Any game process consists of three components:
a) Input of data (by the player)
b) Output of data (to the player)
c) Processing of data (by the game)
Specific hardware is responsible for each of these components or functions. Game controllers are responsible for data input. Video cards and monitors are responsible for data output. The CPU and, in the case of multiplayer, the opponent(s) are responsible for the processing of data.
The more advanced the game process, the greater the demands on the hardware. In the case of Lander, the data input and output become "bottlenecks" of the system.
In order to fully enjoy the richness of the game process, two things are necessary:
a) Improving input - a more advanced game controller, and
b) Improving output - a stereoscopic graphics presentation

At the present time, both of these "bottlenecks" in the game process have been successfully resolved. The gaming industry has generated a mass of not-too-bad controllers, and for the realization of stereoscopic graphics there are stereoscopic glasses, the price of which has fallen to acceptable levels for consumers, about $40-45 dollars, which is comparable to the price of mice or joysticks, and that is not much at all for such a class of equipment. Unfortunately, neither the controllers nor the stereoscopic glasses are capable in and of themselves of generating a higher quality game process. People create the process, and people take their cue from a minimal configuration of game hardware. That is, any current game is geared toward a rotten mouse and even more towards a flat display. Lander is an exception in which it is possible to play ONLY with a maximal configuration.

The Controller.

For Lander there are several FUNDAMENTALLY different methods of data input.
Depending on which variant is chosen, the final game process will prove to be different and very unique.

There are two primary means of data input, by means of a mouse and by means of a joystick. A mouse has relative coordinates, and no absolute coordinates like a joystick, and this means that any displacement of the device requires constant comparison with the resulting actual event on the screen in the game. For Quake3Arena this event is the change of the direction of view. It is not too complicated to always keep it under precise control without(!) losing sight of the game situation. Lander is another matter. The ship in Lander is constructed such that its planned future trajectory in space very strongly and ambiguously depends on what position it is in at each separate moment in time (like a helicopter). That is, for full-fledged control of the future and present movement of the ship in space, the player, using the mouse, is forced to intently keep an eye on the behavior of the ship in answer to his passes (with the mouse), literally without tearing his eyes away. This creates specific difficulties. Since the game proceeds from the third-person perspective, the view sometimes jumps from the ship to the surroundings, forcing the player to keep an eye on the ship and his spatial position in time. The worse the mouse, the more the player must watch the ship (fight the device) and, consequently, the less he gets to play.

In such a situation, the joystick is the solution to the problem at hand, efficient and elegant. Playing with a good joystick, the player is not obliged to fixedly follow the maneuvers of his flying fortress on the screen. He only has to tactilely and directly feel (with his fingers) the joystick and through it to understand the exact position of the ship in space, without a special need to constantly evaluate the "purity" of the reaction of the ship to his movements. The eyes of the player are freed from the obligation to watch the ship unceasingly for even the most innocent of maneuvers. The game is transformed. At the same time, it is difficult to carry out a sequence of complex maneuvers accomplished at great speed and also requiring precision of movement without a good joystick. However, the given approach has its own drawbacks. First, the joystick must have a resolution of more than 1000 points per axis. Second, a three-axis joystick is not the very best choice for Lander as the third axis tangles the first two axes which, in the case of Lander, it is impossible to allow (flight becomes physically impossible). This means that there can only be two analog axes! Which for Lander is a big drawback.

A second means of control is a classic, with the help of an optical mouse.




This variant is good because it is simple and therefore good for everyone, although it requires paying attention to the ship more frequently. But today there are such accurate and error-free mice that the mouse has become a very, very attractive choice. However, in maneuvers requiring great amplitude of movement, from maximum to minimum, the mouse is not so advantageous as a joystick.
But the mouse has an advantage - it can be used in conjuction with a joystick as a primary device, receiving in total three analog axes which is not possible in the case of a solitary joystick. This method is sufficiently different from mouse+keyboard that it is necessary to discuss it separately.

A third variant, a control hybrid using an optical mouse and a joystick simultaneously, proves to be attractive only in one special case. For full-fledged realization of turns by the joystick, it is necessary to lock one of the joystick''s axes (make it non-functional). Physically. That is, one must dismantle the joystick, open its mechanical part (which is not always possible) and physically disable one of the axes. Only in this case will the advantage of analog turns become noticeable and useful in the game.
A player armed with such a device will finally be able to turn not discretely, with keys, like a tractor driver, but fully with analog controller input. For Lander this means the attainment of freedom of movement which is the main thing in the Lander game process.

4) A fourth means of control also exists. It alone secures a sufficient path for data input in the game.
This is control with the aid of a tuned trackball mouse and also a tuned joystick. The advantage of such a solution lies in the fact that this method incorporates the advantages of all the preceding means of control. To pay for this pleasure, one must put a little work into the serious tuning of the trackball mouse. On the one hand it will be possible to make use of three analog axes, and on the other, one won''t have to pay too much attention to the ship itself, using the trackball like an analog spring of the joystick for "blind" determination of the ship''s position at any arbitrary moment in time. Which mouse it is possible to tune and indeed how to do this is the theme of a separate article which I hope to release in the near future.

And now from input controllers we will go to output controllers.
And indeed, to stereoscopic glasses.

A person wasn''t given two eyes for no particular reason - they are used to create a three-dimensional picture of the environment. Life with one eye is unthinkable for us, however the majority of Homers live in such a world in games. But it pays the player to give the game "volume," through stereoscopic glasses, as he will never again want to return to a "one-eyed" world. The difference is colossal.
In Lander, thanks to its complex physics and game process, the three-dimensional picture becomes especially useful and even indispensable.

There are two methods of achieving stereoscopy on the monitor screen.
The first is by means of red-blue glasses, a regime called Anaglyph.
The second is by means of shuttered glasses on liquid crystals.

Anaglyph is possible on both liquid crystal and CRT displays, but the chromatic is impoverished in it. The price of these glasses is not great, and it is even possible to make them yourself from red and blue filters and obtain, practically free, an impression of what the stereoscopic effect gives to the game. However, this is possible only on nVidia video cards.
Shuttered glasses work only on CRT screens, liquid crystal screens are not suitable for them, but indeed they create the most high-quality stereographic picture. They cost around $50.00. This sum includes the price of the glasses themselves and the controller which supports the operation of the glasses.

Until recent times, it has not been possible to purchase stereoscopic glasses in Russia and the Commonwealth of Independent States.
Only now, after the domestic developers from the firm STEL hitched onto this business in the expanse of the fatherland and all of the C.I.S. has it become practically inexpensive and with a guarantee to be delighted with the stereoscopic images on the screens of the blue monitors. However, not everyone has proved to be in equal conditions.
Videocards from ATI support stereoscopy substantially worse than those of nVidia, therefore video cards from nVidia are recommended for stereoscopic images in the game.

In addition to this, nVidia owners have a special holiday: quite recently the company issued, in accordance with its semi-annual cycle, the latest stereo driver Version 77.77 which allows one to



receive a stereoscopic picture in any of the stereoscopic formats existing in nature, even including dual-monitor regimes when two pictures of stereoscopic images are produced on both video outputs of the video card. The stereo driver can be used ONLY with the corresponding video card driver, the same one just released with the same version 77.77 (otherwise there will be no stereo effect).

It is possible to obtain stereoscopic glasses and the controller from the following addresses:
http://www.igrushek.net/
http://www.stereomir.ru/

I personally recommend model 3DS-GM (MINI)
http://www.igrushek.net/index.php?action=game&id=640&type=3

Owners of ATI video cards should install stereo drivers and controllers only from the firm e-Dimentional. Any other controllers and drivers are not suitable for them, although it is possible to use any glasses.

For more expansive information on stereoscopic glasses I recommend visiting the site:
http://www.really.ru/
The forum is especially rich in every kind of useful advice.