While I was running around PAX East I came across a booth boasting something I hadn’t heard of before, pressure sensitivity in a keyboard. Ever drive, well anything, in a video game? At best is annoying, at worst, completely unplayable. There isn’t any subtly in using a keyboard to drive in L.A. Noire, hit “W” and take off at full acceleration, then to turn tap “A” to make an immediate full ninety degree left onto Carnage Street in Innocent Bystander Deathsville.
AimPad aims to solve this problem those of the PC Master Race face. I had the opportunity to interview AimPad’s Principal Engineer of Awesomeness (Yes, official title) Lance Madsen. We talk about the importance in investing in your tools. A mechanic spends hundreds even thousands on the tools they feel the most reliable and comfortable, why should it be any different for someone who uses a computer 40+ hours a week? Lance also regales me with the tale of how this idea started and has become a reality. He fills me in on the differences between mechanical and membrane-based keyboards, how the pressure sensitivity works, other applications for this tech beyond gaming, learning curve, and the various testing methods used to create quite possibly the best keyboard ever created. Lance is extremely good at explaining how the product works in a way that even someone like me with very little understanding of how a keyboard works was able to understand. I had a great time learning and chatting with Lance who went on to play some PUBG with all the movement capabilities of a controller and the aim of a mouse. Get that Chicken Dinner, Lance, you deserve it!
Listen to the interview just below.
Some things are better understood with a visual element. At one point I am being shown with a visual tool how the pressure sensitivity on 4 keys translates into 360 degrees of movement one would expect out of a joystick controller. Also included are a couple of videos referenced during the interview where the AimPad technology is put through being buried in the sandbox, and being exposed to Cheetos dust. Keep an eye out for this outstanding addition to PC gaming late summer 2018!
Here Lance provides a great explanation of the keyboard’s capabilities and the things that are in place to help keep things running despite temperature changes or if for some reason something like food or dust gets into the keyboard. That visual tool mentioned previously is showcased here as well.
This one Lance buries the keyboard to show durability, and ease of fix if for some reason your keyboard ends up in a sandbox, completely buried.
