Something I've been wondering for some time now is why hasn't anyone created incremental/pressure sensitive keyboard keys? Like have keys where the board can detect how far down you are pressing the key and have that translate in a game.


For example in Skyrim your direction keys only work in one speed that can be toggled by another key. As to where a joystick can detect how much you've moved the stick and that translates to how fast the character walks/runs. Why can't we have keys that do the same thing? Have them where you can tweak resistance for better control too.


Would you use a board like this?

No, I would not use it. I'm a clumsy typist (most of my posts have to be edited) and I am equally clumsy with a keyboard when I play a video game. I'm lucky to have my fingers on the right keys when I need them to be on the right keys. I am constantly re-positioning my fingers during combat. Because of this I end up killing my characters far too often. I'm handicapped enough as it is. The day that video games force me to pay attention to keyboard pressure sensitivity is the day I stop buying video games. No thanks.

I don't see how this would be a make or break for you...

It would simply mean you walk slower if you don't push the key down all the way, it isn't very complex or hard to get a hang of.


I personally would love this since I've used a controller for most of my life that already does this with the joystick

In a game where I mostly just walk, I think I prefer having the ability to rest my finger all the way down on a key instead of hovering it to prevent my character from running.

Why not just have the ability to shut it off or have profiles for that?

Keyboards are primarily used to type (like, way, way more than for gaming), thus the underlying technology is designed for that i.e the device delivers a digital signal that identifies a keystroke, the operating system interprets that signal and sends a suitable message upstream. Adding anolog variability to a keystroke is pointless for what a keyboard is designed to do. 99% of the time when people press 'w' they want to type a w not "move forward in videogame". Using keyboards for videogame controls is a strange and unexpected development and they are fairly unfit for the purpose. Keyboards as controllers are unergonomic nightmares born from lack of resources and a bit of inventiveness when they were the only method of interacting with a computer many had, but ultimately it is a bodge to the problem of user interaction with something other than text-entry.

To elaborate on the differences between keyboards and controllers on the technical side: When you press a key, like 'W', on a keyboard your operating system sends a message to your application that is basically "The 'W' key was pressed" or "The 'W' key was pressed and released" and then your program looks up "what am I supposed to do when 'W' is pressed, oh, I'm supposed to moveForward()", meanwhile when you move a joystick the OS just sends a "The controller was updated" message, then the program checks the controller state and reads the joystick's value which is basically "The left thumbstick is at position (x,y)". Then your program can figure out a what to do with that information e.g adjust the movement direction and speed to match the (x,y) value's displacement from (0,0).

To get anolog controls in a keyboard it'd need to not be a keyboard on the software level by having the hardware detect as something else (say, a controller) and when you have that you might as well make the whole thing more pleasant to hold and interact with (i.e not a rectangle filled with buttons which you use less than 70% of more than 90% of the time).

On the software side if you're not mimicking the inputs of a XInput controller any application developer pretty much has to implement a brand new API just to support one fancy peripheral that most people won't have.

I'm not really keen on the idea. There's two reasons: first, I like my keyboard being something I can type on and I'm very fussy about the way it feels in that regard. My preference is an IBM Model M; actually my preference is a Model F or beam spring, but practicality wins the day. Currently I'm experimenting with a Cherry MX Blue based keyboard which doesn't feel as good as either a Model M or F but you can get better key caps for it.

The second is that I remember my early days of gaming when various systems would have either binary or anologue joysticks: although better in theory, I found that the anologue joysticks really svcked: my computer had them, and maybe it was just a bad implementation, but it seems that all the serious gamers of the day (there were many, every other kid at school had an Atari 2600 or equivalent) did much better with the basic switch-type.

So I can see what you mean, but really, velocity-sensitive keys and the like are best confined to high-end synthesisers where they can pretend to be a piano. That said, I am a self-confessed Luddite.

That was very informative! I get what your saying and it makes sense across the board (pun intended ).


So I guess what all comes down to for me is I love playing with a mouse. It just works! But my left hand control is a bit lackluster due to the limitations of the keyboard. There are game pads out there that have a thumbstick on them but all the ones I've seen use it as a D-pad instead of as a joystick. There needs to be more ergonomic design put into something that gives a M/K user the level of contol a controller gives the left hand.

Wonder if the keyboards that have the little 'eraser mouse' control would work for ya? I don't know how variable their signal is though.....

Never heard of that.

Still quite common on laptop keyboards.

This might work for some keys, like the shift key. But when I'm typing, I'm really hammering on the keys to make sure I press them.


I play piano, so I work with pressure-sensitive keys a lot. For an entire keyboard, though?

The little red nub right above... I mean between the keyboard http://cdn.slashgear.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/20130703_120527-580x435.jpg

I am about the same way especially when my Arthritis is acting up. I take no medication for it since I do not find that they help or at least they only work for a short period of time.