Why the bug I wrote became a core gameplay mechanic?!
Chapter 200: Miniature Joystick Steering Wheel!

Chapter 200: Chapter 200: Miniature Joystick Steering Wheel!

A product that perfectly combines the drawbacks of both controllers and steering wheels?

That sounds quite intriguing, oh no, demons find it very interesting!

Lilith couldn’t help but show respect, "How so?"

Gu Fan explained, "President Li, as you know, there are currently three types of peripherals for playing driving simulation games: keyboards, controllers, and steering wheels.

"There’s no need to mention keyboards, as they are inherently unsuitable for driving simulation games. After all, their directional keys basically lack linearity; it’s either full throttle, full brake, turn left to the max, or turn right to the max. They simply don’t support very precise operations.

"Not to exclude the possibility that some pro gamers can use a keyboard to play rally races and play them well, but those are very few.

"Moreover, keyboards as a product are too mature and too competitive. No matter what kind of OEM factory you find, it’s hard to make them particularly bad to the point of causing players too much negative emotion."

Lilith nodded, "Hmm, makes sense. That’s why I initially thought to focus on controllers and steering wheels."

Gu Fan continued, "Each of these devices has its strengths and weaknesses.

"The advantage of steering wheels is that they can provide the most precise control. And the immersion and presence they offer to players are the strongest; but their disadvantage is that they are not common gaming devices. They can’t be used for games other than racing simulations, they take up quite a bit of space, and the price is relatively high.

"Controllers, on the other hand, have the advantage of being common gaming devices. They don’t take up much space, and their price is relatively acceptable; but their downside is that they also can’t provide the most precise control. Although they have linear operations and are better than keyboards, they still fall far short of steering wheels, nor can they offer much in the way of immersion and presence."

Lilith thought for a moment, "So to combine their drawbacks means ...

"Firstly, it isn’t a common gaming device and takes up quite a bit of space. Besides racing simulation games, it can’t be used for other games? And the price is not cheap? Also, it can’t provide the most precise control, nor does it offer much in the way of immersion and presence?

"How can there be such a thing!"

Gu Fan cleared his throat twice, "This, trying to combine all the drawbacks is certainly not possible, we can only choose to integrate the main ones.

"After all, we first have to make this product look decent. Otherwise, if players realize at a glance that this product isn’t good and don’t come to buy it, then it won’t serve to collect negative emotions."

Lilith nodded, "Yes, indeed!

"So what exactly do you want to make?"

Gu Fan took out his phone, did a quick search, and soon found a video.

"President Li, look, what I want to make is this thing. A controller steering wheel!"

Lilith took the phone with some confusion and looked, discovering this gadget was indeed a steering wheel, but it seemed to be a controller accessory, a miniature steering wheel mounted on the controller!

This steering wheel was quite simple in design, with a diameter roughly the distance between the thumbs when naturally holding the controller.

On both the left and right sides of the steering wheel were two rings slightly smaller than joystick caps, ensuring the pads of thumbs could naturally rest on them for better rotation of this steering wheel.

This miniature steering wheel was connected to the controller through a simple mechanical structure. Below it was a stand that could be attached to the controller for support, while above was a simple connecting rod, linked to the left joystick of the controller.

When turning the steering wheel, the connecting rod would push the left joystick either left or right, thus completing a turning operation.

The material of the miniature steering wheel was common plastic, which looked flimsy and of questionable quality.

Gu Fan explained, "I think this thing combines the drawbacks of both controllers and steering wheels.

"It isn’t a common gaming device, other than for playing racing games, it’s useless for other games; it can’t provide very precise control or give players a strong sense of immersion and presence—far from a real steering wheel.

"Of course, it doesn’t take up space and is also relatively cheap, which are not very good points.

"But we could specifically modify it to make it more expensive.

"Just changing the materials and structure a bit to raise the price to about 100 yuan should suffice to generate enough negative emotions in players!"

Lilith watched the video again with concentration.

This YouTuber also shared plainly his experiences with the gadget, which could be summed up in two words: toy.

The gadget was very cheap, just 10 yuan.

It has to be said there was a reason it was invented. When playing driving games, the right joystick is basically useless, and even though the left joystick is used for direction control and has some linearity, it’s nowhere near as precise as a steering wheel.

And with this miniature steering wheel, you can control the direction with both thumbs, further optimizing the precision of steering controlled by the left joystick.

So, the conclusion this UP host reached after using it for a while was that it takes some getting used to initially, but once you get the hang of it, it actually is a bit more precise than the joystick on a controller. But... only a bit.

There are still many serious issues with this thing, for example, many controller joysticks have dead zones, and driving games are optimized for controller use based on players’ habits, so using this miniature steering wheel can actually make the game’s response to the controller quite strange.

Moreover, this gadget is made of plastic and feels rather loose and flimsy once connected, not to mention the hand feel is hard to describe as good.

For UP hosts like who have adapted to it, it can only be considered "passable," but for those players in the video comment section who haven’t adapted, it’s pure trash.

Lilith couldn’t help but light up, "Good, very good!

"This thing is indeed a lot better than the typical gamepad and steering wheel!"

She briefly fantasized about mass producing this contraption, directly switching the material to metal, then finding a way to add some costs, and raising the price to around 100 yuan.

When the time came, they would invest a good amount of money into marketing it, touting it as "combining the advantages of both gamepads and steering wheels," and they could even sell it as a bundle with a game!

Players spend 100 yuan just for this thing, wouldn’t their negative emotions skyrocket?

Even if many players choose to ask for a refund, those negative emotions would have already been generated.

A classic case of spending a little to do a lot!

Lilith happily tiptoed and patted Gu Fan on the shoulder, "You’ve done a great job, Gu Fan! I never expected gaming peripherals could be played with in such a manner!

"I think your approach is absolutely correct!

"Then it’s settled, I want all the gaming peripherals and experience stores!

"When the time comes, we can outfit all the experience stores with peripherals, and then players can try them out while generating negative emotions...

"It’s just like feeling your pigs being sent to market!"

Gu Fan cleared his throat lightly, "However... President Li, there is something I must clarify in advance."

"Hmm? Go ahead," Lilith nodded.

Gu Fan paused briefly, then said, "I think that in order to maximize the product’s popularity, we still need to find a well-known manufacturer for outsourcing. In addition, we can also produce some regular products, such as game-themed gamepads or steering wheels tied to a specific game.

"This is to make a name for our products from the start and get more players to buy."

Lilith thought for a moment and quickly nodded, "Hmm, that can be done!"

The product itself is already shady. If a small factory were to make it, players wouldn’t buy it at all, so how could they be expected to generate negative emotions?

Meanwhile, some well-known domestic hardware manufacturers have their own fan base and reputation, which players tend to trust.

Working with them would significantly increase the players who decide to "give it a try," which obviously would be more conducive to generating negative emotions.

Moreover, releasing several different peripherals at the same time can also create a good distraction.

For example, if Nitiandang worked out a deal to not only release the "Miniature Gamepad Steering Wheel" but also "Co-branded Gamepads" and "Co-branded Steering Wheels," the mixing of these three products would greatly improve the gamepad steering wheel’s popularity and deceive more people into buying it.

Gu Fan added, "Also... for this product, we need to consider giving the manufacturers some autonomy, allowing them to make minor adjustments to the product design to a certain extent; otherwise, it’s difficult to drive the cost up that high."

Lilith pondered for a moment, "Hmm... that’s fine, but the core innovation of the ’gamepad steering wheel’ absolutely cannot change!"

The structure of this gadget is relatively simple. To bump the price up to 100 yuan just by improving the material quality is definitely not enough; you can’t exactly make it out of pure gold, right?

That being said, if it were made of pure gold, it might actually sell since it wouldn’t be a peripheral anymore but a collector’s item.

So, in order to increase the selling price, manufacturers will surely have to add some complex structures to this little device, or include all sorts of accessories to increase the cost.

In that case, manufacturers need to have a certain level of autonomy.

Lilith felt this was no issue. As long as they held on to the core idea of the "gamepad steering wheel" and raised the price, they could definitely induce considerable negative emotions from the players!