I’ll come clean – I’m not a Minecraft guy, but I do love myself some gaming accessories, and this one from Roberto Del Gesso just gets me beaming even though I’m not invested in the Minecraft franchise. Dubbed the KreepBoard, it’s a Minecraft-specific macro pad that enhances your gameplay by allowing you to quickly access in-game controls and functions in a way that feels more intuitive.
Every game we play has the same common interactions. It’ll have movement, selection, and a few action keys. But still, the controls for Forza are very different from the controls for, say, Fortnite. The KreepBoard builds on that slight difference by being specifically tailored to the needs of Minecraft players. Movement keys allow movement (obviously), but there are a few other keys that make gameplay more intuitive and controllable.
Designer: Roberto Del Gesso
Since the Minecraft game is all about building, the macro-pad has a very DIY-ish design that ties well into the franchise’s pixel-like aesthetic. The macro-pad features 9 keys, one rotary wheel, and one slider. Four of those 9 keys are for movement, while the others are for in-game functions like inventory, picking up or dropping blocks, and a slightly raised button that I assume might be for attacking. A wheel, visible on the bottom edge of the macro-pad, lets you quickly scroll through inventory items, while a slider on the top lets you intuitively select quantities from your inventory.
For Roberto, it was all about just easing the gameplay process by making a few Minecraft-specific controls. For example, you necessarily wouldn’t need a slider in Fortnite, even though it’s also a sort of online sandbox-type game. That being said, a macro-pad can easily be tweaked to work with pretty much any game or program. I, for one, wouldn’t mind a slider in Photoshop.
The KreepBoard’s conceptual, but it builds on the need for third-party controllers that are specific to certain programs. For instance, I also loved this Twitch macro-pad for streamers, and this GoogleBoomer macro-pad for boomers who use Google Meet and accidentally turn their camera or mic off without realizing.
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