WordDisc Progress

Despite being busy the past several weeks with family affairs and work around the house, I have been continuing on the WordDisc, which is nearing completion. I originally intended the project to be small, in fact not much more than what it was in my last post, but my brother convinced me to expand it to a fully-functional and dynamic tool instead of simply a prototype to pitch an idea with. So, without further adieu, here is the new incarnation of the WordDisc:

Don't worry, the color scheme's customizable too.

The new graphics are generated by an algorithm upon creation, and as such I can both get a perfect circle every time and create as many divisions to as many rings as I want. I intend to have four character layouts: All, which includes all characters found in the original WordDisc and on a standard qwerty keyboard; Numbers, which will be one right of the characters 0 through 9; Letters, which is for any just a-z text; and Custom, which can be defined by the user.

Virtually everything can be customized, including the number of rings, the number of divisions per ring, and the characters displayed in each ring. The input will match the rings perfectly, regardless of the size of the WordDisc, and text input can be captured and returned to the program from the WordDisc before it is destroyed.

In all, I expect the WordDisc to be fully-functional and ready to be plugged into XNA games as soon as the end of the week. I intend to release it as an open-source download with an executable to demonstrate its functions and a sample project including its source code and a simple rig to get it up and running. I'll probably release it under a GPL, I'll have to look into those.

Alternative Text-Entry System for Joystick-Based Input Schemes

Or, as I prefer to call it, the WordDisc. I don't know that this hasn't been done before, but either way I'm writing a circular text input interface intended to be used with joysticks instead of the apparently standard on-screen keyboard setup (which is awful and has gone on for long enough). I suspect the only reason a system like this hasn't been full-on implemented in the consoles and console games (Wii excluded) is because of the tiny learning curve which would accompany it, and as I test it I realize more and more that the input system feels very natural and very easy. If one standardized layout could exist, I am sure people would pick up on it very quickly.

This, of course, needs a graphical upgrade.

Anyway, I was going to code it in C++ with SDL, my usual, but I was convinced that, since it's intended to be run on consoles, I should use XNA so I can actually port it onto a console. In addition, it serves as a nice introduction to XNA for me, which I've thus far found to be a pleasure. I'm thinking my next project will be in XNA, and will involve something I've been wanting to try for a couple years - 2D rendering. I might do a demo before I start on the game, I might not. Anyway, I'm off to finish this WordDisc so I can get to work on the next project!