{"schemaVersion":1,"record":{"key":"mechanic/controller-input--t285","type":"mechanic","id":"controller-input--t285","lang":"en","title":"Trackballs, wheels and rotary controllers","summary":"Rotation supplies an angle or its change. In Crankin’s Time Travel Adventure the Playdate crank moves the character’s timeline forwards or backwards.","updatedAt":"2026-10-22","status":"active","url":"https://gamemechanics.pro/en/knowledge/mechanic/controller-input--t285/","jsonUrl":"https://gamemechanics.pro/api/v1/knowledge/en/mechanic/controller-input--t285.json","markdownUrl":"https://gamemechanics.pro/content/knowledge/en/mechanic/controller-input--t285.md","aliases":["Trackball, wheel and rotary input"],"tags":["Traditional input devices","Mechanics and variants"],"sourceIds":["source-9a110e52e07a4ab3","source-3ca20e35dc864cf4"],"sources":[{"id":"source-9a110e52e07a4ab3","title":"MDN: Gamepad API","url":"https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/API/Gamepad_API","verifiedAt":null},{"id":"source-3ca20e35dc864cf4","title":"Crankin’s Time Travel Adventure","url":"https://play.date/games/crankin/","verifiedAt":null}],"sections":[{"id":"principle","title":"How it works","body":"Rotary input controls relative change or angle, supporting continuous correction without a normal screen boundary."},{"id":"variants","title":"Variants","body":"### Mechanic variants\n\n<a id=\"t285-variants\"></a>\n\n- Relative rotation accumulates parameter changes. <a id=\"t285-v1\"></a>\n- Absolute angles select a dial position. <a id=\"t285-v2\"></a>\n- Inertia preserves motion after input stops. <a id=\"t285-v3\"></a>\n- Detents divide continuous travel into positions. <a id=\"t285-v4\"></a>"},{"id":"example","title":"Design example","body":"A player turns a valve with a trackball, adjusting flow without moving a pointer to the screen edge.\n\nPrototype check: Test direction, units and missed events during fast rotation, including devices with different step counts."},{"id":"context","title":"Context and limits","body":"Controllers turn physical movement into game parameters; range, neutral position and feedback should agree. Each overview separates player actions, state changes and alternative rules. Examples are hypothetical design scenarios, not claims about a named game. A prototype check states an observable question for the next iteration. Existing detailed references remain separately linked from the direction map."}],"relations":[],"placements":[{"catalogId":"controller-input","id":"t285","title":"Traditional input devices","url":"https://gamemechanics.pro/en/mechanics/controller-input/#t285","categoryIds":["mechanics"]}],"supersededBy":[],"attributes":{"preview":{"updatedAt":"2026-10-22","title":"Trackball, wheel and rotary input","description":"Rotation supplies an angle or its change. In Crankin’s Time Travel Adventure the Playdate crank moves the character’s timeline forwards or backwards.","image":{"src":"images/mechanics/control-crankin.webp","width":400,"height":240,"game":"Crankin’s Time Travel Adventure","sourceUrl":"https://play.date/games/crankin/","originalUrl":"https://play.date/media/games/com.uvula.crankin/Crankin-2_ssOLbgr.png","credit":"uvula / Keita Takahashi / Ryan Mohler / Matthew Grimm / Shaun Inman / Panic","rights":"© uvula and respective rights holders. Publisher-distributed screenshot; all rights reserved. Excluded from MIT and CC BY 4.0.","caption":"Crankin’s Time Travel Adventure: the crank controls the character’s time","alt":"Crankin’s Time Travel Adventure: the crank controls the character’s time","markers":[{"x":50,"y":61,"label":"The crank moves the hero along a personal timeline"}]},"tips":["Distinguish angle changes from absolute position and define what stopping does."],"examples":[{"title":"Crankin’s Time Travel Adventure","url":"https://play.date/games/crankin/"}]}},"endsAt":null,"provenance":"Original bilingual editorial overviews authored for gamemechanics.pro on 2026-10-20 and reviewed on 2026-10-21. Scenarios are hypothetical design examples; prototype checks describe work to perform, not completed playtests. Primary sources support the stated techniques and implementation context, not every proposed variant.","license":"CC-BY-4.0","codeLicense":"MIT","attribution":"gamemechanics.pro contributors","catalogKey":"catalog/controller-input"}}