Makey pin.

Unstable touchpad? Use electrical tape to secure the jumper wire to the foil for a more stable connection.

Need more buttons? You can always add more foil shapes and jumper wires to increase the number of touchpads on your box! Just be sure to consider where you place them, and how you’ll hold or use your joystick.

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