Wooting One Analog Keyboard Kickstarter Started, Funding Goal Reached on First Day

[BenjaminC]

Quote

Unplug your controller, you don’t need it anymore, now you have the Wooting one for all your analog movement in PC games.

It can read exactly how far down you’ve pressed a key for analog input. You can immediately use it in games to precisely control all your movement or use it outside of gaming for other applications. It's analog!

The Wooting one isn’t only a full analog keyboard, it’s also an awesome mechanical keyboard with (literally) lighting fast input, swappable switches and top-plate, full on-board programmability and so much more.

Be a pioneer in keyboard technology, help us to further develop all the analog possibilities and bring some real innovation to PC gaming peripherals.

 The Wooting One is initially offered with 55g clicky or linear switches, with the option of swapping for different switches when they become available. The switches use MX style stems, meaning the keyboard will be compatible with most aftermarket keysets. The keyboard is fully programmable, with options for inputs to register as a gamepad using Directinput or an Xbox controller using Xinput. Estimated delivery is November 2016, with retail availability coming some time after.

 

Backer options left are:

• $156 USD (€139)
• Full keyboard with either color switch 
• Four switches of the other color
• Two spare switches 
• 1x keycap/switch puller

 

• $224 USD (€199)
• Full keyboard with either color switch 
• A full set of the opposite color switches
• Extra exclusive top plate
• 2x keycap/switch puller
• Exclusive "Sprinkles" backer t-shirt

 

Source: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/wooting/the-analog-mechanical-keyboard-for-precise-movemen

Wooting website: http://www.wooting.nl/ 

[Arty]

Why couldn't it be a full keyboard

[Naeaes]

Meh. The compatibility is going to be crap.

[BenjaminC]

7 minutes ago, Naeaes said:

Meh. The compatibility is going to be crap.

It apparently registers as a gamepad, so it shouldn't be any worse than an xbox controller.

 

Quote

Keyboard firmware is the key

Reading the analog signal is merely the first step, the real challenge is using it on the PC. We’ve made an elaborative blog about it but here is what it boils down to:

The Wooting one can be recognized as a regular Keyboard, Gamepad with Directinput and Xinput controller (Xbox controller). 

Any game that supports either Directinput (Gamepad) or Xinput (Xbox controller) will also support analog control with the Wooting one.

You'll be familiar with the basic idea of the technique when you’ve used a Xinput/gamepad emulator on the PC before but a big difference is that the Wooting one isn't an emulator but an actual native Gamepad/Xinput/Keyboard device.

 

[Misanthrope]

8 minutes ago, Naeaes said:

Meh. The compatibility is going to be crap.

Actually I think it can just macro at different actuation points: light press on W walk, half way through pressed sends shift W for run and bottom out press sends alt shit W for sprint for example. 

 

You can simulate analog on a controller with a program doing that already and it works relatively ok with a much greater range of motion of a joystick, 2 functions mapped like this would be totally fine. Better for me that a dedicated controller in fact. 

[GoodBytes]

Not sure if this going to lead to a patent dispute with Microsoft.

(2009)

 

I guess it will depend on the patent, as this is applied on a membrane keyboard (which interestingly doesn't have simultaneous key press limit), and on Microsoft's Touch keyboard which was with the original Surface, and improved with the Surface 2.

 

 

 

[cynexit]

27 minutes ago, BenjaminC said:

It apparently registers as a gamepad, so it shouldn't be any worse than an xbox controller.

Correct, but they stated in a video that they run in an issue because many games don't support controller and keyboard/mouse simultaneously. So this means you can't really use the keyboard in these games either.

They also stated that they search contact to the developers to fix this, which is really great and I would love to use this, but I don't expect them to gain enough market share to really pressure game developers to do anything (even a simple fix takes time, and time is money you don't invest for a very small group of hardware owners).

[BingoFishy]

I want it, but I don't believe in crowdfunding because 12% [citation needed] of crowdfunded projects don't end up being produced.

[MrRavens]

3 hours ago, GoodBytes said:

Not sure if this going to lead to a patent dispute with Microsoft.

 

 

 

Possibly, unless the person got around the patents some how. Or he plans on making a deal, be it royalties and what not.

[cesrai]

"plug and game" why not just call it plug and play like it has always been ?

[Misanthrope]

4 hours ago, BingoFishy said:

I want it, but I don't believe in crowdfunding because 12% [citation needed] of crowdfunded projects don't end up being produced.

Actually regardless of success rate, you shouldn't do it as a matter of principle: legitimate projects should seek legitimate funding methods. Sure ask crowds of people if normal avenues don't pay attention to you, but do so by giving said crowds the same benefits a bank or an investor would.

 

As it stands it's just fucking glorified pan handling: emotionally manipulating people to get their money "We need your help to realize our dreams! At 10 dollars you'll get 100 milliliters of this genuine snake oil! Totally not a scam we're just enthusiasts like you trying to achieve or wacky dreams!"

 

[Omon_Ra]

9 minutes ago, Misanthrope said:

Actually regardless of success rate, you shouldn't do it as a matter of principle: legitimate projects should seek legitimate funding methods. Sure ask crowds of people if normal avenues don't pay attention to you, but do so by giving said crowds the same benefits a bank or an investor would.

 

As it stands it's just fucking glorified pan handling: emotionally manipulating people to get their money "We need your help to realize our dreams! At 10 dollars you'll get 100 milliliters of this genuine snake oil! Totally not a scam we're just enthusiasts like you trying to achieve or wacky dreams!"

 

Meanwhile, Star Citizen is laughing all the way to the bank. But I generally tend to agree with you.

 

The biggest problem I can see with this keyboard is much like the problem I had with 'pressure sensitive' Play Station controllers. Yes, they were pressure sensitive, but when the distance the button can travel is millimeters, there's not a whole lot of control. Most keyboards have relatively more travel distance, however I still think it's not enough to really manipulate a keyboard like analog triggers or joysticks. I'm sure I'm not alone in this, but I'm so used to a typical on/off keyswitch, that my muscle memory would just lead me to setting it up like a standard keyboard. If I had a kid and had them start with a keyboard like this, it would be interesting to see how their play-style would differ; but for me, I think I'm too old to try and basically relearn mouse x keyboard gaming.

[WereCat]

It sounds good and all but it wont work that well imo.

The travel distance of the key is too small compared to the trigger or stick and I can't possibly thing of any situation where I would use more than 8 analog keys as long as I will keep on using mouse.... not to mention that most games that work with analog and see it as controller don't support mouse and keyboard inputs at the same time.

I know this issue very well because I use Steam Controller daily and I have been running into this issue frequently. Luckily SC is very flexible and you can make inputs behave as analog while games see them as normal on/off input and the other way around too.

This keyboard will need some serious software implementation on top of its hardware functions otherwise it will be just unusable piece of junk unfortunately.

[zMeul]

is it HID compliant? good for them

if not ... not gonna go anywhere

[Doobeedoo]

Would definitely want to try it.

[Naeaes]

8 hours ago, BenjaminC said:

It apparently registers as a gamepad, so it shouldn't be any worse than an xbox controller.

 

 

Yeah.  I've had game-breaking issues with my logitech G13 because it was detected as a gamepad.

"Oh, a gamepad! It must have 3-axis analog stick then. Let me just disable everything else and use it for controls. No keybinding for you! No mouse! No alt-tabbing! Muahhahhah!" G13 has the stick, but it's not 3-axis. It's simply five digital buttons with the feel of an analog stick but the behavior of on/off switches.

 

This product sounds amazing though, don't get me wrong. I'm only pointing out flaws to make a good thing better. (For whatever reason my wife doesn't get the philosophy.) I'm hoping their current solution is just a halfway. They really need their own driver and software and have it recognize as exactly what it is: 105 analog 1-axis controls. Maybe even make it possible to have some keys act as analog and some as digital with an adjustable actuation point. I don't see why stuff like push to talk or map menus would be better as analog. 

[ManIkWeet]

10 hours ago, BenjaminC said:

It apparently registers as a gamepad, so it shouldn't be any worse than an xbox controller.

There's a difference between a gamepad and an xbox controller. Often games support the xbox controller but not anything else, which is sad...

[ShadowCaptain]

ooh this is interesting, ive always thought analog WASD would be awesome

[Scionyde]

1 hour ago, ManIkWeet said:

There's a difference between a gamepad and an xbox controller. Often games support the xbox controller but not anything else, which is sad...

 

Reading this on their Kickstarter:

 

"Any game that supports either Directinput (Gamepad) or Xinput (Xbox controller) will also support analog control with the Wooting one."

 

They say 'or' so maybe that means compatibility for this keyboard should be pretty decent.

 

[BenjaminC]

On 5/25/2016 at 4:00 AM, ManIkWeet said:

There's a difference between a gamepad and an xbox controller. Often games support the xbox controller but not anything else, which is sad...

It also registers as an xbox controller, if you want it to.