From the creator that brought you a custom fight pad but it's two ditto comes a whole different kind of controller: Rudeism specialises in building custom controllers of, it's probably fair to say, varying utility, and one of their latest projects is a functioning replica of the Mysterious Artefact from Baldur's Gate 3.
It took some tinkering over the course of multiple lengthy multi-hour streams to bring it all together, but it now mostly resembles a working controller.
Each rune-covered segment of the Artefact is actually a button on Rudeism's design, and they each took around 3 hours to print on a resin printer. Each of these buttons is hooked up to a handful of mechanical switches located around the exterior of a 3D printed shell, and each switch requires a run of wire into a mainboard, connecting an ESP development board, IO expander and USB controller, and is carefully stuffed inside. There are also batteries located inside, which hasn't left a great deal of room for mistakes.
After a great deal of trial and error, Rudeism managed to create what is a very neatly crafted rotund controller with questionable servicing access. That said, Rudeism has built the Artefact in such a way that it can be opened back up if need be.
"This way is incredibly fiddly, and a bit annoying, but it is a way that guarantees that it can be dismantled again if I need it," Rudeism said on stream.
The controller is nearly complete but it turns out the buttons are slightly too large and will need to be reprinted. Rudeism says it'll take around 3 hours to do the whole lot required for the controller in a resin printer. It's the main body that would be a more painful process—both halves took around three days to complete—so best to change the buttons instead.
One thing that's clear from watching the build progress: it takes some serious dedication to build something like this. Not the least bit because its efficacy as a controller is yet to be proven. Let's be honest, it's probably not going to be that great to actually game with. But hey, it's most definitely a controller that Baldur's Gate fans will be clamouring to get hold of, just like the actual Mysterious Artefact itself.
