Need help with controller idea!

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Before I ask anything, I must state: I have absolutely 0 experience with circuitry and programming.

Now that that’s out of the way, I recently got a Flight Sim game, and I looked into control panels for games, but the prices are insane! I don’t have much money, but I still feel it’s ridiculous to have 5 toggle switches on a grey box cost over $100. As such, I’m looking into using breadboards, switches, and so forth to make my own. Plus I think it sounds quite fun to get into circuitry. What would I need to be able to create a few switches to act like a button being pressed for the computer? So that I can bind it in game, like any other input? Namely so it can connect via USB.

With my lack of Programming knowledge, and not having to big of a budget, I’d like to know what I’d need to do? I looked at things like the Arduino, but I don’t fully understand, and I do NOT want to spend 20+ Dollars on something I might not even be able to use for this. Having a case for the whole thing to be contained in isn’t an issue that I’d need solved, That I can make.

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First you need to do some research. You need to know how to communicate with the PC and the game. I am sure that a Google search will pull up some useful links in this area. Right now, this is your biggest hurdle. Once you get an idea of that, then you can research what platforms will be compatible. Then, you can start building your circuit and cases.

At one time, I was interested in the same idea. I have seen videos and read a lot about creating a home flight simulator. But, at the time, I had way too many projects sitting on the work bench. But now, maybe we can collaborate on this.

My background is circuit design, pcb layout, prototyping and some programming.

Just reply here and I will help as much as I can.