When I was a kid, PC games hadn't quite figured out the control schemes for their games. While console players had a D-Pad and a couple buttons (u, u, d, d, l, r, l, r, b, a, start), PC programmers back then tended to get lost in the comparatively endless ocean of key options. So in an attempt to sort out the inevitable confusion that resulted, games shipped with these bad boys...
Things have gotten much better. Standard control schemes have been adopted and things are more or less intuitive. If you need more, there are always macros. I thought that was the end of it. I was wrong.
A little while ago, in one of those random internet curiosity tangents, I stumbled across a product I had never seen. I ended up ordering it and I couldn't be happier. That's because some games still lean toward needlessly over-complicated control schemes (cough, cough, star citizen). They tend to grossly overestimate how many keys a single person can memorize. 20 dedicated keys are far from intuitive. This gets even more complicated when you include macros (cough, cough, WoW). Compound that with the multi-game lifestyle most of us lead, and you have utter chaos on a keyboard. Who needs muscle memory, right?
Enter the Stream Deck by Elgato. Holy crap this thing is cool. First off, it is a deck of 15 little lcd button screens that can be custom programmed to execute macros. That was enough for me to buy it. I'm a sucker for shiny things that make my life easier. Once I got it and played around with it for a bit though, I started realizing how deep the rabbit hole went. You can make a button into a macro folder. By that, I mean you can change the entire button layout (and the matching button screens) with a single button.
So you can program in button trees that operate like flowcharts. You can also program in toggles. You can have gifs, complex processes, autohotkey scripts, and all sorts of other goodies. It is missing a keystroke record function though. I really wish it had that. Aside from that one thing though, it is perfect. More to the point for us SC fans though, it can take a rather large amount of control buttons and turn them into a lovely, organized, custom labeled (or gif'd) button tree. No more keybind hell.
Keep in mind, this was designed for streamers but is applicable to damn near everything pc...
P.S.: it is also available in a 6 button verson for $94. However, I'd rather have 15 buttons for $150 than 6 for $94...
Things have gotten much better. Standard control schemes have been adopted and things are more or less intuitive. If you need more, there are always macros. I thought that was the end of it. I was wrong.
A little while ago, in one of those random internet curiosity tangents, I stumbled across a product I had never seen. I ended up ordering it and I couldn't be happier. That's because some games still lean toward needlessly over-complicated control schemes (cough, cough, star citizen). They tend to grossly overestimate how many keys a single person can memorize. 20 dedicated keys are far from intuitive. This gets even more complicated when you include macros (cough, cough, WoW). Compound that with the multi-game lifestyle most of us lead, and you have utter chaos on a keyboard. Who needs muscle memory, right?
Enter the Stream Deck by Elgato. Holy crap this thing is cool. First off, it is a deck of 15 little lcd button screens that can be custom programmed to execute macros. That was enough for me to buy it. I'm a sucker for shiny things that make my life easier. Once I got it and played around with it for a bit though, I started realizing how deep the rabbit hole went. You can make a button into a macro folder. By that, I mean you can change the entire button layout (and the matching button screens) with a single button.
So you can program in button trees that operate like flowcharts. You can also program in toggles. You can have gifs, complex processes, autohotkey scripts, and all sorts of other goodies. It is missing a keystroke record function though. I really wish it had that. Aside from that one thing though, it is perfect. More to the point for us SC fans though, it can take a rather large amount of control buttons and turn them into a lovely, organized, custom labeled (or gif'd) button tree. No more keybind hell.
Keep in mind, this was designed for streamers but is applicable to damn near everything pc...
P.S.: it is also available in a 6 button verson for $94. However, I'd rather have 15 buttons for $150 than 6 for $94...
