134 - Haptics and Rumble

[matt]

In this video, I talk about how to create a rumble like effect with the haptic feedback provided by the Steam Controller as well as the strengths and weaknesses of this approach.

[ranger_lennier]

I don't know if Valve's said anything about the noisy rumble, but it seems like the sort of thing that might be improved when they release the final version.

[Hansson]

Quite a cool idea, having the touchpad rumble according to the position of the enemy. Hopefully the finished version will tackle the noise issue.

[gagaplex]

That is very loud. Reminds me of those old printers.

[JPrice]

Ohhh I like the ideas that you're implementing with the Steam controller, with that moving feedback between the pads. Seems like a neat way to present the position of the enemy based on their proximity to you.

Although I will say, god damn that rumble is loud! Hahaha
I have no idea why it sounds so loud but hey maybe it's just a prototype rumble and the final one will lower in volume. At least I hope so anyway haha

[matt]

As I mentioned in the video, I kind of suspect that it won't be quieter in the final version. They were talking at Steam Dev Days about how the haptics could work as a speaker, and they weren't joking. I think they weren't designing for people to drive them at that speed. If you just hear it tick from time to time like it does with a lot of the haptic feedback it's not big deal. I'm driving them like crazy.

I hope I'm proven wrong though! Assuming I'm not, I wonder if it is even worth doing. It's not bad if you have nice headphones, but otherwise, it's rather annoying. :-/ We have an option so you can turn it off, but perhaps off should be the default for Steam Controllers? That would be kind of a pain because we save the value of the option and you can switch controllers...

Perhaps a better question is whether or not anyone is actually going to play the game with a Steam Controller. Personally I prefer the Xbox 360 controller compared to the Steam Controller in its present form, but I suggested a bunch of stuff in order to improve it for at least our game. We'll see what they change.